Month: November 2008

Pitchers Singh & Patel, one’s a lefty, one’s a righty, don’t ask me which one is which, got their chance yesterday to throw in front of major league scouts at Dr. Kowcher’s.  Even though I’m staying in Tempe, I couldn’t make it over to see the historic event, mainly because I couldn’t get the necessary information in time, due to the internet being unavailable at my hotel.

I did talk with a fellow White Sox fan, whom I’d befriended at last night’s game in Mesa.  He told me, Tom House was on hand, explaining how he’d been working with the two hurlers, perfecting their techniques.  The first time one of the youngsters faced live batters against a local college, he plunked the first two batters he faced, a case of the jitters.

I wonder how other phenoms from the USA would make out in similar circumstances, in a foreign country, playing an unfamiliar game, and with their entire futures riding on their tryout.  Here’s what happened yesterday, the tall lefty threw 87 mph, and showed some promise.  While the stockier righthander hit 91 mph, but looked to have a much lower ceiling.  Both guys were all over the place with their control.

It’ll be interesting what happens in the lives and baseball careers of these two young men from India.  I wish them well!  Baseball truly is an international game, despite what the Olympics might think.

Down here in Arizona, there are a couple of 19 year old kids from India getting their shot at making it to professional baseball in America.  I was reading this fascinating article in the USA Today about these pitchers named Singh & Patel, who will be throwing tomorrow in Tempe, AZ in front of pro scouts.  Turns out Barry Bonds’ agent held a Million Dollar Arm contest and one of the guys was awarded $100,000, plus the opportunity to show what he could do.  This kid’s father drives a truck of produce in India, which earns him $25 per month.  I’m gonna try to get an in person look at these tryouts.

The day portion of my day/night baseball filled day started out in Phoenix, featuring Surprise vs Phoenix.  But before we got to the ballpark, we made a detour to Burger King.  Got a veggie burger with a little mustard and some cheese, a regular BK Veggie would be way too messy, somehow the mustard ended up getting on my brand new Rays tee, bummer.  On the hill for Surprise was the 2008 first round selection of the Baltimore Orioles, Brian Matusz.  Lefty Matusz is out of the University of San Diego.  I was really excited to get to see this kid pitch, especially right behind the plate.  There was an extra buzz in the air, as the scouts readied their radar guns.  A fan next to me even said, a friend told him, this kid was a legit candidate to make it to the Hall of Fame, let’s make the big leagues first.

Eric Young, Jr. got an opposite field basehit to right, stole his 17th base of the year, the next batter walked, mainly due to Matusz’ focus on EY2, and then John Donaldson cleared the fence with a three run blast to left, erasing a one run Surprise lead.  Surprise scored as a result of an error in the top of the first by Donaldson, who redeemed himself.  Donaldson is a member of the A’s, came over from the Cubbies in the Rich Harden deal.

Brooks Brown looked sharp for Phoenix, working five innings, allowing two hits, and one unearned run.  Matt Wieters was behind the plate for Surprise, but didn’t really impress, although he does have an arm, and looks like a can’t miss.

In the nightcap it was Scottsdale over the Javelinas of Peoria 9-3.  Brrr, who said it’s hot in Arizona?  Well it’s not hot at night, lemme tell you.  The kid I wanted to see was was Justin Smoak.  Smoak’s with the Rangers, a power hitting, switch hitting firstbaseman, compared with Mark Teixeira, but Justin really didn’t show much in this game.

Kevin Pucetas was on the mound for the Scorpions.  He threw the ball well, allowing only a solo homer to Kevin Russo in his five innings of work, striking out four, and upping his record to 3-1.  Adding Pucetas to a SF rotation that already features Tim Lincecum & Matt Cain, and the future is looking bright for the Giants.  Another Giant that impressed for Scottsdale was elder statesman SS Kevin Frandsen.  Frandsen was all set to take over as San Francisco’s everyday secondbaseman in 2008 when a ruptured Achilles put him on the shelf for the entire year.  It’s not that Kevin is old, just old in AFL terms, but his enthusiasm shows he’s once again ready to take over an everyday job in the bigs, plus his skills are right there.

Carlos Triunfel is at the other extreme of the age spectrum, he’s the first AFLer born in the 1990s.  This kid is a SS in the Seattle Mariners organization and has the word star written all over him.  Triunfel played thirdbase in this game and showed he can field, hit, & run, very quick bat.

Another player who showed he’s ready is secondbaseman Drew Sutton.  Sutton hit a big fly over the right field wall.  Drew is a lefthanded hitter in the Houston Astros organization, who reminds me of Chase Utley.

There was this extremely attractive woman sitting off to my right that was rooting for the Scorpions, but in particular the Giants players.  Turns out she’s Beth Turner, wife of Scottsdale manager Shane Turner.  Shane has been in the SF system for some time.  It was great to get an inside look at the game from the wife of a baseball man.

When we left the ballpark we noticed the windshield of Joe’s truck had been shattered by a foul ball, major bummer!