The middle of June is usually nothing to look forward to in Florida. The weather is approaching the mid-90s, the humidity is rising, it’s starting to rain everyday between 4pm and 6pm, hurricane season is slowly creeping upon us, and the summer gas increases behold us to our local area. It’s not fun. But fortunately we have baseball to guide us through the summer swoon. As the Rays slowly approach their mid-season hiatus, the...
This year was supposed to be the breakout year for Marlins prospect Chad James. Last year, in his first in professional baseball, the then 19-year old went 5-10 with a 5.12 ERA in the Low-A South Atlantic League. He walked far too many, allowed 33 stolen bases, threw 17 wild pitches, and had a spectacularly unphenomenal 1.62 BB to K ratio. Following the season, Baseball America ranked him the 2nd highest prospect in the...
The buzz in Central Florida is that the Tampa Yankees may be headed to Orlando. In September of last year, real estate developer Armando Gutierrez, Jr proposed buying the Yankees’ Florida State League team and moving them out of Tampa to the Orlando area, about an hour away. According to articles in Tampa and Orlando newspapers, Gutierrez and his conglomerate would pay for a 5,000 seat stadium as well as a museum, restaurants, and...
Nearly a year to the day before he died, Brian, Eric, and I discussed the idea that I should interview Randy Poffo about his brief minor league career. Poffo, better known as “Macho Man” Randy Savage, played ever so briefly for the Gulf Coast League Cardinals, the Gulf Coast League Red Birds, the Orangeburg Cardinals, and the Tampa Tarpons. As other people have mentioned, he didn’t play long and after an injury, he changed...
Just a quick post to share with you guys some of the Minor League-related work I’ve done recently at some other sites. Over at MiLB.com, I talked to Pittsburgh Pirates prospect and Bradenton Marauders second baseman Jarek Cunningham about his continued progress from an ACL injury. After missing an entire year in 2009, Cunningham has become one of the most prolific sluggers in the Florida State League. While in Bradenton, I also had a...
There is rarely a minor league I have attended that did not feature a special group of fans in attendance. Being that I go to most of my games on the weekends, that usually means gaggles of kids from the local little league, a local retiree group, or perhaps even a company function of some sort. But last Friday in Bradenton I saw my first pre-wedding party. Enjoying the Florida State League game between...
With the New York Yankees starting pitching a hodge-podge mess of has-beens, never-weres, and the all-star arm of CC Sabathia, it is no wonder they have dipped deep into their minor league system to help fill the gap between Sabathia starts. At the end of last season, the Yankees called up right-hander Ivan Nova. Nova has performed respectably with the Bronx Bombers, starting 14 games so far with a 4.59 ERA. Then, as they...
I completely forgot to mention this earlier, but this season I am not only writing for Bus Leagues Baseball, but also for Minor League Baseball.com. My beat with MiLB.com is a weekly notebook on the Florida State League, which is of course convenient, since I’ve been covering the FSL here for the last two years. I’m sure I will provide more regular updates of my MiLB work, but for now here are my first...
While the big league club is mired in mediocrity, financial despair, and a gloom more fit for the peasantry than the residents of Queens, the St. Lucie Mets are running through the Florida State League like a team possessed. Already 17 and 2, the Class A Advanced Mets, lead by staff aces Matt Harvey and Jeurys Familia, have already pulled off a 9-game winning streak. Between them Harvey and Familia have allowed only one...
A week ago, we caught up with Tug Haines and asked him a few questions about his travels. We will have the referenced Q&A with Tug up tomorrow.
2012 05 14 Scranton Wilks Barre/ Empire State Yankees vs Pawtucket Red Sox
