I’m heading down to Baltimore tomorrow morning to catch a couple Sox-Orioles games with my aunts (the way the team’s season has gone, I might actually be catching by Wednesday night. See what I did there?) and uncles. There’s a lot of packing (translation: I need to watch my wife pack my bags) and hand wringing (I’ve never navigated an airport or traveled on a plane by myself. If you know me, you know what a big deal this is) to be done (I also have a fantasy draft tonight), but first I figured I’d chime in with a few minor league thoughts.
(And I promise I’ll try to keep the parentheses to a minimum from here on.)
1. One of my favorite minor league players this year is Tim Collins, the former New Hampshire Fisher Cat who was traded first to the Braves, then the Blue Jays. There are several things I like about Collins:
* He’s a strikeout machine. I don’t care what Crash Davis says about strikeouts, I still love them, and few pitchers in the game are as good at setting hitters down 1-2-3 as Collins. Of course, it should be noted that his numbers have dipped slightly since his promotion to Triple-A Omaha – only 19 in 18 innings, or 9.5 per nine innings.
* He’s a good guy. Chris and I interviewed him in July, for a project that never really panned out, and he couldn’t have been more accommodating with his time.
* He’s little. I know, I know – Collins’ physical stature (maybe 5’7″, 150 pounds) has become roughly comparable to David Eckstein‘s grittiness on the list of things people are sick of reading/hearing about. And frankly, I’m a little mad at myself for adding to the problem by writing about it here. But, just as frankly, the kid is just about the same size as my older brother, who has always referred to himself as the runt of the family. The fact that Tim Collins can throw a baseball 95 miles an hour astounds me.
* He’s just a kid. Collins just turned 22 21 (Whoops, I added wrong. He’s now barely old enough to drink legally) a week and a half ago, and he’s already performing well in Triple-A. Everyone seems to think he won’t be a major league closer; I’m not about to bet against him.
2. The coolest thing about Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel? Every time one of them gets promoted, he reaches the highest level ever attained by an Indian in the American professional baseball ranks. Rinku one-upped his countryman today, picking up a promotion to Pittsburgh’s Class A short-season team in State College. He leaves the Gulf Coast League with a 2.61 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 20.2 innings over 13 games.
3. New Hampshire’s Kyle Drabek was named Eastern League Pitcher of the Year late last week. Drabek is 14-9 with a 2.89 ERA and 127 strikeouts in 159 innings for the Fisher Cats. He had won five straight starts before his last outing against Portland, when he went five innings, allowed one hit, and got the no-decision. In six of his last ten starts, including the last two, he has allowed no runs.
The righthanded Texan is clearly ready for the next level. Hell, he’s ready for the next two levels. So why is he still in Double-A?
Couple reasons, in my opinion. First, the Fisher Cats have a legitimate shot at a championship this season, and while the focus of any organization is on player development first, what management group wouldn’t want its young players to experience winning, to develop a taste for the feeling you get when you hoist a championship trophy?
Supporting this idea is the fact that New Hampshire’s roster has been kept largely intact this season, despite excellent seasons from the likes of Eric Thames (27 homeruns, 104 RBI), Darin Mastroianni (152 hits, 46 steals), Zach Stewart (8-3, 3.71 ERA), Brian Jeroloman (.429 on-base percentage) and others. Sure, a few guys have been up and down (Jeroloman, Adam Calderone, Callix Crabbe), but the core group has been there and productive.
Another reason to keep Drabek in New Hampshire through the end of the season is to protect his confidence. It’s not that he’s hurting in that department. Not at all. A kid like Drabek, however, expects to do well every time out. At this point, he’s dominating, but if he has a bad outing or two the rest of the way, it might be smarter to have him in New Hampshire, where the coaching staff has worked with him all season and knows him, than to throw him into the fire in Las Vegas. Especially where Vegas is such a launching pad, and a couple bad starts would be a virtual guarantee at some point.
Of course, Kansas City sent Collins to Omaha without a second thought, so maybe I’m way off-base on this one.
4. As noted above, I’m flying to Baltimore in the morning. Haven’t been on a plane since 2003. Wish me luck.
