The Season Continues

I begin this post at 12:40am (on Thursday morning; yes, I back date these posts to keep things straight in my head), while eating a gourmet dinner from Wendy’s that I picked up on the way home from the stadium.  It has been a while since my last post, but today pretty much sums up how the past two weeks has been and why it has kept me from writing.  To make a long night short, tonight’s game was suspended in the top of the sixth inning with us trailing Wisconsin (Seattle Mariners affiliate) 12-11.  Yes, that score is correct.  Storms came through around 9:15pm and we waited it out to try to finish it, but to no avail.  So, the game was officially suspended around 11:30pm and we will resume this game tomorrow night at 6pm, and play the regular scheduled game thereafter.

I have many loose ends to tie up since my last post.  In that time, we have finished the first-half of the season, had our All-Star break, I have driven over 1,300 miles, and we are six games into the second-half of the season. 

We had a strong finish to the first half of the year, winning nine of our final 11, including sweeps of Burlington at home and Kane County on the road.  In a weird twist, the final game at Kane County was played at the stadium during a power outage.   The game would have had a spring training feel since there was no scoreboard, no music, no announcing, and no promotions, but there 6,000 people there for the Father’s Day game.  The score was announced with megaphones between innings and it was also posted on sheets of paper taped to the press box.  We won the game 3-2, and none of the players or fans seemed too distraught over the lack of electricity during the game.

At the conclusion of the game, everyone was on their own for the All-Star break.  Due to the flooding in Cedar Rapids, many players made plans to fly out of the nearby Chicago airports to go home for the break.  I had made these plans several weeks earlier so I could fly to Tampa and drive my car to Cedar Rapids.  I arranged to have it shipped here at the end of April, and when it had not been shipped by the end of May, I decided to go down and drive it up myself.  So, a plane trip Sunday night and 1,300 miles in my car over two days had me back in Cedar Rapids very late on Tuesday night.  It was not exactly the most relaxing break I had pictured.

We are 4-2 to start the second half and things are looking up after a disappointing first half.  The team is improving everyday and everyone is committed to making this a strong second half that will hopefully land us in the playoffs.

My father and brother left today after being here for five days.  It was great to see them, as it is very difficult to see my family between the season and finishing my Masters degree.  Last night, they were over at my host family’s house for a nice dinner.  Due to mismatched schedules and road trips, this was my first meal at home since the beginning of the month.  Eating out all of the time can definitely get old, but this is usually the only choice for food.

Finally, after tonight’s game we had more player moves announced, and it seems that the fast track for a player to be sent to Rancho Cucamonga (our Class A Advanced affiliate) is to room with me.  Relief pitcher Jordan Towns has been called up to Rancho, leaving me to search for another roommate on the road.  This makes three roommate departures for me in two weeks and gives me another example for my recent post “Comings and Goings” where I discussed the high rate of personnel turnover in this business.

Thoughts and Prayers for Cedar Rapids

After a rainout due to bad weather in Beloit, Wisconsin, we traveled to Kane County (Geneva, IL).  We won tonight 2-0 behind quality pitching and strong defense.  I had the start tonight, although I only lasted two innings after being knocked out on a play at the plate.  Discussing plays at the plate might be a future post. 

Due to the recent flooding events in Cedar Rapids, I understand that baseball is far from the minds of everyone in the ravished area.  On behalf of the Kernels’ players, coaches, and staff, as well as the entire Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim organization, I want Cedar Rapids to know that you are in our thoughts and prayers.  We understand that baseball is merely a livelihood, and that there are more pressing issues going on at this time.  So, I ask everyone to keep Cedar Rapids in your thoughts and prayers, and we, although not permanent residents, are pained by the flooding events.

If anyone would like to make a donation to help the flood victims, please visit the following links: Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund; United Way of East Central Iowa.

Comings and Goings

Originally, this post was going to be something very different from what I am writing about now.  However, a situation after the game prompted me to postpone the original post and discuss this.

For the second time in three days, we had a pitcher called up to Rancho Cucamonga, our Class A-Advanced affiliate, located in California.  Ironically, this pitcher was the roommate I lived with at my host family’s house, and the other pitcher was the roommate I had on the road.  Furthermore, due to injuries, two other pitchers were placed on the disabled list, bringing the total of pitchers new to the team at four (two of which have already pitched for us this season) when all of the transactions are complete.  Finally, we released a catcher last week and signed a pre-draft free agent.  This brings our total of new faces in the clubhouse over the last two weeks to five.

The relationships you establish with players, coaches, and staff members are made thinking that they will last for a while, when in reality, their duration is quite uncertain.  They may last as long as several years, or be as short as only a few days.  The turnover in professional baseball is unlike its kind in any other profession, including other professional sports due to the vast minor league system it employs.

We are always being told to take emotion out the game.  I am beginning to see why that is the case.  This is not the emotion of playing with passion and aggressive intent, but the emotions that are associated with personal relationships.  Personnel decisions and criticism from coaches are never being made on a personal level, but professional and business levels.  Relationships must be trusting and unwavering, but at the same time but flexible and adjustable. 

You need to have a short memory in this game or else all of the failures and detached relationships with people will wreak havoc with your mind.  In a game where failure is so prominent, a day-to-day approach of starting everything anew the following day seems to be the easiest way to go about things.  Sadly, the same approach must be taken with the people you meet along the way.  Someone you grow very fond of may be gone tomorrow, whether it is because he moves on or you do, and using any energy to dwell on this can set you back.  This is why emotional attachment becomes so difficult. 

Everyone in this business is trying to make it to the top.  It is paradoxical that while no one can get to the Major Leagues by themselves, there is not enough room for everyone to make it.  This is a team game played by individuals.  While everyone is striving for the team to win, players are looking out for their individual success along the way.  This balance is often strained and is a major reason why the relationships you develop with people should be kept professional with minimal vested emotion.  There is only so much of the pie to go around, and no one around you is afraid to take your share.

Why Collegiate Success May Not Immediately Translate

Overall, over the past few weeks, we have been playing better baseball; and, as we near the end of this home stand, we are finally reaping the fruits of our labor with several victories these past few nights.  Although we are out of contention for securing a playoff berth in the first-half, it is important for us to keep playing well so that we can build momentum and carry it into the second-half.  The beauty of the minor league baseball schedule and playoff system is that teams can get off to a rough start and still have the opportunity to win a championship.  My teammates who played in Orem last year know this very well as we earned one of the wild card spots at the end of the second-half last season.  We then went on to win the Pioneer League Championship even though we were about a .500 team.

A few weeks ago, I received two emails of similar nature regarding the differences between professional and college baseball and that many people figure that success collegiately will translate into success professionally.  In lieu of the recent draft, I feel this is a good time to address these questions.  Before I delve into this, I just want to point out that these are my opinions and that scouts, coaches, and other individuals throughout professional and collegiate baseball may have varying views. 

I feel that the differences between professional and collegiate baseball are the primary reasons that success for a collegiate player does not always translate into immediate professional success.  These are several of the key differences:

Wood bats: When a player comes to professional baseball, this is, many times, the first time a player is using a wood bat on a regular basis for the entire year.  Wood bats have a much smaller sweet spot and are lighter than the metal bats used in college.  While many players have used wood bats in summer collegiate leagues and off seasons, using a wood bat daily for twelve months will take its toll on you.  Furthermore, the room for error with a wood bat is so minute that proper mechanics are needed to be successful regularly, whereas a metal bat can yield desired results even with flawed mechanics.

Schedule and travel: Playing 140 games in 152 days will wear down even the best athletes.  The travelling, living out of suitcases and hotels, not being able to put the best meals together and eating at odd hours, and day games after night games are all part of the grind of a professional season. Furthermore, when you take into account that in addition to the games, it is required that we put in numerous hours of practice working on hitting and fielding mechanics, as well as strength and conditioning.

Even though my college team played in at least 60 games both of my years at the University of Tampa, these were usually only being played three or four times a week.  This allowed for plenty of recovery time.  In addition, any travel we did was only one night at a time and almost every trip was completed in less than four hours.

Professional baseball requires players to become time and energy management experts, so that they can accomplish all of the work they need to on a daily basis, while not expending any useless energy on tasks.  The season is too long for a player to be taking too many swings or defensive drills and wearing himself out.  Sometimes, the best thing a player can do is walk away when he is comfortable with how things have been going in his hitting or defensive session instead of continuing to work and actually get out of these good habits through exhaustion.

Depth: the best way I can describe this is by having someone picture a pyramid, and then horizontally splitting it into sections.  The upper most level is the smallest and encompasses the professional players, with the levels under that being college, high school, and youth players.  While a player moves up this pyramid, the number of players around him decreases, but the individual talent level increases.  While the top collegiate players may be putting up impressive statistics, one must keep in mind that these players are not playing the top competition on a nightly basis.  Weak non-conference opponents and pitching staffs with limited depth can be enough to inflate a player’s statistics.

In professional baseball, you are competing against the top baseball players the thirty major league organizations can find in the world.  The number four and five starters in a professional rotation were number one or two starters in a collegiate rotation somewhere.  The bench players on a professional roster were starters in college.  The top talent is playing on a nightly basis and forces players to be at their highest level of competition every time they take the field. 

These three differences are major factors contributing to the length of a player’s learning curve when making the transition from collegiate to professional baseball.  The length of this learning curve is dependent on a player’s work ethic, ability to adapt to the new lifestyle, and willingness to buy into an organization’s philosophy.

Long Days (Number 2)

This post is a few days late as the shift from 6:30pm to 7pm night games, some long games, and an early lift day has limited my writing time.  This post is another time line (like my May 2 post when we traveled to Fort Wayne, IN at 5am, and played a game that night at 6:30am).  This period covers Saturday and Sunday, May 31-June 1, when we played a double header in Peoria, IL on Saturday and a day game at home against Kane County (Oakland Athletics affiliate) on Sunday.

Saturday, May 31

10:00am – Wake up.  Our bus departure time is 10:45am, and I need to pack up so we can check out of the hotel and get on our way to a local mall to kill some time before we have to go to the stadium

10:45am – Depart for mall.  Sometimes, on getaway days, the team will go to a local mall to kill a few hours so that we are not sitting at the stadium any longer than we have to be.  Fortunately, we are able to do this in Peoria as there is a mall two miles from the hotel.

12:15pm – Depart to stadium.  One of the drawbacks of going to these malls is that there is always the temptation to buy things, things that I already have enough of but will of course buy if there is a good deal on them.  So, two polo shirts (the dress staple of a minor league baseball player, and two pairs of shorts later (the weather is finally warming up here now that it is June), as well as a quick lunch, I get back on the bus to go to the stadium.

12:30 – Arrive at stadium.  Pitchers and catchers do not stretch for an hour so I have a little more time to kill than usual.  I use the time to pack up some of my locker since we will be leaving after the game, as well as to polish my spikes.

1:30 – Pitchers and catchers on the field.  It is a warm and humid day in Peoria with a high that will eventually reach 88.  I stretch, throw, and catch some bullpens, then go inside to get some early hitting work in the cage.

3:00pm – Batting practice.  We hit for 45 minutes on the field and then go inside to make finally preparations for tonight’s games.

5:00pm – Game 1 begins.  I am catching the first game tonight as I was slated to catch Friday’s game that was rained out.  Doubleheaders in minor league baseball are played as two seven-inning games.

6:50pm – Game 1 ends.  We lose 7-3 due to some defensive miscues and a stagnant offensive.  However, we have no time to dwell on this loss as game two will start in a half hour.

7:20pm – Game 2 begins.  I am not playing this game so I end up keeping personal notes on the other team.  In addition, I end up coaching first base for the game as our hitting coach (and usual first base coach), is the acting manager for the doubleheader as our manager, KJ, is out of town for personal reasons. 

9:15pm – Game 2 ends.  We suffer another loss, 3-1.  After the game, we have a post-game meeting, shower, and get packed up to leave Peoria.  We need to load all of our bags onto the bus, as well as all of team gear, which includes extra bats, extra uniforms and clothing (in case of roster moves on a road trip), training room equipment (which consists of four large trunks), and laundry bags.

11:15pm – Bus departs for Cedar Rapids.  We had a spread of spaghetti, meatballs, and salad in the clubhouse for dinner, so we will be driving straight home without any stops.  I make sure to pack a few water bottles, knowing that I need to stay hydrated since I am catching the early game tomorrow.  I warm up and stretch for the second time today with the position players, as we all get ready for the game starting shortly.  I am not starting tonight so my pregame routine is rather basic, but I will detail my pregame routine in a later entry.

Sunday, June 1

2:00am – Arrive in Cedar Rapids.  We arrive to the stadium and need to unpack the bus.  After we do this, I head home.

2:30am – Arrive at home.  After unpacking my bags from the road trip, I head to bed as fast as possible so I can be ready for the game tomorrow.

10:30am – Wake up.  All players need to be to the field by noon.  Today we are doing a “show and go”, which means we will be not be taking any on-field batting practice or going through a typical day of early work.

11:15am – Arrive at the stadium.  I get some swings in the cage before pitchers and catchers go on the field to stretch.  Kane County will have the cage around 12:30pm, so any swings I am going to get before today’s game will have to be as soon as possible.

12:00pm – Pitchers and catchers on the field.  There is only one bullpen today and so today’s workload is light.  Another catcher catches this because I am playing in today’s game.

2:00pm – Game.  I feel surprisingly well after catching the night before and enduring the long bus ride.  Other than a few hip flexor cramps late in the game, I feel good throughout the game.

4:55pm – Game ends.  We lose a heartbreaker 4-3 after scoring two in the ninth to put us within reach of a win.  I am exhausted, not to mention frustrated, after the game is over as this outcome has unfortunately become a little too common lately.

6:30pm – Leave the stadium.  After the post-game meeting and a short workout for some daily maintenance, I shower and leave the stadium.

We have played three games in a 24-hour period and need to recharge for Monday and the remainder of the home stand.  We will not have another day off until the All-Star break, beginning June 16.  While there is no rest for the weary, you learn to be efficient in your daily activities and to expend the lowest amount of energy possible while keeping true to form and getting the maximum benefit out the work.