September, 2008 | The Baseball Zealot

LOVE TO WATCH THE KIDS PLAY

The ultimate supersub Wilkin Castillo got the September callup from the Cincinnati Reds, despite the fact that he batted only .246 at Triple A. I fell in love with this intriguing prospect when I saw him last year at the Arizona Fall League. Castillo is a switch hitter, but what makes Wilkin exceptional is his versatility. Although his primary position is catcher, he grew up playing SS, and I saw him at secondbase, but truth be told, he can play anywhere on the field. Today against the Buccos he’s in leftfeld and he nailed a ball that bounced over the wall for a ground rule double.

Everybody seems to know about Jed Lowrie of the Boston Red Sox. Lowrie has been doing the job for the Bosox in a pennant race filling in at both SS & 3B, but before he got the callup, I remembered Jed as the switch hitting middle infielder with a little pop I’d seen go yard for a walkoff homer in the AFL.

I saw Chris Dickerson play for the Reds in spring training the same day I watched Jay Bruce, Johhny Cueto, and Joey Votto. While I was impressed with the other three youngsters I was to see that day, Dickerson did not impress me. Chris is the nephew of former NFL great running back Eric Dickerson, and while he could run like the wind, there’s one thing that is vastly different between success in baseball and success in football, the ability to hit a curveball. This youngster really didn’t put up the numbers in the minors before this year. Well something must’ve clicked because Dickerson has responded well since his callup to Cincinnati. He got a chance to play when Ken Griffey, Jr. was dealt to the Chicago White Sox, and really came through, hitting six home runs in his first 19 big league ballgames (only the 2nd Red in the team’s history with five homers in his first twenty contests). The 6’3″ 225 lefthanded batter has done quite a bit in his short time in the majors, six homers, 7 doubles, 2 triples, five steals, while batting .320, all this in only 75 ABs. While I might’ve overlooked this 26 year old, it’s going to be hard to overlook him if he keeps playing the way he’s been thus far.

ROOKIE WATCH: TRAVIS SNIDER, TOR – OF

I liked Travis Snider the first time I saw him. This 5’10” 245 pound lefthanded hitter out of the great State of Washington can rake. When professional hitter, Matt Stairs was shipped off to Philadelphia, it was time for this kid to get the callup.

I missed this 20 year old’s debut, but tuned in the Blue Jays game last night with an eye on Snider. Travis did not disappoint. The Minnesota Twins, who are in a fight with my White Sox for a playoff spot, might’ve won last night’s ballgame if it were not for Travis Snider.

The rookie found himself in an unusual position in the lineup, batting 9th. But came through when it counted most, hitting against closer Joe Nathan, with two outs, down by a run, he lined a hard single to rightfield, and when the rightfielder bobbled the ball, the tying run scored from firstbase.

Where was replay??? In the bottom of the 10th inning Alex Rios ripped a one out triple to leftfield. However upon further review the TV replay clearly showed Rios’ flyball hit a speaker beyond the wall and then careened straight down, and off the fence. As the leftfielder crashed into the wall, Alex streaked into thirdbase, where he died as Nathan wriggled off the hook.

Then Travis found himself in a position to help his team when he stepped to the dish in the bottom of the 11th with the game knotted at four. Scott Rolen was on 2nd after a leadoff double, Snider lined a single just in front of a sliding leftfielder Jason Kubel, who made a nice play to keep the knock from being a game winner. This hit showed the kid hangs tough against southpaws as he got this one off Everyday Eddie Guardado. John McDonald was the hero a few moments later hitting one over the centerfielder’s head for a walkoff single.

This guy looks like a guy who gets better as he moves up the ladder. He batted .279 at Class A Dunedin, .262 with 17 homers at Double A, then .344 in 18 games at AAA, and is hitting .333 thus far in the bigs.

Champaign-Urbana minor league team will have to wait

For those in the Champaign-Urbana area looking forward to a minor league team, you may have to wait at least couple years.

Matt Perry, a spokesman for a group of investors who said last year they want to bring a Frontier League team to Champaign-Urbana, now says the group is shooting for 2010.

National Sports Services, the sports consulting firm behind it all, are now focusing on launching a Frontier League team in Ohio.

Cliff Lee on his way to a record-breaking season

Teddy Ballgame pointed out to me over the phone the importance of Cliff Lee’s 2008 season. Here we are just entering September and the Tribe hurler has already hit the 20 win mark with only 2 losses. Teddy asked me if I knew who the last Cleveland pitcher to get 20 wins was. I admitted ignorance.

According to Tedd, it was the ol’ spitballer himself, Gaylord Perry. I looked it up and Tedd was right (he always is). The last Indian pitcher with 20+ wins before this year was Perry in 1974 when he had 21.

As of today, Lee has the highest Win % of all pitchers with 20+ wins. Here are the Top Five:

  1 Cliff Lee            .909   20-2 2008  CLE*  
  2 Ron Guidry           .893   25-3 1978  NYY            
  3 Lefty Grove          .886   31-4 1931  PHA            
  4 Preacher Roe         .880   22-3 1951  BRO            
  5 Joe Wood             .872   34-5 1912  BOS

*as of Sept 3, 2008

Tedd noted that Cleveland acquired Lee as a prospect which sent Bartolo Colon to the Expos. Oh, the Tribe got one other prospect in the deal. Who would that be?

Grady Sizemore.

As Tedd said, "The Indians did their homework".

I THINK I’M TURNING JAPANESE

My friend from Japan, Taka, was coming to Chicago to see the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He wanted to see Nick & me. It had been two years since we met in KC. Unfortunately Nick was unavailable and I was going to be in Waupaca, Wisconsin over the Labor Day Weekend. Fortunately Erick Robertson of Simyard was available to meet Taka at Wrigley, and join him for some Cubbie baseball.

Here is what Erick had to say of his Taka experience…

I created a sign that said "Taka" in Japanese and headed down to
Wrigley. I picked up the tickets at Will Call and then started walking
around holding this sign. I felt like a limo driver at the airport.
Several people asked me what it meant, and I think some people thought I
might be selling tickets or something. After about five or ten minutes,
Taka approached me and introduced himself. He’s a really nice guy, very
friendly, and knows a lot about baseball. He had just arrived in town
from New York where he went to a couple games at Yankee Stadium, and he
was planning on visiting Dodger Stadium and PNC Park before heading back
to Tokyo.

In my visits to Japan, the Japanese baseball fans that I had met only
knew about American players that had actually played in Japan. Taka
broke that mold. He not only knew every player on the field who had ever
played in Japan, but he also knew all about the rest of the players. At
one point, a fan sitting next to us asked us how old Jamie Moyer was,
and if it was in Taka’s guidebook. Taka knew the answer before he even
looked it up. He is a walking vault of baseball knowledge, Japanese or
otherwise.

Taka spent a good part of Sunday’s game teaching some Japanese to the
fans sitting around us. He taught them to say "izou" (Let’s Go) and
"kattobase" (make a good hit) to the players as they are batting. He
called out in Japanese to Fukodome on several occasions, and I only was
able to catch some of what he was saying.

Have you seen the Fukudome shirts in Wrigley that have Fukudome’s name
in Japanese on the back? ???? if you have Japanese characters
available. Taka and I shared a chuckle at these shirts because it is
strange to have the name written like that. Japanese player names are
always written "FUKUDOME" in Roman characters on the back of their
jerseys, but also, that specific alphabet is never used for Japanese
names. It’s very similar to how Japanese people screw up English text
when they use it in Japan, except in the reverse. We both agreed that it
was a very strange thing to see on a shirt, although it is considered
stylish in Wrigley.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stay for the end of Sunday’s game
because I had a wedding to attend in Evanston on Sunday night. But I did
have a good time with Taka, and I believe he did also. We drank some
beers, ate some dogs and enjoyed both games even though the Cubs didn’t
pull out a win this weekend. I told him that I would try to see if Tedd
would come with me to Japan to see some games when the Hanshin Tigers
visit Tokyo next year. I hope we’re able to do that, Tedd, it would be a
blast! You would love games in Japan!

A BIG THANK YOU goes out to Erick for meeting up with Taka! I’m glad they enjoyed watching some Cub baseball, even though the results might have been better, the Cubs lost both games. What a BLAST it would be to watch some baseball in Japan, with two of the biggest baseball fans I know, COUNT ME IN!

Illini take the field for some fall practice

Today, the University of Illinois baseball team took the field at Illinois Field for the first time this semester for practice. So I took off work early and got some photos.

It was a sunny, hot 92-93 degrees and just standing around was enough to work up a sweat.

I saw a lot of players I recognized from last year and quite a few new kids on the block. When i was there, it was mostly warmups, drills and a little batting practice.


Joe Bonadonna	Casey McMurray and Nick Stockwell

Coach Eric Snider teaching the finer points of laying down the bunt.

Some of the pitchers were practicing their faux deliveries on a wooden beam in front of full length mirror.

Snider feeding the pitching machine under the scoreboard in left field. ugh… 93 degrees.

Dom Altobelli (right) came over to shake my hand before practice. It sounds like the torn labrum which he injured last season is still nagging him. Hopefully, he’ll be good as new by spring.

More photos at the Photo Gallery.

ROOKIE WATCH: AARON CUNNINGHAM OF, OAKLAND A’s

Aaron Cunningham played his first big league game Saturday for the Oakland A’s, collecting two hits (an opposite field double that almost cleared the wall on the fly in rightcenterfield & a 2 RBI single to center). Cunningham was originally drafted by the White Sox and traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for Danny Richar, then shipped off to Oakland in the Dan Haren deal.

I saw Aaron play last fall in the Arizona Fall League. He was hard to overlook. He’s a hustling kid, who plays the game hard. Everybody was saying Cunningham really isn’t a tool guy, but he makes the most of his talent. I became an AC Fan!

Looking over his minor league stats I saw where he even pitched a little bit, with some success, a 3.16 ERA in 53 games over 71″ innings pitched. But AC really got the job done in 2008 with the bat, hitting .317, with 12 homers, 6 triples, 18 doubles, & twelve steals at AA Midland before being called up to AAA. Cunningham turned up his game a notch at Sacramento where his batting average soared to a robust .382, with five homers, five doubles, & four stolen bases, in just 20 games.

This kid reminds me of Shane Victorino, the way he plays the game. I’m looking forward to watching this exciting ballplayer, the way his career unfolds, even though he’s no longer a member of the White Sox, I wish AC nothing but the best!