I thought I’d take a look at how some of the guys I saw in college are doing now that they’ve turned pro. These are players I saw during the 1998 and/or 1999 seasons. This time we’ll check out the hitters, next time, the pitchers. The bad news is, I can’t say anything about Ryan [...]
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1999 California Fall League Wrapup
The initial season of the California Fall League recently drew to a close. The league, composed of prospects at the Single- and Double-A levels, was the successor to the Maryland Fall League and, before that, the Hawaiian Winter League. And although there are concerns about the viability of this league, as there were with its [...]
1999 California League Postseason Awards
MVP Before I get started, I’d like to say that there were many terrific performances in the California League this past season. For the MVP award, there were basically five candidates: Jack Cust, OF, High Desert Mavericks (Diamondbacks); Jacques Landry, 3B, Modesto A’s (A’s); Chin-Feng Chen, OF, San Bernardino Stampede (Dodgers); Randey Dorame, LHP, San [...]
California Fall League Report: Lancaster at Lake Elsinore
After fighting through some nasty traffic to get out of San Diego, my wife and I arrived at the Lake Elsinore Diamond in the 2nd inning of the season finale. This game was everything that my first California Fall League experience wasn’t: well played, well attended, and, well — more like an actual baseball game. [...]
Padres Farm Report: Buddy Carlyle
Righthander Buddy Carlyle, a former 2nd round draft pick of the Cincinnati Reds, was obtained by San Diego at the end of spring training 1998 in exchange for hard-throwing righthander Marc Kroon. Kroon has long since been released, and Reds GM Jim Bowden readily concedes this trade was a mistake. Padres GM Kevin Towers calls [...]
California Fall League Report: San Bernardino at Rancho Cucamonga
This was not a day for driving. Ninety-eight degrees Fahrenheit at 11 a.m. So of course I was driving the 90 minutes north on I-15 toward Rancho Cucamonga, to catch a baseball game between two teams with players nobody’s ever heard of. As is my custom, I arrived in the middle of the second inning. [...]
Did Somebody Report a Fire Sale?
Before the 1999 season started, the popular conception among media types and, unfortunately, many San Diegans was that this year’s Padres would bear a strong resemblance to the Florida Marlins of the previous season and would go from the World Series to stinking up the league quicker than you could say, “Richie Garcia.” According to [...]
California/Carolina League All-Star Game
Last month the all stars from two Class-A leagues clashed at the Lake Elsinore Diamond to display their talents and bring victory to their league. My wife and I left work early and drove the hour or so up I-15 to the check out the game. We parked in a dirt lot (overflow parking for [...]
Anatomy of a Winning Streak
Now that it’s over (though not without a fight — down 7-0 after 2 innings at Coors Field, the Padres came storming back, only to lose, 12-10), I thought I’d take a closer look at the Padres’ 14 game winning streak. My primary focus is on starting pitching. I’ll examine wins, Ron Shandler’s Pure Quality [...]
Draft Watch 1999: Rice University
[Disclaimer: I am not a professional scout, just a rabid baseball fan who likes to watch as many games as possible, at whatever level, and who is always on the lookout for potential future stars. The reports here are strictly one person's opinion, based solely on empirical (as opposed to statistical) data, often gathered from [...]
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