Editing Evansville Otters

{{Short description|Frontier League baseball team in Evansville, Indiana}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox baseball team
|name             = Evansville Otters
|founded          = [[1995 in baseball|1995]]
|city             = [[Evansville, Indiana]]
|ballpark         = [[Bosse Field]]
|logo             = EvansvilleOtters New.png
|cap_logo         = EvansvilleOttersCap.png
|league           = [[Frontier League]]
|division         = Midwest Division
|former_leagues   = 
|former_names     = 
|nicknames        = 
|uniform          = 
|retired_numbers  = 
|colors           = Blue and white <br/>{{color box|blue}} {{color box|white}}
|former_ballparks = 
|league_champs    = 2 (2006, 2016)
|division_champs  = 3 (1997, 2000, 2019)
|berths           = {{flatlist|
;15
:1994
:1997
:1998
:1999
:2000
:2003
:2004
:2006
:2014
:2016
:2017
:2018
:2019
:2022
:2023
}}
|owner            = Wilfred “Bill” Bussing III
|manager          = Andy McCauley
|media            = ''[[Evansville Courier & Press]]''
|website          = {{URL|http://www.evansvilleotters.com}}
|general_manager=Brycen Moore}}

The '''Evansville Otters''' are a [[professional baseball]] team based in [[Evansville, Indiana]].  They compete in the [[Frontier League]] (FL) as a member of the Midwest Division. Since their establishment in 1995, the Otters have played at historic [[Bosse Field]], which originally opened in 1915.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bosse Field Facts |publisher=Evansville Otters |url=http://www.evansvilleotters.com/bosse_field.html |access-date=2008-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705054531/http://www.evansvilleotters.com/bosse_field.html |archive-date=2008-07-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Otters are the oldest current team in the Frontier League and have won two championships (2006 and 2016).

==History==

When the Otters began play in 1995, they returned baseball to Evansville for the first time in a decade. The city had been without a team since the [[Evansville Triplets]] relocated following the 1984 season.

The Otters have been a success since their first season of play in Evansville. On the field the Otters have reached the playoffs in 9 seasons, including six [[Frontier League]] Championship series with FLCS wins in 2006 and 2016.

The team has set numerous league attendance records in their early seasons. The Otters drew 90,000 fans in their first season, more than the entire Frontier League had in its inaugural season two years earlier.<ref>{{cite web | title=Frontier League History | publisher=Frontier Professional Baseball | url=http://www.frontierleague.com/history.php | access-date=2008-12-06 | archive-date=2010-01-02 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100102093328/http://frontierleague.com/history.php | url-status=dead }}</ref> The Otters have averaged over 2,500 fans per game since they started playing at [[Bosse Field]] in Evansville, most recently setting a 2013 league best with 3,200 fans per game.

The first Evansville Otters game was played on June 15, 1995. The Otters were awarded the Frontier League Organization of the Year Award in 1997, and the Commissioner's Award of Excellence in 2004. They earned their 689th win, a league record, on August 18, 2011. The team hosted the largest crowd ever at Bosse Field on July 24, 2013, with 8,253 fans in attendance. The Otters welcomed their 2,000,000th fan to the ballpark on August 18, 2013.

The Otters have promoted over 50 of their players to [[Major League Baseball]] franchises. Four Otters have gone on to careers at the major league level including [[George Sherrill]], [[Andrew Werner]], [[Brandyn Sittinger]], and [[Randy Wynne]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.14news.com/2023/06/26/former-otter-randy-wynne-makes-mlb-debut-with-cincinnati-reds/ | title=Former Otter Randy Wynne makes MLB Debut with Cincinnati Reds | date=26 June 2023 }}</ref>

The success of the Otters in Evansville led to the move of more Frontier League teams to larger cities, many of which have built new ballparks, leading to the increased stability and success of the league in recent years.

On May 27, 2014, the Otters became the first team in the Frontier League to reach 800 wins.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.frontierleague.com/2014/05/27/evansville-otters-first-in-frontier-league-history-to-800-wins/ |title=EVANSVILLE OTTERS FIRST IN FRONTIER LEAGUE HISTORY TO 800 WINS |publisher=Frontierleague.com |date=2014-05-27 |access-date=2015-04-25}}</ref>

The Otters reached the Frontier League Championship Series in 2023 for the first time since 2016 but lost in five games to the [[Québec Capitales|Quebec Capitales]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Napier |first=Briar |date=2023-09-18 |title=Le Québec est Magnifique Again With Repeat Frontier League Title |url=https://www.flobaseball.tv/articles/11251896-le-quebec-est-magnifique-again-with-repeat-frontier-league-title |access-date=2024-04-01 |website=FloBaseball |language=en}}</ref>

==Season-by-season records==

{|class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="6" style="text-align:center;"|Lancaster Scouts ([[Frontier League]])
|-
! Year !! Division !! W–L !! Win % !! Place !! Postseason
|-
|1993||West||22–33||.400||3rd||Did not qualify
|-
|1994||West||25–39||.391||2nd||Won 1st Round Playoff vs. [[Chillicothe Paints]] 2–1.<br /> Lost Frontier League Championship vs. [[Erie Sailors]] 2–0.
|-
!Total!!—!!47–72!!.395!!—!!—
|-
!Playoffs!!—!!2–3!!—!!.400!!1 Playoff appearance, 0 Championships
|-
! colspan="6" style="text-align:center;"|Evansville Otters ([[Frontier League]])
|-
|1995||—||31-38||.449||6th||Did not qualify
|-
|1996||West||34–40||.459||3rd||Did not qualify
|-
|1997||West||46–33||.582||1st||Won 1st Round Playoff vs. [[Richmond Roosters]] 2–1.<br /> Lost Frontier League Championship vs. [[Canton Crocodiles]] 2–0.
|-
|1998||West||43–36||.544||3rd||Lost 1st Round Playoff vs. [[Springfield Capitals]] 2–1.
|-
|1999||West||43–41||.512||1st||Lost 1st Round Playoff vs. [[Chillicothe Paints]] 2–0.
|-
|2000||West||45–38||.616||2nd||Won 1st Round Playoff vs. [[River City Rascals]] 2-0.<br /> Lost Frontier League Championship vs. [[Johnstown Johnnies]] 3-1.
|-
|2001||West||44–40||.524||4th||Did not qualify
|-
|2002||West||33–51||.393||6th||Did not qualify
|-
|2003||East||51–37||.580||3rd||Won 1st Round Playoff vs. [[Chillicothe Paints]] 2–1.<br /> Lost Frontier League Championship vs. [[Gateway Grizzlies]] 3–0.
|-
|2004||East||54–42||.562||2nd||Won 1st Round Playoff vs. [[Washington Wild Things]] 3–0.<br /> Lost Frontier League Championship vs. [[Rockford Riverhawks]] 3–0.
|-
|2005||East||52–43||.547||4th||Did not qualify
|-
|2006||West||46–50||.479||2nd||Won 1st Round Playoff vs. [[Rockford Riverhawks]] 3–2.<br /> Won Frontier League Championship vs. [[Chillicothe Paints]] 3–0.
|-
|2007||West||34–62||.354||4th||Did not qualify
|-
|2008||West||39–57||.406||6th||Did not qualify
|-
|2009||West||28–66||.298||6th||Did not qualify
|-
|2010||West||35–59||.372||6th||Did not qualify
|-
|2011||West||39–57||.406||T-5th||Did not qualify
|-
|2012||East||45–50||.474||5th||Did not qualify
|-
|2013||East||51–45||.531||4th||Did not qualify
|-
|2014||East||57–37||.606||2nd||Lost East Division Wild Card Game vs. [[Washington Wild Things]].
|-
|2015||East||48–48 ||.500||4th||Did not qualify
|-
|2016||West||55–40 ||.579||2nd||Won 1st Round Playoff vs. [[Joliet Slammers]] 3–1.<br /> Won Frontier League Championship vs. [[River City Rascals]] 3–2.
|-
|2017||West||52–44 ||.542||2nd||Lost 1st Round Playoff vs. [[Schaumburg Boomers]] 3–1.
|-
|2018||West||51–45 ||.531||2nd||Lost 1st Round Playoff vs. [[Washington Wild Things]] 3–0.
|-
|2019||West||57–39 ||.531||T-1st||Lost 1st Round Playoff vs. [[River City Rascals]] 3–0.
|-
|2020||West||-||-||-||Season not played due to [[COVID-19]]
|-
|2021||West||57–39 ||.594||2nd||Did not qualify
|-
|[[2022 Frontier League season|2022]]||West||52–44||.542||3rd||Lost Wild Card Game to [[Schaumburg Boomers]] 5–1.
|-
|2023||West||52–44 ||.542||3rd||Won Wild Card Game over [[Schaumburg Boomers]] 4–3 <br> Won 1st Round Playoff over [[Gateway Grizzlies]] 2–1 <br> Lost Championship vs. [[Québec Capitales]] 3–2
|-
|[[2024 Frontier League season|2024]]||West||41–55||.427||6th|| Did not qualify
|-
!Total!!—!!1,258–1,281!!.495!!—!!—
|-
!Playoffs!!—!!24–28!!.462!!—!!14 Playoff appearances, 2 Championships
|}

==Current roster==
{{IndyLB roster
| League         = Frontier League
| TeamName       = Evansville Otters
| BC1            = #1d376c
| FC1            = white
| BC2            = #d9372c
| FC2            = white
| Date           = May 4, 2025
| Pitchers       =
{{MLBplayer|--|CJ Backer}}
{{MLBplayer|18|Jon Beymer}}
{{MLBplayer|13|Parker Brahms}}
{{MLBplayer|27|Casey Delgado|IL}}
{{MLBplayer|--|Tyler Driver}}
{{MLBplayer|--|Ben Gerl}}
{{MLBplayer|--|Rolando Gutierrez}}
{{MLBplayer|46|Grif Hughes}}
{{MLBplayer|&nbsp;9|Chip Korbacher}}
{{MLBplayer|--|Adrian Montilva}} ‡
{{MLBplayer|36|Tyler Ras}}
{{MLBplayer|33|Braden Scott}}
{{MLBplayer|24|Zach Smith}}
{{MLBplayer|31|Alex Valdez}}
{{MLBplayer|--|Zach Voelker}}
{{MLBplayer|50|Ryan Wiltse}}
{{MLBplayer|--|Nate Wohlgemuth}}

| Catchers       =
{{MLBplayer|&nbsp;8|Logan Brown}} ‡
{{MLBplayer|&nbsp;5|Justin Felix}}
{{MLBplayer|--|Duncan Hewitt}}
{{MLBplayer|--|Cohen Wilbanks}}

| Infielders     =
{{MLBplayer|--|George Callil}}
{{MLBplayer|--|Alain Camou}}
{{MLBplayer|28|J.J. Cruz}}
{{MLBplayer|--|Riley Delgado}} ‡
{{MLBplayer|--|Ray Gil}}
{{MLBplayer|34|David Mendham}}
{{MLBplayer|11|Pavin Parks}}
{{MLBplayer|--|Keenan Taylor}}

| Outfielders    =
{{MLBplayer|--|Graham Brown}}
{{MLBplayer|--|Ty Crittenberger}}
{{MLBplayer|19|Clayton Keyes}}
{{MLBplayer|&nbsp;2|Mason White}}

| Utility        =

| Manager        =
{{MLBplayer|--|Andy McCauley}}

| Coaches        =
{{MLBplayer|--|Phil Britton}}<small>(assistant)</small>
{{MLBplayer|--|Dylan Dando}}<small>(assistant hitting)</small>
{{MLBplayer|--|Billy Easley}}<small>(assistant)</small>
{{MLBplayer|--|Max Peterson}}<small>(pitching)</small>
{{MLBplayer|--|Bobby Segal}}<small>(hitting)</small>
{{MLBplayer|--|Rob Watson}}<small>(assistant)</small>
}}

==Notable alumni==
* [[George Sherrill]] (1999–2000)
* [[Andrew Werner]] (2009–2010)
* [[Brett Marshall]] (2015)
* [[Ty Hensley]] (2018)
* [[Randy Wynne]] (2018–2019)
* [[Brandyn Sittinger]] (2019)
* [[Boots Day]] (2021)

==See also==
{{portal|Indiana}}
*[[Sports in Evansville]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.evansvilleotters.com/ Evansville Otters]
* [http://www.oursportscentral.com/sports/?t_id=537 Otters page at OurSports Central]

{{Frontier League}}
{{Indiana Sports}}

[[Category:Frontier League teams]]
[[Category:Professional baseball teams in Indiana]]
[[Category:Sports in Evansville, Indiana]]
[[Category:1995 establishments in Indiana]]
[[Category:Baseball teams established in 1995]]