The first round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2010 draft, Deck McGuire made his professional debut last season, finishing 9-5 with a 3.02 ERA and 124 strikeouts in 125.1 innings between High-A Dunedin and Double-A New Hampshire. This season, he is off to a rougher start: 1-5, 7.71, 22 in 32.2 in seven games with the Fisher Cats. I spoke with McGuire late last week before a game against the Binghamton...
In the 29th round of the 1969 draft, the Cincinnati Reds selected Ken Griffey, from Donora Pennsylvania. In his 19 year career, he accrued more than 2,100 hits, 200 steals, and a career .296 batting average. Griffey was a 3 time All-Star and winner of 3 World Series Championships all with the Reds, and is now the manager for the Bakersfield Blaze, the High A affiliate for Cincinnati, he took some time out after...
One of the things that makes Minor League Baseball so appealing and unique are the team names. Names that usually represent something and give Minor League Baseball its local feel and attachment. For the Minor League Baseball team logo designers of Brandiose, images play just as important of a role. They are the visual representation of not just the team, but the city, town, and community as well. We emailed the design team of...
Acquired from the San Francisco Giants at last year’s trade deadline, Zack Wheeler was listed as the Mets number one prospect (and baseball’s 35th overall) prior to this season. The sixth overall pick in the 2009 draft has pitched six games at the Double-A level for the Binghamton Mets, compiling a 2-2 record, 2.05 ERA, and 37 strikeouts in 30.2 innings. Wheeler and I spoke after last Thursday’s win over the New Hampshire Fisher...
A longtime major league player, coach, and manager, Doc Edwards is entering his seventh season as manager for the San Angelo Colts in the independent North American League. We spoke recently for a story I wrote about one of his star players, Landon Camp, which also included some discussion on the expectations he sets for his players and the difficulty an independent player faces when trying to break into an affiliated organization. Going back,...
For the past two years, Landon Camp’s name has put together seasons with the San Angelo Colts that placed him in the running for our Independent Player of the Year award. When I saw this winter that his contract had been sold to the Miami Marlins, I thought it might make for an interesting conversation at some point; when I read the news of his release and subsequent re-signing with the Colts in late...
Mets farmhand Kai Gronauer is one of a handful of German-born players currently competing in affiliated Minor League Baseball in the United States. A native of Solingen, Germany, Gronauer is in his second season with the Binghamton Mets; after hitting .253 with four homeruns in 52 games last year, he is off to a slow start in 2012, with just four hits in 26 at-bats through eight games. I sat down with Gronauer when...
Selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 23rd round of the 2009 Amateur Draft, 23 year old Matt Adams has been powering his way through the Cardinals system. Ever since his start in Johnson City and with his current team the Memphis Redbirds, Adams has been climbing his way into a legitimate prospect, the 6 foot 3, 230 pound 1st baseman talked to me about his career thus far and what it’s like to possibly...
Last season I did a lot of work in Dunedin with the Dunedin Blue Jays staff. Craig Durham, a man who wears many hats as you will soon find out, was instrumental in coordinating interviews for me and helping me find my way around the ballpark when needed, to include the first time I ever covered a game from the press box. For whatever reason, however, I failed to ask Craig his story. This...
Last week, I posted a story I wrote about New Hampshire Fisher Cats infielder Kevin Howard and the path his career has taken the past couple years. We’ve had a pretty good week around these here parts, so I figured I’d bust out a little weekend Q&A action and post the transcript from my recent conversation with Howard. Last year, you came in late, but I feel like you were one of the feel-good...
2012 05 14 Scranton Wilks Barre/ Empire State Yankees vs Pawtucket Red Sox
