My wife and I trekked up I-15 to Temecula on Monday night for the first of several Winter Warm-Up events being held by the Padres this week. Temecula is just down the road from Lake Elsinore, home of the Pads’ Class-A affiliate in the California League, so it was a cross-promotional deal. Representatives from both organizations were present, with Storm radio broadcaster Sean McCall serving as master of ceremonies.
Both teams sent their mascots as well. The Swinging Friar and Thunder entertained a packed house at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater before Padres players took the stage and watched promotional videos with fans. The videos were pretty standard faire — highlights from 2006, a preview of 2007 — plus a cool little piece on the Padres’ new facility in the Dominican Republic that included sound bites from owner John Moores, CEO Sandy Alderson, GM Kevin Towers, and VP of Scouting and Player Development Grady Fuson.
Left to right: Scott Strickland, Tim Stauffer, Paul McAnulty (with Thunder behind), Kevin Kouzmanoff, Ryan Ketchner, Clay Hensley, Justin Hampson.
After the videos, McCall asked the panelists — Justin Hampson, Clay Hensley, Randy Jones, Ryan Ketchner, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Paul McAnulty, Tim Stauffer, and Scott Strickland — several questions. McCall did a nice job of keeping things moving, and because he’d gotten to know many of the players while they’d played in the Cal League as members (or opponents) of the Storm, he had a good rapport with them and was able to get some good stories.
Left to right: Randy Jones, Scott Strickland, Tim Stauffer, Paul McAnulty.
After McCall had finished with his questions, he opened up Q&A to the floor. More good questions ensued. I can’t remember which were in response to McCall and which in response to the fans, but here’s a little of what we learned:
- The first two home runs Jones ever served up in the big leagues came off the bats of Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.
- McAnulty’s walk-off homer last September was his first as a big leaguer, but it wasn’t his first at Petco Park. While he was a member of the Storm in 2004, he’d knocked one out in a game played there.
- McAnulty’s favorite player growing up was Andre Dawson.
- Hensley is a big fan of chicken piccata. (Hey, can you blame the guy?)
There also was an amusing moment when McCall asked Ketchner, who is deaf, to say hello to fans in sign language. Ketchner couldn’t make out what McCall was saying, so Hensley relayed the message. Ketchner waved to us and got a good laugh.
Left to right: Kevin Kouzmanoff, Ryan Ketchner, Clay Hensley, Justin Hampson.
After the Q&A, there was a free raffle that included signed baseballs from Hensley and Trevor Hoffman. Then kids were invited to come up and get autographs from the panelists.
I hadn’t been sure what to expect going in, but it turned out to be an entertaining and informative evening. There are several more stops on the tour leading up to FriarFest this coming weekend. The events being held Tuesday through Thursday are free, while admission to FriarFest runs $5 per person.
23 Comments
Thanks for the laugh Geoff…I may be laughing about the “Ketchner Wave” for a while.
Padres signed four minor leaguers:
Aaron Rakers
Howie Clark
Robert Jacobson
Michael DeMark
Rakers pitched a few innings in middle relief for the Orioles in ‘04 and ‘05 but was out in ‘06 with a torn labrum
Howie Clark is a lefty who plays the infield and outfield corners
Jacobson is a catcher, looks like he was drafted by the A’s in 2002
DeMark looks to have been a relief pitcher in the Frontier (Indy) league
Rakers looks like he may be useful if recovered. He’s 30, but had a great 2004 and 2005 in AAA. Good control and over a K per inning.
Nice article at ESPN today about Buddy Black.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove06/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=2740122
i see on that sign it says PADRES: experience it. i wonder if that is going to be their new slogan? after a few years of “play downtown” they finally switched to “on a mission” last year. could just be the winter warm up slogan though…who knows
Golden: Good call. They did mention that this would be the new slogan for the season.
Were there any chants of “Free Paul McAnulty?”
Howie Clark put up an MLE of 231/.300/.303 last year. Sounds like Geoff Blum.
McAnulty put up a .791 MLE OPS last season.
Was the Padres’ slogan last year (“on a mission”) intentionally a pun? Because that is all I could think about when hearing it.
9: I imagine it was.
I’m not a big fan of cheesy slogans what ever happened to GO PADRES!
MLB TV and MLB Radio are talking about the Pads right now…they will be interviewing Tim Sullivan at 405pm today if any of you are interested in watching/listening…
Anyone interested in the Hardball Times review of Kouz?
59. Kevin Kouzmanoff, 25, 3b, San Diego Padres
2006 Stats (AA/AAA): .379/.437/.656, 4 SB in 346 AB
Thirteen months ago, Kouzmanoff was available for $50,000 and was passed on by 29 organizations in the Rule 5 Draft. Considered to be a Quadruple-A player despite his .992 OPS in 2005, Kouzmanoff proved in ‘06 that he was not a fluke. He possesses plus power and contact skills; however, he still has doubters in the scouting community. With bad defense at third, questionable bat speed and an injury-prone tag, Kouzmanoff will have to hit and hit quickly to last in the majors.
More prospects from the top 75 in baseball can be found here:
http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2007/01/the_2006_wtny_p.php
Good luck B-Law…good guy…signing in Colorado…
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6392830?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=49
Padres should look into getting Erick Aybar from the Angels for backup to Khalil Greene.
13: PECOTA has him as our best prospect. I think it’s interesting that different people and systems disagree so much when it comes to Kouz.
An aside:
Sean McCall is a great broadcaster and a really funny guy. I worked with him when I was part of the front office in Boise. He did a great job making short season A ball games entertaining.
15: I’ve heard good things about Aybar . . . wonder what he would “cost” . .
3:
Good link. Nice story about Black
re: Randy Jones’ 1st 2 HRs in MLB … baseball players are *much* better story tellers than fact/detail holders … http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B06160NYN1973.htm … according to this box score, HR #1 was John Milner … and it was #2 and #3 that were hit by Mays & Aaron …
re: Carillo and “avoid surgery” … it just seems to me that “avoid surgery” usually means “put off surgery” … doesn’t it? In other words, it sure seems inevitable that Carillo will have surgery … so why try to avoid it? I guess that’s a question for WC @ BP … it’s been a while since I’ve read anything from him …
LM,
Look again at that box score. RJ didn’t start the game. That Milner HR came off of Caldwell. Mays was #1 off RJ. (Can’t believe I’m defending RJ’s mental faculties…feels a little like defending Trump’s intelligence, W’s veracity, Cruise’s sanity…add own oxymoron here.)
I’ve been reading about this Rakers character and he could actually be a good pickup if he’s recovered.
dprat … THANKS … I was a having a frustrating day with details yesterday … this is indeed yet another great Randy Jones story!