Photo: Daylife.com In 2002, the Baltimore Orioles selected lefthanded pitcher Adam Loewen out of Chipola Junior College with the fourth overall pick in the draft. A native of Surrey, British Columbia, Loewen was taken higher than any other Canadian in the history of the draft. After an arm injury ended Loewen’s pitching career in 2008, he decided to pull a Rick Ankiel and become an outfielder, a goal he has worked towards in the...
Wednesday evening at 7 PM, three men and two women threw out first pitches prior to Huntsville’s game against the Mississippi Braves, then went outside Joe W. Davis Municipal Stadium and entered a car provided by local dealer Jerry Damson. The objective? Remain in the car for as long as possible. Whoever manages to last the longest wins the car and assorted other prizes. More than 100 hours later, three contestants are left: MJ...
Mike Moustakas was the second overall pick in the 2007 out of southern California’s Chatsworth High School, where he played on the same team as Marlins prospect Matt Dominguez and set a national prep record for career homeruns. He is currently leading the Texas League in a number of offensive categories, including batting average, homeruns, and runs batted in for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Mike took some time after the Naturals’ come-from-behind win last...
A few days ago, I introduced you guys to the youtube skits of the Charlotte Stone Crabs, Florida State League affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. Last weekend, I visited Port Charlotte to talk to Jonathan Gantt, Marketing and Public Relations Director of the Stone Crabs to find out the inside scoop on these videos. (Disclaimer: I’m a Rays fan.) Bus Leagues Baseball: Whose idea were the videos? Jonathan Gantt: We’ve got a pretty...
Shawn Roof is a utility infielder for the Erie SeaWolves of the Eastern League. He comes from one of the largest professional baseball families ever: at least eight Roofs and four Haas (cousins of the Roofs) have played professionally, with Shawn’s father Gene, uncle Phil, and cousin Eddie Haas all reaching the majors. Shawn, 25, is the oldest of three baseball-playing brothers: Eric, 23, is a catcher for the Connecticut Tigers and Jonathan, 21,...
My love of baseball families is well-documented, so when I looked at the New Hampshire Fisher Cats schedule last weekend and realized the Erie SeaWolves were coming to town, I was happy. The SeaWolves are the Double-A affiliate for the Detroit Tigers, one of the most family oriented organizations around, and boast two sons of former major leaguers on the current roster: shortstop Cale Iorg and utilityman Shawn Roof. Both players took some time...
Larry Day was the last player chosen in the 2007 First-Year Player Draft. A catcher out of Connecticut, he played parts of two seasons in the New York Yankees system before voluntarily retiring in 2008. He sat down with me several weeks ago to talk about some of his experiences in baseball and his busy life after retirement. I know it hasn’t been long since you were drafted, but you’ve done a whole ton...
Besides the official team and league pages, active websites focusing on the happenings of the Florida State League are few and far between. The blogosphere is littered with started sites, half-season sites, and other sites that pretend to focus on the FSL. Standing like a pillar among this online flotsam and jetsam is Threshers Nation, blogger Jeff Crupper‘s site dedicated strictly to the day-to-day results of the Clearwater Threshers. After meeting Jeff at ’70s...
Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of presenting Part 1 of an interview I did with Scott Grauer of I-5 Run Rally, a blog covering the California League. As promised, here is Part 2. If you haven’t read Part 1 yet, here is another chance. BusLeagues: What players are off to an impressive start? Any surprises? Disappointments? Scott Grauer: I’ll try to narrow it down to three hitters and three pitchers for most...
Kyle Drabek, one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays during the offseason. He started the season with Double-A New Hampshire, where he is 4-3 with a 3.60 ERA and 41 strikeouts in 40 innings. We sat down after batting practice last week to talk about his father, the psychology of being traded, and the right way to act on the mound. Your dad ...
2012 05 14 Scranton Wilks Barre/ Empire State Yankees vs Pawtucket Red Sox
