Tucson Mexican Baseball Fiesta
I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend. The short week wrapped up with Washington lefty Bryan Harper. It was a poor attempt at baseball humor because obviously his brother is the real prospect, not Bryan. Most of the post focused on a couple other things: the Harper brothers’ teammates at the College of Southern Nevada in 2010 and other teams that have drafted or acquired brothers of their highly paid draft picks. It’s...
The first week of Prospect A-Z wrapped up on Friday with Edwar Cabrera, MILB’s strikeout leader in 2011. He doesn’t have the top of the rotation stuff like previous leader Matt Moore does, but his great changeup allowed him to dominate A-ball this year. That’s not to say he doesn’t have ML potential, but at his best he’ll be pitching at the back of a rotation and not the front. AA will be a...
Yesterday, I broke away from the typical format for this feature and analyzed where Yoenis Cespedes might land. In my mind, there are 5-7 serious contenders, acknowledging that all 30 teams would love to have him. Cespedes probably gained a lot of cache with fans for his entertaining scouting video, but he’s had that same cache with scouts and front offices for years with his impressive tools and athleticism. I ended up writing twice...
Yesterday, we reviewed one of the Rockies’ top prospects, third baseman Nolan Arenado. He’s been a solid, above average hitter throughout his minor league career so far, and his defense on the hot corner is improving. In an ideal world for the Rockies, he develops into a middle of the order slugger to complement Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez. While that’s probably a couple years away, today’s player could reach the majors sooner than...
In most states around the country baseball has come to an end until spring. But in Arizona baseball is just heating up. This past weekend the Tucson Padres hosted a 3-day event “Fiesta Mexicana De Beisbol” at Kino Stadium in Tucson, Arizona. The San Diego Padres Future Stars competed against three teams from the Mexican Pacific League. The Naranjeros of Hermosillo, the Aguilas of Mexicali and the Yaquis of Ciudad Obregon all made the...
It’s Awards Week here at Bus Leagues, that annual event in which we unveil the seasons that our voters determined to be the best in Minor League and Independent baseball. This year, we have nine awards to give out: Player of the Year, Starting Pitcher of the Year, and Relief Pitcher of the Year for Full-Season Minor League Baseball, Short-Season Minor League Baseball, and Independent Baseball. The awards so far: Independent Player of the...
It’s Awards Week here at Bus Leagues, that annual event in which we unveil the seasons that our voters determined to be the best in Minor League and Independent baseball. This year, we have nine awards to give out: Player of the Year, Starting Pitcher of the Year, and Relief Pitcher of the Year for Full-Season Minor League Baseball, Short-Season Minor League Baseball, and Independent Baseball. The awards so far: Independent Player of the...
That loud cracking sound coming like a metronome from the bullpen signals the game will begin very quickly. It is a sound familiar to all baseball fans. The sweet sound of the ball slamming into the catcher’s mitt. Baseball on leather. It can be truly heard in only one place, the bullpen. And the men wearing those catcher’s mitts are a pitcher’s best friend. We don’t give them much thought as they are rarely...
Last week, I took a look at organizational leaderboards in home runs. With the home run derby taking place tonight, I thought I’d look at some of the minors’ leading home run hitters. Many leagues, if not all of them, have home run derbies at their All-Star Games, but of course choosing players for that can be inconsistent, and some teams don’t like their players participating in them. This won’t account for park factors...
Hello, everyone. My name is Phil Snyder. Eric and Brian have agreed to give me the opportunity to post some of my personal baseball photography here on Bus Leagues. I’m excited about working to bring a perspective and personal style to baseball photography that is not generally presented on large internet baseball sites. I am a baseball fan of the first order. It is without doubt God’s gift to the human race. I am...
