On February 7th, the RailCats signed RHP Spencer Adams, who was drafted by the White Sox in 2014 in the 2nd round; RHP Ethan Hankins, who signed with the RailCats late last season, playing in only 4 games and starting in 3; and LHP Dawson Lane, who played for the Yolo High Wheelers and Billings Mustangs of the Pioneer League.

Starting with Spencer Adams, he is 6-3, 171 LBS, and is 28 years old. He is from Cleveland, GA, and went to White County High School. He was drafted to the White Sox right out of high school in the 2nd round of the 2014 draft. He played in 6 seasons from Single-A to Triple-A, which he reached in 2018 and 2019.

After the 2019 season, that is where his stats stop. He could have been playing in Japan or somewhere else that Baseball Reference doesn’t get stats from. But looking at his Triple-A stats, Adams pitched in 108.1 innings, had a record of 5-7 with an ERA of 3.99. He played in 20 games and started in 18 of them. He gave up 117 hits, 53 runs, 48 earned runs, 14 home runs, walked 46, and struck out 52. He only hit 2 batters. He had a WHIP of 1.50, H/9 of 9.7, HR/9 of 1.2, BB/9 of 3.8, SO/9 of 4.3, and SO/W of 1.13.

In his 6 seasons on record, Spencer played in 120 games, starting in 117, and had a record of 40-48 with an ERA of 3.93 in 663.2 innings pitched. He gave up 738 hits, 328 runs, 290 earned runs, 64 home runs, struck out 159 batters, walked 159, and hit 10 batters. He had a WHIP of 1.352, H/9 of 10, HR/9 of 0.9, BB/9 of 2.2, SO/9 of 6.4, and SO/W of 2.97.

Outside of the Triple-A stats, he kept his WHIP down to under 1.4; he will give up the hits but has the control to limit the damage and doesn’t walk a ton of batters while mixing in the strikeouts more often than not. Adams is the type of pitcher that the RailCats have missed in their starting rotation, just now to see where he fits in. I have high hopes for Spencer, but not knowing what he has done since 2019 can throw the caution flag up for me. But nonetheless,

WELCOM TO THE SOUTHSHORE!!

Ethan Hankins returns for the start of the 2025 season, as he was a late signing in the 2024 season. Ethan is 6-6, 230 lbs, and is 24 years old. He is from Atlanta, GA, and was drafted out of Forsyth Central High School in the 1st round to the Cleveland Guardians of the 2018 draft. He played in Rookie Ball to Double-A from 2018 to 2024. He reached Double-A in 2024 but only played in one game, where he started and threw 1.2 innings. I believe he ended up hurting his throwing arm, and the team released him; after he healed up, he then signed with Gary.

In his 5 seasons in Affiliated ball, he had a record of 1-10, played in 33 games, started in 32, pitched in 111.2 innings, and had an ERA of 3.47. He gave up 87 hits, 50 runs, 43 earned runs, 7 home runs, walked 58, hit 8 batters, while striking out 131. His WHIP was 1.299, H/9 of 7, HR/9 of 0.6, BB/9 of 4.7, DO/9 of 10.6, and SO/W of 2.26.

With the RailCats, he pitched in 4 games and started in 3 with a 0-2 record and an ERA of 9.82. He pitched in 11 innings, gave up 13 hits and 12 runs. He gave up 2 home runs, 9 walks, and struck out 17. His WHIP was 2.

Ethan can bring the heat and the good stuff; the small glimpse of what he did with the RailCats was the effect of being derailed with an injury and being let go. As a 1st round draft pick, this could be a big step in the right direction for the RailCats if Ethan can get back into form. Lamarr has bolstered the starting rotation, creating a hopefully friendly competitive rotation, something that was missing last year.

WELCOME BACK TO THE SOUTHSHORE!

Dawson Lane LHP 6-5, 210 LB, 25 years old. Lane played college ball at Montreat College in North Carolina from 2018 to 2019 before transferring to Florida Southern College from 2020 to 2022.

In college at Florida Southern College, he earned the SSC Commissioner’s Honor Roll for the 2021 season, and in 2022, he was named to the D2CCA All-South 2nd team and the All-SSC Second team. He also earned 2 SSC Pitcher of the Week awards. He started the season in the bullpen before being moved to the rotation, where he had 8 starts on the year. He had an ERA of 2.07, which was among the best of the staff and ranked 8th among all Division II pitchers.

After college, he played for Westside of the United Shore League in 2022. Then he went to the New York Boulders of the Frontier League in the 2023 season, where he pitched 55 innings with an ERA of 5.07 and a WHIP of 1.636.

For last season, Lane pitched in the Pioneer League with 2 teams. The first team was the YOLO High Wheelers, where he pitched 37.1 innings and had an ERA of 7.23 and a WHIP of 2.06. He also played for the Billings Mustangs, where he pitched 16.2 innings and had an ERA of 3.78.

In his 3 seasons of independent/MLB Partner League career, Dawson played in 49 games and started in 20, had an ERA of 5.40 with 126.2 innings pitched. He gave up 149 hits, 83 runs, 76 earned runs, 15 home runs, 61 walks, and struck out 130. His WHIP was 1.658, H/9 of 10.6, HR/9 of 1.1, BB/9 of 4.3, and SO/9 of 9.3 with a SO/W of 2.13.

Dawson seems like a power pitcher where he is going to challenge batters and see if they can beat him. It looks like the hits will be high, but the walks will be down, something that the RailCats struggled with last season. Dawson should be a good piece in the bullpen if he can get the hits down.

WELCOME TO THE SOUTHSHORE!!