News

FARGO, ND – The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks have re-signed All-Star OF Keury De La Cruz, LHP Will Mathis and RHP Dylan Mouzakes and signed recently acquired 1B Rene Leveret to contracts for the 2017 season. The club also made a pair of trades in acquiring RHP Jose Nivar and INF J.D. Pulfer from the Laredo Lemurs for RHP Colton Reavis and C Ryan Wagner and INF Tyler Urps from the Lincoln Saltdogs for future considerations.

De La Cruz, 25, was named the Pointstreak “Star of Stars” for the American Association in 2016 after batting .316 with 32 doubles, 18 home runs, 72 RBIs and 76 runs scored in 99 games for Fargo-Moorhead. He led the American Association in five offensive categories: at bats (433); hits (137); total bases (223); doubles; and extra base hits (50). De La Cruz was one of four RedHawks selected to participate in the 2016 American Association/Can-Am League All-Star Game in St. Paul.

De La Cruz was originally signed by the Boston Red Sox in 2009 as a 17 year old free agent out of the Dominican Republic. He advanced to Double-A with the Red Sox in both 2014 and 2015 and is a career .276 hitter in 742 games.

Mathis, 26, was 2-5 with a 4.77 ERA in 44 games (four starts) for the RedHawks in 2016. In 66.0 innings pitched, he allowed 43 runs (35 earned) on 82 hits. Mathis struck out 72 batters, walked 32 and hit four batters. He was signed by the RedHawks following three seasons in the Seattle Mariners organization.

Mouzakes, 22, joined the RedHawks in late July of last season following his college career at Pace University in New York. In seven games (three starts), Mouzakes was 2-0 with a 4.76 ERA. He pitched 22.2 innings and allowed 13 runs (12 earned) on 27 hits. Mouzakes struck out 23 batters and walked nine.

Leveret, 31, batted .306 with nine doubles, one triple, seven home runs, 41 RBIs and 36 runs scored in 82 games for the Lincoln Saltdogs in 2016. He began his professional career with the Minnesota Twins organization from 2006-2009 before spending the next seven seasons in independent baseball with the Quebec Capitales (2010-2014) of the Can-Am League and the Amarillo Thunderheads (2015) and Saltdogs of the American Association.

Nivar was 3-2 with a 3.15 ERA in 34 games (seven starts) for Laredo in 2016. He struck out 76 batters in 65.2 innings pitched. Pulfer batted .237 with 13 doubles, nine home runs and 58 RBIs for Laredo last season. Urps batted .249 with five doubles, one triple and 11 RBIs in 57 games for the Saltdogs in 2016.