While I was in Auburn I took video of some of the hitters. It is easy to get good video of a pitcher, you know when they are going to throw a pitch. But you don't know if, or when, a hitter will hit. You could tape the whole game but that means you will not be really watching the game. So I tried the get video of some hitters, sometimes they hit the ball well, as Marcus Knecht did, and sometimes they hit into a double play, like Carlos Perez did.
The parent club could have used the rehabbing catcher's bat in Oakland Tuesday night. Instead, New Hampshire got to enjoy the benefits as the Fisher Cats highlighted a 4-1 night on the farm.
I was in Auburn for two games last week and here are my impressions of the players I noticed. Two days is a short time to follow a team, pro scouts follow a team for four or five days, so I could have seen players at their best or their worst. You have been warned!
Bobby Thomson, who hit major league baseball's most famous home run almost 60 years ago, has passed away at the age of 86. They called it The Miracle at Coogan's Bluff.
It's unlikely there are many Bauxites old enough to remember the moment -- if you're out there, do share! -- but I do have a bit of a family legacy story. My mother, a young Dodgers fan, was listening to the famed radio call and after The Magic happened, ran upstairs crying in disbelief ... passing her younger brother, my Uncle Bill, on the way as he charged downstairs laughing in disbelief. Little Billy? A Giants fan ...
Late edit: Seriously, click through and read Dewey's comment/story. It's worth your time!
Sean Nolin was a 6th round pick of the Blue Jays in this years draft out of San Jacinto Junior College in Texas. Here is what Baseball America said about him:
At 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds, Sean Nolin looks like a lefthanded version of Jason Jennings. Nolin's fastball will sit at 86-89 mph in some games and 88-92 in others, and he backs it up with a solid changeup and fringy curveball.
Nolin sounds like a more raw player, despite his college experience. Nolin was born on Boxing Day and he will be 21 this year and entering next season. Nolin has made three starts for Auburn with mixed results. As the story notes, and as Vince Horsman and our own sam reported a week ago, Nolin is not in full playing shape yet.
Another thing we all know is that the home runs have been very evenly distributed - it seems like everyone is producing. But a closer look into this "everyone is producing" statement tells us that this year's team is approaching historical territory.
Vince Horsman and Kenny Graham are the pitching and hitting coaches respectively for the Auburn Doubledays in the New York-Penn league. Kenny Graham is new to the organization and not well known here. However Vince Horsman is a Canadian, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, who played parts of five seasons in the major leagues including a whole four innings with the Blue Jays in 1991. After bouncing around a little after his playing days Horsman hooked on with the Blue Jays and is now in his second season as the pitching coach with the Doubledays.
I spoke with both coaches last week in Auburn.