It's official- Sun (s) set in Hagerstown, Keys locked out in Frederick

        In what seemed to be the time that it took to send out a press release, but actually had been in the works for months, Western Maryland baseball fans saw themselves move from two pro teams within 25 miles of each team to having none as the Hagerstown Suns and surprisingly the Frederick Keys lost their affiliation with Major League Baseball. 

Hagerstown's fate was sealed last week when the Washington Nationals announced that they would not be returning to the Hub City in one of the worse kept secrets in years, but the Frederick Keys were thought to be returning despite being included on the original list to be consolidated.

Frederick was offered the token gesture of being one of the six teams in the new MLB Draft League, which will feature college players playing during their off-season and often using wooden bats for the first time.

The MLB Draft League will likely be similar to the Cape Cod League as one of the best leagues of its level in the country, but in my opinion, is still a full step below the High A level of baseball that has been present for three decades in Frederick.

While it's not difficult to see why Hagerstown wasn't retained for several reasons, I wonder what the major problem was with Frederick?

Frederick's Harry Grove Stadium is 30 years old and likely could use a facelift along with some of the player amenities needing some upgrades, but I've been to far worse facilities and some of those franchises were retained.

Combine that with the consistent level of support that the Keys received from their fan base, which usually sees Frederick battling for the Carolina League attendance championship with Winston-Salem, who has a newer and beautiful ballpark, and you would think the Keys would have been a franchise that should have had no worries about staying in the game as long as assurances were made for the improvements that major league baseball would ask for.

Instead, the Keys are bound for the MLB Draft League, which doesn't start until June, plays half the games of affiliated baseball, has younger and even more untested players, and has the feel of a consolation prize from Rob Manfred and company for taking baseball away from cities.

I'd even go a step farther and offer this as a possibility- the league may be looked at as a league designed to avoid lawsuits and should the fans in those cities ( the Applachian League is also now an MLB run league) not support these teams to their previous level, MLB can close the league up on a dime and claim that they offered baseball and those cities didn't support it.

Under some of the rumored terms of these teams in the new MLB-owned setup, it is more expensive to own a team now (for the right to own a franchise) than it was under the MILB sanctioned leagues and I would again consider betting that MLB never dreamed the Appalachian League would accept those terms (The New York/Penn League did not accept those terms) and leaving MLB to at least go through the motions for a few years.

The Draft League wasn't one that was rumored for Frederick as the whispers for Frederick saw the possibility for the Keys to join the top independent league, the Atlantic League.

The Atlantic League would have brought some bigger names from the past, but certainly not the future of the game as the Carolina League does.

Still, with older players on the field, an argument can be made that the Atlantic League offers a better on-field product and with the minor leagues already being called "developmental" as is, the Draft League is going to be even more about development.

I'm not saying that is wrong, just stating what it actually is.

What is the future for Hagerstown and Frederick baseball?

For all of the things that seem to be negative about the new major league-owned system, there is one positive- the old system of territories will no longer exist.

What this means is that should Hagerstown ever decide to actually join the new millennium (twenty plus years after it started) and build a new stadium, a team in Frederick could not stop a Hagerstown return to affiliated baseball.

I don't think that is going to happen as if the desire for that existed, it would have been built when they actually possessed a franchise, but it does leave the door open a hair for Hagerstown.

As for Frederick, I have a feeling that they are being used as a stalking horse, in the unlikely event that one of the teams that received invitations decides to go out of business.

In other words, they are going to wined and dining to scare teams into renovating or building stadiums as the alternative if they don't do what the bossman says.

Frederick could always build a new stadium and should they do so, they could perhaps fit into the AA Eastern League or the high A league without a name.

Frederick always had the fan support that makes a new stadium low-risk instead of Hagerstown's chicken or egg question on a potential new park.

In the end, this takes a lot of baseball out of my life for a while.

I don't really have any interest in the MLB Draft League and with Harrisburg and Altoona 90 plus minutes away as the nearest affiliated teams, I might be reduced to going to see the Indians and Giants farm teams and the Giants now have only Richmond on the East Coast for me to see.

I'm still planning a few trips a year to see new parks with my buddies, but I don't think I'll be doing much on those trips as far autographing goes.

This might be the end of a lot of that hobby for me.

Hagerstown got what it deserved.

Frederick did everything right and still got screwed.

You can love baseball, but baseball doesn't always love you.

 

Goodbye MILB

The press release that we all knew was waiting finally was released yesterday as the 2020 minor league season was officially canceled.

While not unexpected, it still was a sad day to have things confirmed that there will be no baseball in most Mudville's for 2020.

And while today isn't the saddest day for me as that day is yet to come- when the Rob Manfred-led power play to eliminate 40 plus teams from the minors and depriving those teams fans even a chance to say goodbye is announced will be that day, it still has a degree of sadness to me.
You wait all winter during the worst months of the year (Jan, Feb, and March), battle through short days and cold nights, and wait out the darkness until the warmth begins to arrive with it the fun that comes with the baseball season.
And this year, I feel that fans all over the country have been cheated of that.

Not only the minors, but the majors too.
The players hearts aren't in this sham of a season and the excitement from the viewers won't be either.
I'm not paying for a MLB package for this "exhibition" (Ok, if its 20 bucks or so, maybe) and should I not do that, I may not watch much.
My teams aren't going to be televised often and I'm not watching the Orioles get beaten 10-1 every night by their rivals or listen to one of my least favorite announcers in sports (F.P. Santangelo) blither for the Nationals every night, so I may not be as involved.
MLB should do the right thing by allowing the blackout rules to be dropped and giveaway their Extra Innings and MLB.TV packages for the year.
It would be a small gesture of goodwill towards a fan base that is in desperate need of it.

There are many culprits to blame for killing what would have been the final season for Hagerstown baseball via Covid-19.
The WHO, China, countless people that are so reckless and stupid by not taking precautions around the country, and of course Donald John Trump, but most of all Rob Manfred, who has to be quite pleased with himself for being able to kill minor league baseball's leverage ( They were beginning to gain ground with Congress before Covid-19 arrived) and cannot wait to get his plan for the minors installed- a plan that was thought up by a man so disgraced that he was run out of the game, mind you.
I want to add a special tip of the cap not only to that gentleman but to his two former assistants who now run the Brewers and Orioles, who I hope will be as successful as a salesman selling snow blowers in the Caribbean in their current positions.

This is a sad day and the worst is yet to arrive.
But I'd like to add this on masking before I finish.
Please don't make this about political stances, toughness, the media, or even your belief.
It's about none of these.
It's about courtesy and teamwork.
Courtesy towards others that may not affect the person you contact, but it may affect the people that they contact.
I know you feel silly, I do too and I've joked that I feel like I'm the bad guy in an old Western film, but be safe.
I know it sucks breathing with it on after a while and I get all of that.
But we've lost so much in sports already-the Final Four and I'll believe that MLB, NBA, and NHL complete their seasons when they are on their fields of play raising their trophy, and even if they do it won't mean as much and will delay the start of the next season.
Football is next and professionals far higher on the medical chain than me have stated- You want football in the fall? Wear your mask and do what you need to do to kill the virus hygencially.

Don't want to do it for yourself or the people you care about and care about you or even your fellow man?
Do it for your team!
Want to see sports again with the excitement of fans?
Don't be selfish-wear the mask, at least around others.
It is the best chance to bring fun activities back, keep the spread down, and keep our essentials and workplaces open until the vaccine can be developed- hopefully affordably so!

Thanks for reading.

Minor League Fantasy Draft-Round Three-Orelvis Martinez

Our minor league fantasy draft moved into the third round and due to an earlier trade, my third-rounder was earlier in the round with my pick, which was the final pick in the third round, going to another team.

The decision was made to go very young with seventeen-year-old shortstop Orelvis Martinez of the Toronto Blue Jays, who spent his season with the complex team for the Blue Jays in the Gulf Coast League.
Martinez didn't turn eighteen until the GCL season had completed and was the choice by Baseball America as the top prospect in the league.

Martinez hit .275 with seven homers in 142 at-bats and five triples.
Martinez is expected to have a chance to stay at shortstop but is likely eventually move to third, which Toronto would hope to avoid with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at third base for a while.
Martinez is expected to fill out at only 175 pounds and could be a high average player with above-average power as a potential middle of the order hitter.


Taking young players that haven't played in a professional game outside of a complex is always a risky proposition, but it can be rewarding when you hit on the right player.
Something to watch here is my decision to take Martinez over Oakland shortstop Robert Puason.
It was very close for me to determine which young shortstop would be my choice and while I doubted that Puason would last the seventeen spots between my picks, I would have taken him there even with the selection of Martinez.
Alas, Puason was chosen two picks after Martinez, it'll be interesting to see which of the two moves faster and which becomes the better player.

Back later with either my choice in round four or maybe some words about the end of the XFL season.

Minor League Fantasy Draft-Round Two- Edward Cabrera

And minutes after I posted last night's news- we move to part two with the NCAA canceling all winter and spring sports, the NHL suspending their season, and Major and Minor league baseball delaying their season for the first two weeks of the year.

I'll have a post soon on the XFL ending their season, but declaring that they aren't closing up shop and plan on playing the 2021 season.
We'll see about that, but with no sports for the next few weeks at least I'll be writing some special posts on Forgotten Superstars and other subjects that time doesn't always permit with different topics in the news, so if you like those types of posts this will be a time that you may enjoy.

Sunday morning, our annual minor league fantasy draft began and I wasn't likely to select anyone.
That's because I had somehow won my first championship in 2019, so my pick was last in the round.
When my pick rolled on Monday, my "Akron Rubber Ducks" were called upon by Corey Cunningham and his "West Virginia Power" and asked if I was interested in moving my first-rounder.
I had a large number of players that I was interested in, but none that stood out above the rest so I was interested in talking deal.
Corey had used his pick at four and he owned another first-rounder at eleven, but he couldn't decide between two players that he wanted badly.
In the end, I traded the final pick in the first round and a fourth-rounder in the 2021 draft (in our league, you cannot trade picks for the next draft until the draft has started) for the Power's first and second-round picks in the 2021 draft.
I wasn't too unhappy as it now sets me up to have five picks in the first three rounds of next year's draft and possibly completing my draft in three rounds.
Corey made a nice pick with his newly acquired choice in Orioles right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, who was one of the players in my queue but was not the player that I would have selected as I gambled a player from the bunch would tumble to the final pick of the second round.

Four of the dozen had been selected by my pick and it didn't take me long to make my selection with the highest-rated player on the board- Edward Cabrera, a right-handed pitcher in the Miami Marlins system.
Cabrera will turn 22 in a few weeks and was tremendous in his breakout season last year as Cabrera pitched for High A Jupiter and AA Jacksonville in 19 starts.
Cabrera finished with a 2.23 ERA between the two levels, hitters batted only .190 against Cabrera and Cabrera struck out 116 batters in 96 innings.
Cabrera walked only 31, so control isn't a problem for now and he has an excellent curveball to pair with a fastball that can touch 100 mph and sits in the mid-90s.
Cabrera added a changeup to his toolkit last season and when you can change speeds with a player with a fastball such as his, one can imagine the difficulty for hitters against him.


At 6'4 and only 175 pounds, Cabrera has some filling out to do and he's very projectable as a potential front-end starter.
Cabrera made nine starts for AA Jacksonville, so he's likely to start with the Jumbo Shrimp again to start the season, but he might not be there for very long if he performs as well as he did last season.
AAA Wichita should see Cabrera early in the year and the Marlins could bring him to the majors at some time during the second half of the season.

My third-round pick will be earlier than usual as I moved up in round three after an earlier trade.

Fantasy Minor Recap- Pitchers

The second look at the 2019 season from the fantasy baseball aspect and my minor league systems focuses on the eight pitchers in my system.

There were some big seasons with players moving up the prospect charts and others dealt with injury problems as young pitchers often do, but on the overall, "the Ducks" pitching prospects are looking fairly bright for a team that chose only two pitchers in the 2019 minor league draft.

We'll start with those two draftees, who both soared up the prospect ratings and both pitchers did their work at levels that were usually above players of their age.

Luis Patino  RHP San Diego
High A Lake Elsinore: 87 IP 6-8 2.69 ERA 113 SO 34 BB
AA Amarillo: 7.2 IP 0-0 1.17 ERA 10 SO 4 BB

In almost any organization in the game, Luis Patino would be considered their top pitching prospect, but San Diego has another top pitcher in Mackenzie Gore, so Patino has to settle for the top righthanded thrower for the Padres.
Still, Patino pitched the entire 2019 season at 19 years of age, cruised through the High A California League which is a noted hitters league and finished the season with an over three strikeouts to one walk ratio.
Patino held opponents to an average under .200 and according to the Padres added a strong changeup to a top-notch fastball and curve.
Patino will again be challenged at the age of 20 with an assignment to AA Amarillo and it's possible with a repeat season, Patino could be in San Diego late in the 2020 season.

Deivi Garcia RHP New York Yankees
High A Tampa: 17.2 IP 0-2 3.06 ERA 33 SO 8 BB
AA Trenton: 53.2 IP 4-4 3.86 ERA 87 SO 26 BB
AAA Scranton/Wilkes Barre: 40 IP 1-3 5.40 ERA 45 SO 20 BB

Garcia turned 20 in May, so he was pushed far ahead of his level for his age.
At High A, 33 strikeouts in under 18 innings? That's just short of two an inning and it's no wonder that Garcia was moved quickly to AA Trenton.
The whiffs didn't slack off there and despite the average ERA, Garcia only allowed opposing hitters to bat .213 against him at AA.
Garcia didn't fare as well at AAA Scranton/Wilkes Barre, but that was a big step for a 20-year-old and he still averaged over a strikeout an inning.
Garcia has been compared by some to Pedro Martinez and the pitches are there to be dominant, but he's listed at 5'9 and seeing him in person I thought 5'9 was being very generous.
The small size does bring up questions for long-term durability, but Garcia's arm is the real deal.
Garcia should start the season at AAA Scranton/Wilkes Barre and could see New York by season's end.

Jesus Luzardo LHP Oakland
High A Stockton: 10 IP 1-0 0.90 ERA 18 SO 0 BB
AAA Las Vegas: 31 IP 1-1 3.19 ERA 34 SO 8 BB
Oakland :   12 IP 0-0 1.50 ERA 16 SO 3 BB

Luzardo missed part of the 2019 season with a shoulder strain, but it wasn't serious and he pitched well at AAA Las Vegas after a few rehab innings in High A.
Luzardo was called up late in the season to Oakland, where he pitched very well out of the bullpen for the Athletics, but his three plus pitches and excellent control gives the 22-year-old Luzardo an excellent chance to be part of the Oakland rotation to start the season.
Luzardo could start at AAA Las Vegas if the Athletics want to hedge their bets against arbitration down the road, but at worst will be in Oakland by midseason.

Justus Sheffield LHP Seattle
AA Arkansas: 78 IP 5-3 2.19 ERA 85 SO 18 BB
AAA Tacoma: 55 IP 2-6 6.87 ERA 48 SO 41 BB
Seattle: 36 IP 0-1 5.50 ERA 37 SO 18 BB

Sheffield, the top pick of Cleveland in 2014 and was sent to the Yankees in a deadline deal before moving to the Mariners last winter, started 2019 at AAA Tacoma.
After 55 innings that saw Sheffield walk almost as many as he struck out (41 BB to 48 SO) and an ERA that only missed an extra point to be considered a touchdown ERA, the desperate Mariners dropped Sheffield to AA Arkansas to try to salvage Sheffield's confidence.
Sheffield was able to recover at AA but was hit hard in seven starts with the big league club late in the season.
Sheffield is expected to be either the 4th or 5th starter for the Mariners entering training camp.

Adrian Morejon LHP San Diego
AA Amarillo 36 IP 0-4 4.25 ERA 44 SO 15 BB
San Diego 8 IP 0-0 10.13 ERA 9 SO 3 BB

An April injury made the Padres very cautious with the 20 year old Cuban and after Morejon missed three weeks, the Padres continued to start Morejon, but he usually pitched only one or two innings, only throwing three innings on one occasion.
It was the limited use that caused the bad win-loss record, but the K-BB ratio was almost three to one and hitters hit only .215 in the Texas League against him.
A late July call-up didn't go well from the bullpen and Morejon was shut down in August with a shoulder injury.
The shoulder injury wasn't serious and Morejon pitched in the Arizona Fall League.
Morejon could contend for a rotation spot, but I think he'll start in the Padres AAA affiliate in San Antonio's rotation.

Triston McKenzie RHP Cleveland
Did Not Pitch

A nagging back injury cost McKenzie his 2019 season and for all McKenzie's impressive numbers for his career, he has yet to complete a full season.
McKenzie is reported to be ready to go for spring training and the Indians could assign him to AAA Columbus to start, but he might spend April with AA Akron after the year away.

Corbin Martin RHP Arizona
AAA Round Rock 37.1 IP 2-1 3.13 ERA 45 SO 18 BB
Houston 19.1 IP 1-1 5.59 ERA 19 SO 12 BB

Martin seemed to be on the fast track to the majors after an impressive start at AAA Round Rock and a May call to Houston.
Martin had one solid start, but was rocked in his other four and was returned to AAA.
Martin would make three June starts and he underwent Tommy John surgery.
Martin is now the property of the Diamondbacks as even with the injury, Martin was included in the trade that saw Zack Greinke move to the Astros.

Logan Allen RHP Cleveland
AAA El Paso 57.2 IP 4-3 5.15 ERA 63 SO 22 BB
AAA Columbus 22.1 IP 1-1 7.66 ERA 18 SO 12 BB
San Diego 25.1 IP 2-3 6.75 ERA 14 SO 13 BB
Cleveland 2.1 IP 0-0 0.00 ERA 3 SO 1 BB

Allen seemed to struggle at AAA El Paso and for some reason, the Padres called him up for 8 appearances with four of those starts.
San Diego sent Allen to Cleveland with Franmil Reyes as part of the three-team deal with the Reds and after being assigned to AAA Columbus, Allen struggled in his first four starts before a good final outing of the season.
Allen made a late-season cameo from the Indians bullpen.
I'm not sure what to expect from Allen, but his ceiling isn't as high as others on this list.

Corbin Martin and Logan Allen weren't drafted by me, but since I added them off waivers in their big league time, I am allowed to send them down to my minors when they were returned to AAA.

I'm going to protect Patino, Luzardo, Garcia, McKenzie, Morejon.
I'm leaning towards protecting Sheffield.
I will be releasing Martin and Allen.

Fantasy Minor Recap- Hitters

Now that the 2020 calendar has begun, I can start thinking about baseball and my minor league fantasy draft that I try to write about here and there.
I finally won the Jim Bouton Baseball League after many years of trying and I was more than happy on the night that I finally won that elusive title.

However, in our league where you keep all of your players, you have to continue to move forward and plan for the future.
In our league, you can only have 17 players in your minor system and you have to have fewer than that to draft more, so it's a constant concept of culling prospects.
Today, I'll be looking back at the hitters from 2019 and discuss if they have a future with the "Akron Rubber Ducks".

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 3b Toronto Blue Jays
.272 15 HR 69 RBI Toronto
Guerrero fell just 36 at-bats short of forcing a decision for me as in our league, once a player has 500 MLB at-bats, the team has to either bring him up or release him.
Guerrero spent very little time with AAA Buffalo (9 games) with his "arbitration" send-down time being eaten by a spring training injury.
I have three excellent third basemen (Anthony Rendon, Nolan Arenado, and Rafael Devers), but I'll find a place for Guerrero's bat.

The remaining eight players didn't spend any major league time in 2019, so they are still projections as far their future will be.
Some will stay, some will leave and with one or two others, I am still undecided on keeping them or not.
I'll start with the catchers and work my way around the diamond.

Joey Bart C San Francisco Giants
234 AB .265 12 HR 37 RBI High A San Jose
79 AB .316 4 HR 11 RBI AA Richmond
Bart was just starting to hit his stride when he suffered a broken hand with San Jose but upon his return hit very well at AA Richmond.
I paid a high price to move from eleventh to first in the first round in Shane Bieber to draft Bart last season and although I liked Bieber I was surprised with his elite performance last season.
For that deal to be worthwhile in the long run (assuming Bieber keeps that level of performance), Bart will have to be an elite offensive catcher and not just above average.
I think he's capable of that.
Bart should start at AAA Sacramento and finish the season with the Giants.

William Contreras C Atlanta Braves
190 AB .263 3 HR 22 RBI High A Florida
191 AB .246 3 HR 17 RBI AA Mississippi
The younger brother of Willson Contreras, William split the season between High A and AA  and his numbers were average.
Contreras played most of the season at 21, which made his a little young for AA and the Braves were pleased enough to move him to AA  at mid-season.
I'll be keeping Contreras around for this season, but this is a key year for him.
Contreras will likely return to AA Mississippi to start in 2020.

Miguel Vargas 3B Los Angeles Dodgers
280 AB .325 5 HR 45 RBI Low A Great Lakes
211 AB .284 2 HR 32 RBI High A Rancho Cucamonga
Vargas played the entire season as a 19-year-old and I think he is a star in the making.
The Cuban might eventually become a first baseman and his power numbers were a little low, but with his frame (6'3 205 lbs), I think as he grows into his body, the power will come along.
The hype around the Dodgers farm system is around Gavin Lux right now and rightfully so, but by this time next year when Lux is an established major leaguer, the top minor leaguer could be Miguel Vargas.
Vargas could start with AA Tulsa if the Dodgers really want to challenge him, but my guess is that he starts with High A Rancho Cucamonga and if all goes as expected, Vargas could be in Tulsa by mid-May.

Elehuris Montero 3B St.Louis
224 AB .188 7 HR 18 RBI AA Springfield
Montero shows what can happen when a player is moved too soon as after he dominated the low A Midwest League in 2018 and less than 100 at-bats in high A in the same season, Montero was surprisingly assigned to AA Springfield for 2019.
Montero missed much of the season, struck out 74 times and hit under .190 in never getting untracked.
Still, his seven homers give me hope and Montero only turned 21 with two weeks to go in the season.
I'm still trying to decide on Montero, but I'm leaning towards blaming the team and not the player and seeing if Montero will bounce back.
Montero should return to AA Springfield for a second chance to conquer the Texas League.

O'Neil Cruz SS Pittsburgh
136 AB .301 7 HR 16 RBI High A Bradenton
119 AB .269 1 HR 17 RBI AA Altoona
The tallest shortstop (6'7) that you are likely to see, Cruz, like Montero, battled injuries early in the season and didn't turn 21 until after the season.
Unlike Montero, Cruz started at High A and after his return from injury and an excellent July, only then did Cruz move to AA.
I'm not sure if Cruz plays shortstop at the major league level, but I think his bat is going to play-if the Pirates can be patient and allow him to develop.
Cruz should return to AA Altoona to start in 2020.

Heliot Ramos OF San Francisco
294 AB .306 13 HR 40 RBI High A San Jose
95   AB .242  3 HR 15 RBI AA Richmond
Ramos, like so many in my system, fought injuries early in the year but hit very well with High A San Jose.
Ramos didn't turn 20 until after the season and considering that Ramos held his own after a final month with AA Richmond.
There is plenty to prove, but being young for both levels, I'm very encouraged about the future of Ramos.
Ramos should start 2020 with AA Richmond and finish with AAA Sacramento.

Luis Robert OF Chicago White Sox
75 AB .453 8 HR 24 RBI 8 SB High A Winston-Salem
226 AB. 314 8 HR 29 RBI 21 SB AA Birmingham
202 AB .297 16 HR  39 RBI 7 SB AAA Charlotte
Robert had battled injuries in a disappointing 2018 after I selected him with my first pick in that draft and I was hoping to see a bounceback year.
Robert more than bounced back with a season to be remembered, especially those 75 at-bats to start the season with High A Winston-Salem, which was about as destructive as an outfielder could be as an offensive force.
Robert was almost as dominant at AA and AAA and has nothing left to prove.
The White Sox signed Robert to a six year contract last week and since that contract eliminates the arbitration issue with service time, Robert will likely make the ChiSox team coming out of spring training.

Jhailyn Ortiz OF Philadelphia
430 AB .200 19 HR 65 RBI High A Clearwater
Ortiz didn't turn 21 until the season was over, but I was surprised to see the Phillies start Ortiz at High A Clearwater after a mediocre 2018 (.225 13 homers) at Low A Lakewood.
While you have to like the 19 homers in the Florida State League, a noted pitchers league, there is little else to like from Ortiz's season.
An average that ended exactly on the Mendoza Line and 149 strikeouts (over a strikeout in every three at-bats) at High-A doesn't give me confidence in his future.
The talent is there for Ortiz, but I don't currently believe that he is going to make enough contact to eventually be a big-league level player.
Ortiz is young enough that I wouldn't rule him out as a prospect yet, but two years with a combined 297 strikeouts isn't enough to keep him in my system.

Of my positions players entering the draft year, my current feelings are these.
Promoted to the Ducks- Vladimir Guerrero Jr

Will be promoted to the Ducks sometime this season barring an injury- Luis Robert

Retaining rights and hoping for big things-
Joey Bart
Heliot Ramos
O'Neil Cruz
Miguel Vargas

Protecting, but 2020 make or break
William Contreras

Questioning to protect or not and 2020 make or break
Elehuris Montero

Going to be Released
Jhailyn Ortiz

I plan on doing a similar post on my eight pitchers sometime next week.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone!

I'm sure you are wondering why a Blue Crayfish and I'm not sure why either.
I was scanning through for pictures and it caught my eye, so it works for me.

I'm not sure what 2020 has in store for me.
On a personal level, it'll be a year of firsts and not the type of firsts that I was looking for either as, until Christmas, everything that I'll be marking on the calendar will be the first time without my mom.
Almost all of those holidays are ones that I didn't spend on an actual day with my parents in the past.
They usually had plans of some type with another family member in recent years when mom became infirm, but before that, I would receive invites and more often than that, I'd pass for various reasons throughout the years.
Most of the time, it wasn't a problem between my parents and me, although there was an occasional one through the years, but more often than not, I just didn't want to hang around a bunch of people.
That's not me then and it's not really me now.
I prefer smaller events with family and friends and I'm not huge on a lot of noise, so while it would be easy to say that I regret those decisions now, it would be disingenuous on my part.
Still, I almost always talked to my parents on holidays, especially in recent years and she knew I cared enough to call.
I'll have more to write on mom soon, but I have one more family event to get through to finally be able to allow everything to sink in and I'm sure there will be some healing and dealing to be done when everything is completed.

On a lighter note, could this be the last season for local minor league baseball?
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred seems pretty determined to bully his way into what he wants and what he wants is more than the elimination of 42 teams that he desires in this agreement with the minors.
It's the next one to watch as well as if Manfred gets his way this time, his final goal is to shrink the minors down to three minor league affiliates for each major league team.
If I lived near a team that wasn't on the elimination list this time, I still wouldn't feel safe.
Both of the local teams are on the hit list and while I certainly can understand why the Hagerstown Suns with the crumbling Muni and woeful attendance would be high on the list, I don't understand why the Frederick Keys, who lead their league in attendance, are on it.
MLB says it's all about player comfort and facilities, but Harry Grove Stadium's needs could be easily addressed by local contractors with an upgraded clubhouse and weather-friendly additions could be added for a batting cage and a pitchers mound or two.
I think Frederick will dodge a bullet, assuming that they are willing to do those upgrades, but I cannot say that I know that for sure.

Personally, should Manfred get away with this, I'd bet my baseball interest drops a bit.
How could I support MLB in good conscience should their heartless plan take effect?
I'm not saying I'll hate baseball or anything like that, but only time will tell how much I resent them.
One thing is for sure, I'm going to appreciate things a lot more this season in the minors and take many of these times as if they could be the last.

I'll be picking up a new hobby this year too, which might be just in time with the situation with the Suns and Keys,
Cherie and Rachel bought me a metal detector for Christmas and I'm pretty excited about it.
I watch two or three people's videos on YouTube that "treasure hunt" on land and water and I've enjoyed watching them, which is likely why my ladies thought this would be a good gift and it was a surprise that I didn't see coming.
I'm looking forward to taking it out to a few of my childhood haunts and seeing what turns up and just being out and about is good for me physically.


I'm also looking forward to another small project, getting some of my collections in order and maybe even moving some things along that might be better appreciated by others.
It's not as much downsizing as it is changing what I wish to collect and keep at this stage of my life.
Ryan says he'll help me, so that would be a large assist in moving things around.

I'll still be doing my baseball trips with my friends of course, but finances permitting I also want to take more trips with the family too.
I have a few ideas for those if I can afford them or even if they would be interested.

All and all, 2020 is going to be a very interesting year with items that don't involve me with the craziness that almost is certain to come with the Presidential election and the various other problems in our country and world, but I'm thinking that things might be better than we think they'll be.
Maybe this is a rare "Half-Full" glass statement for me, but I'm trying for a change!

I'll be back later tonight with either the first boxing ratings of the year, which were postponed since I've been so busy or more from the inbox.

Cleaning out the inbox

As I still attempt to clean things up after being so far behind, it's time to clean out most of the inbox!

We start with The Athletic and a lengthy oral history article on the 50th anniversary of the St.Bonaventure Bonnies and their run to the 1970 Final Four.
St. Bonaventure lost only one game in the 1969-70 season and won the East Regional, but lost their star center Bob Lanier in the regional final against Villanova to a torn knee ligament.
The injury to Lanier cost viewers a Lanier vs Artis Gilmore showdown at the Final Four as Gilmore's Jacksonville Dolphins would defeat the Bonnies on their way to a title game loss to UCLA.
Lanier would be the first selection of the 1970 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons and would eventually be inducted into the basketball hall of fame.
The article covers all four seasons of Lanier's time with St.Bonaventure and is very extensive in talking to all the key players of the time.

The Athletic returns with an article written by former major leaguer Lars Anderson on his attempt to use Adderall as a PED when he was playing in Japan.
Adderall is a drug used by baseball players legally only with a valid medical prescription and should you use it without one, a player would be eligible to be suspended.
Anderson, who writes an occasional article for The Athletic, writes about the MLB testing policies, the pros and cons of Adderall, and why it can help players, but not in a physical sense.
It's an interesting article from the players' point of view, which isn't often heard from other than when players deny the use of various outlawed drugs or in talks between baseball and the union.

Many times when writers from larger cities or even national media write about minor league baseball, they miss so many of the details because they already have decided the angle of their feature or they simply don't bother to dig into the facts and as a result miss so much of the actual picture.
I cannot say that about Washington radio station WTOP's website in their article about the campaign of MLB against minor league baseball.
The writer visited both Hagerstown and Frederick, talked to members of the front office of both the Suns and Keys, discussed the issues with fans, organizers of efforts to keep the two teams, and politicians that want to help teams stop the MLB barrage to eliminate 42 teams.
It's very well written and researched and is the type of article on the topic that you don't read very often.

The Athletic is back again with an article on Chris Petersen, who recently resigned from Washington after their Las Vegas Bowl win over Petersen's former school in Boise State.
The Stewart Mandel penned article talks about Petersen's rebuilding work with Washington, his role in building Boise State into its role as one of the group of five powerhouses, his work outside the game, and the grind of being a major college coach in the game today.
Petersen has been overlooked a bit as one of the better coaches in college football over the last decade and as I read more about Peterson the person, I'm not sure that we'll see him on the sidelines again.

The Detroit Free Press writes of the plight of former NHL star Joe Murphy, who lives on the streets of Kenora, Ontario, Canada after an NHL career that ended with what some believe will eventually be diagnosed as CTE.
CTE cannot be diagnosed until after death, so it is suspected and not confirmed in the case of Murphy, but the personality change, drug use, and a lack of life structure certainly point in that direction, especially when you discover that Murphy suffered from concussions many times during his NHL career.
Even if CTE isn't the eventual reason for Murphy's problems, there does seem to be some sort of mental illness issue with Murphy, who like so many in the homeless community, sees "angels and ghosts" and talks to people that aren't there.
Author Jeff Seidel traveled to Kenora and followed Murphy around to see what an average day is like and got a feeling for Murphy's routine or lack thereof.
Murphy was the first overall selection in the 1986 NHL draft by the Red Wings and played for seven teams, scoring 233 goals with his best seasons spent with the Blackhawks.

That cleans out the regular articles from the inbox, although sadly there are plenty of passings still to note.

Ed Loyd

We start our occasional notebook of notable people that have recently passed away and this time we may have a first - someone that I knew personally.

Ed Loyd was a regular in Richmond through the years attending the AAA Braves games at the Diamond and later the AA Flying Squirrels when baseball returned after a one-year hiatus without baseball.
I read an article on Ed by Ben Hill of Ben's Baseball Biz (Hill travels around minor league parks writing about the quirky people, places and things that you find in the minors) over the summer and I didn't know that he was known for ChapStick or that he worked for the company that made it for years.
I was introduced to Ed by a mutual friend as Ed was one of the larger dealers of minor league team sets and I was fairly new to the hobby and was looking to buy from someone reasonable in price and someone that would understand that in this hobby time-sensitive purchases are pretty common.
Ed was very understanding and we hit it off immediately.
I'm not sure how long I dealt with Ed, but it had to be around ten years or so and if I needed a set on a few days notice, Ed would pack it as soon as he heard from me and within an hour or two, I'd get an email that would say "Ed Loyd Here, package sent".

I never had a cross word in my dealings with Ed, who from day one never demanded payment upfront because that would slow things up as far as getting cards to me when I needed things.
I would receive these little white handwritten invoices from him in each package and then I'd send him a check.
Almost always a check, because Ed didn't believe in Paypal and their extra charges.
Cherie used to always joke about certain times of the year being "Ed Loyd" season because, in the digital age, Ed Loyd was the only person that I ever wrote checks to.
I say almost always because the last transaction that I made with Ed this year, he wrote saying "I can take Paypal now, the times are always changing."

Over the last few years, I didn't buy as much from Ed and he understood.
As fast as Ed was, he couldn't compete with the person that I was buying from locally that I could get them even faster at the ballpark and not have the worries with the postal service getting them lost.
I still bought a few things from him though and we wrote back and forth fairly frequently.

Ed always thought of me as a Giants fan and two acts of kindness always stick out to me.
The first was Ed, who knew I was always looking for 1988 and 90 Score cards to be signed, writing to me and asking if I needed Will Clark for those sets.
Clark had just one card in 1988 Score, but three in 1990, as the Giants won the NLCS in 1989 and Clark, was on cards commemorating that series.
Ed wrote and told me to "watch my mailbox" shortly and within a week or so, Ed had sent me all four Will Clark cards signed.

The other was only a year or so ago, early in the season, Ed had a customer that needed three Hagerstown Suns sets ASAP as the Suns were coming to this gentleman's town very soon and Ed asked if I would grab these sets for him and send them straight to the customer with him paying me for them.
I was happy to do so and I wasn't worried about the money as I figured it would even out eventually.
Ed would write to me and end our notes with "I still owe you a big one".
Ed's Flying Squirrels never seem to be early in getting their sets out and when the team set was released, Richmond was finished for the year in Altoona and Harrisburg.
It looked unlikely that I was going to get the set signed for the 2018 season, but Ed remembered my constant asking when that set was coming out and when it did, he asked if I still wanted it.
I replied Yes as a Giants fan, but I wasn't going to have an opportunity to get them signed.
Ed said he would have someone do it for me and what I didn't find out until later was that Ed, who wasn't a grapher, did that set himself for me.

I actually met Ed in person only three times, once at the Chantilly VA. card show (the only time that I have ever attended that show), one at the Diamond in Richmond ( My only visit there thus far) and once in Harrisburg, when Ed traveled there to see the Squirrels on the road.
Harrisburg was the last time that I saw him in that 2018 season and we talked for most of the game about baseball, the minors, and minor league baseball cards as he was getting tired of dealing with more and more teams that were so difficult to work with.

Ed used to always push me to come down to the Richmond Hot Stove dinner as one of his guests and he used to tell me how badly he wanted to introduce me to the Squirrels owner Lou DiBella.
DiBella promotes several champions in boxing and promoted one of my favorites in retired middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, so Ed would tell me that "you gotta come down here and meet Lou, you guys will spend all night talking boxing".
I was never able to make that trip and now I wish I had made the time to do that.

I started this post as a "passings" tribute as usual and now I see I've written so much about Ed Loyd that I think I'm going to leave this as a stand-alone article.
I'm sure others have stories about Ed as well and from people that knew him far better than I, but he'll be missed by me and so many others.
I'm positive that baseball at Richmond's Diamond won't be the same without Ed holding court there and I'm also sure that the Squirrels will come up with something to honor Ed next season.
A bobblehead of Ed with either ChapStick or a pack of baseball cards in his hands would be so fitting to honor his memory at the place that he loved so much.
Rest well, Ed- you'll be greatly missed.

2019 Hagerstown Suns- The Pitchers

I've already written that I was less than underwhelmed by the position players for the 2019 Hagerstown Suns, but the pitchers do have some players with promise and I think that at least two of them are headed for big things soon.

2018 second rounder Tim Cate was tremendously polished in his 13 Hagerstown starts with a 4-5 record and an ERA of 2.82.
Cate did come from the college ranks (Connecticut) but didn't turn 22 until the season was completed, so for a college player was a little younger for the level.
Cate struck out 73 in 70 innings and only walked 13 before a promotion to High A Potomac where he posted similar numbers (7-4 3.31 ERA 66 SO and 13 BB) in the same thirteen starts.
I love that Cate doesn't walk many and the only caveat is that college pitchers that throw strikes (Especially lefties) can really thrive in low and high A, so Cate will have to prove himself to be more than an advanced college pitcher ahead of young hitters, but I think he's capable of doing well as he progresses.
Cate should start next season at AA Harrisburg.

The Nationals top draft pick in 2019 arrived in August and in six starts (27 innings) Jackson Rutledge struck 31 and allowed only 14 hits and an excellent stint in the Hub City.
Rutledge, a hard-throwing right-hander from San Jacinto junior college, overmatched SAL hitters with four pitches that made me think of the time that Lucas Giolito spent in Hagerstown,
The 6'8 Rutledge turns 21 just before Opening Day and it wouldn't stun me, under the right circumstances, to see him make an appearance on the big club's roster in September.
It would take the perfect draw to have that happen, but even considering it shows how highly I thought of Rutledge.
Rutledge will more than likely start with High A Potomac/Fredericksburg, but if they wanted to challenge Rutledge right away, he could start at AA Harrisburg.

Francys Peguero pitched well, although it didn't show up in his record (2-8), but Peguero finished with a 2.95 ERA and walked only 19 in 91 innings before a promotion to Potomac where he would split time between the rotation and bullpen.
Peguero was a bit old for the SAL (turned 24 in October) and didn't strike out a lot (80) of batters.
The number one stat that I rank highest for a low A pitcher is strikeouts per inning as if pitchers aren't striking out batters there, those numbers generally don't rise as the competition improves.

Joan Adon didn't pitch as well as Peguero by the numbers (3.86 ERA 90 K, 44 BB in 105 innings) other than in the win-loss column (11-3). but he's more of a prospect in my eyes.
Adon spent the entire year with the Suns, starting 21 of his 22 appearances in his first full-season campaign.
Adon only pitched in seven games at short-season Auburn in 2018, all in relief.
Adon didn't turn 21 until late in the season and he has a whip-like arm motion that you see pitchers have lots of success with, but not a lot of long term durability.
Adon didn't strike out as many as you would think a pitcher with his stuff should, but with some refinement and polish, Adon might be the rare pitcher where things click into place at higher levels and suddenly dominates.
I wouldn't bet on this happening, but if you are looking for a dark horse prospect, keep Adon in mind as he starts next season at High A Potomac/Fredericksburg.

Reid Schaller arrived in mid-season to make 12 starts after Tim Cate was promoted and the 2018 third-round selection from Vanderbilt performed reasonably well.
Schaller finished 4-3 with a 3.29 ERA, struck out 47 and walked 22 in 52 innings, but batters hit only.205 against him.
I would have liked to have Schaller strike out more, but he's not a finesse pitcher and Schaller did miss the early portion of the season with an injury, so the reason could have been getting into shape as his strikeouts picked up over his final five starts in which he allowed only four earned runs.
Schaller will turn 23 in April and like Jackson Rutledge will likely start with Potomac/Fredericksburg with a slim chance of beginning with AA Harrisburg,

Jake Irvin was the Nationals 4th round selection in 2018 from Oklahoma (Insert full Keith Jackson voice here) and although you couldn't tell from his won-loss record (4-4 in each half), it was a tale of two seasons for the former Sooner.
Irvin's ERA was over five in the first half and under three in the second with batters hitting forty-five points less against him in the second half as well.
Irvin struck out 113 in 128 innings, which is decent, but not outstanding, but at 6'6 and 220 pounds, Irvin has a chance to fill out a bit which could help the fastball a bit.
Irvin will start in High A Potomac/Fredericksburg in 2020.

Tomas Alastre had his second disappointing season in the Hagerstown rotation finishing with a season almost exactly as 2018 as only his strikeouts improved (37 higher in only four more innings pitched) with another ERA over five in twenty-plus starts.
Alastre still turns only 22 in June, so he's not out of time yet and should return to Hagerstown for a third try at the SAL, but they could start him at High A if they are aggressive with moving others to Harrisburg.

Jackson Stoeckinger was the only other Sun to make ten starts as the Suns' swingman with Stoeckinger making nineteen appearances in relief and leading the team in saves with five.
The 2017 twelfth rounder did improve his statistics from his 2018 campaign in Hagerstown but would have to take a major leap in 2020 to be considered a prospect.

The relievers portion of the post will only discuss players that pitched in at least ten games for the Suns.

Aaron Fletcher established himself as a prospect with a future as a left-handed reliever in a season that saw Fletcher pitch for three teams in the Nationals system before being traded to Seattle.
Fletcher struck out 28 in 28 innings with the Suns with an ERA of 1.61.
Hitters only hit .149 against the former Houston Cougar in his 15 appearances before a promotion to Potomac where his numbers were even better in twelve appearances there.
Fletcher made five appearances for AA Harrisburg before the trade to the Mariners, who assigned him to AA Arkansas.
Fletcher turns 24 over the winter but seems to have a chance to make it in someone's bullpen by 2021.
Fletcher will likely start back at AA Arkansas, although he might have a chance to move to AAA Tacoma with an impressive spring.

As well as Fletcher performed, Matt Cronin was even better after arriving in Hagerstown in July.
Cronin allowed only two earned runs in his twenty-two innings for an ERA of under one and an impressive forty-one strikeouts.
The fourth-rounder from Arkansas did what you would hope a college pitcher would do in the SAL and then some, but even with that consideration, Cronin's numbers were impressive.
Cronin's time reminded me of 2015 when Koda Glover stomped all over the league in his draft year and was pitching for the parent club in the next season.
I wouldn't be stunned if that happened again.

Christian Vann was dominant as well as he finished with an ERA of 1.57 and 28 strikeouts in 28 innings.
Vann did walk 16 and control for a reliever is a mild concern, but the 2018 25th round draft pick was surprising after struggling in the GCL after being drafted.
Vann will start at Potomac/Fredericksburg and could wind up being the closer with the Nationals.

Angel Guillen's ERA wasn't as strong as the players mentioned above, but 3.38 is still pretty good and I loved the K's (73 in 62 innings),
Guillen continued his fine year with seven good games in Potomac.
Guillen should start at High A next season but could be an early callup to AA Harrisburg with a good start.

Ryan Tapani was another swingman for the Suns, pitching 14 games in relief and starting five games/
The son of former big leaguer Kevin, Tapani struck out 73 in 65 innings which is a plus, but he is slight of frame (listed at six foot, but I'd say 5'10), was hit hard in nine games at Potomac after being promoted and turns 26 in June,.
Tapani will likely return to Potomac, where he seems to be organizational soldier material more than a prospect for now.

Jhonatan German pitched well at three places (Hagerstown, Potomac, and Harrisburg) and might have placed his name into relief consideration for the future if he can repeat the numbers again in 2020.
Hitters hit just. 209 against German, but he'll have to pick the strikeouts per inning up at AA Harrisburg in order to reach prospect status.
German turns 25 over the winter, so we'll see.

Chandler Day was a player that I thought would run through the SAL after being drafted from Vanderbilt in the eighth round in 2018.
Instead, Day spent the entire season in Hagerstown, finished with an ERA over four and hitters hit .279 against him and he averaged less than a strikeout per inning.
Day will move to Potomac/Fredericksburg, where he'll have to improve over his Hagerstown term.

2017 tenth rounder Trey Turner's ERA was a bit high at near four, but Turner struck out 35 in 21 innings and hitters only hit. 215 against him.
Turner's issue is control, walking 14 and keeping the ball up in the zone.
The arm is intriguing and I'd like to see Turner given a shot at High A next season.

Two 2016 college draftees were old for the level but pitched well.
Jacob Howell had the lower ERA (2.67 to 3.84), but Ryan Williamson struck out 61 in 61 innings.
Howell was hit hard in a late-season stint with Potomac, while Williamson spent the entire year at the Muni with the Suns.
Both will be 25 next season, so they'll have to perform well for High A Potomac/Fredericksburg to stick around the organization.

Former Michigan State Spartan Alex Troop returned after an injury-shortened 2018 and in eleven games finished with a 2.18 ERA and struck out 34 in 33 innings after making the transition to the bullpen.
Hitters batted under .200 against Troop, so it'll be interesting to keep tabs on him next season.
Troop will turn 24 during the 2020 season, so he'll need to move quickly.

Jared Brasher, a 2017 8th rounder from Samford, pitched well in 18 games (1-1 2.77 ERA) in his second year in Hagerstown but was released in July.
I'm not sure why that happened as his numbers were better than others on the staff and while he was a bit old for the level (24), I didn't see why the release had to happen when it did.

The rest of the pitchers pitched less than ten games, but one worth mentioning was Carson Teel, who pitched three games from the Hagerstown bullpen before a promotion to Potomac.
Teel doesn't miss a ton of bats and his test will come at AA Harrisburg, where he started a playoff game for the Senators. taking the loss in a 12-5 loss to Bowie.

2019 Hagerstown Suns-The Hitters

The 2019 Hagerstown Suns once again were a non-factor in each of the South Atlantic League's two halves, but the low A affiliate of the Washington Nationals did provide a few interesting prospects to follow as they rise through the system.
The problem is that all most of those were on the mound and very few at the plate, so this is not going to be the most upbeat post for the Nationals and Suns fan to read.
However, hang in there, because in the second part of the series when I write about the pitchers there are many more that perhaps could hold a chance at prospect status over the next few seasons.

K.J. Harrison was obtained from Milwaukee late in the 2018 season in a trade and as a college player (Oregon State) and a 3rd round pick in 2017, Harrison being assigned to low A for the second year was a surprise to many.
Harrison's sixteen games in Hagerstown showed that he was far above the level as he hit over .400 with two homers before a deserved promotion to High A Potomac.
Harrison didn't hit as well there with 11 homers to go with a .244 average.
Harrison struck out 98 times, but I did like the 51 walks.
I'd think Harrison would start at AA Harrisburg, but a return to Potomac/Fredericksburg is possible with a hoped-for fast start to move him quickly to AA.

My favorite prospect with the bat was 6'5 third baseman Drew Mendoza, who was the Nationals third-rounder this season from Florida State.
Mendoza hit .264 with four homers in 201 at-bats after skipping short-season Auburn and being assigned straight to the Suns.
Mendoza played a little at first and might wind up at first in the long term, but his average would have been higher, if not for a two-week slump in August.
Mendoza does have to work on contact as he struck out in 57 of his 201 at-bats, but I think he'll hit for power and looks the part of a possible breakout performer next season.
Mendoza is likely to start next season at High A.

Gilbert Lara was the other half of the 2018 trade to arrive from the Brewers with K.J.Harrison and like Harrison, I was surprised to see him in Hagerstown.
Lara didn't hit for average (.249) in his 81 games at Hagerstown before receiving the call to High A Potomac but did hit nine homers to show some pop and he hit four more in his 50 games or so with the P-Nats.
Lara played mostly shortstop for the Suns, but played some third as well and is now listed as a third baseman on his MILB webpage.
Lara still will be only 22 to start next season, but I have a feeling next year will be a pivotal season for him and it should start back at High A Potomac/Fredericksburg.

Nineteen-year-old catcher Israel Pineda was the highest-rated young prospect entering the season with the Suns, but he missed a chunk of time and in his 101 games, he struggled to a .217 average with over 100 strikeouts.
The good news for the Venezuelan was his seven homers, but the Nationals likely expected more after an excellent 2018 with Auburn.
I would return him to Hagerstown, considering his age, but he may go to High A by default unless the Nationals acquire a journeyman to catch there.

The final player that I found interesting was 2019 sixth-round shortstop Jackson Cluff from Brigham Young, who like Drew Mendoza, skipped Auburn to go straight to Hagerstown.
Cluff's average wasn't great at .229, but the interesting part was the power with eighteen extra-base hits with five homers and five triples.
Cluff could return to the Suns or possibly start in High A, where at 23 he's a better fit for the Nationals.

Outfielder Jacob Rhinesmith made the SAL all-star team (as did Gilbert Lara) but never received a callup to High A.
Rhinesmith's season was a tale of two halves as he hit over .300 in the first but with only one homer.
The power improved in the second as he hit nine longballs, but his average dipped to a mere .229.
Rhinesmith finished at .264 and his ten homers, 64 RBI all led the team (he was also second in steals with 18), but he'll turn 24 in May and I'm not sure if he rises above AA unless he shows more next season when he starts in High A.

That's about all as far as even moderate prospects to watch.
I'm keeping the players in the next tier to those that played more than 20 games in Hagerstown which only eliminates Gage Canning, who was promoted to Potomac after ten games.

Outfielder Justin Connell played the second-most games in Hagerstown but hit only .249 and three homers in 120 games.
Connell played the season at 20 years old, so he's not without hope to develop.

Third baseman Cole Daily hit a punchless .251 with just nine extra-base hits (all doubles) in 71 games.

Utilityman Phil Caulfield hit four homers in 35 games and might be one of those players that the Nationals can use as a fill-in player at any level of the system.
Caufield will be 25 to start next season, so he'd have to surprise in 2020 to reach prospect status.

Kyle Marinconz fits the same profile as Caulfield except he's a year younger and played over 100 games for the Suns.
Marinconz finished with an average of .247 with five homers on the year.

Omar Meregildo missed most of April and was promoted to Potomac after 29 games.
I mentioned Meregildo last season as someone to watch after a somewhat interesting 2018, but his combined numbers of .230 and eight homers have cooled my interest a bit.
Meregildo's still only 22 and I wouldn't write him off yet, but he'll have to pick up the pace next season where he could return to High A or even possibly try AA in Harrisburg if the Nationals feel racy.

Cody Wilson hit only .215 with five homers in 77 games and struck out roughly a third of the time.
Wilson did lead the team in steals, so he might have a chance to stick around as a journeyman minor leaguer.

The same could be said of Armond Upshaw, who hit the same .215 in 62 games and stole 18 bases in his second tour of Hagerstown duty.

Infielder Trey Vickers hit .204 in 83 games with three homers.

Two more young Venezuelan players struggled in small sample sizes.
Nineteen-year-old outfielder Ricardo Mendez struggled to a .194 average in 23 games without a homer.

Infielder Jose Sanchez hit a paltry .181 with only two doubles in 37 games before an injury.
Sanchez was returned to Auburn after he recovered.

Catchers Nic Perkins and Tyler Cropley in 100 combined games, didn't hit a homer between them and hit around the Mendoza Line (Perkins .209 Cropley .187).
Both will play next season at 24 and are organizational soldier types.

First baseman Jamori Blash began the season as the starter but hit only .190 with two homers in 21 games before being assigned to the team's Florida base and wasn't heard from after that.

Juan Pascal hit .181 in 23 games with all of his hits (13) singles.
Pascal can play second or third but has now had 2 short stints with the Suns, not hitting well in either.

I'll work on the pitchers later this week and there are some players that are worth keeping tabs on.

Cleaning out the inbox

The inbox begins with the Athletic and an excellent article on former Baltimore Orioles first-round selection Matt Hobgood.
The article speaks with Hobgood, Joe Jordan, who was the Orioles scouting director at the time, and other members of the Orioles organization that knew Hobgood during his career.
Hobgood was the fifth overall selection in 2009, but never pitched at AAA, let alone the big leagues and the article discusses Hobgood's lack of success, problems with weight and his attempts to live up to his draft position.
Couldn't recommend this article more.

Ohio State's St.John Arena has taken another step in their throwback evenings with Buckeye basketball as the volleyball team has moved to the Covelli Center and with volleyball lines on the court no longer needed, they have been removed.
St.John was used for one Buckeye game last season against Cleveland State and will be used for their non-conference tilt with Kent State this season.
Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann has stated that there is a consideration for a future Big Ten game at St.John and both of the Ohio high school basketball championships will eventually be held there with the girls starting this season and the boys in the following year.
Eleven Warriors posts some pictures and knowledge here.

The Athletic is back with a deep dive into the career of Lex Luger from his wrestling career to his outside the ring issues (personal, legal and physical) and what Luger is doing with his life today after once being a paraplegic.
Lex Luger was never a huge favorite of mine, but he was undoubtedly a star in the wrestling business and it's usually a good story when wrestling stars of the past talk about their lives in and out of wrestling-even when some to all may or may not be true.
No matter your feelings on wrestling or religion, it's an excellent article and worth the time to read.


We wrap with Rolling Stone's look back at the origin and as they put it near-death of Weezer.
This year is the 25th anniversary of their Blue Album and the article discusses the various starts and stops of the band as they attempted to hit the big time.
I wouldn't say I'm a massive Weezer fan, but I like them and remember the Blue Album fondly from the time.

Road Trip: Johnson City

The biggest road trip of the year began in the morning as Fred Landucci and Lefty Koch picked me up from my house to start a five day, four-night and numerous ballpark trip.

Our first stop was in Johnson City, Tennessee for an Appalachian League encounter between the Burlington Royals and the hometown Cardinals.
However, you have to eat and on the way, we stopped at a favorite from earlier this season- Mac and Bob's in Salem, Virginia.

We loved our stop in Salem for lunch at Mac and Bob's in April so much that when our lunchtime arrived and with Salem the nearest town available, it was the easiest selection of the entire trip.
I decided on a Buffalo chicken hoagie and as par for the course, it was tremendous!
Mac and Bob's might rank at the top of my favorite places all season and if I'm ever around Salem for various reasons, it's going to take a lot of doing to talk me out of a different food establishment than Mac and Bob's.

After Mac and Bob's, we stopped by Pulaski, Virginia and the Yankees as Lefty and I each needed to grab a Pulaski team set.
The Yankees were on the road, so we figured this should have been an easy stop, especially with the gates to the stadium being wide open.
It wasn't as no member of the front office was available, although I did speak to the grounds crew about Calfee Park, which is barely distinguishable from the place that Ryan, Battlin' Bob and I visited all those years ago.
The parent Yankees have spent a lot of money on Calfee Park and visually it has been a huge upgrade, but it looks to be a far more difficult place to autograph with more netting, new seating and lesser access.
Pulaski has consistently been my favorite place to go in the Appy League with great management through the years, a charming older park and Calfee always had the small town "baseball like it used to be" feel to the stadium.
For all the upgrades and they are upgrades, I'll miss the old Calfee Park.
I'll have some pictures later in the road trip series for our return to Pulaski.

And onto the new kingpin of the TRS Appy League standings, Johnson City, where they have taken a stadium that was horrible for autographing twelve years ago and made it an excellent place today, but
it's more than that makes TVA Credit Union Park the new champ as they retained their covered grandstand, added more space to move around the stadium, renovated their clubhouse area and added more concessions, plus they sell Dr. Enuf!
Enuf said and pun intended!

Our trip twelve years ago to the then-named Howard Johnson Field didn't see us watch a game there, but we did walk inside and look around and I'm glad we did or I wouldn't remember the infamous right field hill, which made the Hagerstown Municipal left field area look like a small speed bump.
The picture from that day shows the hill in its glory and although I'm a big fan of quirky features in stadiums, I can understand why the parent club insisted that the hill be removed as the stadium was improved.
If you didn't know it had been there previously, I'd bet you could look to the outfield and be unable to tell what once was a key part of the alignment.

As far as graphing goes, the access is far easier than in the past as now the first base side has an area for fans to buy beer, mill around and not be closed in and since that area was created, lots of space opened up.
I worked on the Burlington Royals team set (Sadly Johnson City still doesn't make one), while Fred took the few cards that I had from players that had Peoria and State College, including Malcom Nunez, an 18-year-old Cuban third baseman, who was in the Midwest League's top prospect set and was a player drafted in our fantasy league by someone.
Fred was able to quickly knock those out with the help of a child that Fred reports all the players know and regard as a superfan/team mascot.
I managed to add most of the Royals except for some of the relievers that didn't need to come all the way to where we were with the bullpen close to the clubhouse.
Lefty is a beer connoisseur and would order beer from the various parks that we visited, but this one was interesting as the beer server was from Hagerstown and worked for the Suns for a few years before moving to Johnson City!
She was involved with the Suns food operations, which is likely why I don't remember her, she was very nice and we enjoyed talking to her at various points in the game.
 

The game was nothing special with the Royals crushing the Cardinals 13-0, but we slogged through because we needed Daniel Lynch, a top Royals prospect that spent most of the year at High A Wilmington and made the Carolina League all-star team before a minor injury.
Lynch was making a rehab start for Burlington in the series and I thought he'd be more likely to sign in the more laid-back locale of Johnson City.
Lynch was very nice as he signed all three of my cards-Wilmington, Carolina League prospect, and all-star and chatted about the graphing experience in Frederick.

We then drove back to our hotel in Asheville to check-in and where we would be stationed at for the next four nights.
It was a good first day in Johnson City and elsewhere to start the trip and we still had three days of baseball to go.
I'll be working on the second day soon, but likely next week after the football previews for the opening of the college season this weekend.

Road Trip: Akron

Before we begin, because of this trip and yesterday's IFL Draft, I have yet to watch the weekend's DAZN or FS1 boxing cards. I have watched the Sergey Kovalev fight from Russia and I'll be doing a post on the weekend boxing when I have a chance.

A day/night trip to Akron with Mike Oravec was different than planned, but different isn't always bad and this day was a great time!

The Akron Rubber Ducks had originally scheduled Brian Baumgartner "Kevin Malone" from "The Office" fame for a bobblehead/meet and greet event back in the off-season.
As a huge "Office" fan, I immediately wanted to do it and Mike, who never watched the show, was happy getting to graph, travel and look around for items in his collection and we scheduled this and the event ASAP.
The problem arrived a few days before the event when Baumgartner was forced to cancel due to an acting role.
This is not uncommon in these situations and in contracts for appearances, there almost always is a clause that allows the actor to back out of the obligation if they are offered an acting role.
Akron kept hustling and landed what would have been a more than acceptable replacement in Leslie David Baker "Stanley Hudson" from the Office.
However, Baker had just appeared in Frederick two weeks before and Baker had already signed the picture that we (Cherie and Rachel's) are working on (sometime I'll write about that) and I didn't need him.
I try to think ahead though and asked the Ducks, if we could work on the visiting Richmond Flying Squirrels and the Giants top two prospects in Joey Bart and Heliot Ramos.
The team was very gracious in allowing us to do that and Mike and I had over an hour of being alone in the ballpark to get whatever we could get signed.

Mike and I were able to knock a sizable amount of the Squirrels team out (I think I now have gotten every team set card signed that I actually saw the player at) before the crowd even stepped into the place.
However, the crowd did enter eventually and neither Bart or Ramos had hit the field as it was mostly pitchers that were out earlier.
That changed our plans on the fly as we had originally planned to end our graphing day when people arrived and instead decided to stick it out.
I didn't get Heliot Ramos, who was the last player out to the field and the last to the dugout and said after the game ( with a five-hour drive ahead, that wasn't happening ).
That's too bad because I have three really cool cards of Ramos to have signed, but I'll have other chances I hope.
I was able to add Joey Bart on his Top 100, so that was a great grab for my set with the highlight being Bart telling a kid "why do you have three of these? Are you selling them?"
Bart said it with a smile and in a teasing manner, so it wasn't being nasty at all, but it shows you how the players of today have people selling their autographs on their mind.
It doesn't happen nearly as much as they think it does, but I can't blame them for thinking that way.
The general rule of thumb, if a person has five cards and four of the five are different, it's a collector.

Mike and I then ate at the paid-for buffet before we left, which was quite good and then a stop at the team store as we wound our way through the tight concourse, which is always tight at Canal Park.
Akron is a single deck downtown stadium and those stadiums have usually one concourse for the entire crowd, which makes it very tight and with no room for expansion or renovation, it will just have to be something that you deal with when you go to Akron.
I know many folks like the urban ballparks, but give me the wide-open suburban stadiums anytime.

The game and autographs were nice, but the highlight was the stop on the trip to Akron.
There is a massive antique market that would take hours to get through to do it right, but Mike and I try to stop whenever we are in the area to look around and see what we find.

On this day, we would both get lucky and find some things for our respective collections.
Mike ran through one end of the football field-sized store, while I did the other.
As I moved through, I was taking pictures of anything that I thought Mike would be interested in, mainly because doing this in the past I could not remember all of the locations that items were located in and we would waste time finding them.
I found it to be very helpful and I'll be doing it again in future visits.

I took a picture of one booth in particular with old collectibles and figured Mike would be interested in at least taking a look.
Mike was thrilled to find something that he had never seen before and bought a program from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which of course was made famous from the film "A League Of Their Own".
It wasn't cheap, but Mike did take advantage of it being reduced from its starting point and you could see how happy it made him as he found this rare program.

I did pretty well with a bobblehead and two programs as well.
I'm not sure if I had ever written about the 1970's era Cavaliers bobbleheads (Austin Carr, Bingo Smith, and Campy Russell) that were only given to season ticket holders for the Cavaliers, but I always wanted to add the next generation of the series as well.
I didn't find all of them, but I did find the Larry Nance third for twenty bucks, which was rare enough, but an equal find was two wrestling programs from Canton from 1960 at twelve dollars apiece.
I'm not a huge wrestling collector, but at this stage and similar to Mike, when you see something that you've never seen before and have the money to buy it- you should!
As for Nance, he was a player that I watched in college (Clemson), spent his entire career playing for the two teams that I rooted for (Cavaliers and Suns) during his era and if I had to pick one of the three pieces of the set (also Mark Price and Brad Daugherty) to find, I'd select Larry Nance.

All and all, a very successful trip and a fun one as well.
I always enjoy graphing trips and I love hitting places in Ohio, where I have a better chance of finding things that I really want for my collection.
Mike and I have a great time together and the time truly does fly by when we go on these ventures.
The season is nearing its end, but the fun of hanging out with your friends never goes away.

I haven't forgotten about the longest trip yet, but that might wait until September with the frenetic pace of the final week of the season!