GARY, Ind. — Northern League Player of the Year Tanner Townsend continuing to pile up accolades following his impressive 2008 season, landing on Baseball America’s All-Independent Leagues First Team at third base.  Northern League Pitcher of the Year Jeremy Plexico joined Townsend, earning a spot on the Second Team.

Baseball America’s annual teams honor the best players from independent baseball’s eight leagues and 62 teams, and Townsend and Plexico are just the second and third RailCats ever to garner these prestigious commendations.  The highly-regarded Baseball America is the premier trade publication serving major and minor league baseball.

Townsend ranked in the top four in the Northern League in six offensive categories in 2008 – leading the league in RBIs and slugging – and became the first RailCat to earn Player of the Year honors.  The 28-year-old had the finest season ever turned in by a RailCat hitter, setting team records in batting average (.371), RBIs (84) slugging percentage (.623) and extra-base hits (44), and leading an offense that set or tied 24 club records.

Townsend has become one of the faces of the RailCats franchise in his four years in Northwest Indiana, arriving at U. S. Steel Yard along with Manager Greg Tagert in 2005 and helping usher in an unprecedented era of success that has seen the RailCats win a pair of Northern League Championships and advance to the league finals four years in a row.  A highly-regarded defensive third baseman, Townsend has spent nearly his entire professional career under Tagert, joining the now-RailCats skipper in the Frontier League in 2003 and improving nearly every season under Tagert’s watch.

“This is a tremendous honor for Tanner,” Tagert said.  “I have a hard time imagining any player who was better all around – offensively, defensively or as a leader – or was more valuable to his team than Tanner was to the RailCats, and this type of recognition can hopefully get him some interest from major league clubs.  We have set the bar high by producing guys who are major league ready, like Nathan Haynes [who played for the Los Angeles Angels and Tampa Bay Rays in 2007 and 2008] and Willie Glen, and I think Tanner is right with those two.  He is a player I believe is capable of playing in the major leagues.”

In addition to the single-season records Townsend set in 2008, the durable third baseman also holds a number of RailCats career records, including home runs (39), RBIs (229), runs scored (218) and total bases (616).  Townsend’s contract rights are held by the RailCats for 2009, but Tagert said he has talked to a few major league organizations about signing the Kentucky native.

Plexico’s RailCats career may be less decorated than Townsend’s, but the first-year RailCat had just as big of an impact on the 2008 squad, becoming the second straight ‘Cats hurler to earn Pitcher of the Year honors in the Northern League.  Despite working as a full-time starter for the first time in his six-year professional career, the 28-year-old southpaw led the league with 10 wins and posted a tidy 2.79 ERA, second among all starting pitchers.

“This is the kind of recognition that should, deservingly, boost Jeremy’s career, either with the RailCats or elsewhere,” Tagert said.  “In his first season in independent baseball, this experience was obviously worthwhile for him.  We could not have achieved what we did this year without Jeremy as a constant in our rotation, and his work-ethic and character make him everything we want in a RailCat.”

Plexico made 21 starts to lead the RailCats in 2008 and racked up awards during the season, earning Pitcher of the Month honors in June and picking up the league’s Pitcher of the Week award three times.  The starting (and winning) pitcher in the 2008 Northern League All-Star Game, Plexico is the latest in a line of RailCats hurlers to thrive under Tagert, becoming the fourth pitcher since 2006 to earn a spot on the Northern League’s Postseason All-Star Team.

Plexico and Townsend join Wes Chamberlain (2003) and Glen as the only RailCats to ever to earn All-Independent Leagues honors.  Glen, the 2007 Northern League Pitcher of the Year, landed on the 2007 First Team as a starting pitcher before signing with the Florida Marlins and enjoying a terrific 2008 season with the Double-A Carolina Mudcats.

All eight independent leagues had players selected to Baseball America’s First and Second Teams, which were each comprised of eight position players, a designated hitter, four starting pitchers and one relief pitcher.  Former RailCats pitcher Kris Regas – who was signed recently by the Detroit Tigers – landed the Second Team along with Joliet JackHammers slugger Juan Diaz, the only other representative from the Northern League.

The RailCats went 56-40 in 2008, finishing in second place in the Northern League and advancing to the League Championship Series for the fourth year a row.  The RailCats will begin the 2009 season in May at beautiful U. S. Steel Yard.