So basically, if I don’t show up, the Barons win. I missed the games on the 9th, 10th and 11th due to recovery from “surgery.” No need for painkillers, I’m a man. Anyway, they won all three games, taking 4 out of 5 in the series and have succesfully avoided the dreaded 100 loss season. Whoopty freakin’ doo! Unfotunately, I still have 12 more home games left before the 2010 trail of tears ends. Although, the last home game of the year and season for Birmingham is a day game on Labor Day. If I stay till the end, I may get some choice souvenirs from the players. I’ll pass on sweaty batting gloves or hats though. It’s been a tradition in the past when the team wasn’t going to the playoffs for the players to toss equipment, baseballs and other assorted goodies into the crowd. Of course, I’ll be fighting a few kids perhaps, but I’m bigger than them…hahaha.
In a bit of “you heard it here first,” the White Sox are pulling a Sergio Santos and converting another position player into a pitcher. Whom do you ask? Non other than 28 year old outfielder Miguel Negron. Negron is listed on the Barons DL, but that is dubious because he’s in the process of conversion. As we all know, when a position player is being converted to a pitcher, it’s because they have a live arm. You aren’t looking to find junkballers by doing that. I was told by a member of the front office that Negron looks as if he’s throwing in the high 90’s. I trust this person’s baseball acumen enough to take his word for it. One other thing…Negron throws left handed. One thing I know for sure is that Negron has a cannon and a right fielder’s arm, he just has the range of a center fielder. There’s no telling if things with Negron will work out as well as they have with Santos, but it is certainly worth noting and passing along to you fine folks.
30 games in with Birmingham and Eduardo Escobar has handled his promotion to AA as well as you can imagine. I doubt anybody, including me, would have thought that at this point he’d be hitting .269 with 2 homeruns and 19 RBI. It’s odd and surprising what players handle the jump from high A to AA well. It’s never who you’d expect. Considering Escobar’s diminutive stature, and yes, he is small, I’m surprised he’s managed to hit a homerun at all in Regions Park. His other came while on the road. His average is actually deceiving, he has 32 hits in his 30 games. It would be higher if he wasn’t hitting in the 2 hole and receiving so many plate appearances. The only downside is that he’s made 4 errors and he only has 5 doubles and no triples. So, he may be a singles hitter, but regardless of the errors, he is a very solid defender at shortstop. I look forward to seeing him more in 2011.
It’s good to finally see Anthony Carter putting his name on the map as a late innings reliever. He was mentioned in the most recent edition of the Southern League news and notes as the lone bright spot for the Barons. I hope to see him continue his success in 2011 and not come back down to Earth like C.J. Retherford and Christian Marrero have. Two more homestands to go until this grueling season mercifully ends. Until next time…
Cheers,
JPN