Slammers Bullpen Back

Brian Smith had a dream rookie season after earning his Master’s Degree at Northern Illinois University. Now he’s returning to the Slammers to help defend the Frontier League title.

The Slammers announced contract extensions for Smith and reliever Chuck Lukanen on Tuesday while the Slammers exercised Chris Pack’s option and he will return for 2012 as well.

“Ryan Quigley got a lot of the headlines last year, but we had one of the best bullpens in the league,” Slammers VP of Baseball Operations Ron Biga said. “These guys were a huge part of that and we are confident they will shine once again in 2012.”

All three pitchers have area connections. Smith is the pitching coach at St. Francis and hails from Chicago Ridge. Lukanen pitched at NIU and Pack is from Darien and pitched his final year of college ball while earning his Master’s Degree at the University of Illinois.

Smith was arguably the best reliever in the entire Frontier League in 2011. He posted a 1.24 ERA in 40 appearances during the regular season. Command was the key was he only walked four batters while striking out 31 in 43.2 innings. Smith made six appearances in the playoffs and won two games, tossing six and a third scoreless innings. In addition, Smith became a fan favorite through his starring role in numerous Slammers YouTube videos.

Lukanen’s second year of professional baseball was a good one as he provided the bridge to Smith in the eighth and Quigley in the ninth. The lefty went 4-2 with a 3.91 ERA out of the ‘pen in 44 appearances. Lukanen struck out 48 batters in 48.1 innings.

Pack showed a lot of potential in 2011 as the rookie showed excellent velocity, consistently in the low 90’s on his fastball. Pack came to the Slammers after pitching for the Illini in 2011 as well. He ended up recording a 4.61 ERA in 22 regular season appearances for Joliet, without recording a decision.

More announcements of returning players are forthcoming in the weeks ahead as the Slammers — the closest professional baseball club to the Village of Shorewood — build their roster for a shot at defending their title.