Former outfielder Mike Reese – owner of the highest batting average in RailCats history – is returning to The Steel Yard this summer after a one-year hiatus.

Reese, 28, hit .297 in two years with the RailCats before taking last season off to complete his Masters degree in education.  The 2010 season will be Reese’s sixth in professional baseball, and the slugging veteran has hit at every stop, boasting a .303 career batting average and .402 lifetime on-base percentage.  Both a power and speed threat, Reese was a two-time Frontier League All-Star while a member of the Richmond (Ind.) Roosters from 2004-05.

After coming to the RailCats from Traverse City of the Frontier League before the start of the 2007 season, Reese led the league-champion ‘Cats that year in slugging (.457) and on-base percentage (.391), hitting .280 in 59 games.  One year later, Reese earned nearly 100 more at bats as more of a regular in the lineup and his numbers improved, with a .308 average, seven home runs, eight stolen bases and a .407 on-base percentage.

Reese’s 2008 season also included several memorable moments, including a dramatic two-run eighth inning home run on July 29 in Winnipeg that capped the largest comeback in RailCats history – from 9-1 down after five innings to an eventual 14-10 win.  That home run kick-started a huge second half of the season for Reese, who finished the year on a team-record 22-game hitting streak that started back on July 29.

In his two years in Gary, Reese not only has the highest batting average of any player (three ten-thousandths of a point ahead of once and future teammate Mike Rohde), he also carries the all-time best on-base percentage (.401) and on-base plus slugging (855).  His RailCats slugging percentage is second (.454) on the all-time list, behind only Cristian Guerrero.  In 217 RailCats games, Reese has 127 hits including 19 doubles, six triples and 12 home runs.

A four-year star at Division II Rollins College, Reese began his pro career in 2004 with Richmond and had a phenomenal season, hitting .319 with 42 RBI and stealing 32 bases.  After blasting a career-high 10 home runs and hitting a career-best .328 in 2005 for the Roosters, Reese moved to Traverse City in 2006 and stole a career-high 33 bases.  Reese’s on-base percentage has been .383 or better in each of his five professional seasons and has collected 114 career extra-base hits.

Reese has served as an assistant coach at Rollins during each of the seven seasons since his graduation, and continued to work with the Tars in the spring of 2010 as he completed his student teaching and earned his post-graduate degree.