MiLB Recap May 3 2017

[King]

---

http://i.imgur.com/CUdb86C.png

http://i.imgur.com/ft6KQ3E.png

http://i.imgur.com/UHdlTIx.png

---

http://i.imgur.com/uwBnXFF.png

http://i.imgur.com/fLLZp9J.png

http://i.imgur.com/4m0obgv.png

 

You win some and you lose some.

 

The Bisons have proven that adage true more than a few times of late. On Wednesday night at Coca-Cola Field, the Herd played to its third doubleheader split in eight days trading victories with the rival Rochester Red Wings.

 

Rochester got the twinbill started with a 5-3 victory, while the Bisons rebounded in the nightcap, 4-1. Buffalo split a pair of twinbills last week with the Norfolk Tides.

 

One-big inning and a great outing from Casey Lawrence helped the Herd hold onto first place in the IL North division. Buffalo scored four times in the third inning of game two while the righty allowed just an unearned run over five frames for his first victory of the season.

 

As has been the case so often this season, the Bisons took advantage of their opponent's miscues. Dwight Smith Jr. and the red-hot Mike Ohlman led off the third with singles before Nik Turley uncorked a pair of wild pitches to allow Smith Jr. to score. Jake Elmore's grounder to short three batters later should have ended the inning, but the ball was booted by Rochester's Bengie Gonzalez. Not only did that allow Ohlman to score but gave Ian Parmley to chance to score two more with his opposite field single.

 

That was plenty of offense for Lawrence. The righty didn't record a strikeout, but yielded only an unearned run in his fifth and final inning. He sent in a row at one point and only needed six pitches to get through fourth.

 

Leonel Campos closed out the win with a 1-2-3 seventh inning for his first save of the year. The win gives the Bisons a 15-9 record and maintains their 1.5 game lad on Rochester in the IL North.

 

While the Red Wings were unable to comeback in game two, the Bisons fell just short in game one. Trailing 4-0 early, Ohlman slugged his team-leading fifth home run of the year in the third to cut the lead in half.

 

Buffalo added another run on an Alex Monsalve sac fly in the fourth and appeared to have the game-tying run on the board in the fifth. With Rowdy Tellez on board with a double, Darrell Ceciliani hit a sharp single to right field. Tellez was waved home by Bisons manager Bobby Meacham, but was called out on a close play at the plate after a strong throw by Rochester's J.B. Shuck.

 

Meacham was ejected for arguing the play and Rochester held onto the lead. The Wings would add an insurance marker in the seventh on John Ryan Murphy's second home run of the season.

 

The Bisons and Red Wings will close out their three-game series Thursday afternoon at 1:05 p.m.

 

---

http://i.imgur.com/3FYNbIs.png

http://i.imgur.com/mkRBpTR.png

http://i.imgur.com/zUFpcR9.png

http://i.imgur.com/nGed3I7.png

 

Reading, PA - A first inning home run proved to be the difference Wednesday, as the New Hampshire Fisher Cats dropped the series finale 3-2 to the Reading Fightin' Phils at FirstEnergy Stadium in Reading.

 

The Fightin' Phils got all three of their runs on one swing of the bat. With two runners on and one out in the opening frame, first baseman Kyle Martin took 'Cats starter Shane Dawson (L, 1-3) deep for a three-run shot that made it 3-0.

 

New Hampshire answered with single runs in the second and third. Back-to-back-one out walks put two runners aboard in the second, and Gunnar Heidt delivered later in the inning with a two-out RBI single to bring the tally to 3-1. In the third, Tim Lopes hit a lead-off double and later scored on an Anthony Alford RBI single that made it a one-run game.

 

The Fisher Cats failed to take advantage of two opportunities to tie the game or take the lead. With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, Reading starter Drew Anderson (W, 2-0) got Lopes to ground into an inning-ending double play to keep the game 3-2 in favor of the Fightin' Phils. In the seventh, a one out double from Jonathan Davis was wasted when the next two batters failed to bring him home.

 

Dawson was strong save for the first inning long ball. The southpaw went on to work six innings without allowing another run to score, limiting Reading to two hits between the second and the sixth. At one point he retired 14 of 16 batters faced following the home run.

 

Justin Shafer pitched two innings of scoreless relief for New Hampshire, which was matched by Fightin' Phils relievers Yacksel Rios (one inning) and Jesen Therrien (S, 4); the latter threw two scoreless frames to pick up the save.

 

With the loss, the Fisher Cats (9-16) are now 0-8 in games decided by one run.

 

New Hampshire returns home Thursday night for the first of five with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Sean Reid-Foley (1-2, 5.65 ERA) will be opposed by Casey Delgado (0-4, 9.15 ERA). First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m.

---

http://i.imgur.com/Hk71V0K.png

http://i.imgur.com/jTtyFrV.png

http://i.imgur.com/gAiH0W9.png

 

After scoring five or more runs in five consecutive games, the Blue Jays offense was only able to record five total hits in a 3-1 loss to the Tampa Yankees on Wednesday night. Yankees starter Ian Clarkin held the Jays to just their one run in 5.1 innings of work on four hits, and the Yankees bullpen combined to throw 3.2 innings of one-hit ball to close out the game.

 

The Blue Jays fell behind 1-0 early when RF Jhalan Jackson and 3B Mandy Alvarez hit back-to-back doubles in the second inning. The Jays tied the score in the fifth on a CF Lane Thomas groundout to third base that scored C Max Pentecost who had reached on a double and advanced to third on a single by DH Juan Kelly .

 

Blue Jays starter Conor Fisk turned in a quality start for the team in a losing effort, allowing three runs on seven hits over six complete innings. RHP Josh DeGraaf , RHP Adonys Cardona , and RHP Tom Robson combined to throw three scoreless innings in relief of Fisk.

 

Emotions ran high late in the game. After Kelly was called out on an automatic strike for a game-clock violation in the eighth inning, Blue Jays manager John Schneider was ejected from the game following a heated exchange with the umpiring crew at the end of the inning.

 

Pentecost, who played all nine innings behind the plate at catcher, was the only Blue Jay with multiple hits, finishing 2-4 with a double and run scored. RF Andrew Guillotte , 2B Cavan Biggio , and Kelly had the other three hits for the Jays, all singles.

 

The Blue Jays (15-12) and Yankees (11-16) will finish their four-game series at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium tomorrow. RHP Jordan Romano will take the ball for the Jays with the first pitch scheduled for 6:30 PM.

---

http://i.imgur.com/4rHod3l.png

http://i.imgur.com/Fz8MwbI.png

http://i.imgur.com/3g934z5.png

 

LANSING, Mich. - Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. capped a seven-run second inning with a two-run homer, and the Lansing Lugnuts (14-11) won a 9-7 slugfest over the Peoria Chiefs (10-14) in a Wednesday matinee at Cooley Law School Stadium.

 

Peoria pitchers hit six Lugnuts, setting a new Midwest League single-game record. It also matched the most single-game HBPs for one team in Major League history - last seen in 1913 by the New York Yankees against the Washington Senators.

 

None of the HBPs brought a whiff of trouble, though Lugs first baseman Bradley Jones was forced to leave the game after getting struck on the hand in the second inning.

 

The Lugnuts erased an early 4-0 Peoria lead thanks to three big swings in the pivotal second. Edward Olivares opened the scoring against Chiefs starter Ronnie Williams (Loss, 1-2) with a two-run double to left field. Two batters later, Yeltsin Gudino lined his own two-run double to left, tying the score at 4-4. Joshua Palacios singled in Gudino, giving the Lugnuts the lead.

 

Williams struck out J.B. Woodman and Bo Bichette before Guerrero applied the exclamation point with his fourth home run of the year, deposited onto the grassy hill beneath the video board. In the process, he extended his on-base streak to 22 games.

 

The Lugnuts received valuable work from four relievers - Tayler Saucedo , Geno Encina , Zach Jackson and Jackson McClelland - following a three-inning start from Andy Ravel .

 

Freshly activated from the Disabled List, Saucedo (Win, 1-1) held the Chiefs off the scoreboard in the fourth and fifth innings, allowing two hits and one walk and striking out one.

 

Encina pitched the sixth and seventh innings, allowing a pair of seventh-inning runs, one earned, on three hits.

 

Jackson worked a perfect eighth and McClelland (Save, 5) set the side down in order in the ninth, each recording a strikeout.

 

Palacios led the Lugnuts' offense, going 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI, supplemented by a 2-for-4, two-run, two-RBI showing from Olivares. Second baseman Gudino notched two hits for the fourth consecutive game, giving him eight hits in his last 16 at-bats.

 

MiLB on-base leader Jake Thomas continued his remarkable run with two more walks and a double, raising his season on-base percentage to .549 and his league-leading walk total to 24.

 

The Lugnuts and Chiefs play the rubber match in their three-game series at 7:05 p.m. Thursday, a Labatt Thirsty Thursday featuring $2 beers / $2 sodas and half off craft brews. Gates open at 6 p.m., with Lansing right-hander Justin Maese (2-2, 5.79) facing Peoria left-hander Ian Oxnevad (0-2, 4.79). Tickets may be purchased at the stadium box office, by calling (517) 485-4500 or via lansinglugnuts.com.

---

Kings 3 Stars of the Night

 

1) Vlad Jr.

 

2) Josh Palacios

 

3) Edward Olivares

 

 

Kings Platinum Arencibia

 

1) Andy Ravel

---

Anthony Alford, Bo Bichette, Vlad Jr make Baseball America April Prospect Team

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/prospect-team-of-the-month-april/#qAQ79djzbmZ1JaOr.97

3B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. • Blue Jays

Low Class A Lansing (Midwest)

The second-youngest player to open the season on an Opening Day roster, the 18-year-old Guerrero also is one of the most promising. He has had no trouble acclimating to full-season ball after ranking as the No. 1 prospect in the Rookie-level Appalachian League a year ago. Guerrero had nearly as many extra-base hits (nine) as strikeouts (11) in April.

SS Bo Bichette • Blue Jays

Low Class A Lansing (Midwest)

A 2016 second-rounder and Florida prep, Bichette torched the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League in his debut, hitting .427 with power in 22 games, until a bout of appendicitis truncated his season. He has picked right up in full-season ball where he left off last year. Bichette teams with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to form perhaps the most formidable left side of the infield in the minors.

 

 

OF Anthony Alford • Blue Jays

Double-A New Hampshire (Eastern)

A knee injury and concussion short-circuited Alford’s 2016 season, but he appeared to be in fine form while making his Double-A debut this season. With good feel to hit (.356 average), plate patience (nine walks) and plus speed (seven stolen bases), Alford profiles as an impact table-setter.

---

An Assortment of Max Pentecost Content

 

https://www.milb.com/milb/news/max-pentecost-homers-again-for-dunedin-blue-jays/c-227159238/t-221373896

 

 

Max Pentecost went two full seasons without playing the field after a shoulder injury cost him the entire 2015 campaign. Now that he's settling back in on defense, his offense is reaching another level.

 

The Blue Jays' No. 12 prospect went 3-for-5 with a homer on Friday, helping Class A Advanced Dunedin defeat Fort Myers, 8-4, at CenturyLink Sports Complex. The long ball was his sixth of the season and fifth in his last seven games, a stretch during which he's collected 12 RBIs.

 

"I feel a whole lot better this year," Pentecost said. "Last year after taking a whole year off, I was trying to get back into the groove of everything, from getting my timing and my swing down and seeing pitches -- it took a while to get into a groove and feel comfortable. This year in Spring Training I was able to get some at-bats early, and it's been a lot easier to just go with the flow and be ready as opposed to last year."

 

Pentecost singled in his first two at-bats against Miracle right-hander Keaton Steele, once to center field to load the bases in a three-run first inning and to left in the third. After Cavan Biggio homered with one out in the fourth to give the Blue Jays a 6-2 lead, Pentecost followed with a blast to left-center to go back-to-back.

 

"He came in and threw a fastball for a strike and then I kind of swung at one that was low and he went back away with a curveball," Pentecost said. "At that point, I said I'm going to shorten up and see what I can do with it, and I got a hanging slider and was able to put the barrel on it."

 

The 24-year-old backstop struck out against right-hander Williams Ramirez in the sixth before lining out to first against lefty Jonny Drozd in the eighth in his quest for a fourth hit. The three-hit night extended his hitting streak to 13 games, as Pentecost has hit in every contest since going 0-for-4 in the Blue Jays' opener.

 

"I had been getting swing-happy early in the count and swinging at pitches I shouldn't, but I'm calming down, relaxing and making sure I see the pitches well," Pentecost said. "The first couple games, I felt like I was swinging defensively and wasn't attacking the ball -- trying to see it more than hit it. It's good and bad, but I don't go up there with the mindset of taking a walk, I'm just looking for something I can hit. A lot of [my hits] have been jam shots and hits off the end of the bat, but sometimes you just have to take them and run with them."

 

Not only is Pentecost producing at the plate, he's also returned to donning the tools of ignorance this season. Friday was his third game behind the plate and first since April 22, a layoff that's part of the organization's plan to ease him back into a full-time catching routine.

 

The 2014 first-round pick has still spent most of his time at designated hitter this year, logging three more at first base and three as catcher. He's 6-for-12 with two homers, three RBIs and four runs in those games behind the plate and 5-for-14 with three homers, nine RBIs, two doubles and three runs as a first baseman. Pentecost is 9-for-33 with one homer, three RBIs and two runs scored in his eight games at DH.

 

"[Playing the field] keeps you in the game the whole game," Pentecost said. "DHing for the first two at-bats, you're really into it. In the latter half of the game, you're trying to keep yourself focused, stretched and warm, it's a little tough. Once you start playing in games again, it brings more fun to it."

 

 

 

https://2080baseball.com/2017/05/minor-league-roulette-prospect-notes-for-the-week-ending-april-30/

 

Max Pentecost, C, Blue Jays (High A Dunedin, Florida State League)

Ht/Wt: 6’2” / 191 lbs B/T: R/R Age (as of April 1st, 2017): 24 yrs, 1m

Season Stats: .328/.353/.641, 21 H, 2 2B, 6 HRs, 16 RBIs

 

With a stretch of bum luck now in the rearview mirror, including missing the entirety of the 2015 season due to shoulder surgery, Pentecost and Blue Jays’ fans are celebrating the simple fact that the 24-year-old is healthy again. For the 2014 first-round pick (#11 overall), health has been the biggest obstacle, preventing Pentecost from displaying his full potential. After 74 games split between Class A and High A in 2016 – where he was used as a DH exclusively and slashed .302/.361/.486 over 319 plate appearances – he’s returning to Florida for his second season with High A Dunedin. So far, Pentecost has collected 21 hits, including six home runs, which puts him on pace to surpass his 2016 total easily, while slashing a smooth. .324/.347/.618.

 

Defensively, Pentecost has split his time between first base and his normal backstop position, and he’s yet to produce an error at either position in 63 chances. In fact, the right-hander has just one error over his 114-game pro career. If Pentecost can stay the course health-wise, the Blue Jays should finally be able to see the versatility, and overall production, that he can offer when he’s in the lineup every day – ultimately justifying the lofty 2014 pick.

---

The Education of Sean Reid-Foley

 

https://clutchlings.blogspot.ca/2017/05/the-education-of-sean-reid-foley.html

 

2015 was a coming out party for Toronto Blue Jays RHP Sean Reid-Foley. Sent to Lansing to begin full-season play in only his second pro season, the 2014 2nd rounder fanned 90 Midwest League hitters in 63 innings, earning a promotion to Dunedin in the second half.

 

Last year, he was sent back to Lansing to work on commanding his fastball, and after another half season in Michigan he was on his way to Dunedin once again, having seemed to have conquered his control issues.

 

The knock against Reid-Foley, possessor of a mid 90s fastball and wipeout slider, was that he would lose his mechanics mid-game, driving up his pitch count because he was unable to make the necessary adjustments. Equipped with a new, simplified delivery, Reid-Foley missed a lot of bats in 2016, but more importantly was working deeper into games, and those comparisons to Jonathan Papelbon seemed to go away.

 

Sent to AA to begin this season, Reid-Foley has had his struggles against the more advanced hitters of the Eastern League, and has gone beyond the 3rd inning only once in his first five starts. The Blue Jays have been protective of his young arm (at 21, Reid-Foley is one the youngest players in the league), but his most recent start on April 29th against Binghamton was a microcosm of his season to date. Some mechanical issues, command problems, bad luck, and some plain old bad pitches have been behind his rough initiation to AA.

 

Reid-Foley was a victim of some misfortune in the 1st. After fanning the leadoff hitter with a swinging K, he was ahead 1-2 on the 2nd hitter, who then slapped a ball that was slicing away from SS Richard Urena into shallow Leftfield for a hit. Three pitches later, the next hitter lined a pitch that LF Harold Ramirez took a circuitous route on, and it bounced off the warning track and over the wall for a double. A sacrifice fly to RF Jonathan Davis brought in Binghamton's first run, but Reid-Foley retired the final batter of the inning on a pop up to Urena.

 

In the second inning, Reid-Foley gave up some soft and medium contact and found himself facing leadoff hitter Champ Stuart for the second time with runners on 1st and 2nd and two outs. Reid-Foley threw a pair of strikes to Stuart, but then threw four consecutive balls to load the bases. He regained his composure to induce what might have been an inning-ending groundball to the next batter, but 2B Tim Lopes booted the ball, allowing a run to score. After retiring the side on a grounder to Urena, Reid-Foley was already at 42 pitches on the night through only two innings.

 

In the third, he fell behind the leadoff hitter 3-1, and then gave up a longer Home Run to LF on a pitch that caught altogether too much of the strike zone. Reid-Foley walked the next hitter on 4 pitches, and had considerable trouble repeating his delivery through much of the inning - sometimes, he would appear to briefly pause mid-delivery, others he had obvious difficulty coming up with the right arm angle. He gave up three more hits in the inning, as three runs crossed the plate. A swinging K on his 29th pitch of the inning brought an end to both the frame and Reid-Foley's evening after only three innings and 71 pitches.

 

Cause for concern? Not really. Reid-Foley's numbers on the season would likely look a little better (5.65 ERA, .311 BAA, 2.04 WHIP) if he was given a bit of a longer leash, which will probably start to happen this month. At A ball, Reid-Foley could always rely on his four seamer up in the zone to put hitters away; AA hitters, if this start was any indication, are less inclined of offer at it. If there is a positive on the night, it's that his slider appeared to be working quite well, but its effectiveness was diminished by his inability to command both sides of the plate with his fastball. Some better quality pitches, more consistent mechanics, and some better defence behind him will help Reid-Foley iron out his issues as the season progresses. It certainly isn't time to dust off those Papelbon comps and consider a move to the bullpen; Reid-Foley still profiles as a #2 or #3 starter, but as this spring has shown, he's still young and has a lot to learn.

---

Jarrett Grube hoping for a shot in the Big Leagues

 

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/big-read-minor-league-lifer-jarrett-grube-hoping-shot-blue-jays/

 

Upon arrival at Coca-Cola Field on a cold, windy Saturday morning in late April, Jarrett Grube walked into the Buffalo Bisons clubhouse to check in and grab a sandwich off the buffet table. Grube knocked on a door and let pitching coach Bob Stanley know that he was good to go for his between-starts bullpen session. He then walked back into the hall, nodded hello to stadium staffers and walked to a maintenance area hastily set up as the home team’s makeshift dressing room. Earlier in the week the downtown sewage system failed and the plumbing in the Bisons’ space failed — the manager’s and coaches’ offices escaped damage, but the players’ room had to be closed off for repair. Of the myriad things that test minor-league ballplayers daily this was just the latest.

 

The dictum applies in baseball as it does in all facets of life: Everyone has to be somewhere. Grube and his teammates were wishing they were somewhere else, and not just because their real estate in the clubhouse had been taken over by plumbers and general contractors. No, everyone on the Buffalo Bisons wishes he was somewhere else simply because the International League is nobody’s life ambition. Triple-A is not the ultimate destination, just a stop along the way that hopefully lasts no longer than necessary.

 

In the makeshift dressing room a couple of spots have been vacated, those previously occupied by two other starters in the Bisons rotation, Casey Lawrence and Mat Latos. Grube overheard a trainer talking about the flights that Lawrence and Latos had to make to get to Los Angeles to catch up to the Toronto Blue Jays. Grube has seen it with dozens of teammates hundreds of times over the course of his career. It’s part of the routine, their routine anyway. He’s only had to pack twice himself. And for his trips to the majors, he didn’t need more than a carry-on.

 

http://assets1.sportsnet.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/SN-GRUBE-01.jpg

 

We can look at Major League Baseball from any number of angles. We can look at it as physics, with spin rates and exit velocities. We can look at it as mathematics, with WARs and WHIPs. We can look at it as a big business, with hundreds of millions shuffled around, assigned to those who best combine physics, mathematics and free agency. Thus, MLB is at once fascinating and no easy thing to get all romantic about.

 

We look at minor-league baseball in an entirely different light. Small is unspoiled. Small is quaint. Small is accessible. Sure, minor-leaguers are effectively chattel of MLB clubs, but they run out onto diamonds away from the bright lights. If you like minor-league baseball, you think of yourself as a purist. Your love of the game — this bucolic, idyllic version — is somehow so much more righteous.

 

If you buy all that stuff about the minor leagues, you might not love this story. You might not want to know how unbelievably cruel the game can be to those who love it most. Namely, Jarrett Grube, a right-hander who pitched his first pro game with the Tri-City Dust Devils in 2004 and ran out to the mound in 459 more games in the minors through to this spring. Grube has gone 93-76 over his 13 seasons with 17 teams in five MLB organizations, and played in the Mexican, Venezuelan and Dominican Winter Leagues as well as a couple of turns with an unaffiliated independent-league team. He has criss-crossed the continent, cumulatively spent whole years on buses, pitched to thousands of batters you’ve never heard of. There’s no easy way to summarize Grube’s peripatetic time in the minor leagues, switching teams and organizations in the off-season or in midstream.

 

His career MLB line, however, is simplicity itself.

 

2014 LAA: One game, 2/3 of an inning, 1 hit, 1 home run, no walks, no strikeouts, 13.50 ERA.

 

Jarrett Grube was raised on a hog farm near Corunna, about a half hour outside Fort Wayne, Ind. “Our son had his chores and he worked hard but he wasn’t as much of a farmer as his sister, Shanna,” says Danny Grube, a soon-to-be-retired inspector for a gas company. The father, a former catcher, taught the son to pitch, squatting down and giving him targets to hit when he was six years old, coaching him all through Little League, which he was first called up to at age seven. “Corunna never had a great team — mostly because it was hard to find kids to play in a town of about 250 people,” Danny Grube says. “A lot of the time I’d let Shanna go through the order once — she could fool them the one time — and then bring in Jarrett to pitch the rest of the way.”

 

This isn’t quite a case of a marginal prospect making a slow, steady rise before hitting a plateau in Triple-A and coming to rest there.

 

Grube played junior-college ball about four and a half hours from Corunna at Vincennes and moved on to the University of Memphis where he was voted to the All-Conference USA team. The Colorado Rockies took him in the 10th round of the 2004 draft and sent him off to short-season A in Tri-City. He moved up a level a year — Asheville, Modesto and Double-A Tulsa in 2007, where he put in two summers. As he moved up he went from starter to spot starter to exclusively bullpen. He was in the clubhouse when guys were summoned into the skipper’s office, when younger players like Franklin Morales, who was only 21, would get promoted and be on their way to the Show. Still, he pitched effectively enough to believe that it was a matter of time before he’d follow them.

 

In 2009 it came apart. “I wasn’t really hurt but I tried to pitch through some tightness,” Grube says. “It was a rough season.” Splitting the campaign between Tulsa and Triple-A Colorado Springs, he went 1-3 with a 6.56 ERA in 18 games before the Rockies released him in early June. It could have ended there, and for most minor-leaguers it would have. Grube, then 27, started over almost from scratch, pitching for Southern Maryland in the independent Atlantic League. “I had to get healthy, show what I could do and re-establish myself as a starter,” he says. “And that’s what I’ve done most of the way ever since.” Across 12 starts through the end of the Indy-league season and eight starts the following spring, Grube showed enough to get picked up by the Seattle Mariners — he reported to West Tennessee in Double-A and worked his way up to Triple-A Tacoma. The next season he did just about the same thing, dividing time between Double- and Triple-A, getting his starts but watching others get the call.

 

In 2012 Grube took a step sideways and down rather than the jump up — he went from the Mariners’ Triple-A squad to Arkansas, the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He was 30 and if it wasn’t already there the label of minor-league journeyman was stuck on him. He held out hope that the stars would still line up, though, and in his third season with the Halos they finally did, however briefly.

 

http://assets1.sportsnet.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/SN-GRUBE-02.jpg

 

Grube was with the Salt Lake City Bees for the 2014 season and between starts. On a Friday night in late May, he was in the dugout charting pitches for a game that stretched into extra innings. At the end of the night he was called into the manager’s office and greeted by grim faces — he was told that he had messed up the charts. It seemed like an extreme reaction but Grube was left dangling until manager Keith Johnson told him that he was getting called up. That’s baseball: Such momentous occasions provide too sweet an opportunity for a good prank. Johnson told Grube that the Angels were going to be in Oakland Saturday night and he was to be there. Grube didn’t have any illusions about his role — he wasn’t getting called up to start, just to fill in as long relief in a bullpen that had been overworked. And of course, getting any particular showcase was the last thing on his mind. The call-up set off a not-quite-24-hour series of events that were more frantic than magical.

 

“Because it was a night game and because of the time difference it was real late by the time I called my wife [Alyssa] and she had her phone off,” Grube says. “I called my folks and my mom asked what was wrong and I told her that she’d want to wake up dad for this.”

 

On Saturday night, Grube was summoned out of the pen in the eighth inning of a small blow-out and in less than ideal circumstances: one out and two men on for the heart of the A’s order, Josh Donaldson, Yoenis Cespedes and Derek Norris. After getting Donaldson to line out to third baseman David Freese, Grube got behind in the count 2-0 before Cespedes yanked a three-run homer to left. Grube managed to get out of the inning when Norris lined out to shortstop Erick Aybar. A scoreless top of the ninth sent the game into the books as an 11-3 Oakland win. And Grube went into the books as that single line, at age 32.

 

Alyssa and her mother managed to make it from Fort Wayne but Grube’s parents just missed out. “We got there in what we thought was enough time but the shuttle that was taking us to the ballpark, the driver didn’t speak English and we got there a half-hour late,” Danny Grube says. “Missed it, but we managed to get some pictures in uniform the next day.”

 

And after that, Grube was sent back down to Triple-A.

 

Last August Grube thought he might get a shot to better his career line. He was back in the Mariners organization and it looked for all the world like he was going to get a second chance. By the middle of the month, the Mariners bullpen was stretched to breaking during a home-stand and a game that went 15 innings had management reaching down into the organization for temporary help. Grube was set to start the next day, so he’d be good to go in long relief if necessary. He had his ticket for Seattle and again there were phone calls to family and a scramble to make travel arrangements.

 

Before the game, the Mariners’ radio broadcasters brought in Grube and asked him about getting his chance to pitch in a major-league game at age 34. “I’ve faced quite a few big leaguers, but it’s all just kind of my journey. Right now, I couldn’t be happier being up here with everybody.”

 

He could have been happier with the way things turned out, though. “Felix [Hernandez] ended up pitching a gem — seven innings giving up three hits and a run with a low pitch count,” Grube says. “There was no need for middle [relief]. They went straight to their set-up and closer.”

 

It’s hard to say if not getting called up is a fate worse than getting called up and not playing, although to Grube it must have seemed like the latter when he was returned to Tacoma the next day. And likely his parents, too, who had made the trip from Fort Wayne to Seattle in time to see their son sit in the bullpen.

 

The trip to Seattle wasn’t the worst time in Grube’s baseball career. Nor was getting released by Colorado. Nor any time that he was in the clubhouse and another pitcher was getting good news instead of him. No, the worst moment came back in 2007, in the middle of one of his best seasons. Grube was pitching for the Tulsa Drillers and was still a prospect on the rise — he’d wind up going 7-3 with a 2.53 ERA. That summer, Mike Coolbaugh joined the club to work with hitters and serve as the first-base coach. Coolbaugh had been a Blue Jays’ 16th-round draft pick and spent more than a decade in the minors before getting a few weeks in with Milwaukee and St Louis, a whole 44 career MLB games. At 35, Coolbaugh gave up chasing a return to the Bigs and made the decision to try to stick around the game on the management side. On an awful night in Little Rock that July, Coolbaugh was standing in the first-base coach’s box when he was hit by a line drive off the bat of Tino Sanchez. He suffered a catastrophic head injury and died right on the field.

 

“The worst part for me was that we had bussed to Arkansas and Mike had only been with the organization a few weeks,” Grube says. “He reached out to me that night [on the bus]. He had spent the first few weeks trying to get to know the hitters and wanted to get know the pitchers. He said, ‘Hey, man, let go have a few beers together and talk.’ And I said, ‘Oh, man, I gotta pitch tomorrow. Let’s do it after the game.’ He said, ‘That sounds good.’ That next day I ended up throwing and giving up a couple of runs and I was beating myself up in the dugout. I was pretty much right down the first baseline in the dugout and saw the whole thing happen. The worst memory I’ll have in the game.

 

“It was a really hard time that whole summer. Not just going to the funeral and seeing his wife and kids. We played for weeks like we were zombies. We kind of wanted the season to be over with, but we wound up in the playoffs. I was all set to go home and they said, ‘Hey kid, you’re going to the fall league.’ It was like the game wouldn’t let go.”

 

http://assets1.sportsnet.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/SN-GRUBE-03.jpg

 

At 35, even a minor-league lifer has to acknowledge that there might be a life other than the minor leagues. Grube says that he and his wife took time over the winter to talk about committing to another season. “We have a young daughter now and so Alyssa is staying back in Fort Wayne with her,” he says. “I stayed at home this winter instead of playing winter ball. I played the last four seasons in Venezuela and the Dominican, but some things — like being a dad — are more important than baseball.”

 

Grube says that it hadn’t occurred to him that there might be some symmetry in his signing with Toronto this spring. He hadn’t thought of Mike Coolbaugh’s time with the Jays. It had occurred to him in spring training that he was in the same Dunedin clubhouse as one of two hitters he retired that night in Oakland but he didn’t mention it to Donaldson or even introduce himself. “Josh hurt his calf down there and so I just wanted to give him his space,” Grube says. “He’d never remember me anyway. I’m just one of a thousand guys.”

 

To an extent that’s how Grube understands his place in the game. Bisons pitching coach Bob Stanley suggests that Grube is just one of a legion of ballplayers who “get caught up in a numbers game.” He says more player movement through free agency at the major-league level has worked out great for proven players but has hurt those who’ve put in their time in the system and waited for a chance to show their stuff. “It can look like you’re going to get a shot, but then the big-league club goes out and signs someone who takes that roster spot that you’d been aiming at.”

 

When Stanley is asked how he would feel if he had a chance to tell Grube that he was bound for the Jays, the pitching coach demurred. “Like I would any other player, really,” he says. “It’s our job to get players here ready to go to the next level and you’re happy when any of them gets a chance to go up to the big club.”

 

Minor-league baseball is where sentiment goes to die, you suppose. That’s the harsh reality shrouded by all the gauzy romanticism fans embrace.

 

Danny Grube says that he has talked with his son about sticking around the game like Mike Coolbaugh had wanted to. “Maybe it would be a coach or a scout, I dunno,” the father says. “It’s living out of suitcase again and maybe he’d want to have some family time before ever going that way.”

 

That Saturday morning in April it was cold enough on the field at Coca-Cola Stadium for Jarrett Grube to see his breath while throwing his bullpen session, colder still for him to see the two empty stalls in the Bisons’ makeshift dressing room. “Getting one more call-up would mean the world to me,” he says, “the world.”

---

[THANOS]

Thanks King

[TheHurl]

some of your best work King

[Effit]

Thanks Jonn

[admin]

Tellez turning it around. 7 for his last 14.

[Jonn]

Thanks Jonn

 

You're welcome.

[Maahfaace]

Tellez turning it around. 7 for his last 14.

 

He hasn't been as bad as some might think, his k and walk rates would indicate it just been a little bit of bad babip luck. I would expect him to still put up a solid season going forward.

[Terminator]

Tellez turning it around. 7 for his last 14.

 

That's good to see. His walk rate looks pretty good. Hopefully he remains hot. Would love to have something to cheer for come September.

[jays4life19]

Thanks Jonn

 

Jonn is really stepping up as a poster. These milb recaps are fantastic.

[sdyment]

Thanks king.

 

This has become the only thread I check in on every day here.

You deserve a big raise

[Captain Adama]

Thanks king.

 

This has become the only thread I check in on every day here.

You deserve a big raise

 

He gets community service hours.