SB Nation User Blog: CentralChamps2009

Now we know whose fault it was

CentralChamps2009 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:32:30 -0000

Now we know whose fault it was

It was John Mizerock's fault. He's the only coach shown the door for the fine performance of the Royals this season.

Accountability starts now!

Bill James said something a while ago that I thought was about as good a thought about bad baseball...

CentralChamps2009 — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:56:01 -0000

Bill James said something a while ago that I thought was about as good a thought about bad baseball teams as anything I’ve heard. He said, "The future is not a plan." And I think that’s exactly right. Every baseball team has a future. Every one. Every team has "prospects" — Baseball America next year will list off 30 for each team. Every team is loaded down with players in Class A who, if things go well, can emerge as the next great superstar. Every team has pitchers who could, and hitters who might, and catchers who should, and base runners who conceivably can. Every team in baseball.

And because every team has a future, it’s easy to fool yourself. It’s easy to talk about how things will get better. This is not always a bad thing. This is what gives fans hope every spring training. This is what keeps players inspired. This is what keeps baseball people going forward. And sometimes, rarely, a team even might fool itself into believing that it is better than the apparent talent and play at that higher level, at least for a while.

But … more often than not, fooling yourself isn’t much of a plan for survival. And thus, The Hochevar Principle: The future comes to all teams. Some teams wait for it. Those teams finish in last place a lot.

Joe Posnanski on "The Hochevar Principle"

The Onion on Jeter-love

CentralChamps2009 — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:18:05 -0000

The Onion on Jeter-love

A fitting tribute to the MSM's manlove of the MVP-elect.

Man, I wish I could get that picture framed.

Arizona Fall League players announced

CentralChamps2009 — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:09:38 -0000

Arizona Fall League players announced

Looks like they are sending everybody of note except Hosmer (who'll be resting his eyes and bruised finger).

A night with the Blue Rocks

CentralChamps2009 — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:35:57 -0000

I just got back from a vacation out east where, on Saturday night, I took in a Blue Rocks game on the road against the Potomac Nationals in the "Battle of Bryce Harper's Potential Future Teams." It was also a battle for 1st place in the Northern Division due to a Wilmington team-record 12-game winning streak. My presence turned out to be as unlucky as trying to win a 13th in a row, as the Rocks barely even showed up for the 9-0 pasting. As no one truly cares about the results of these games, here's a really-really-layman's opinion of what I saw amongst the individuals on the crown jewel of the current farm system:

Hitting: Both Johnny G. and Clint Robinson (the only player who looked good in all of his at bats) crushed doubles into the left field gap against a pretty-good-but-not-overpowering LH in 2008 10th round draft pick in Tom Milone. This was the extent of the positive observations of the offense). Apparently Milone's recently learned a cut fastball that spent most of the game just touching the left side of the plate and basically confounding everyone. Moustakas took a walk, but really never looked good in any of his at-bats--what contact he made was minimal, and I he struck out twice. Hosmer did get a hold of one to the opposite field which looked like it would carry for a long double, but the oppressively still air of Pfitzer Stadium (like apparently the entire Carolina League) seemed to push it back down for a line out (Robinson and Johnny were helped by a wind straight out to center earlier in the game which I could only visually verify with a flag--you could feel nothing in the stands).

Fielding: nothing particularly interesting to see. I was on the first-base side, and both Johnny G. and Hos looked good. I don't remember anything getting hit to Moustakas at all. Paolo Orlando has some very good outfield range

Pitching: Going to a Blue Rocks game, I had a 40% chance of seeing Mike Montgomery or Danny Duffy pitch. I'm not that fortunate. Alex Caldera started and was figured out immediately, giving up 7 runs in 1 2/3 innings. He labored with nearly every batter and, even though his fastball had some life, he had control problems and got hit pretty hard when he did throw a strike. He did get hosed on an inning-ending double play that wasn't called--Johnny G. threw high to second, but Hosmer went up for it and kept his foot on the bag, although the ump disagreed. The next hitter ended Caldera's day with a deep three-run homer.

I did get fortunate later, though, because Danny Gutierrez pitched the 5th-7th innings, and was simply dominant results-wise: 6 K's, no walks, and 1 single. Solid contact was made on some fastballs, but they were all foul balls--no one could catch up to them. He could put the fastball anywhere he wanted (I tried to get a peek on the scouts' guns, but they weren't on when I was looking). He's working on what looked like a curveball, but could have been a changeup--unlike the fastball, I don't think anyone knew where the off-speed pitch was going to wind up. But his fastball command and the drastic speed difference for the off-speed pitch prevented any problems. It was a really cool performance to watch, gave me something positive to see in this game, and made me thankful he, Boras, and the Royals finally made up enough to get him back on the mound.

Other thoughts: I was simply baffled in the 8th--Derrick Robinson got barely hit by a pitch, thus creating the only opportunity he was going to get on base in this game. Not only does he not try to steal (down 9 in the eighth, what can there possibly be to lose?), he doesn't even try to lead off when he wasn't really being held on that much (the 1B was close, but off the bag behind him). Clint Robinson then hit a single to right that someone with his speed should have easily reached third on, but he never even gave it a thought. Even though he's filled out a lot since I saw him in Burlington in 2007, speed still seems to be his only tool, and that he doesn't even try/is not allowed to use it had me annoyed (I'm hoping there is a minor injury as opposed to it being a strategy call).

--I cannot figure out why Clint Robinson is not in NW Arkansas. Coming out of college, I know he's considered old to be a prospect, and, while his stats aren't breathtaking (.296/.357/.456/.813, 10 HR--2nd to Moose, 62K/27BB), they are solid enough (esp. in the Carolina League) to have him playing 1B at Springdale instead of career minor-leaguer Corey Smith. His approach looks good at the plate--good patience, no bad swings, even his outs were with good contact. With Hos there, he's no longer in the field--I have no idea how his glove is, but isn't figuring out what you have from even a marginal prospect better than playing a not-at-all prospect?

--Paolo Orlando is fast--I already mentioned his range, and he legged out one infield single and nearly got a second. I don't know if there's anything else there, but he's fast.

--Catcher Ryan Eigsti (.197/.298/.260/.558 with a team-leading 75 strikeouts) must call a heck of a game, because he didn't do much else right in the game I saw. First, he sent a pickoff throw down the right-field line, sending the runner to 3B. Then, after he got a rare hit by exhibiting some Gathright-esque power on a ground-ball single in the 5th, he promptly got doubled-up off of first on a line drive. Caldera also picked up a WP on his watch. And he appears to be the best of the Blue Rocks' catchers.

Rowdy back to AA

CentralChamps2009 — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:35:04 -0000

Rowdy back to AA

Hope lives on!

My night in NW Arkansas

CentralChamps2009 — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 06:58:05 -0000

I made my first trip to Springdale to see the NW Arkansas Naturals Friday night. Here's some observations:

1) The "experience"--Arvest Ballpark is great. A solid HOK smaller stadium, great seats everywhere. Good crowd, mostly responsive to the game (although there is a lot of stuff, especially for kids, to distract--kids area with bounce houss and wiffleball field, a party deck area like the K's new one, lots of open green space that people were just hanging out in). Sidewalks all around the outfield, so you can get pretty close to the field. Plenty of parking, plenty of concession spots. The home team's PA and scoreboard guys have a lot of fun with the other team--it was Harry Potter night, so all of the opposing team pictures had Potter glasses and tie photoshopped over them. They also play some of the wimpiest walk up music for their batters ("Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" "I Swear" "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"). All of the standard minor league fan contests. There was also a doggone good fireworks show after the game to boot. A perfectly pleasant way to take in the game.

2) The game--NW Arkansas wins a back and forth game over San Antonio (Padres) with a lot of power--2nd NW Ark. homer for Gordon on rehab and back-to-back HR from 3B Ed Lucas and C Vance "Crash" Wilson. Gilbert De La Vara started in the place of now-Seattle-Mariners-property Dan Cortes (how's that for timing), reliever Ben Swaggerty gets a non-deserved win, and Greg Holland gets a 2-inning save.

3) The players--here's some observations of prospecty types and the Smirk:

Gordon: couple of hits, a opposite field HR off of a soft-tossing lefty and a sharp single. Hit the ball hard on one out as well. Ran out a grounder to make a play close at first--he seemed to have decent speed on the play and did not look like he was favoring a leg due to the hip (at least not noticeably). He DHed, so I don't know about fielding (he did play 3B on Thurs. night).

Bianchi: good contact all night, had a couple of hits (single and rally starting double); made a dazzling diving stop, pick up and throw out on a sharp grounder.

David Lough: also made solid contact, but, like many others, hit the ball right at the defense. Also got a great jump on a tough play at the wall to back up Holland.

Holland: only pitcher on the night to top 90 on the radar gun, regularly threw his fastball 92-93, dialed it up to 96 at least once. The problem: the harder he threw, the better the other team hit it. He actually was more effective when he brought it down to about 88. While, coming out of college, he's older, this is only his second full season in the minors, so he's got a little time to work on better movement on his fastball at the higher speed.

Overall, I saw a lot to like: The infielders made all of the routine plays--the only error was on a tough bunt-like grounder to third that probably wouldn't have been an out anyhow. The outfielders took good paths to the ball, made some excellent plays, and didn't give up bases on plays they couldn't make--they adjusted to minimize the damage. Many of the prospect-types showed good patience working the count and getting their pitch--there was a lot of solid contact and not a lot of bad strikeouts or weak dribblers. In other words, signs that someone, somewhere in the organization comprehends "fundamentals" (Brian Poldberg--who'da thunk it?).

New international signing

CentralChamps2009 — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:32:46 -0000

New international signing

This is the type of news that allows me to cope with the swing-and-miss assembling of this year's team. $1.5 million to get a 16-year-old player wanted by other teams is something that doesn't happen 3 years ago. I expect more good news as "international" (which I think is merely code for "Dominican") signing day is later this week and we're supposed to have money due to the weak draft market which led to a lot of college pitching (aka cheaper guys) being taken.

Disco's callup story

CentralChamps2009 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:55:22 -0000

Disco's callup story

This guy is must reading when he gets a chance to write a longer post. Be forewarned: fecal matter has a prominent place in the story, and the term "poop stick" gets used more than once.

Bonus: his previous post informed us that Ponson took the whole team out to a Brazilian steakhouse while on the road, telling us: 1) Ponson's a nice guy, and 2) Ponson's structural girth is not an accident.

Undefeated Royals

CentralChamps2009 — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:57:47 -0000

Undefeated Royals

The Arizona League Royals, that is. The rookie Royals won their season opener today over the AZL Padres 10-5 in come-from-behind fashion, scoring 6 runs in the 8th and 9th innings. Top offensive perfomers were 2009 19th-round pick Ryan Stovall of Thomas College (he's a 3b, DH'ed today--2-3, 2RBI, 2 R, 1 BB), 2009 10th-round pick Geoffrey Baldwin (1B and the only drafted HS signed yet--1-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, 1 BB) and 2008 6th round draft pick Alex Llanos (2-5, 2 runs). 2008 Venezuelan signee Willian Avinazar had a rough-but-not-too-horribly-rough start (4 runs on 4 hits, 3K/1BB), and 2009 33rd round pick Claudio Bavera got the win, giving only 1 H and 2 BB and striking out 2 in 2.2 IP. Josh Worrell, 2009 30th rounder and spawn of Curse-of-Denkinger-related relief pitcher Todd Worrell, pitched a scoreless ninth with a K.

Rookie league teams Burlington and Idaho Falls open their seasons tomorrow night.