Like Apprenticeship Programs or Artistic Pursuits: Minor League Baseball reporting 2017

https://i.imgur.com/tE3q9sS.jpg

stay classy, pat o'conner

http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2017/12/19/in-an-interview-minor-league-baseball-president-pat-oconner-diminishes-the-work-of-his-players

the potomac nationals, who have historically had the best/weirdest bobblehead giveaways in the minors, are having a fan vote to determine one of their 2018 bobbleheads

one of the options is Bobby Bo(nilla) holding a $1.19 million check Bobblehead

We're excited to announce LÜG Vodka - our collaboration with @AmericanFifth! #LugLife

⬇️ FULL STORY ⬇️ https://t.co/lTxhIyA24m pic.twitter.com/uFGjem0GR4

— Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) March 9, 2018

not enough for me to put Lansing on my unemployment road map

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/quantifying-the-effects-of-winning-in-the-minor-leagues-on-player-development

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/spending-bill-could-quash-minor-league-baseball-players-wage-claims/2018/03/18/d31cd76e-2b0a-11e8-8ad6-fbc50284fce8_story.html?utm_term=.947b4a41d948

@jazayerli
For the $6M annual pension owners are giving Bud Selig, they could have given every minor leaguer in baseball a raise of about $300 a month.

@jazayerli
$300 a month translates into maybe an extra $1.50 an hour. Which means that MLB could comply with federal minimum wage laws instead of lobbying Congress for a damn exemption, for little more than the cost of one man’s pension.

But they won’t.

30-some teams are doing marketing outreach by adopting hispanic/latin identities/uniforms for portions of the season and some of them are actually pretty decent

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*3JWrwE3u5iA_PCbJ8eHNWQ.png

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*TIwlE9TJM6BjHcYDb6no1A.png

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*n_cHuALRbPq-vrtrdP2jiw.png

probably gonna sell a bunch of caps

Congress passes bill depriving minor leaguers of minimum wage rights https://t.co/hNkzJ48Cuk

— HardballTalk (@HardballTalk) March 22, 2018

gross

https://theathletic.com/288633/2018/03/27/sarris-three-days-in-the-life-and-finances-of-a-minor-league-baseball-player (unlocked)

https://www.mlb.com/cut4/here-are-the-100-best-minor-league-player-names-heading-into-the-2018-season/c-270771028

BIG NEWS! 9x @NBA All-Star, former @WakeMBB star and Forsyth County native Chris Paul (@CP3) has become a part owner of our team!

MORE: https://t.co/egtDsy3tmo pic.twitter.com/Qn5v5X88jQ

— Winston-Salem Dash (@WSDashBaseball) April 10, 2018

not to be a total homer or anything but the 2018 memphis redbirds really one of the best AAA teams of all time? the 2017 version was already dominant, and they're even better this year. this year's model:

C Carson Kelly (either #1 or #2 catching prospect in baseball, good enough to start in MLB right now, blocked by Molina)
1B Luke Voit (AAAA, good enough to be on an MLB bench)
2B Max Schrock
3B Patrick Wisdom (not good enough to start in MLB, but a star in AAA and probably a good player in Japan in a year or two)
SS Wilfredo Tovar/Alex Mejia (eh)
OF Tyler O'Neill (all of these outfielders have a lot of talent. Garcia and Arozarena are good all-around players, O'Neill is one of those high K% guys with huge tree trunk arms, a new Randal Grichuk but probably better)
OF Jose Adolis Garcia
OF Randy Arozarena
also OF Oscar Mercado, who is good

SP Jack Flaherty (already good enough to be in any MLB rotation, may be an ace someday)
SP John Gant (could be a backend option right now in many MLB rotations, probably a #3 or #4 in a few years)
SP Dakota Hudson (flashes of brilliance, will be a major league something, either starter or reliever)
SP Austin Gomber (will probably be a MLB 6th or 7th inning kind of guy)
SP Daniel Poncedeleon (cool name, got drilled in the head and lived to tell about it and is cool)

with few exceptions, almost all of these guys will almost certainly be MLB regulars within the next few years, if not later this year.

It's not the high notes of the The Star-Spangled Banner that has Alishia Wolcott turning down a spot to sing at a Reno Aces baseball game this summer.

The 2016 University of Nevada, Reno graduate said no to her chance to sing the national anthem at Greater Nevada Field, the downtown Reno stadium where the Aces minor league baseball team plays, because she can't bring her gun.

Wolcott declined to sing or ever attend another baseball game in a letter to the team after learning of the stadium’s new policy in which everyone will be checked with hand-held metal detectors before entering the stadium.

what a patriot

The firing of Bryan Price--um, googling to see who he managed--led me to check in on my student Darren Shred for the first time in a while. He had the weirdest line last year. In 3.2 IP (Rookie League), he gave up no hits and no runs. He also walked six and struck out no one. He's also a perfect illustration of the old saw about every major leaguer having been Babe Ruth in high school--the best pitcher, hitter, and fielder on the team by a wide margin. As a hitter in grade 8, Darren was so far beyond everyone else it was ridiculous. In two years with Arizona, he has yet to bat. (Obviously a function of him being a pitcher, but I'm sure he'd get to the plate if he was noticeably better than anyone.)

I'm sure he'd get to the plate if he was noticeably better than anyone.

i doubt he has the opportunity to even demonstrate this -- every minor league has the DH (except in AA/AAA when two NL affiliates are playing each other and agree to have the pitchers hit). the reds have a legit two-way (potential) star -- hunter greene was the second overall pick last year and *wants* to do both (he's a shortstop) but is being made to concentrate on pitching this year, at least.

the rays have brendan mckay -- also a first-rounder last year -- and they're letting him play first and pitch, which is interesting. he went to college and is older than greene. he can really hit, but i'm not sure he has the power you'd want in a first baseman. what will they do if his hitting warrants a promotion (he's batting .389 in the first two weeks at low A) but his pitching doesn't?

solid starting pitching is so valuable -- i mean jeff samardzija has a career era+ of 97 and a 5 year/$90m contract -- that i think most teams are much more interested in that. maybe shohei can change things, idk

Yeah, I guess the two-way player is one out of a thousand. Implicit in what I was saying was that--partly due to inactivity, but mostly just due to how much better everyone else is, even in a Rookie League--Darren's probably not anything special as a hitter now anyway.

"Everyone" meaning the best hitters in the league, and also the caliber of pitching he'd face.

It's April 20th and the Buffalo Bisons have played only five games. https://t.co/uWoJfu0YMk pic.twitter.com/DVEqbHku88

— Minor League Stories (@MinorsTeamNames) April 20, 2018

Interesting talk now abt reverting to 154 game schedule, seems like a collective bargaining minefield but would alleviate these April problems, not to mention MLB future and the inevitability of August games postponed due to heat

Collegiate summer-league reporting

We are thrilled to introduce @robneyer as the new commissioner of the West Coast League. See the full release about the former ESPN and Fox Sports journalist joining the WCL. https://t.co/TTOBLQIiuG pic.twitter.com/nvtNB4hyAX

— West Coast League (@WCLBaseball) May 1, 2018

fitting even if SI has a minor-league railroad too

http://gothamist.com/2018/06/11/staten_island_pizza_rats.php

A few years ago, the Staten Island Yankees held a fan vote to decide upon a new name/identity for the organization. As things tend to go with online fan voting, the choices were pretty weird and amusing. But there could only be one ultimate winner: the Pizza Rats.

Apparently embarrassed by being associated with the most popular rat in NYC history, the team officials dragged their feet over changing the name, ultimately announcing that the team would stick with the "SI Yankees" moniker.

lol they weren't embarrassed -- the prissy yankees informed them that if they became the pizza rats, the team would take its affiliation elsewhere at the next opportunity. staten island figured that keeping the affiliation was more important than selling a shitload of merch, which may or may not be true (certainly not for the average non-nyc minor league team). they're finally now doing it as a special one-off thing so they can have it both ways

the yankees have a proud history of dignity and honor to uphold

https://i.imgur.com/os0VF0o.jpg

i'll take Babe's guzzling and "bellyache" over bald-eagle flyovers and the Steinbrenners

in his first professional game, tigers 10th-round pick BROCK DEATHERAGE hit three solo homers in the gulf coast league

Great Real Names imo

corpus christi hooks third baseman randy cesar has hits in 38 straight games (during which he is batting .386), the longest such streak in the 130-year history of the texas league

we need audio

The Spinners would like to release the following statement on an incident that occurred during the Canadian National Anthem prior to last night's ball game. pic.twitter.com/ZvxJmuGYSR

— Lowell Spinners (@LowellSpinners) July 2, 2018

mocking millennials in Montgomery

http://www.wsfa.com/story/38630010/biscuits-stir-the-pot-with-millennial-night-promotion

How Minor League Baseball players can begin unionizing
Minor League players unionizing isn’t impossible, but it won’t be easy, either.

https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/7/12/17518102/minor-league-baseball-unions-mlb-garrett-broshuis-mlbpa

The Colorado Springs Sky Sox have unveiled their list of finalists for their new team name for 2019. Are you ready?

1. Happy Campers
2. Lamb Chops
3. Punchy Pikas
4. Throttle Jockeys
5. Rocky Mountain Oysters

— Josh Norris (@jnorris427) July 18, 2018

christ

you know sky sox, not every team name needs to be made up of two or more words

'pikas' would actually be okay by itself

guaranteed to be rocky mountain oysters tho

can't wait til the Cyclones are renamed the Coney Island Whitefish

We want your input on the new North Alabama MiLB team name! Should it be...
🔘 Army Ants
🔘 Comet Jockeys
🔘 GloWorms
🔘 Lunartics
🔘 Moon Possums
🔘 Puffy Head Bird Legs
🔘 Space Chimps
🔘 Space Sloths
🔘 ThunderSharks
🔘 Trash Pandas

Which is your favorite? Let us know below👇 pic.twitter.com/mMhDWQAtzB

— Brandiose (@Brandiose) July 26, 2018

will we ever reach the bottom

i'm not sure what i would pick if i actually had to choose. i guess...gloworms?

i would select puffy head bird legs or trash pandas because i am a minor league team name accelerationist

we'll never have good names again until all names are bad

kinda want to know why Trash Pandas gets a space and ThunderSharks doesn't

A couple BP guys did a Saberseminar presentation on improving minor-league culture, and when they got to diet, they just put up a slide of a dozen minor leaguers hailing Chipotle.

speakin' of trash

https://deadspin.com/angry-baseball-guy-brings-trash-can-onto-field-tells-u-1828166387

there we go

https://www.milb.com/milb/news/abracadabra-astudillo-pulls-off-hidden-ball-trick-for-rochester-red-wings/c-289520148

i hadn't considered this ramification of starting extra innings with a runner on second -- a team had a two-pitch inning the other day

PawSox Sign Letter of Intent to Build a Triple-A Ballpark in Worcester, Massachusetts

Hudson Valley Renegades 4, Brooklyn Cyclones 1. Got to see the visitors celebrate a division title on the field, and on Military Appreciation Night I tipped my cap when members of the Coast Guard were solicited. (I have never been in the Coast Guard.)

the "fans of northern alabama" have spoken

beginning in 2020, madison, al (just outside of huntsville) will be home to the Rocket City Trash Pandas