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After putting it off for a couple of years, I finally got around to checking out Arizona League baseball, last Friday night, and now I regret waiting so long. These are teams formed of very low level minor leaguers, guys just signed, Dominican players, and the occasional minor league or even Major League rehab player, and they play from the middle of June to the end of August, in the various teams' Spring Training facilities around the Phoenix area. Admission is free, and since there is no concession stand they don't care what food or drinks you bring in. The players and coaches on the field probably outnumbered the spectators in the stands.
The game I watched was played at Scottsdale Stadium, between the Arizona League Diamondbacks and the Arizona League Giants. The DBacks were skippered by former utility infielder Andy Green, who played for Arizona five or six years ago, then went to Japan, the Reds, and finished up with the Mets minor league organization. I used to love to watch him play Third, and I got the chance to tell him that, and to get him to sign one of his old Carolina Clubs gamers. The PC was Jeff Bajenaru, who bounced around in the minors for a number of years; I think he pitched one inning for Arizona back in the day and gave up four runs, giving him a lifetime Major League ERA of 36...but we didn't talk about that. The Batting Coach was Abraham M. Nunez, who was up briefly with Marlins and Royals back in the '02-'04 time frame.
The hitting was decent, the fielding not very impressive - the occasional flash of brilliance, but a lot of errors. The Diamondbacks were up 8 to 1 in the first frame, 11 to 1 in the second. In the bottom of the eighth, with the score 13 to 5, the DBacks pitchers seem to lose all control and started giving up hits, walks, hit batters, wild pitches like there was no tomorrow, and the Giants scored six runs, to pull within two. I'd been talking with a young player named Elroy Urbina before the game - his family was sitting in the stands near me - and he'd talked like he didn't expect to be in the game that night. But out he came in the bottom of the eighth, with the bases loaded and nobody out, to "restore order", as they say, and he ended up pitching a two-inning save; he gave up three runs over two innings, but the Diamondbacks scored two more in the top of the ninth, so the final score was 15-14. It took almost four hours to play this classic pitcher's duel.
In addition to getting my Andy Green bat signed, I also got DBacks prospect Wagner Mateo to sign one of his Spring Training Maruccis, and I managed to talk one of the coaches out of the dugout lineup card. Before the game, one of the Dominican players - they tend to be a little on the rowdy side - threw a ball from the dugout at one of his friends in the stands, and missed, and the ball just rolled away, so I went and picked it up and put it in my bag, thinking it was just a minor league practice ball or whatever. Looked at it a couple of days later, and saw that it was a Golden Baseball League ball - no doubt left over from back in May, when the Calgary Vipers were having ST there in Scottsdale. Weird.
One other thing of note: I had an old roster that I'd gotten off the Internet a month or so ago, and a couple of the players on the field were not on it. The first baseman, wearing number 21, I couldn't ID. Later, at home, I checked the lineup card, and it gave his name as "J. Williams". So I checked the current roster online, and it listed him as "Jacob Williams". Did a little more checking, and - sure enough - it's Matty's son. So next Friday, I'll be getting a ball single-signed and adding to my "Seeds of Greatness" collection!
The game I watched was played at Scottsdale Stadium, between the Arizona League Diamondbacks and the Arizona League Giants. The DBacks were skippered by former utility infielder Andy Green, who played for Arizona five or six years ago, then went to Japan, the Reds, and finished up with the Mets minor league organization. I used to love to watch him play Third, and I got the chance to tell him that, and to get him to sign one of his old Carolina Clubs gamers. The PC was Jeff Bajenaru, who bounced around in the minors for a number of years; I think he pitched one inning for Arizona back in the day and gave up four runs, giving him a lifetime Major League ERA of 36...but we didn't talk about that. The Batting Coach was Abraham M. Nunez, who was up briefly with Marlins and Royals back in the '02-'04 time frame.
The hitting was decent, the fielding not very impressive - the occasional flash of brilliance, but a lot of errors. The Diamondbacks were up 8 to 1 in the first frame, 11 to 1 in the second. In the bottom of the eighth, with the score 13 to 5, the DBacks pitchers seem to lose all control and started giving up hits, walks, hit batters, wild pitches like there was no tomorrow, and the Giants scored six runs, to pull within two. I'd been talking with a young player named Elroy Urbina before the game - his family was sitting in the stands near me - and he'd talked like he didn't expect to be in the game that night. But out he came in the bottom of the eighth, with the bases loaded and nobody out, to "restore order", as they say, and he ended up pitching a two-inning save; he gave up three runs over two innings, but the Diamondbacks scored two more in the top of the ninth, so the final score was 15-14. It took almost four hours to play this classic pitcher's duel.
In addition to getting my Andy Green bat signed, I also got DBacks prospect Wagner Mateo to sign one of his Spring Training Maruccis, and I managed to talk one of the coaches out of the dugout lineup card. Before the game, one of the Dominican players - they tend to be a little on the rowdy side - threw a ball from the dugout at one of his friends in the stands, and missed, and the ball just rolled away, so I went and picked it up and put it in my bag, thinking it was just a minor league practice ball or whatever. Looked at it a couple of days later, and saw that it was a Golden Baseball League ball - no doubt left over from back in May, when the Calgary Vipers were having ST there in Scottsdale. Weird.
One other thing of note: I had an old roster that I'd gotten off the Internet a month or so ago, and a couple of the players on the field were not on it. The first baseman, wearing number 21, I couldn't ID. Later, at home, I checked the lineup card, and it gave his name as "J. Williams". So I checked the current roster online, and it listed him as "Jacob Williams". Did a little more checking, and - sure enough - it's Matty's son. So next Friday, I'll be getting a ball single-signed and adding to my "Seeds of Greatness" collection!
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