Another impressive win for the TinCaps last night, as they demolished the Great Lakes Loons by a 13-0 final score. The highlights:

-Jeremy Baltz hit two home runs and collected six RBI. Baltz had the first six-RBI game by a TinCaps hitter since Jeudy Valdez did it three seasons ago on May 26…also against Great Lakes. Here’s the box score from that game:

-Gabriel Quintana and Dane Phillips each hit home runs

-It was the first four-homer game for Fort Wayne since June 11, 2012 when Yeison Asencio (2), Lee Orr and Tyler Stubblefield all went yard at Parkview Field against South Bend.

-Justin Hancock earned his first Midwest League win, turning in five scoreless innings and striking out seven.

-In the last nine years, this is just the third time a Fort Wayne team has started the season 3-0. The 2009 squad, which won a MWL title, began the year on a 10-0 tear. In 2011, Fort Wayne won three straight against South Bend to open the season, before dropping the last of a four-game set to the Silver Hawks. The 24 runs scored in the first three games by the 2013 TinCaps edges the 18 scored by the 2009 team in its first three games.

The finale of the four-game season-opening series with Great Lakes is this afternoon at 3:05. Padres supplemental first-round pick Zach Eflin is the scheduled starter for Fort Wayne. San Diego drafted Eflin 33rd overall in the 2012 draft. You can hear the game on The Fan 1380 in Fort Wayne and everywhere else on TheFanFortWayne.com. I’ll be joined pregame by Jeremy Baltz, when our coverage starts at 2:45.

PODCAST

The guest on today’s TinCaps Report Podcast is outfielder Mallex Smith. The gregarious Floridian tells us about the origin of his unique name, his start to the season, and his natural speed (although he says he’s not even the fastest in his family):

EYE ON OPENING DAY

TinCaps President Mike Nutter joined WANE-TV in Fort Wayne on Saturday morning to talk about Opening Day at Parkview Field on Thursday, April 11th. It’ll be the start of the fifth season at Parkview Field, and one fan will be guaranteed to walk away with $5,000. It could be you…who knows.

Here is the link to Mike’s interview:

http://www.wane.com/dpp/entertainment/first_news/tincaps-president-discusses-season-opener

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

I saw this tweet from former U-T San Diego columnist Tim Sullivan the other day, and wanted to share it because it makes the mind race, perhaps to places it hasn’t been in a long while:

How would you re-do things if you could? I think I’d play the guitar–it’s something I’ve always wished I could do. I was a “percussionist” from the fifth grade through 12th grade, and I put that in quotes to say that they allowed me to play the triangle and cymbals…and very little else. I wasn’t very good.

I’m sure a lot of people would like to be friends with Bill Gates, but that doesn’t mean even when he got rich that he’d share any of his money with you…

MUSICAL GUEST

Rihanna…take it away!

If you’d like to get in touch, you can reach me at Couzens@TinCaps.com or on Twitter @MikeCouzens.

Greetings from Midland, Michigan, where the TinCaps embark on Day 3 of the Midwest League season. Here’s how the day began for outfielder Corey Adamson:

Yes, there is snow in the forecast today.

The TinCaps haven’t let gloomy skies or cold temperatures get them down, because they’re off to a 2-0 start on the year. Last night was a Jekyll and Hyde performance by the offense, which had just three hits and one runner in scoring position through the first eight innings. (The RISP, by the way, came in the eighth.) But, that’s why on the seventh day, the baseball gods created the ninth inning.

Mallex Smith, Maxx Tissenbaum and Jeremy Baltz had back-to-back-to-back hits to start the inning, with Baltz’s single scoring Smith, making a 2-0 Great Lakes edge into a 2-1 advantage. Fort Wayne scored five more times in the ninth and Matthew Shepherd tossed a 1-2-3 ninth to help secure the win.

The much-anticipated debut of the Padres’ top draft pick in 2012, Max Fried, came yesterday and other than shaky first inning, the lefty looked good. Fried walked three men in the first and allowed a run to score, but came back to strike out the final two batters of the inning, limiting the damage. It was smooth sailing after that for the remainder of his night, as he went four innings, gave up one hit, walked four (total) and struck out five.

It was a pretty joyous team bus ride back to the hotel after the game, with Stephen Carmon playing DJ to a wide variety of tunes including Usher’s “Confessions, Part II” and Wheatus’ “Teenage Dirtbag”, which is funny considering the number of teenagers on the team…oh, and the song came out in July of 2000, when Fried was six years old.

Tonight it’s another 6:05 game, with Justin Hancock making his first start of the year, and his first appearance in a TinCaps uniform since May 28th of last year. He was 0-4 with a 6.95 ERA in 13 games last year with Fort Wayne. All reports out of spring training were positive about Hancock, so we’ll see what he does tonight. Projected temperature? 45 degrees. Pack those slankets (blankets with sleeves), folks.

PODCAST

In today’s TinCaps Report Podcast, I chat with starter Joe Ross about his development from last year to this year, on working with a new pitching coach, and what advice he gave to Fried:

QUESTIONS FOR KEVIN MENCH

Author Jeff Pearlman does what he calls “The Quaz Q&A” on his website, described as:

“A question-and-answer session with a person from sports/entertainment/politics/whatever”

and his most recent guest was former big-leaguer Kevin Mench. I worked with Mench in 2010, when I was broadcasting with the Syracuse Chiefs, the Nationals’ Triple-A club in Upstate New York. Mench was a great guy, and very funny around the clubhouse. He and Ron Villone seemed a match made in heaven to lead Kangaroo Court. (Villone, by the way, is currently the pitching coach for the Cubs’ MWL affiliate, the Kane County Cougars.)

Lots of good stuff from Mench here about getting out of baseball, being a proud native of Delaware (shout out to Elena Delle Donne) and steroids (which he did not use). My favorite selection comes from the topic of his nickname, Shrek:

J.P.: Many ballplayers come, many ballplayers go. Yet you’ll always be remembered for wearing a size 8 cap, thereby earning the memorable nickname, Shrek. I’m wondering when you first realized you had a pretty large noggin, and if you took the Shrek thing as a compliment or an insult? Or neither?

K.M.: I’ve always had a big head. They used to call me ‘Cabeza’ back when I was in Little League. And it’s one of those things—Bruce Bochy actually has a bigger head. He’s like an 8 ½. But I’ve always had a big head. It runs in the family. I’ve accepted it. Rusty Greer actually gave me the Shrek nickname. He gave it to me in spring training one day. It was right when Shrek came out. And he’s like, ‘I’m gonna give it to you.’ I was like, ‘Fuck you, it’ll never stick.’ He went right to the media, and ever since the fans … always talked to me about it. That’s how people can relate to me. The kids. I sign it on autographs, sign it on stuff when they ask. It just helps people relate.

Here’s the link to the full Q&A: http://www.jeffpearlman.com/the-quaz-qa-kevin-mench/

WORKOUT PLAYLISTS

With baseball season getting back into season, and me being in a routine every day (albeit an odd one with interesting hours), I’m getting back on the workout train. It’s not easy to do, but I was inspired by Dallas Mavericks broadcaster Mark Followill, who talks about the difficulty he faced in staying in-shape during a sporting season, but how he makes it work.

It was only fitting then, that I came across this hilarious piece in The Wall Street Journal about workout music and putting together your own personal playlist. Author Jason Gay had some lines that literally made me laugh out loud:

“It needs to be fun and a little shameless. It should not be moody, edgy or try too hard. Nobody runs a 5K to Cat Power. You are not going to jump rope to the Smiths. Katy Perry works just as well as Daft Punk. Disposability is a virtue. People in New York take obnoxious pride in their iPod playlists, curating them with precise attention to hipness and currency, as if they’re fearful Lou Reed will peep over their shoulder on the subway, see the Black Eyed Peas on the screen and buy them a ticket on the first bus back to Connecticut.”

“Don’t be embarrassed! Sweat jams are good! Exercise is important! (Especially if you spent last night sitting on the couch with box wine and bag of Pirate’s Booty, Netflixing “House of Cards.”)”

“There are other tricks. Lately I have been listening to a song called “October” by Deadmau5. All I know about Deadmau5 is that it’s actually spelled Deadmau5. I listen to “October” partly because it’s a great, pulsating song. But I also listen to it because it’s 7 minutes and 23 seconds long, and the gym I go to is a mile from my house, and if I can run to the gym before “October” ends, I am very happy with that pace.”

Read the whole article here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323646604578402954268007448.html

MUSICAL GUEST

The Wanted…take it away!

If you’d like to get in touch, you can reach me at Couzens@TinCaps.com or on Twitter @MikeCouzens.

As I signed off of the broadcast last night, I jokingly said, “One down, 139 to go for the Fort Wayne TinCaps”, but there was a little bit of a serious note to what I said. Yesterday’s win was great, but it’s a long season and today the energy of Opening Day won’t be there, and it’s an entirely new challenge for the team.

I overheard a conversation on the bus while riding to the park yesterday, as two players chatted about Opening Day.

Player 1: I’m really excited for Opening Day, it’s gonna be great, but cold. (Ed note: Gametime temperature was 55 degrees)

Player 2: Yeah, but it’s tomorrow (meaning Friday–today) when it’s going to be hard when the crowd is smaller and you don’t have the adrenaline to rely on.

Player 1: Oh, yeah. You’re right.

A short, but to-the-point conversation there.

Whether it was a strong wind blowing out to left field last night, raw power or a jolt of adrenaline, the TinCaps got what they needed last night in a 5-2 win over Great Lakes. Joe Ross was stellar, dealing five shutout innings and allowing just one hit. In his seventh Midwest League outing, it was a far cry from his first–a seven run, 1 1/3 inning performance–back on April 7, 2012.

The TinCaps got two home runs–one from CF Brian Adams and another from DH Mallex Smith. Oddly enough, in Fort Wayne’s first game at Great Lakes last year, they also hit two dingers. SS Jace Peterson hit one and the other came off the bat of 2B Travis Whitmore.

As the excitement of day one trickles into day two, the number of eyes and ears on Fort Wayne’s game tonight may increase because of one name: Max Fried.

The lefthander, who celebrated his 19th birthday on January 18th, is scheduled to start today for Fort Wayne. The Padres selected him seventh overall in the draft last year. Here’s the Padres.com story from the draft:

“It’s loose, athletic, 6-foot-4, a downhill delivery and good arm action,” (Padres assistant General Manager of Player Personnel Chad) MacDonald said. “It’s the way it’s supposed to look. We were tickled to death to get our lefty at seven.”

Fried has a fastball that sits in the 90-91 mph range, though he can reach higher at times. He also has a very good curveball, which is regarded by many as a plus pitch.

Fried previously pitched for Montclair Prep, which is also in California, but when the school ended its athletics program, Fried then joined forces with pitcher Lucas Giolito, whom he had befriended at Area Code tryouts the summer prior and was picked by the Washington Nationals nine spots after Fried.

“Being a Southern California boy and being drafted by a Southern California organization, there’s no better place I’d rather be, especially with it being a pitchers’ park,” Fried said on a conference call Monday. “I felt at home there, I felt it was somewhere I was able to be myself than other places I wasn’t.”

So now it’s time to see how that excitement translates into performance. Will it be a 2012 Ross-esque outing, or more of the 2013 Ross we saw yesterday? Who knows? Maybe it’ll be somewhere in between.

PODCAST

To those of you who tuned into the broadcast yesterday (Thanks, Mom!) you may have caught my pregame conversation with second-year Manager Jose Valentin. For the other four of you who didn’t listen, here’s that chat in full:

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Also, if you’d like to listen you can go to TheFanFortWayne.com and click “Listen Live”. First pitch tonight is 6:05 ET.

OOPS

Ever wonder what broadcasters do in between innings? If I’m not sprinting to the bathroom (great genes), researching a fact online or checking a box score from other games, I’ll glance at my phone every now and again to make sure no one’s called to tell me I’ve won the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes. Hey, you never know..oh, wait, that’s the New York Lottery’s slogan. Anyway…here’s what happened to Reds TV broadcaster Thom Brennaman yesterday when he dropped his cellphone out the window of the press box:

MUSICAL GUEST

Krewella…take it away!

If you’d like to get in touch, you can reach me at Couzens@TinCaps.com or on Twitter @MikeCouzens.

Greetings and salutations from lovely Dow Diamond in Midland, Michigan:

The TinCaps embark on their 140-games-in-152-days journey that is the Midwest League season. The team departed Parkview Field this morning at 8:45 and arrived in Midland at about 12:45, leaving a little time for lunch before the first bus made it’s way over to the ballpark.

When I arrived in the press box, I was warmly greeted by this:

Jared Sandler, one of the broadcasters for the Loons and a good friend of mine, decided to have a little Opening Day fun. Tied to the bottom of the balloon–a half-eaten cucumber. Touche. Let the games begin, my friend.

Here are a couple shots that show you the TinCaps’ view during tonight’s opener:

From the top step of the third-base dugout at Dow Diamond.

Inside the Fort Wayne dugout.

And here’s where I’ll be calling the game from:

I’m on the far right.

The TinCaps send Joe Ross to the hill, as he’ll look to avenge his rough first outing last year. Against Lake County, Ross gave up seven runs (six earned) in just 1 1/3 innings at Parkview Field.

Here’s the lineup Jose Valentin will be sending out against Great Lakes:

A winning lineup.

For those of you new to the blog, this is a daily feature that I’ll be sharing with you. I’ll be taking the season’s 12 off days as true off days, but as long as there’s a game there will be a blog post here. If you’ve got any questions, suggesstions or comments, please let me know. You can reach me via email (Couzens@TinCaps.com) or via Twitter @MikeCouzens.

You can find the broadcast on 1380-AM in Fort Wayne, and for those of you listening across the world (I hear we’re big in Borneo), you can find the game on TheFanFortWayne.com.

MUSICAL GUEST

Timeflies…take it away!

Thanks for reading.

While we’ve been in basketball remission after a busy tournament weekend, John Nolan is here to save the day. Our intrepid broadcasting and media relations assistant has dug deep into the archives to bring us the Sweet 16 Baseketball Bracket. John has analyzed the baseball fortunes of the current NCAA basketball Sweet 16 participants. Enjoy.

The NCAA Tournament field is down to 16 teams — coincidentally, the same number of days left until Opening Day at Parkview Field on April 11. So tying the two together, here’s a look at the baseball backgrounds of the remaining schools in March Madness, and an analysis of who would reach Atlanta if these games were played on the diamond instead of the court.

MIDWEST

No. 1 Louisville v No. 12 Oregon

Starting with the tournament’s top seed, the Cardinals may be the odds-on favorite to cut down the nets in Atlanta, but their baseball past isn’t as strong. Through the years, U of L has produced 67 players in affiliated pro ball. However, you may not have heard of any of them. Perhaps the most successful Louisville baseball alum is Sean Green. No, not Shawn Green. Sean Green, as in the reliever who broke into the bigs with the Mariners in 2006 and has since pitched for the Mets, Brewers, and most recently for the Rangers Triple-A affiliate. You could find more former Louisville Cardinals in the majors soon, though. The program has appeared in five consecutive NCAA Tournaments, including a run to the College World Series in 2007. That’s after not making its first ever NCAA Tournament until 2002.

This Shawn Green’s alma mater, Stanford, lost to Alabama in the second round of the NIT.

Meanwhile, the Ducks almost certainly have more uniform combinations than they do NCAA Tournament berths. Oregon’s only made baseball’s NCAA Tournament four times, with a College World Series trip in 1954, although, like Louisville, Oregon is trending upwards with two trips in the last three years. Also similarly, there aren’t many Ducks who have made a name for themselves as big leaguers. However, one did: Joe Gordon, who was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009 after a 13-year career as a star second baseman with the Yankees and Indians from 1938-50.

Wouldn’t you know it that both sides are currently off to great starts to the 2013 season? Baseball America has Louisville ranked No. 10, and Oregon isn’t far behind at No. 12.

The Pick: Louisville

No. 2 Duke v No. 3 Michigan State

Maybe the most compelling Sweet 16 matchup doesn’t taste as good when you switch sports.

Baseball has its share of famous Dukes. From the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Snider to the present day Zach, who pitches for the Nats. However, neither went to Duke University. How about this: In the time since Duke baseball’s last NCAA Tournament appearance in 1961, the Blue Devils basketball team has gone dancing 35 times. That includes a current run of 18 straight bids under Mike Krzyzewski.

That isn’t to say some ex-Dukies won’t ring a bell, though. For one, there’s Greg Burke who pitched in Fort Wayne in 2006 and last season was in the Orioles’ organization. Plus, the past two seasons the TinCaps had reliever Dennis O’Grady. But there’s also the real-life “Crash” Davis (whose name was the inspiration for Kevin Costner’s character in Bull Durham), Dodgers starter Chris Capuano, recently-retired reliever Scott Schoeneweis, and outfielder-turned-Astros Director of Player Development Quinton McCracken.

The Hollywood version of Duke’s “Crash” Davis was played by Kevin Costner, who attended Cal State Fullerton. The Titans went just 14-18 in basketball this season, but their baseball team is No. 5 in the country and has won four national titles.

Michigan State’s reputation for winning in baseball isn’t much stronger than Duke’s. The Spartans have reached five NCAA Tournaments — two more than the Blue Devils. But last year was actually Sparty’s first time in the field of 64 since the 70s. When it comes to name recognition, however, the green and white boast the likes of two-time all-star Mark Mulder, Hall of Famer Robin Roberts, and ’88 World Series hero/current Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson.

The Pick: Michigan State

No. 1 Louisville v No. 3 Michigan State

Like the potential battle in Indy, it’s a tough call. One’s a rising program. The other’s history has some star power.

The Pick: Louisville

WEST

No. 9 Wichita State v No. 13 LaSalle

Not many had this one filled out in their brackets last week. In baseball? It would only be half-shocking (pun intended). That’s because in Wichita State, you have a program with the fourth highest winning percentage in NCAA Division I history at 68-percent. LaSalle baseball, on the other hand, is more than a Southwest Philly Floater away from catching your attention.

The Shockers won the 1989 NCAA Championship and have been to 27 NCAA Tournaments in total with seven College World Series appearances (tied for 18^th most). To compare that to hoops, only Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky, Connecticut, Michigan State, and Arizona have reached the Elite at least seven times. So not surprisingly, Wichita State’s list of alums is long and impressive. Among their fifty-plus all-Americans are Joe Carter, Fort Wayne native and Northrop High grad Eric Wedge, Darren Dreifort, Doug Mirabelli, Casey Blake, Braden Looper, and Mike Pelfrey. (Mets fans are allowed to criticize the use of “impressive” next to those last two names.)

Apparently Bart Simpson doubles as Wichita State’s mascot WuShock.

Conversely, the Explorers have only had three alums ever play in a big league game, and none since 1992. Fortunately for basketball fans, Friday night on the hardwood shouldn’t be as lop-sided as this hardball matchup.

The Pick: Wichita State

No. 6 Arizona v No. 2 Ohio State

Another example here of the seeding for basketball belying the baseball quality.

The Wildcats are the reigning national champions — their fourth title in program history. Only USC, LSU, Texas, and Arizona State have claimed more. Needless to say, Arizona has had standout talent pass through over the years: former Padres closer Trevor Hoffman, J.T. Snow, Shelley Duncan, Scott Erickson, and Terry Francona to name a few. And you can’t forget Padres catcher Nick Hundley, who played in Fort Wayne in 2005 and ’06.

For the purposes of this analysis, though, we must also highlight Kenny Lofton, whose major league career spanned 17 years with 11 teams. But did you know that the outfielder actually went to Arizona to play basketball? That’s right, Lute Olsen signed Lofton as an undersized but speedy point guard. Lofton was the backup point guard on the Wildcats’ Final Four team in 1988 and started for the ’89 squad that reached the Sweet 16. It wasn’t until his junior year that Lofton tried out for the baseball team at Arizona. In fact, the six-time MLB All-Star took only one official at-bat in college, but his potential stood out to scouts and led him to being drafted. The rest, as they say, is history.

Gotta love the shorts.

Coincidentally, the Buckeyes have an interesting baseball-basketball connection of their own. In 1950, Fred Taylor became the first Ohio State baseball player to be named an all-American. He went on to play sparingly for the Washington Senators for three seasons. A few years after his baseball playing days, Taylor, who also played basketball for the Buckeyes, returned to Columbus as an assistant hoops coach. A year later, in 1959, he became Ohio State’s head basketball coach. The rookie head coach proceeded to lead his alma mater to the 1960 NCAA championship, thanks to a roster that included John Havlicek and Jerry Lucas, as well as a bench player named Bob Knight. Taylor also took the Buckeyes to the title game in ’61 and ’62.

Taylor, though, isn’t the only Ohio State product to reach the majors. While the list of Buckeyes in the bigs doesn’t match Arizona, it still counts the likes of current-Indian Nick Swisher and former Dodgers/Senators great from the 60s and 70s, Frank Howard. Even without too many other big names, Ohio State has managed to reach the NCAA Tournament 19 times, even winning the College World Series in ’66. But the Buckeyes haven’t been back to the World Series since ’67.

The Pick: Arizona

No. 9 Wichita State v No. 6 Arizona

In a pairing of two teams with rich traditions, you can’t go wrong. But four titles tops one.

The Pick: Arizona

So that’s half of the bracket. Hope you enjoyed the illogical logic. Hopefully it beats thinking you know what you’re picking on your own. Join us again tomorrow to find out who will emerge from the South and East regions.

We have reached the final post of our eight-part Prospect Previews Series and, believe it or not, there is still snow on the ground in Fort Wayne. I’d expect that of some of the clubs in the league like Wisconsin, where snow is commonplace at this time of the year. Last year on this date, the temperature was as high as 72 and as low as 51 here in Fort Wayne. One year later?

Taken March 25th around 12:30 p.m.

Those Adirondack chairs will make a really nice spot to watch a game during this summer…just not right now.

This past week I was traveling again, this time calling some NIT action between Iowa and Stony Brook on ESPNU on Friday night. I’d never been to Iowa City before, but I’ve got to say that the crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena was really enthusiastic:

An empty Carver-Hawkeye Arena

The crowd begins to fill in before tipoff

Photo courtesy of my broadcast partner, Paul Biancardi. I’m holding my charts, which are what I use to help me call the game.

Fingerprint technology is commonplace these days, but I still found it extremely fascinating that this is how players gain access to their locker room.

Iowa ended up winning a game that was close for the majority of the night, and the Hawkeyes will take on the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA, later this week. Hope that didn’t bust anyone’s NIT bracket.

As for your NCAA brackets, how about Florida Gulf Coast? They’ve got to be the most exciting team in the tournament right now, right? Deadspin put together a compilation of all of the team’s high-flying dunks from the Atlantic Sun tournament and the NCAA tournament. It’s must-see video. It’s particularly exciting for a member of the TinCaps front office, too. Our Assistant Director of Marketing-Community Relations, Abby Naas, is an FGCU alum. Bet you didn’t know that! Go Eagles!

Soon enough, though, I’ll be traveling to Midland, Michigan, or Eastlake, Ohio, as we get into baseball season. That leads us to our final set of five potential 2013 TinCaps. We should know the official opening day roster by the end of the week, at which point you can stop relying on my prognostications and know the 25 names that will begin the season in green and white. Here we go!

River Stevens

When we started this series the Monday after the SuperBowl (seriously, that long ago?), Padres farmhands had not yet reported to spring training and everyone was seemingly in good shape. However, since then there have been a few injuries that have stacked up throughout the organization. Mostly they’ve been on the big league side, but former Midwest League MVP Rymer Liriano is out for the year, as is River Stevens, who hit .241 at Eugene last season. The 21-year-old is having surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder.

It’s a tough break for Stevens, whose hometown of Escondido, California, is 30 minutes away from San Diego. It seemed, given his season last year at Eugene where he played second, third and short, that he would be in line for an advancement to Fort Wayne. Not only can he play baseball, but he’s also taught himself the piano, guitar and the drums. Seeing as I have trouble keeping a melody while singing in the car, that’s pretty darn impressive.

Best of luck to a future Moniker Madness competitor in his rehabilitation this season.

Maxx Tissenbaum

When Travis Jankowski joined the TinCaps last year, I’d guess that a lot of people in Northeast Indiana weren’t particularly familiar with Stony Brook University.  It’s a part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system, and hadn’t taken part in any type of  athletics competitions that would be widely seen on a national scale. That changed last year when the baseball team made a run to the College World Series, with eventual 2012 TinCaps CF Travis Jankowski as one of the staples of their lineup. One of his teammates on that squad was infielder Maxx Tissenbaum, a product of Toronto.

I spoke with 2012 TinCaps hitting coach Jacque Jones, who saw Tissenbaum during the fall instructional league, and this is what he had to say:

“Maxx Tissenbaum is a BASEBALL PLAYER and I mean that in every sense. He can catch the ball, throw it, and hit it. The only thing he lacks is speed which in turn will affect range. He knows how to play the game and he hustles. “

Matt Dompe, the radio voice of the Eugene Emeralds, had this to say about Tissenbaum:

“Tissenbaum is a good offensive infielder.  A left handed hitting second baseman, his contact is loud.  He probably doesn’t have enough range to play 2B in the majors, but when he was inserted into the middle infield the Emeralds ability to turn double plays increased dramatically.  He joined the club late because his Stony Brook Sea Wolves played their way to the CWS in Omaha.  Maxx finished the year hot pushing his average to .296 which was 6th best in the league.”

Tissenbaum was originally selected in the 43rd round of the 2009 draft by his home town Blue Jays, but chose not to sign. That proved to be a wise decision, as the Padres took him in the 11th round last year.

In addition to being a highly-touted player, he’s also an avid Tweeter and has done some blogging, too, like where he wrote about spring training:

“Each day the routine is the same, but the drills and topics we cover change.  For example, each day we do base running at a different base.  We cover our lead offs, situational reads of when to run and when not to, our angles coming around the bags etc.  Our cage work changes from tee rounds to soft toss, from working on opposite field hitting to driving the ball into our pull gap.  We have been extremely lucky to get these couple of weeks to get really advanced coaching from our staff and to get the time to work 1 on 1 with guys who have played for 10 plus years in the big leagues.  One of the cool things that we have been tasked with doing every morning is for a group of players to give a quick presentation of a specific coach so we all get to know their playing background.  Each morning before stretch 3-5 players will get up and talk about one coach and discuss the coach’s stats in the big leagues, memorable baseball moments, favorite teammates etc.”

Tissenbaum could well be a part of the Fort Wayne middle infield in 2013.

Tony Wieber

Tony Wieber played his college baseball not all too far from Parkview Field, just two hours north on Interstate 69 in East Lansing, Michigan, as a member of the Michigan State Spartans. He was their closer last year, posting a 2.22 ERA in 25 games and left as the school’s all-time saves leader with 18. The Padres took Wieber in the 33rd round, and sent him to Eugene for his first professional experience.

Wieber, a 6’0″, 200 lb. righty, pitched exclusively out of the bullpen in 32 games, notching an impressive 1.34 ERA. In 40 1/3 innings he struck out 43 batters, walked 14 and allowed six earned runs, with a .167 batting average against him. When it comes to pitching, the 2013 TinCaps look like they’ll have no short supply of steady arms.

Walker Weickel

Last year the TinCaps received a top high school pitcher in Joe Ross as a member of the starting rotation. This year, they may well get another highly-touted high schooler in that first five. Walker Weickel was the fourth player selected by the Padres in the 2012 draft, going in the supplemental first round (55th overall). The Padres had that 55th pick because last year’s 54th overall pick, Brett Austin, chose to go to NC State rather than sign with San Diego.

Baseball America says Weickel was paid $2 million by the Padres, which, “more than doubled the $925,900 assigned value for his No. 55 selection. He’s the sixth player to receive $1 million or more above his pick value, joining Lance McCullers Jr. (Astros, supplemental first round), Matt Smoral (Blue Jays, supplemental first), Carson Kelly(Cardinals, second), Rio Ruiz (Astros, fourth) and Ty Buttrey (Red Sox, fourth).”

Of course, teams will have to be more careful about big-time draft spending the the future after the rules changed, starting with this last year’s draft:

“All 30 teams have a cap on signing bonuses for picks in the first 10 rounds, depending on when they pick and the number of compensatory picks they have. The cap ranges from the Minnesota Twins’$12.4 million to the Los Angeles Angels’ $1.6 million. Teams also are no longer allowed to sign players to major league contracts.

If teams spend more than their cap amount, the penalty is punitive to the point of being prohibitive: a 75 percent tax for exceeding the cap by 5 percent, up to a 100 percent tax and the loss of two future first-round picks for exceeding the bonus allotment by more than 15 percent.”

Weickel is already on just about everyone’s radar. Baseball America rated him as the 12th-best prospect in the Padres farm system, writing of the 6’6″ righty: “Weickel grew nearlt two inches to 6-foot-6 between his junior and senior years of high school, evoking body comparisons with a young Adam Wainwright with his tall, lean, broad-shouldered build.”

The Orlando, Florida, native, who throws a fastball, curveball and changeup, spent last season with the Rookie-Level Arizona League Padres and went 1-3 wit ha 4.50 ERA in nine games.

Chris Wilkes

Not everyone in life has options as to where they’d like to take their athletic career, especially if that athletic career ends when high school graduation is over. (Raises hand)

For Chris Wilkes, though, he had the option to either go play quarterback at Ole Miss or sign as a pitcher with the Padres after being selected in the 22nd round of the 2008 draft. Instead of taking the path to SEC glory, he chose the long and tough route of being a professional baseball player. Since signing with the Padres, he played in 78 games, broken down like this:

AZL Padres: 20 games

Eugene Emeralds: 43 games

Fort Wayne TinCaps: 3 games

Lake Elsinore Storm: 11 games

San Antonio Missions: 1 game

Last year he jumped between the AZL, Eugene, and that one game in San Antonio. The three games he played with the TinCaps came in 2011.

Unfortunately for Wilkes, he was released by the Padres during their most recent round of roster cuts.  Wilkes was on our original list of players back when this series started, so I still thought to include him here in this last grouping of five.

Among those other players released were: Alexi Colon, right-handed pitchers Ryan Quigley, Will Scott, Adam Schrader, Daniel Cropper, James Jones, left-handed pitchers Jeremy Gigliotti and Dustin Pease and infielder Connor Powers.

Among that group, Cropper, Jones, Gigliotti and Powers all played for the TinCaps in 2012. Best of luck to them as they try and latch on with new organizations.

MUSICAL GUEST

Rihanna, with a diversion from her usual club/pop hits, gives us a ballad in “Stay”. Prepare to want to listen repeatedly. Rihanna, take it away:

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As always, thanks for reading.

If you’d like to get in touch, you can reach me via email (Couzens@TinCaps.com) or on Twitter @MikeCouzens.

Later this week, John will be bringing you an NCAA bracket, but in a different style than you’re used to. Let’s just say it’ll have a baseball twist. Stay tuned.

So, yesterday I had my fantasy baseball draft, which marks my first serious foray into fantasy baseball since high school. I used to wake up every morning before school and check my lineup to make sure it was optimized for that day. It was a thrilling mix of checking the previous day’s box scores and trying to analyze which pitching matchup might be most suitable for my team come that evening. It was usually a heartbreaking process by the time it was over, because my teams were never very good and the same guy would win the fantasy league every year.

That fantasy league did lead to a lot of great lunchtime debates over whether Player X was better than Player Y and whether the Mets would ever gain superiority over the Yankees. It’s fun to think back to a time when I knew nearly every player on every MLB roster and the merits of having any given player on my fantasy roster. Having the time, but more importantly, the energy, to check my team every morning makes it feel like that was forever ago. Once you get older and gain more responsibility–work, kids, etc.–the likelihood of checking a fantasy roster every day drops significantly. Fortunately we now do  a weekly head-to-head matchup, similar to fantasy football, where I’ve only got to set my roster once a week. Even then, I might forget. Once this fall I was driving around Fort Wayne on a Sunday at about 12:45, and  I was more than 10 minutes away from home. I had not yet set my two fantasy football rosters for that week, meaning I had a fantasy emergency on my hands. I pulled into a parking lot just off of Coliseum Boulevard and frantically dialed up my Yahoo! and ESPN fantasy pages. Let me tell you, the drag and drop feature works great when you have a mouse–not so great when you’re on a touchscreen phone. I probably looked like a complete idiot sitting in my car and sweating which tight end to start that week. Luckily, I got my roster set on time.

Since I was so unsuccessful in that fantasy league in high school, I decided to try a new method this year. I drafted my entire team based on WAR projections for this season. Seriously. If you’re unfamiliar with the acronym– it stands for Wins Above Replacement–it’s designed to show how many wins a player is worth over the average replacement player. ESPN has a great article on the topic and how it relates to last year’s AL MVP race. Will this strategy work? I have no idea, but I figured it was worth a shot.

For those of you who are interested in my roster (Nobody?) here’s what I ended up with:

C: Miguel Montero, Jonathan Lucroy

1B: Ryan Howard, Yonder Alonso

2B: Aaron Hill, Jedd Gyorko (former TinCaps infielder)

3B: Ryan Zimmerman, Evan Longoria

SS: Asdrubal Cabrera

OF: Mike Trout, Jay Bruce, Shin-Soo Choo, Logan Morrison, Carlos Quentin, Coco Crisp

SP: Jarrod Parker (Fort Wayne’s own), Ryan Vogelsong, David Price, Yovani Gallardo, Tommy Milone,

RP: Jonathon Broxton, Chris Perez

Wish me luck, friends. I wish you the same.

Odd sidenote: Somehow during my draft I discovered that former MLB relief pitcher Armando Benitez was in the pool of draftable players. Not only has Benitez not been on an MLB roster since 2008, but he hasn’t been on a minor league roster since 2010. I couldn’t believe he could actually be drafted. Why my fixation with Benitez? Well, growing up as a Mets fan I was never more nervous than when Benitez came in to pitch. I’ve really never trusted any Mets closer since then. Fittingly, Benitez is number one on the list of the “Top” 10 Mets Blown Saves of the 2000′s. No, I did not write this list.

Onto happier things, like TinCaps baseball. John Nolan joins us with the third and final part of his series checking in with former TinCaps to gauge their chances of making the Padres roster. John, take it away…

We’ve already evaluated the former TinCaps on the Padres 40-man roster and those still in big league camp. Now it’s time to dig deeper. Here are some recent Parkview Field stars who could find themselves at Petco Park in 2013, or the not-too-distant future.

Johnny Barbato (2012): The 20-year old Barbato was a workhorse for the TinCaps last season. The righty came out of the bullpen a team-high 48 times, which was also good for fourth most in the Midwest League. And it wasn’t just quantity from Barbato, but quality, too.

The Miami native posted a 1.84 ERA in his 73.1 innings of work. Opposing batters hit a meager .195 against Barbato — the third lowest average among relievers in the league. Many of those batters couldn’t even make contact against Barbato, who struck out 84. In fact, his strikeout per nine innings ratio of 10.31 was fifth best in the Midwest League.

Barbato won’t be finding himself with the Padres to start 2013, as he was just reassigned to minor league camp in Arizona. However, if Barbato can replicate his Fort Wayne success going forward, it may not be too long before he finds himself in San Diego.

C Jason Hagerty (2010): Only one player in the Midwest League had a better on-base percentage than Hagerty did for the TinCaps in 2010. That one guy? Mike Trout. While Hagerty’s success since then can’t compare with the reigning American League Rookie of the Year, he’s still a catching prospect with promise.

Hagerty walked 88 times with the TinCaps on his way to that .423 OBP. Those 88 walks are the second most ever by a Fort Wayne player in a single season. But when the right-handed hitter did swing the bat in ’10, the results were good as well. Hagerty belted a team-best 14 HR and 74 RBI, while putting up a .302 average. Along the way, he earned two Midwest League Player of the Week awards and postseason All-Star honors.

The former Miami Hurricane flourished in Advanced-A in 2011, too. Hagerty hit .311 with 8 HR and 47 RBI before being transferred to Double-A San Antonio in mid-July. Since then, though, Hagerty’s numbers have diminished.

In the second half of 2011, Hagerty batted .231 for San Antonio while clubbing only 1 HR. A year ago, he hit .248 with 7 HR. Maybe more striking, since the 88-walk season with the TinCaps, Hagerty drew a combined 81 walks the last two campaigns.

Hagerty, 25, was reassigned to Minor League camp on March 5.

C Austin Hedges (2012): Hedges was only 19-years old for the majority of last season with the TinCaps, yet you wouldn’t think so by looking at his production. In 95 games behind the plate, Hedges not only shined in how he handled Fort Wayne’s staff, but also as a hitter. The catcher hit .279, while cranking 10 home runs and driving in 56 runs — both second best on the team. That’s better than the Padres could have hoped for entering Hedge’s first full season of professional baseball. (In 2011, he took only 26 at-bats between the Arizona League and playing for Eugene.)

And the second-round pick from the 2011 draft continued to impress during the offseason. Baseball America ranks Hedges as the No. 4 prospect in San Diego’s system, and already tabs him as the best defensively in the organization.

Given Hedges’ age, there’s no need for the Padres to rush him through the ranks. For proof, he was just reassigned to minor league camp over the weekend. However, if his all-star-caliber performance last year with the TinCaps is any indication, it won’t be too long until Hedges is a major leaguer.

SS Jeudy Valdez (2009-10): Valdez was the TinCaps’ opening day second baseman in 2009 and 2010. The Dominican Republic native struggled in his first Fort Wayne season, hitting .212 over 193 at-bats in an abbreviated season that ended in the Arizona League. But Valdez bounced back in his second go-around as a TinCap. The right-handed hitter upped his average to .247, while hitting 10 HR and 34 doubles. He also showed off some speed, swiping 34 bags.

Valdez made an even bigger jump in development after he left Fort Wayne in Lake Elsinore. There, he turned in a .295/.339/.481 line with 15 HR and 92 RBI, while again stealing 34 bases. Such a season bumped Valdez up to Double-A in 2012. But with San Antonio, the numbers weren’t as gaudy. The 23-year old’s line dropped to .225/.273/.364. Although for a middle infielder, he still did reach double-figures in HR for the third straight year (12).

Earlier this month, Valdez was optioned to Triple-A.

RHP Jerry Sullivan (2010): Sullivan set a career-high for wins with the TinCaps in 2010. The 3^rd round pick in the ’09 draft went 7-4 — good for the second most wins on the team — in Fort Wayne while sporting a 4.03 ERA. With the fifth lowest walks per nine innings ratio in the league, Sullivan was named to the Midwest League All-Star team that year.

But since then, Sullivan’s numbers don’t indicate rapid progress. The former Oral Roberts Golden Eagle spent each of the past two seasons with Advanced-A Lake Elsinore. After going 6-9 with a 5.95 ERA in 2011 as a starter, Sullivan moved to the bullpen in 2012. The righty reliever posted a 4-5 record a 4.20 ERA. He has, however, maintained strong control. In 81.1 innings last year, Sullivan walked only 12 batters.

Sullivan’s timetable for reaching the bigs took a hit recently, though, as he was reassigned from the Padres camp in Arizona to Minor League camp.

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Don’t forget to share your ice cream, folks:

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MUSICAL GUEST

Imagine Dragons…take it away!

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Thank you, John.  One other item of note before we go–in this week’s Prospect Previews post, I noted that Jonathan Roof might be a potential TinCaps outfielder in 2013. Little did I realize, Roof was signed to a minor league deal by the Tigers back in January. I apologize for the confusion. Best of luck to Mr. Roof as he looks to climb the Detroit ranks.

As always, thanks for reading.

If you’d like to get in touch, you can reach me via email (Couzens@TinCaps.com) or on Twitter @MikeCouzens.

Here we are with Week 7 of our Prospect Previews series, meaning there is just one week of the series left before we close in on April 4th, when the TinCaps open their season in Midland, Michigan.

Before we look at the next five possible players for this year’s roster, an interesting (and somewhat mathematical look) at runs per game scored across Minor League Baseball the last three seasons. Matt Eddy of Baseball America dove into the numbers to find out which stadiums across MiLB are launching pads and which are pitcher friendly. I definitely suggest reading the article, as Eddy writes:

“Baseball America gathered home and road data for all 120 full-season minor league teams dating back to 2010. Distinct patterns emerge over the course of three seasons—encompassing more than 200 home games and 200 road games for most teams—and differences in weather conditions and varying talent levels from year to year tend to even out.

The bulk of our presentation considers only how teams—that would be the home team and its opponents—fared in each of the 120 ballparks. This way we can stack up how parks compare with one another in terms of runs, hits and home runs per game over the past three years. (Exceptions are noted when a sample does not stretch to three years.)

The data allowed us to isolate five categories—runs, hits, home runs, walks and strikeouts—for batters and pitchers at each minor league park and scale them to games played.

The home run may be baseball’s ultimate weapon, but the strongest correlation between categories exists between a park’s hits and its runs scored. That is to say that parks featuring many hits tend to feature many runs. The opposite also is true. Parks that feature few hits typically feature few runs.”

Below, thanks to the yeoman’s work of John Nolan, is all of Eddy’s data sorted from highest to lowest:

This is about as math-y (not a word) as we’ll ever get on this blog, but I figured this was good data to share. Fort Wayne has the fifth highest total of runs per game in the Midwest League, for whatever that’s worth. Onto the prospects:

Week 1: http://tincaps.mlblogs.com/2013/02/04/2124184/

Week 2: http://tincaps.mlblogs.com/2013/02/11/prospect-previews-week-two/

Week 3: http://tincaps.mlblogs.com/2013/02/18/prospect-previews-week-three/

Week 4: http://tincaps.mlblogs.com/2013/02/25/prospect-previews-week-four/

Week 5: http://tincaps.mlblogs.com/2013/03/05/prospect-previews-week-five/

Week 6: http://tincaps.mlblogs.com/2013/03/12/prospect-previews-week-six/

Ronnie Richardson

Richardson was selected last June out of the University of Central Florida in the 16th round of the draft. He and college teammate Roman Madrid were reunited in Eugene last summer, where Richardson played in 52 games for the Emeralds. Despite playing exclusively center field last season, Richardson says in the interview below that the Padres have asked him to learn a few infield positions in preparation for a possible move to a utility role:

Last season the Eagle Lake, Florida, native set a UCF school record for being hit by a pitch more times than anyone else. In his three-year stay with the Knights, he was plunked 65 times, 35 of those coming in his final season. That trend carried over to his stint in Eugene, where he was hit 16 times. He doesn’t have a big frame–5’8″, 180 lbs.–which makes it even more remarkable that the ball continues to find him.

He hit .233 but had an on-base percentage of .396, no doubt aided by his propensity for being hit by the baseball. Richardson also has some speed, having led UCF with 24 stolen bases during his junior year and 10 more with the Emeralds.

Jonathan Roof

There are a lot of small world, six degrees of separation-type moments that happen in baseball every day. Jonathan Roof has that type of connection with one of the 2012 TinCaps. Roof was selected in the eighth round of the 2010 draft out of Michigan State University by the Texas Rangers. He played in 2011 for the Hickory Crawdads, the South Atlantic League (also Low-A) affiliate of the Rangers. A teammate of his there in North Carolina was 2012 TinCaps infielder Clark Murphy. Unfortunately for Roof, he, too was cut by Texas. Roof was let go during spring training last year, but didn’t have to wait all too long to find his next stop in professional baseball.

The Padres called him and signed him to a minor league contract, having him ship off to Advanced-A Lake Elsinore, Short-Season Eugene and even Triple-A Tucson for 49 games. Prior to last season, he had never played above Advanced-A, when he spent 12 games with Myrtle Beach in 2011. That Roof was in Tucson last year at 23 years old and was not a super-prospect spoke to the difficulty the Padres had last year with injuries, especially at the major league level. And, by the way, Roof played in the outfield for the T-Pads, despite having come up as an infielder.

RON MEDVESCEK / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

From the Digital Journal:

“Roof comes from a long line of professional baseball players. Being a Major League catcher for 14 years, Kennedy himself has many connections to his family. The current Padres manager played with Roof’s father Gene when they were within the St. Louis Cardinals organization. Roof’s uncle Phil was a catcher for the Oakland A’s when Kennedy’s father Bob managed the team.

Joe Ross

I still remember it like it was yesterday: May 10, 2012. That was the day Joe Ross was scheduled to make his seventh start in a TinCaps uniform, but he didn’t. I was just a few minutes from going on the air for our TV broadcast at Parkview Field, and someone asked me which TinCaps pitcher was warming up down the right field line. “Joe Ross,” I said without thinking. “Think again,” I was told. So I looked out the window to see not Joe Ross on the bullpen mound, but lanky (then) reliever Colin Rea. My mind began to race and I jolted downstairs to the dugout to find out what was happening. I couldn’t get to pitching coach Willie Blair, because he was down in the bullpen and I didn’t want to bother him right before the game, but I had to know what was happening so I wouldn’t be completely lost when I went on the air. Finally, I found out that Ross had some shoulder soreness and would be missing his start. Little did we know, that was the last time he’d be called upon to start for Fort Wayne that season.

Ross, who was just 18 when last season started, was a first-round pick out of high school in Los Angeles. He, like 2012 TinCaps catcher Austin Hedges, had committed to play college baseball at UCLA, but instead chose to sign with San Diego. Highly touted, Ross was crushed in his Midwest League debut, only lasting 1 1/3 innings and giving up six earned runs.

Joe Ross warms up in the Fort Wayne bullpen on April 7th, 2012. Photo by Brad Hand.

After his shoulder soreness, he didn’t pitch again until June 28th with the Padres’ Arizona League team. After that appearance, he went to Eugene and was 0-2 with a 2.03 ERA in eight starts, striking out 28 and walking just nine.

Early indications are that Ross, who will turn 20 on May 21, could begin the year with the TinCaps to try and establish himself with a full-season club.

Will Scott

If you’ve never heard of Walters State Community College, don’ be alarmed. Most people have never heard of the small school of about 7,000 students located in Morristown, Tennessee. It’s that school, though, that produced Will Scott, who may find himself in a TinCaps uniform in 2013. His pro career began with three outings with the Arizona League Padres in 2010 and then pitched to a 2-2 record with a 3.17 ERA in 19 games with Eugene in 2011.

Take it away, Chicken Friars:

“He seemed primed to climb up the organizational depth chart and rise in the ranks. However, Scott repeated the level and pitched in 2012 for the Emeralds.

“It was definitely a little rough. I started to feel like I would never get out of Eugene. I started out the year feeling pretty good, then went through a rough stretch where my head was not really in the game. By the end of the year, things started falling into place for me.”

Scott turned things around after a rough start and won the Northwest Pitcher of the Week award in August. In that stretch he turned his best outing of the year, when he pitched six shutout innings against the Everett Aquasox. The award comes with an interesting story.

“I didn’t even know I had won the award until a few weeks after I won it. There was no announcement, Pat Murphy(former Emeralds manager, now Tucson Padres manager) told me casually one day. It was a big accomplishment for me, especially since I did not feel like my mind and body was always there.”’

The next step for Scott seems like a leap to Fort Wayne in 2013.

Matthew Shepherd

Another option for Jose Valentin’s bullpen this season is Matthew Shepherd, who was taken in the 31st round (945th overall) last June by the Padres. Shepherd hails from the booming metropolis of Bluff City, Tennesee — population 1,733–located in the Northeast corner of the state.

From TriCities.com:

Shepherd spent the past four seasons pitching at Tennessee Tech University, compiling an 11-16 career record and registering 183 strikeouts for the Golden Eagles.

He was just 4-5 with a 6.12 ERA this season, but the scouts saw something they liked in the 6-foot-3, 185-pound right-hander. Baseball America ranked him as one of the best prospects in the Ohio Valley Conference before the season and lauded what he had to offer on the mound.

“I just try to go out there and do everything I can to give my team a chance to win,” Shepherd said. “I threw pretty well when the conference schedule started; I had a 4-0 record and an ERA around two or three. But I struggled near the end. My fastball was still pretty good and my change-up was working well. I was throwing strikes and not walking many people. I guess they just saw me battling every time I went out there.”

Right now it looks like the team is scheduled to arrive in Fort Wayne on March 31st, which leaves plenty of time for prospects to play their way onto or off of the roster.

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As always, thanks for reading.

If you’d like to get in touch, you can reach me via email (Couzens@TinCaps.com) or on Twitter @MikeCouzens.

Later this week, the third and final installment of John Nolan’s series in which he checks in with former TinCaps in the minors.

In the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day on Sunday, It’s All Relative presents our TinCaps All-Irish Name Team. Dozens of players have passed through Fort Wayne during the last four years and donned the TinCaps green, but the following lads have names more Irish than the rest.

(Note: To complete the roster, players qualified for position assignments as long as they have played the position previously, even if it isn’t their primary one.)

Position Players

C – Chris O’Dowd (2012)

1B – Jason Hagerty (2010)

2B – Casey McElroy (2012)

3B – Sawyer Carroll (2009)

SS – Pat McKenna (2011)

OF – Clark Murphy (2012)

OF – Wes Cunningham (2011)

OF – Daniel Killian (2011)

Pitchers

LHP Allen Harrington (2009)

RHP Michael Kelly (2012)

RHP Jeremy McBryde (2010)

RHP Dennis O’Grady (2011-12)

RHP Jerry Sullivan (2010)

Our march toward Opening Day continues–20 days until the road opener at Great Lakes (Will I be eating sweet potato fries at The Creek? Yes.)–which means we get to learn more and more about some of the prospects who may be coming to Fort Wayne on Opening Day. Since I’m not traveling out to Arizona for Spring Training, I rely on the eyes and ears of those who are able to scour the backfields for as much information as possible.

Over at Baseball Prospectus, Jason Parks has a breakdown of 10 of the “youngest and brightest” arms in the Padres farm system. He saw them pitch this past week against Indian Hills Junior College down in Arizona. While you do need a subscription to read the entire piece, here are some snapshots of a few pitchers we might see in Fort Wayne this season:

Joe Ross: “Hard to ignore raw stuff; very impressive young arm; high ceiling/impact potential.”

Justin Hancock: “Blew 96 by the final hitter for the punch out; wow stuff from tall, projectable arm.”

Erik Cabrera: “Fastball was 93-94, touched 95; throwing across body and missing to glove side; showed promising 79-83 slider; missed barrels and was thrown in the zone for strikes.”

Brandon Alger: ”Favorite delivery of the day; very smooth; good timing/balance; standard three-quarters release; from the stretch; two-seam fastball was 89-90; good sink”

Leonel Campos: “Dropped vertical breaking ball that looked like standard three-quarter curve at 86 mph; it was extremely nasty and I can’t really explain it except to say it really did look like a violent curveball; nastiest secondary pitch of the day; I’m still thinking about it.”

Max Fried: “Showed three pitches with above-average potential; loved the composure when obvious strikes were called balls; hammer is legit; strong showing.”

Tayron Guerrero: “Looks 7 feet tall on the mound; listed at 6’ 7’’; incredibly long limbs; lanky; gets crazy extension; basically slapping hitter with his release” (Ed note: My favorite description of them all.)

Walker Weickel: “The CB is going to be a plus pitch; showed a 78 CH; some fade; good overall profile.”

As I’ve said previously, the early indications are the the pitching for this team has the potential to be really, really good. That said, potential doesn’t always translate at this level into immediate results, so we have to somewhat temper our expectations. For instance, just have a look at this Twitter exchange between a few Padres bloggers and Padres Director of Player Development Randy Smith:

#Padres 3B Duanel Jones is putting on a defensive clinic. Also, RHP Matt Lollis makes Kyle Blanks look like Daniel Robertson.—
Geoff Young (@ducksnorts) March 14, 2013

@PadresProspects @ducksnorts 19 year olds have a tendency to improve! Still work to be done but going in the right direction—
Randy Smith (@ResPadres) March 15, 2013

Words of wisdom from Mr. Smith. Jones did have a rough year last season with 33 errors at third base (Twins super-prospect Miguel Sano of Beloit had 42 at third base), but at 19 years old, he was also on the very young side of the Midwest League. Sometimes a second go-round in the Midwest League (Rymer Liriano, Adys Portillo, anyone?) can be a good thing.

Speaking of bloggers, I want to recommend the newly-opened PadresPublic.com. It’s a fantastic resource for fans of the Padres and all of the minor-league affiliates. Since coming on board with the TinCaps a year ago, one of the things I found with the Padres blogosphere was that it was scattered all over the place with so many different voices and different blogs. From the “About” section on their website:

“Padres Public is a collection of current Padres blogs that will provide content on a daily basis here in one place instead of doing so dispersed across the web. Over the years we’ve found it challenging to create dynamic content on a consistent basis at our own websites. Equally difficult has been the task of visiting so many different Padres sites each day. Hopefully Padres Public will help to alleviate these issues.”

Check it out. Bookmark it. Read it. You might even see a guest post or two from me on there during the season. I don’t want to get your hopes up, but it’s possible. And as they say at the end of their introduction:

“Let’s get back to that whole idea of this place being like a public house. A pub is nothing more than a location for friends to meet over beers and some lighthearted conversation. But time is always limited and meeting up with friends can be difficult so we created this place to talk Padres. We invite you to crack open a beer with us and stay awhile. Maybe we can all do it in person some time.”

Well, I did have to scrape ice off my car this morning…San Diego vacation, anyone?

//snaps back to reality

And with that, I bring you more baseball. Here’s part two of John Nolan‘s look at former TinCaps that might be cracking the Padres roster in the near future:

Well, Mike, last time we evaluated the ex-TinCaps who are on the Padres’ 40-man roster. In this edition, let’s explore former Fort Wayne players who are still among San Diego’s 57 in major league spring training.

Kevin Quackenbush (2011): Quackenbush came to Fort Wayne for the second-half of the 2011 season after beginning the summer with Eugene. The 6-foot-3 right-hander tossed 21.1 innings for the TinCaps, giving up just two earned runs in the process. Quackenbush fanned 38 and walked six.

Last season, he was even better in Advanced-A for Lake Elsinore. There, Quackenbush surrendered a mere six runs over 57.2 innings to earn a 0.94 ERA. His strikeout-to-walk ratio remained impressive at 70-to-22.

The 24-year old has made three appearances for the Padres so far this spring. Two of the three were scoreless outings.

Matt Stites (2012): To call Stites the TinCaps’ “closer” in 2012, almost doesn’t do his role justice. Instead, Stites was more like the “dominator.” Setting a franchise record for lowest ERA by a reliever (0.74), the righty allowed four earned runs in 48.2 innings, while racking up 13 saves. Stites struck out 60 batters and walked three. In case you’ve trouble with numbers, that’s a 20-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio. (Of course the context of the Midwest League compared to the majors is different to say the least, but former Padres closer Trevor Hoffman’s best single-season ratio was 7.73-to-1.)

Stites, who played two seasons at Missouri before being selected in the 17^th round of the 2011 draft, is currently 22.

Although Stites himself says he hasn’t been pleased with his performance so far in Arizona, he’s catching the attention of others in camp. And remember, if Stites is able to join the Padres’ pen this season, he’ll be reunited with Willie Blair, who served as the TinCaps’ pitching coach last season and is now San Diego’s bullpen coach.

SS Jonathan Galvez (2010): Since Fort Wayne’s inaugural season in 1993, only two players have ever hit three home runs in a game. Galvez is on that list. He’s the most recent to achieve the feat, and the only TinCaps player to do it at Parkview Field, back on July 22, 2010.

Of all the guys who’ve come through Fort Wayne over the years, Galvez wouldn’t be one who you’d peg as a candidate to go deep three times in a game. As a matter of fact, in 2010, the shortstop had just seven other homers.

His stellar summer night aside, though, Galvez batted .259 and had 59 RBI for the TinCaps. He displayed a propensity for both striking out (121) and walking (58). The Dominican Republic-born prospect also stole 18 bases.

After his season in Fort Wayne, Galvez improved his average, HR, RBI, and stolen base numbers with Lake Elsinore (.291, 13, 86, 37). The 22 year-old’s progress continued last year with San Antonio, where he hit .292 and lowered his strikeout total to 70 in 312 at-bats.

In Peoria so far this spring, Galvez has appeared in as many games as anyone (16). Through 21 at-bats, his .381 average has him staying in camp and warranting consideration to make the 25-man roster.

2B Jedd Gyorko (2010): Hailing from the country roads of Morgantown, West Virginia, Gyorko seems to be on a route to the majors. And in 2010, Parkview Field was a pit stop along the way for the Mountain State native and former West Virginia University Mountaineer.

Gyorko spent only the second-half of the ’10 season in Fort Wayne, after taking the Northwest League by storm to start that summer (.330, 5 HR, 18 RBI in 26 games). With the TinCaps, the then-rookie hit .284 over 162 at-bats and posted a .366 on-base percentage. The righty bat has only gotten better since.

Staying on the two-stops-a-season pattern, Gyorko went from Advanced-A to Double-A in 2011, and then Double-A to Triple-A in 2012. And to this point, Gyorko has found success at every level. That includes in Tucson, where he hit .328 with 24 HR and 83 RBI. Gyorko’s .588 slugging percentage was third best in the Pacific Coast League.

While Baseball America predicts Gyorko — No. 3 in its San Diego prospect rankings — as the Padres’ future left fielder (he played primarily third for the TinCaps), he’s played the infield so far in spring training. Not only that, but big league skipper Bud Black has been impressed with the 24-year old’s transition to second base. Offensively, meanwhile, he’s hitting .273 in 33 at-bats and is the only Padre to have hit three homers.

Don’t be surprised if Gyorko is wearing navy and white on opening day.

Check back next week, when we’ll wrap up the series by taking a look at other former TinCaps who may not make the opening day roster for the Padres, but who are on the radar in San Diego.

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Enjoy your weekend, folks. There’s lot of basketball to enjoy with conference tournaments in full swing. Oh, it’s also St. Patrick’s Day weekend–so wherever you are, please enjoy it responsibly.

Before I go, I’m going to revive a segment of the daily blog posts that I’ll be doing again this season…our musical guest:

The Naked and Famous (hey, I didn’t pick the name)…take it away!

As always, thanks for reading.

If you’d like to get in touch, you can reach me via email (Couzens@TinCaps.com) or on Twitter @MikeCouzens.