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

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

jfc

the eugene emeralds finished the regular season with the worst record (31-45, .408) in the eight-team northwest league, but made the playoffs through the magic of half-seasons and wild cards and tiebreakers

they proceed to win five straight playoff games, taking the championship on a walk-off balk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9QDLrFiV7Q

Durham advances to play Memphis for the AAA championship

https://www.milb.com/milb/news/joe-mccarthy-helps-durham-bulls-repeat-as-governors-cup-champions/c-294766842

affiliate shuffle has begun -- las vegas is now the a's triple-a team

triple-a shuffle is complete, and the nationals got stuck with fresno

This is a complete disaster for the #Nationals. While I tweeted yesterday that geography is usually overstated, it's not in this case. They will be 2,796 miles from Fresno, 3 time zone aways, and their new AAA affiliate has one of the smallest airports in AAA.

— Josh Suchon 🎤⚾️ (@Josh_Suchon) September 18, 2018

yikes...how..?

Dusty Baker's Revenge

the mets have been mostly stuck with shitty triple-a affiliates (new orleans, las vegas) since losing tidewater like 15 years ago -- i suspect this had something to do with the wilpons' crappy management -- so they straight-up purchased the syracuse team, which had been with the nationals, last year

after years of being bad locations, nashville and las vegas have new ballparks and are now desirable. someone was always going to get stuck with fresno -- which at least has a nice park -- but having it be with an east-coast team is rough

i don't really know how this stuff plays out -- it's very secretive and there are a lot of rules like all the affiliation deals are for the same money and you can't promise to hold a big-league exhibition game there, deals are for two or four years, no longer or shorter, etc. the pirates' triple-a club was in hawaii in the mid-80s, and the marlins had calgary in the early 2000s, but player movement is much more extreme these days. the nats are probably going to have to call up their emergency pitchers from double-a harrisburg instead just to get them there on time

this is something that is rarely discussed in MLB expansion talk -- every new team is going to need not only a big-league stadium and a spring training facility but also four or five new domestic farm clubs with professional-grade parks. that is not something that is done easily or quickly, and i'm not even sure where they'd go. the landscape is pretty saturated

http://✧✧✧.m✧✧✧.com/shared/images/logos/176x176/logo_88w_aaa_t✧✧✧@2✧.p✧✧

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DppvN0KUUAA_czt.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dr6HRwEUUAATgqK.jpg:small

Meet Traverse City's new Northwoods League baseball team -- the Traverse City Pit Spitters. I like it. A lot. pic.twitter.com/NAmVjnXwkt

— Tony Paul (@TonyPaul1984) January 29, 2019

pit spitters is dumb but like kinda fun dumb and those colors are gonna be nice

armadillo pod doodles or whatever tho that shit looks awful

Salem making history in broadcast booth
Cool, Newman to form baseball's first all-female radio team

https://www.milb.com/milb/news/salem-red-sox-making-history-in-broadcast-booth/c-304819734