1. Angel Salome (pronounced SAL-o-may), a 5'-7", 190 lbs catcher, was born on June 8, 1986 in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. At 3 years of age, his family moved to Washington Heights, New York. He went to school at George Washington High School in the Bronx where many Dominican immigrants the foster their dream of playing in the major leagues. Some of Angel's notable alums include Rod Carew, Manny Ramirez, and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. In 2004, Angel led the Trojans to a 15-1 record and into the Public School Athletic League Championship against James Monroe High School at Shea Stadium. Although George Washington lost that final game 0-4, three members of the squad were drafted by Major League teams in 2004, including Angel who was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 5th round.
2. Below are Angel's high school leauge statistics. How would you like totals like this?
| Year | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001-02 | 18 | 60 | 25 | 40 | 9 | 2 | 8 | 39 | 4 | 3 | 8 | .667 | .688 | 1.283 |
| 2002-03 | 17 | 46 | 29 | 27 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 33 | 9 | 1 | 5 | .587 | .661 | 1.283 |
| 2003-04 | 16 | 49 | 42 | 42 | 9 | 4 | 11 | 56 | 9 | 0 | 14 | .857 | .879 | 1.878 |
3. Angel's high school coach was Steve Mandl, who has been at George Washington since 1983. His league record at GW since 2001 is 93-4 (.959). Steve has recently written an article about the New York City Council's proposal to ban metal bats in high school games. Here are some quotes Coach Mandl had about Angel while he was at GW:
4. In 2005, after posting .415/.469/.673, 8 homeruns, and 50 RBI in just 37 games at Helena, Angel was named the Pioneer League's Most Valuable Player. He actually was moved up to A ball at West Virginia and completed the season there, but went back to Helena to help them in the playoffs. Click here for the call of Angel's 2-run game winning home run against Hickory on July 31st.
5. Angel suffered a season-ending, dislocated ankle in mid-August which shortened his 2006 season at West Virginia. He had 85 RBI, which led the Sally League at the time. Angel also had hitting streaks of twelve and ten games. While Salome had 15 errors, he threw out opposing base stealers at a 40% success rate. As Jeff pointed out in his post on minor league catchers, Salome's stolen bases per inning was well below the low-A average. Despite the injury, his season was still good enough to place Angel on the Topps/Minor League Baseball Class A All-Star Team and the Sally League Post-Season All-Star team. Lisa Winston did an interview with Angel just before his injury.
John Sickels rated Angel a C+ prospect. Look for Angel to start the season at high-A Brevard County in 2007 with the possibility of an advance to AA Huntsville. Salome has all the tools and the Brewers are still high on Angel, but he needs to work on his consistency on defense and his game-calling. If you want an Angel signed baseball, click here.