The Philadelphia Phillies have a good problem on their hands. In an era that elite catchers seem to be wearing thin, the Phillies have two of the premier catching prospects in the game. This past season, they purposely left Andrew Knapp and Jorge Alfaro at two different levels of the minor leagues. Now, both appear ready for big league stardom.
So what’s next for the Phillies behind the plate?
Anfernee Seymour has had an interesting journey since beginning his professional career. First, he switched positions, converting from a high school center fielder to minor league shortstop. This season, he switched organizations, coming to the Atlanta Braves from the Miami Marlins in an August trade.
So, what do the Braves have in Seymour?
This past Wednesday was one of the best experiences of my young journalistic career in covering Minor League Baseball. I was on hand in Charlotte, North Carolina at BB & T Ballpark — home of the Charlotte Knights — for the Triple A All Star Game.
The stars of tomorrow of the International and Pacific Coast League battled in what would be a 4-2 victory for the IL. I was surrounded by a dozen guys that will be in the big leagues by September and a handful that have already been there. Oh, and a PCL head coach that was the starting second baseman of one of the greatest World Series champion teams of my lifetime, a member of the 600 Home Run Club and a World Series champion manager.
It was a good night. Here are some videos and pictures from my evening.
April 13th. It was a start two years in the making. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ Jameson Taillon hurled six innings of one-run ball, and when he left the mound healthy and feeling strong, all of Pirates’ Nation breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Taillon is quite possibly the most intriguing Top 100 prospect in baseball because no one knows what to expect. Almost all prospect junkies know what he is — or at least was — capable of, but it has been two years and two major injuries since he has pitched in an actual game against live batters. That is quite the layoff.
If you are unaware of Taillon’s storied past, he was the Pirates’ 2010 first-round draft pick, selected second overall and sandwiched between Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. Much like Harper and Machado, Taillon was expected to be a superstar in the very near future. While Machado and Harper have reached those expectations, Taillon’s career has been derailed — albeit temporarily — by injuries.
Standing at 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds, the now 24-year-old right-hander was a menacing presence on the mound from his first day in the minor leagues. His 2011 debut season would be a precursor of what to expect: high strikeout totals and low walk totals, the perfect combination of a budding ace. Where he struggled — if you wanted to call it that — was in the perfection of a third out pitch (as his changeup and slider were a work in progress), and his command.
Taillon reached Double-A in just his second season and he was nothing short of sensational. He made three starts to close out the 2012 season for Altoona. The righty went 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA, striking out 18 batters while walking one over 17 innings. Heading into 2013, Taillon was a consensus top-20 prospect in baseball.
2013 was an up and down season for Taillon. He reached Triple-A, but once there, he posted the worst walk rate of his career. Prior to his promotion, his 19 starts in Double-A would see Taillon at his most hittable, allowing more than a hit per inning while posting the highest batting average against (.257) of his young career.
He would head to spring training in Bradenton with the Pirates and be shut down with the dreaded elbow discomfort. It would be determined that his UCL had not ruptured or torn, yet Taillon would opt for Tommy John surgery. He would be shelved for at least a year, likely longer. As if to literally add insult to injury, Taillon returned in 2015 only to be shut down without throwing a live pitch as he needed hernia surgery.
Two full seasons. His age-22 and 23 seasons — highly important in any elite pitching prospect’s development — lost to injury. Would he still have that 90 to 94 mile per hour fastball? More importantly, could he still land it? Would his patented overhead curve with the big break still drop like it used to? Would all the progress he made on his Major-League-ready changeup be lost after not having thrown a pitch in a live game in more than 30 months?
The answers to those questions are extremely positive. So far… so good.
For video highlights, more prospect breakdown and projections for Taillon, head on over to Today’s Knuckleball for the full article by clicking the link below.
Every year there are big name prospects ready to blast on the scene. Last season, rookies took the league by storm and this year, Nomar Mazara and Mallex Smith are already up and the rest of the MLB is waiting for names like A.J. Reed, Trea Turner and J.P Crawford to make their big league debuts.
Working their way up the ladder are some interesting names to keep an eye on this season – Dom Nunez and Javier Guerra of the Rockies and Padres, respectively. Part of the reason to keep tabs on them has to do with their skill-set and overall game, of course. The other reason to know of their names, however, is that the organizations they are part of need help at those positions.
Keep reading for more on some big prospects to watch this year!
The casual baseball fan probably doesn’t even know who Mike Hessman is. The Minor League Baseball junkie that I am thinks he’s one of the greatest stories of his generation.
Hessman didn’t have a luxurious Major League Career to tell his grandkids about one day. No, Hessman grinded away for 19-years in the Minor Leagues. Tagged the real life Crash Davis, since being drafted by the Braves in 1996, Hessman got his cup of tea in the bigs on five different occasions, but would later become a mentor to bright-eyed, young prospects pursuing the same dream he had years earlier.
This past July, Hessman became the American Minor League home run king, blasting a grand slam for his record-setting 433 home run. He would finish the season, but never hit another blast.
At 37-years old, Hessman decided to hang it up this past weekend and pursue his next endeavor… coaching. I’m sure he will be a welcomed addition to any organization, especially the Detroit Tigers who he played for both in the Majors and Minors.
Hessman lived the dream. He didn’t hang it up when he realized that he wasn’t ever going to be the next Frank Thomas. No, he kept on grinding and playing the sport he loved. Say what you will about a 19-year Minor League career, but you can never take that away from him.
I recently recapped his illustrious career at minorleagueball.com. The link below will take you to his story:
This past July 4th weekend, the fiancé and I took in a Hickory Crawdads game. The Crawdads play in Hickory, North Carolina and are the Single-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. Jose Bautista, the American League Captain in last night’s Home Run Derby, and reigning National League MVP Andrew McCutchen are two of Hickory’s most famous alumni. As soon as we paid the three dollars to park, I immediately remembered how much I love MiLB.
Minor league baseball truly wants you to come to the games. They aren’t money making conglomerates like the new Yankees Stadium, which we also stopped at on our road trip. Sometimes, I feel like they don’t care if they even make a dime. They are owned by big league ball clubs and every last player that takes the field is giving it everything they got in hopes of being noticed. We were in for a real treat that night as Dario Alvarez was pitching for the Savannah Sand Gnats. While I understand 99% of you just said who?, the other 1 % knows that he is one of the best pitchers Single-A has to offer. This season Alvarez is 6-0 with a 0.98 ERA, striking out 89 batters while only walking 13 over 55 innings. That night in Hickory he was dealing, allowing no earned runs while striking out eight.
I have been to a few minor league ball games this season and watch at least a little bit every night as head of the Minor League Coverage team at Yanks Go Yard. I know I enjoy it more than the average person, but you really should take in a minor league game some time. There are plenty of reasons for everyone to enjoy it.
3. The Team Names:
Minor league baseball teams are in the most obscure places with some of the most obscure names. I don’t even know where Kannapolis is, but I would certainly be a fan of the Intimidators. Tell me you wouldn’t want to get decked out in your favorite pirate costume (you know you have one) and take in a Bradenton Marauder game down in Florida. If I saw that the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes were facing off against the Modesto Nuts, I would go to the game without even needing to know what sport was being played! I’m sure Paris Hilton is the biggest fan of the El Paso Chihuahuas, and you know that Homer Simpson has season tickets to the Albuquerque Isotopes.
2. The Promotions.
Sure, the Yankees have their grounds keepers do a YMCA for you, and the Atlanta Braves have the Home Depot Tool Race, but that stuff doesn’t compare to the on-field antics at minor league baseball parks. Look at this for example:
What you’re looking at here is a young man dressed as the Tooth Fairy. His prime responsibility was to run out onto L.P. Frans Stadium’s field, home of the Crawdads, and keep the bases pearly white. At first I thought it was a college kid being initiated into some fraternity, but then I remembered I’m in a minor league baseball stadium and this is actually pretty normal.
The Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs have a feature in their stadium that is second to no other: they have urinal video games people. That’s right, urinal video games. If you can put in the back of your mind the amount of germs that you are taking in (or if you are simply drunk enough to not comprehend it) you can play video games right there in front of you while you drain your Richmond Flying Squirrel. One of my favorite promotions that I have ever heard of happened last season at the Cleveland Indians Single-A Mahoning Valley Scrappers’ game: on All You Can Eat Wednesday they handed out free liposuction! I couldn’t even make that up if I tried! Several teams hold musical chair contests right on the field. Hickory allows one lucky fan to suit up in a sumo suit and tackle the mascots!
Then you have the specials. There are nights in minor league ball parks you can go and get hammered for ten dollars. No lie. You can thank the Asheville Tourists for that one. They started the whole Thirsty Thursdays idea, and you can now go to many minor league ballparks on a beautiful summer Thursday night and get beers for a whole dollar. Think about that: beers at a baseball game for one dollar. You know what you can get at a Minnesota Twins game for a dollar? Nothing at all, and they are essentially a minor league team! On top of it, while you are waiting on line for that dollar beer, why don’t you take a go on the moon jump right next to the concessions line?
While at the Crawdads game, I even noticed they had Unemployment Night every Wednesday. If you show your unemployment ID at a Wednesday night game, you get four free tickets. Like I said, minor league teams really want you to be there.
1. The Stadiums.
Most minor league stadiums are no bigger than a college ball park, but that coziness makes it that much more enjoyable. I remember I went to a Portland Beavers game, and we were sitting at high top tables drinking beers literally in right field foul territory. We were on the field and I think the tickets cost six dollars.
You can go to a minor league baseball game and get prime seating and an enjoyable night out for under $25 if you really wanted to. You can barely do a movie for that these days! If a minor league stadium holds more than 5,000 people, you are at an enormous stadium. If they are charging over $10 or $12 for a ticket, something monumental is happening. Hell, the night we went to the game the Crawdads let you in for FREE if you were wearing a red shirt. The entire stadium was a sea of red, except for me, my fiancé, her younger sister, her bridesmaid, and my future father-in-law, all of whom unfortunately had no idea that the promotion was going on that evening. If you don’t like baseball, you can still go get drunk or eat until your stomach bursts for peanuts, and the game (unlike at the major league level) will be over in less time than a $14 movie. Plus, they always have cool stuff like this:
I hope one day you get to go out and take in a game. Anywhere that you live, there is probably a minor league ball park no less than twenty minutes away. I mean, even Arkansas has a minor league team, and what the hell is in Arkansas? I know for sure I can’t wait for Monday night when I get to go see the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders face off against the Gwinnett Braves at CoolRay Field on Kids Eat Free Night. I am 90 percent certain with the ever so strict rules at minor league ball parks that I will be under 12 years of age that night.
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