Baseball and Boating

As American as apple pie.  But for us the beginning of the summer concludes our Florida “season.”   We’ll get to a few more Class A+ minor league games but as part of the summer is scheduled for traveling, our boat is best stored on land during the hurricane season.  Thus, early yesterday morning I made my annual solitary trip leaving the North Palm Beach Waterway and the PGA bridge behind, 

and emerging into Lake Worth to run down to Riviera Beach where I was met at a boat ramp by Mariner Marine, the dealer for the Grady White.  After getting the boat up on the trailer and climbing down, it is but a short ride to the dealer and there I arranged for the annual servicing as well, saying farewell to our center console, ‘Reprise,’ but knowing when I pick her up in the fall, that it will have been serviced and detailed, looking beautiful for more time on the water.  And at my age I now must add, health willing of course.

The night before we saw another minor league game, this time the Bradenton Marauders (Pittsburgh Pirates affiliate) facing off against our Palm Beach Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium.  We decided to sit behind home plate so I could get a better view of the pitching: two fine pitchers were at work.   

First there was a fellow lefty, Cam Vieaux, who was drafted in the 6^th round only last year and is carrying a 1.42 ERA since joining Bradenton.  Vieaux is clearly a control pitcher with a fast ball only in the low 90s which he mixes with a change-up and a curve to keep batters honest.  But if batters guess fast ball correctly, he is hittable, and as a result gave up 11 hits in 7 innings.  Andy Young found that key in the 6^th inning with a home run, tying the score 2-2.  Still, Vieaux gave up only 2 earned runs while recording only 2 strike outs.  He is a crafty lefty and as he perfects his style, he has future potential.

On the other hand, the Palm Beach Cardinals right hander. Ryan Helsley, is a classic power pitcher, his fast ball in the high 90s. The Cards lifted a large number of foul balls as batters got under the ball or not able to get around on those fast balls.  He was drafted in the 5^th round by the St. Louis Cardinals out of Northeastern State and has averaged more than one strikeout per inning in the minors with a career 2.20 ERA.  As with many young pitchers, location is the issue and he needs to get to the point of recording outs with his other pitches.  He went six innings with seven strikeouts, also giving up two earned runs.  He’ll learn and when he does, he’ll move up.

As it turned out, the game stayed at 2-2 and went until the early morning hours, the Palm Beach Cardinals finally scoring the winning run in the 14^th inning, a walk off infield single by Leobaldo Pina.  By that time, we were long-long gone, the pitching and seeing good ball playing more interesting to me than the outcome of the game.

I’ve said it many times before – Class A+ ball in the Florida State League is normally every bit as professional as a major league game, and several of the players we’ve seen over the years have graduated to the majors.

All in all it was a beautiful night for baseball at Roger Dean Stadium and an equally fine morning to run the boat one last time this season.

 

Scouting Report

Over the years I’ve written up quite a few players we’ve seen play at Roger Dean Stadium Class A+ ball, the home of the Jupiter Hammerheads (Marlins affiliate) and the Palm Beach Cardinals (Cardinals affiliate). I’ve watched many “graduate” the most notables being Giancarlo Stanton (who played under the name of Mike Stanton when I saw him play for the Hammerheads in 2009) and Christian Yelich (who reminded me of Jacoby Ellsbury).  But I like to concentrate my “scouting” on the pitchers, my position way back as a kid when I dreamt of major league glory.  I’ve watched Jarlin García, Justin Nicolino and Andrew Heaney make their way to the big leagues (Heaney is expected to miss the entire 2017 season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery).  I’ve written up others who are still seasoning in the minors but at a higher level.

I normally concentrate on the “home team” candidates but last Wednesday I wanted to focus on the Lakeland Tigers’ Beau Burrows.  He was the Tigers’ first draft pick right out of high school in 2015 and he is leading the Florida State league with a 1.23 ERA, a WHIP under 1, and more than a strikeout per inning.  He will probably be the starting pitcher in the league’s All Star game later this month. 

 

So it was with much anticipation seeing him pitch against the Palm Beach Cardinals’ Derian Gonzalez.  Ironically, it was Gonzalez who outpitched Burrows, throwing seven scoreless innings and the Cardinals winning the game 2-0.  Nonetheless, Burrows impressed. He’s powerfully built, 6-2” and 200 lbs.  He reminded me a little of another pitcher who came out of Texas, Roger Clemens.  Burrows allowed 1 earned run on 5 hits and 6 strikeouts in his 7 innings pitched.  He has all the stuff, including a fast ball approaching 100 mph and complements that with good breaking pitches.  What he didn’t have the other night was pinpoint control, too many well hit balls as a consequence, luckily, for him, usually right at someone.  It was not his finest outing, but he is a work in progress as it should be for a 20 year old.  If he doesn’t get hurt, look for him in the “show” in a year or two.  It was wonderful to see him work at this stage, up close -- the great advantage of seeing ball at the minor league level.

The Boys of the Hot Florida Summer Play Ball

Major League baseball spring training has now departed the halcyon fields of Florida and the real boys of the hot summer have arrived for Florida League Class A+ minor league ball, the Jupiter Hammerheads (Marlin’s affiliate) and the Palm Beach Cardinals (St. Louis’ affiliate) playing at our home turf of Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, FL.  We missed the first Weds. night game of the “Silver Sluggers” promotional circuit, still the best baseball deal around, 30 bucks total for a ticket to every Weds. night game of the season which includes a soda and peanuts.  They used to include a hot dog instead of the peanuts (or pretzel or popcorn) but I suppose cutbacks eliminated this perk.  However they give out an “Official Silver Sluggers membership card” which I guess they think to us seniors is as exciting as getting a Captain Video ring when we were youngsters. 

They’ve also cut back on places to sit and eat near the concession stands (actually, there are no more picnic tables there), requiring you to haul your food and drink to the seat and they don’t even provide a cardboard tray.  Hey, it’s good for you old people to learn balance your food as you walk up the steps! We used to arrive early, have a bite before the game at a table, then watch a little infield practice and then sit back and watch the game.

Roger Dean Stadium is showing its age and rather than providing some seating for eating and sprucing up the place they’ve ignored their new competition of the Ball Park of the Palm Beaches. Right now the BPofTPB is hosting only Spring Training but if they get a minor league team there, Roger Dean Stadium will be affected.

Still, it was a glorious Florida night to take in our first game of the season and serendipitously the visiting team was the Tampa Yankees, the Class A affiliate of the MLB team I most closely follow, the New York Yankees.  Much has been said about the Yankees building their team of the future from their farm clubs rather than signing multiyear contracts with aging free agent stars.  Well, after last night, don’t depend on the Class A affiliate but look to the Trenton Thunder (AA) or The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (AAA).

 

Regarding last night’s game, credit goes to Junior Fernandez the Palm Beach Cardinal’s pitcher who is only 20 years old but has been pitching professionally for three years already.  He’s high up on the Cards’ prospect list and for 6 and a third innings he had a perfect game going against Tampa until the Yankee’s #19 prospect, second baseman Nick Solak, got a single with one out in the 7th. Solak also chalked up a double later in the game and those were the only two hits the Tampa Yankees had.  Meanwhile, they managed to play a downright sloppy game, their two errors leading to three unearned runs which left Yankee starter and #13 prospect Domingo Acevedo with the loss, although his 99 MPH fastball was humming, leading to 6 strikeouts in 6 innings.

The much touted Yankee shortstop prospect (#4) Jorge Mateo had a lackluster game going 0 for four and his infield play was unimpressive.  Maybe it was just an off day, but he’ll have to play better than that to make the parent team one of these days.

Although the game was unremarkable (except for the nearly perfect game), the night was wonderful, enjoying the Florida breeze and the cadence of baseball.  I’ve seen many Class A ball games and I’ve always said that they are as professional as MLB in every way.  Last night was the first disappointment in that regard as, at times, the Tampa Yankees looked like a bunch of sandlot players.  But as they say, wait ‘till next week!

Ballpark of the Palm Beaches - Play Ball!

Amazing.  What was a landfill last year has been transformed into a beautiful spring training site shared by the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals.  The whole training complex is so well done it seems as if it has been there forever.  

When our friends John and Cathy asked whether I’d be interested in seeing a Red Sox game there I jumped at the chance.  Cathy is a die-hard Sox fan and I’m a Yankees fan so the back and forth banter is fun.  I’ve already conceded this season to the Sox though as they have even further improved their roster for this year, especially with the acquisition of Chris Sale from the White Sox. He only had to change socks, so maybe that’s why New York failed to get him (actually, never really tried – guess they conceded the season as well).

As the laws of serendipity prevailed, yesterday’s spring training game at the new facility between the Sox and the Astros highlighted Chris Sale’s first outing as a Red Sox, throwing 37 pitches over the first two innings, giving up four hits, one earned run and notching two strike outs.  He looked rusty but he seemed to have his stuff, the scoreboard routinely recording his fast balls around 95 mph with one at 97. Not bad for the first outing.  He’s a tall sting bean but when he whips his long left arm toward the batter I can imagine the split second decision making at the plate, particularly for a left-handed batter.  He was a joy to watch.  Too bad he’s on the wrong team : - ). Judging by the grip on the ball (photo 3), think he's throwing a change up here...

The Sox are playing three games on the east coast of Florida, facing the Nationals today at the same park and up to St. Lucie to face the Mets tomorrow.  From what I understand, there are 9 players, mostly minor leaguers who will be at all three games, and there will be three buses, one for each day shuttling name players back and forth from the Sox training facility in Ft. Meyers.

Two of the big names other than Sale for the first day were Pablo Sandoval…

and Hanley Ramírez

They bring with them big expectations for 2017.

I enjoyed seeing ex-Yankee Brian McCann again.  Sad to see him go, a ballplayer great talent and a true gentleman...

One only hopes that the City of West Palm will now land a minor league team for these incredible facilities.  Would be nice to have more teams nearby in addition to the Jupiter Hammerheads (Marlins Class A+) and the Palm Beach Cardinals (Cardinals Class A+).   Nonetheless, we’ve already booked our season’s tix for their “silver slugger” program at Roger Dean Stadium.

The game itself had a little bit of everything, home runs, stolen bases, double plays but after three and a half hours they played to a 5-5 tie.  End of game, but being out there in the cool breeze, taking in the cadence of baseball, was a nice change of pace. 

Play ball!  Life regains a semblance of normalcy with baseball again.