Complex league action today... FCL squad in a doubleheader with the Cardinals. They lost the first game 8-2. Rabel Colon hit his 3rd homer in game 2, which is in progress. Samuel Capellan hit a two-run triple in the DSL Orange team's 3-1 win over the Reds. Sandro Pereira went 2-2 with an RBI single. Juan Sierra is 2-4 with a double and a run scored for the DSL Blue team.
If you are a baseball fan, then you want the best possible players playing the game - and that isn't the case. At one point in time lots of American black boys played baseball as kids - and we got Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson, Dick Allen and lots of great players out of that - and we had lots of black fans. At this point, there are very few black kids playing baseball, which means the sport is missing out on a lot of talent. We don't have many poor white kids playing the game either - so there is less talent. It has NOTHING to do with drafting a kid because he is black - and everything to do with growing the sport - a sport, in the USA that has largely become one for upper middle class suburban white kids, and the kids of former players - thank god for the Dominican Republic and Cuba and Venezuela, or it would be completely a posh sport --- which is NEVER what the sport was intended to be.
You are usually right -and you are right this time too. Some people let politics dictate their entire mindset. I want as many people and from as many sub groups as possible -- I want the fandom of the sport to increase, and I want the talent to increase, and in the USA it has done the exact opposite. If I could, I would give ever poor kid in India and China a baseball bat, glove and a dozen balls and see what happens in 25 years. Basketball courts and the football field is filled with kids across most demographics - but not baseball, and nothing was further from the truth decades ago. There is no Babe Ruth, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Josh Gibson, Joe Dimaggio or Willie Mays with out the working class and the lower middle class growing up playing and loving baseball.
Yeah - I think you let your politics bleed into areas that are not political. The irony of you injecting politics into a non political comment, and then claiming politics has no place in the discussion isn't lost on me. Do better.
Brown has the reputation and has said that he is very aggressive with players that show that they have "it". If you have big league stuff and you are doing what you are supposed to do in the minors, then there is no reason to keep someone down. Someone like Bloss blooming would make a huge difference for the Astros outlook - they already have Hunter Brown and Spencer Arrighetti in their rotation and under long term financial control. If Bloss joins that group and produces, then the Astros have an enormous luxury for the next 4-5 years.
"What baseball needs is kids who love baseball. All the rest is politics and has no place in sports or the discussion thereof." The irony of you injecting politics into my comment seems to be lost on you my friend. With our love of the sport in common perhaps it is best we move along together.
In my experience, the only people who label issues of race and gender as “politics” are people who want to legitimize their own morally reprehensible beliefs. Essentially what you’re advocating is minimizing the appeal of the game because you don’t want to devote any additional resources to outreach among children of color. That’s either really shortsighted and ignorant, or the motive of a somebody who has beef with people who aren’t white. If you love baseball and want the best athletes to play the sport, and if you want more people to be fans of the game, you should be in favor of making an effort to expand the pool of people who the game appeals to.
John Garcia's hot streak continues as he's turned in his second two-homer game in the last 10 days. He has a couple of two-run home runs tonight, giving him 7 on the season. Garcia also launched two homers on June 11 in Greenville. Ethan Pecko went three innings and allowed a run on two hits, walked three, and struck out four in his Asheville debut.
Jackson Nezuh with six strong innings for Fayetteville... he allowed a run on a solo homer, one other hit, and struck out six.
Garcia's numbers aren't solely because of Asheville. Although his batting average is higher at home (.324 vs. .283 outside Asheville), his OPS is only slightly higher in Asheville than it is everywhere else (.907 vs. .861). His breakout this season is certainly a pleasant surprise considering how he was a non-factor offensively in Fayetteville.
I am having a hard time buying in on John Garcia and Austin Deming. Both guys are having pretty dominant offensive seasons (both wRC+ >130) but with huge BABIP (.385 for Deming, .405 for Garcia) and ugly k/bb rates (27%/8% for Garcia, 30%/9% for Deming). My hope is that both guys are just crushing the ball on a line and being aggressive because of how much success they’re having, but until they get to AA and/or we start seeing some EV numbers, we won’t know.
Yep, a 19 year old Valenzuela/19 year old Gooden/21 year old JR Richard etc... if their good then let them pitch. Bloss looks to have an above avg fastball/slider and cutter. No need to hold him back. Here's hoping he has a Richard type debut.
