By Jon Rathbun
The Times
The Spence brothers grew up in Geelong, a port city in Victoria, Australia. Nic Spence followed his older brother to Central Arizona Community College. Josh Spence spent two years at Arizona State, winning 10 games as a junior and being drafted by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He opted to return for his senior year year but sat out the season with an elbow injury. After signing with the Padres, he joined the Eugene Emeralds of the Northwest League where his manager was Pat Murphy, his coach at Arizona State.
Josh Spence is the 27th Australian major leaguer, according to Wikipedia.org. Reuters puts the number at 29.
Nic Spence started all 57 games at first base during his first season at Cincinnati and batted .227 while finishing second on the team with six home runs. He leads the Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs with a .375 batting average through seven games and has scored five runs.
Compiled From Times Staff Reports