We’ve already reached our second off day and we’re only 10 games into the season. Two off days in 10 games is almost unheard of. I did hear someone say the other day that after this off day we go 27 straight days without having an off day, so it all evens out.
Our team has gotten off to a slower start than I would have expected. We’re sitting at 4-6 right now after taking two out of three from the Sarasota Reds. Our first series of the year we played the Palm Beach Cardinals. We share the facility with them so whenever we play them we have two home games and two “away” games. After beating them nearly every day in spring training they promptly took three out of four from us when it mattered. I got my first start the third game at first base. I ended up going 1-4 but I hit the ball hard every time up, all those hard hit outs always even out, right dad?
For our second series we headed west a couple hours to Fort Myers to play the Minnesota Twins affiliate. The Miracle play their games in a really nice stadium with an even better playing surface. Our first game ended up getting rained out so the following day was filled with a double header, which we split. This series was dominated by 2007 first rounder Ben Revere. He always seemed to be getting on base, followed by stealing a base, followed by scoring a run. He helped them to take two out of three.
Our final series of the road trip was in Sarasota, which is the home of the Sarasota Reds. Sarasota is also where Scott is honing his craft. We ended up taking two out of three, mostly due to our man child Mike Stanton catching fire. Sarasota’s facilities and town aren’t nearly as nice as Fort Myers, it’s no wonder the Reds will be moving out to Arizona next year to a new spring training destination. It was great to see Scott again and see how upbeat he is being about his whole situation. We at together a few times and we realized that it has been since high school that we had seen each other play. There’s a likely possibility that when he comes back he’ll start in high a and I could very well end up facing him. Everyone always asks us if we’ve ever faced each other and the answer is always no, but that very well could change in a couple months.
I can already tell that our team is starting to make progress in the right direction. The first couple series we played a little uptight and it showed with mental mistakes and costly errors, but the effort was still there. The more everyone gets back into the routine of playing every day the more everyone will be performing to their upmost potential. The two main things that have hindered our performance as a team up to this point has been our hitting and our ability to close out games. If you were to ask anyone on our team, they would tell you that these two things will be two of our stronger areas when it is all said and done.
For me it’s been an all right start. Numbers wise I haven’t had a great start, but I’ve never really been a great starter. I’ve put together some good at bats, haven’t struck out a lot, and have hit quite a few balls pretty well. I’m not one bit worried because I know how long of a season it is and I know how even keeled you have to be to be successful.
Well that’s all I have for now, I’ve got to get going to make an eye appointment that I already missed once last week. I’ll try to blog again in a couple days to give a little more insight into life in the Florida State League.
“A timid person is frightened before a danger, a coward during the time, and a courageous person afterward.” –Jean Paul
Monday, April 20, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Minor league optimism...
For minor league baseball players today is the ultimate day of optimism. No matter what you did last year your numbers are reset at zero and every team has the opportunity of going 140-0. Everyone is upbeat and the locker room is a great place to be, but I’ve come to realize that it doesn’t last for long. Even if the team is winning, you will always have at least one guy on the team that is struggling and worrying about their job security. Like all the other teams, ours is filled with positive outlooks and everyone is expecting a successful year.
As for me, count me in with the rest of every minor leaguer. I’m go into this season after finishing strong the last week of spring training, and going into it healthier and stronger than I have ever been. Physically I can compete with anyone out there, but what separates the big leaguers from the minor leaguers is the ability to be stronger mentally than anyone out there. From what I’ve heard, the Florida State League will definitely challenge the mental capacity of any hitter. In our first meeting with our hitting coach he told us that there wouldn’t be any complaining about the conditions or the size of the field. That alone should eliminate a lot of the built in excuses that come with playing in the FSL.
I’ve set a bunch of goals that I want to accomplish throughout this year. First I thought of some mental/approach goals and then some numbers goals. The way I look at it is that if I come to the park every day ready to get better and I accomplish all my mental/approach goals then the numbers will all take care of themselves and I’ll be where I want to be at the end of the year.
Since my last blog I’ve had a few amazing things happen to me. On the last day of spring training I came into the locker room to find my name, along with about 10 other minor leaguers, on the daily plan sheet to dress out for the final major leaguer spring training game. I have no idea how the organization decides who get to suit up for these games, but nonetheless I took it as an honor. When you play in a big league game you get to wear your pants however you want, you get a one ear flap helmet, and best of all you get $30 for the day (meal money). The game got underway at 12:05 and after one at bat for all the big leaguers it was 1:05 and it was a slew of Marlins minor leaguers vs. the Toronto Blue Jays starting lineup. I played first base and got two at bats (struck out the first and grounded out the second). I had an unbelievable time just seeing how everyone goes about doing their job in such a professional manner. The game ended up in a 1-1 tie and I was left with the feeling of wanting more. I’ve now stored that feeling away and am going to use it as fuel to drive me to reach that ultimate goal.
The second exciting thing in my life is that I’ve now moved into what I would call a duplex/condo/townhouse. I’m living with Jameson Smith, Ryan Curry, and Tom Hickman; all great guys who I played with last year in Greensboro. Our living area is about 15 minutes walking distance from the field in a town called Abacoa. We’re having to pay quite a bit more than we paid last year for our place but I knew going in that no matter what kind of place that we would find we would have to pay a pretty hefty fee because of the inflated price of living down here. I’ve turned the bottom floor, which used to be a living room area, into my bedroom. After a few trips to Wal-Mart to construct a make shift closet and bed I’m finally all settled in for what should be an amazing six months.
Our first game is tonight at 7:05 against the Palm Beach Cardinals. Keep an eye out for the Jupiter Hammerheads this year; we will definitely be a fun team to keep track of!
I’ll be back in a few days so sum up our first series of the year. Thank you guys so much for all the support back home. It’s always nice to know that I have such a great group of people that have my back, regardless of I go 0-4 or 4-4.
“Tough times don’t last but tough people do.” I know I’ve used that quote before but it’s my favorite and I wanted to start the season of with one that meant the most to
As for me, count me in with the rest of every minor leaguer. I’m go into this season after finishing strong the last week of spring training, and going into it healthier and stronger than I have ever been. Physically I can compete with anyone out there, but what separates the big leaguers from the minor leaguers is the ability to be stronger mentally than anyone out there. From what I’ve heard, the Florida State League will definitely challenge the mental capacity of any hitter. In our first meeting with our hitting coach he told us that there wouldn’t be any complaining about the conditions or the size of the field. That alone should eliminate a lot of the built in excuses that come with playing in the FSL.
I’ve set a bunch of goals that I want to accomplish throughout this year. First I thought of some mental/approach goals and then some numbers goals. The way I look at it is that if I come to the park every day ready to get better and I accomplish all my mental/approach goals then the numbers will all take care of themselves and I’ll be where I want to be at the end of the year.
Since my last blog I’ve had a few amazing things happen to me. On the last day of spring training I came into the locker room to find my name, along with about 10 other minor leaguers, on the daily plan sheet to dress out for the final major leaguer spring training game. I have no idea how the organization decides who get to suit up for these games, but nonetheless I took it as an honor. When you play in a big league game you get to wear your pants however you want, you get a one ear flap helmet, and best of all you get $30 for the day (meal money). The game got underway at 12:05 and after one at bat for all the big leaguers it was 1:05 and it was a slew of Marlins minor leaguers vs. the Toronto Blue Jays starting lineup. I played first base and got two at bats (struck out the first and grounded out the second). I had an unbelievable time just seeing how everyone goes about doing their job in such a professional manner. The game ended up in a 1-1 tie and I was left with the feeling of wanting more. I’ve now stored that feeling away and am going to use it as fuel to drive me to reach that ultimate goal.
The second exciting thing in my life is that I’ve now moved into what I would call a duplex/condo/townhouse. I’m living with Jameson Smith, Ryan Curry, and Tom Hickman; all great guys who I played with last year in Greensboro. Our living area is about 15 minutes walking distance from the field in a town called Abacoa. We’re having to pay quite a bit more than we paid last year for our place but I knew going in that no matter what kind of place that we would find we would have to pay a pretty hefty fee because of the inflated price of living down here. I’ve turned the bottom floor, which used to be a living room area, into my bedroom. After a few trips to Wal-Mart to construct a make shift closet and bed I’m finally all settled in for what should be an amazing six months.
Our first game is tonight at 7:05 against the Palm Beach Cardinals. Keep an eye out for the Jupiter Hammerheads this year; we will definitely be a fun team to keep track of!
I’ll be back in a few days so sum up our first series of the year. Thank you guys so much for all the support back home. It’s always nice to know that I have such a great group of people that have my back, regardless of I go 0-4 or 4-4.
“Tough times don’t last but tough people do.” I know I’ve used that quote before but it’s my favorite and I wanted to start the season of with one that meant the most to
Friday, April 3, 2009
Final Roster
Tomorrow will be our last day of spring training and with a day left the management set our final rosters for the low a and high a affiliates. Before we went out to the field they made their final roster adjustments and when we gathered around for our meeting for the day we were told to take a deep breath because we had endured all of the releases. As we were standing there listening to our field coordinator talk about how hard his job was I thought about what a difficult thing it would be to have to tell someone that they weren’t going to be able to continue to follow their dreams with the organization. In the long run most everyone will have to face being told that they got released. A couple days ago the Marlins released a player who hit 40 plus homeruns last year. That’s the business of baseball though; organizations are always looking out for the best product to put on the field to represent the ownership.
Today was a pretty interesting day for me also. Right before we headed outside, the high a first baseman was called in to see the farm director. He came back to the locker room with a look on his face reminiscent of someone who had just seen a ghost, it wasn’t a good sign. He told everyone what they had told him and part of what they said was that I was going to be playing first base this year. I had thought that I would play over there every once in awhile but I quickly realized that I would be playing over there a lot more than I had originally thought. Before today there had only been one game that I had played over at first base this spring, another reason why it was such a surprise to me. If you haven’t picked up on it yet I will be starting this year with the Jupiter Hammerheads, our high a affiliate.
Our team, on paper, looks as if it should be a pretty solid team. We have prospects who are 19 and we have vets who are 28. We’re carrying 6 outfielders, which is almost unheard of, but a few guys are also able to play some other positions, myself included. Only one of our starting pitchers from Greensboro made the jump to high a and a handful of relievers were with him. All together I will be playing with around 8 guys that I played with last year.
The league that I will be playing in, the Florida State League, has the reputation of being one of the toughest leagues in minor league baseball for hitters. It’s a combination of the pitching getting better and the ballparks are big and the ball doesn’t fly well in Florida in the middle of summer. I think that most organizations look at the league as a make or break league. A lot of guys have made their careers in this league. The common opinion is that if you can hit in the Florida State League then you can hit in the big leagues. I look at it as a win-win situation. Nobody expects hitters to put up great numbers and if you do then it looks that much better. I’m looking forward to the year; I’m going to take what they give me and try not to give any at bats away.
The FSL is also one of the best leagues in terms of travel. Every team is in Florida so there won’t be any 14 hour trips like you experience in most every other league. We also play all of our games in nice ballparks, all of which are spring training homes to various teams. The one downside that everyone talks about is the lack of fans at the games. I don’t really see that as a big deal though, I can remember some cold mid-week games back at Missouri where we would be able to count 15 or so people sitting in the stands. When it comes down to it baseball is a game of a bunch of head to head matchups and during those matchups nothing else should matter.
I have a few more stories for you guys later this week. I just wanted to let everyone know what I would be doing this summer. I would love for everyone out there to come down to south Florida and take a vacation and in the meantime you could catch a Hammerheads game!
“If I’m going to do something, I do it spectacularly or I don’t do it at all.”
-Al-Waleed bin Talal
Today was a pretty interesting day for me also. Right before we headed outside, the high a first baseman was called in to see the farm director. He came back to the locker room with a look on his face reminiscent of someone who had just seen a ghost, it wasn’t a good sign. He told everyone what they had told him and part of what they said was that I was going to be playing first base this year. I had thought that I would play over there every once in awhile but I quickly realized that I would be playing over there a lot more than I had originally thought. Before today there had only been one game that I had played over at first base this spring, another reason why it was such a surprise to me. If you haven’t picked up on it yet I will be starting this year with the Jupiter Hammerheads, our high a affiliate.
Our team, on paper, looks as if it should be a pretty solid team. We have prospects who are 19 and we have vets who are 28. We’re carrying 6 outfielders, which is almost unheard of, but a few guys are also able to play some other positions, myself included. Only one of our starting pitchers from Greensboro made the jump to high a and a handful of relievers were with him. All together I will be playing with around 8 guys that I played with last year.
The league that I will be playing in, the Florida State League, has the reputation of being one of the toughest leagues in minor league baseball for hitters. It’s a combination of the pitching getting better and the ballparks are big and the ball doesn’t fly well in Florida in the middle of summer. I think that most organizations look at the league as a make or break league. A lot of guys have made their careers in this league. The common opinion is that if you can hit in the Florida State League then you can hit in the big leagues. I look at it as a win-win situation. Nobody expects hitters to put up great numbers and if you do then it looks that much better. I’m looking forward to the year; I’m going to take what they give me and try not to give any at bats away.
The FSL is also one of the best leagues in terms of travel. Every team is in Florida so there won’t be any 14 hour trips like you experience in most every other league. We also play all of our games in nice ballparks, all of which are spring training homes to various teams. The one downside that everyone talks about is the lack of fans at the games. I don’t really see that as a big deal though, I can remember some cold mid-week games back at Missouri where we would be able to count 15 or so people sitting in the stands. When it comes down to it baseball is a game of a bunch of head to head matchups and during those matchups nothing else should matter.
I have a few more stories for you guys later this week. I just wanted to let everyone know what I would be doing this summer. I would love for everyone out there to come down to south Florida and take a vacation and in the meantime you could catch a Hammerheads game!
“If I’m going to do something, I do it spectacularly or I don’t do it at all.”
-Al-Waleed bin Talal
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
