Baseball Southern Conference

The Citadel's McPherson Gets Big League Call

Anaheim, CA - Former Bulldog third baseman Dallas McPherson, who was drafted in the second round of the 2001 amateur baseball draft by the Anaheim Angels, was called up from Triple-A Salt Lake late Monday and will join the Angels in Anaheim on Tuesday as they face the Toronto Blue Jays.

"Dallas is having a good season," Angels general manager Bill Stoneman said. "We think he's going to have a real productive and long Major League career."

McPherson, who was on the Angels' 40-man roster during spring training, did not make the big league club in March, but he batted .321 with 20 home runs and 69 RBI in 68 games at Double-A Arkansas, numbers that earned him a promotion to Salt Lake.

In almost as many games at Triple-A, McPherson slugged another 20 homers and drove-in 57 runs, while batting .318. He tallied a whopping .690 slugging percentage while at Salt Lake and also maintained a solid .375 on-base percentage.

"Dallas has worked very hard and deserves this great opportunity." Bulldog skipper Fred Jordan stated. "Baseball is about production and his numbers speak for themselves."


McPherson, who gained fame last season after hitting a home run off of Randy Johnson during the Big Unit's Double-A rehab assignment, was reacquainted with the Cy Young hurler this season by being one of the players the Angels would not trade to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Johnson.

McPherson is the first Citadel Bulldog to be named to a Major League roster since Britt Reames, a former Bulldog pitcher now with the Oakland A's, pitched 1.1 innings in 2003 before being injured. Reames has pitched a combined 205 innings since 2000 with the St. Louis Cardinals (2000) and Expos (2001-2003).

Doug Miller of MLB.com contributed to this article.