One of my favorite scenes in Bull Durham takes places on the bus while the team is return home after a successful road trip. Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh climbs over the seats on the bus to the front and sits down next to Crash Davis. Nuke asks Crash to teach him something. Davis is reading (seriously) a newspaper article about Blue Jays A Ball outfielder Mark Whiten.
Davis tell LaLoosh they can work on his interviews. The diolouge goes something like this:
You're gonna have to learn your clichés. You're gonna have to study them, you're gonna have to know them. They're your friends. Write this down: "We gotta play it one day at a time."
After a minute, LaLoosh notices that the cliches are boring. Maybe a little tired and stale. Crash Davis closes out the scene by telling LaLoosh:
"Of course they're boring, that's the whole point"
Baseball card collectors have cliches too. I notice them all the time, esepcially when people are talking about prospects. They are somewhat ridiculous, but at the same time entertaining. I recently bought four autographed cards of some Minor Leaguers that I am going to try to collect during the 2021 season. I thought I would try out some of the cliches while posting their cards. I bet you've heard a few of these.
Note: The quotes under the cliches are things that people have actually written on the internet about these players. I am not going to attribute the quote to the author. They all come from Twitter, Facebook, or Reddit.
Let's try it out with the new cards.
Cliche #1 - Comparing A Minor Leaguer To A Major Leaguer
"Vidal Brujan is the next Ozzie Albies"
Why does every Minor Leaguer need to have a Major Leaguer comparable? Ozzie Albies is 24 and has played two whole seasons with the Braves. We don't even get a Major Leaguer who has been around for ahwile? Vidal Brujan last played in 2019 with the Double Montgomery Biscuits as a 21 year old. He hit .266 while he was there.
Ryan Brett once hit .303 for the Montgomery. Who is Ryan Brett? He was the next Dustin Pedroia, or someone like that. Ryan Brett got 3 Major League at-bats.
Vidal Burjan will likely be on the Durham Bulls in 2021.
Cliche #2 -Minor Leaguer Is Going To Help The Team Win The World Series
"Mackenzie Gore is going to be the Padres third starter in the World Series"
or
"Can't Wait Until Mackenzie Gore starts the 7th Game of the World Series
I think the Padres are good enough to make the World Series, but they have to play 162 regular season games to qualify for the playoffs so that they can play a few other good National League teams in the first two rounds of the playoffs. Maybe then they will get to play a good American League team and maybe win the World Series.
Mackenzie Gore's highest level in the Minors was Double A. He pitched 5 games there.
Not sure he's going to have a chance to pull an Anthony Reyes.
Cliche #3 - This player is going to replace a long-time Major Leaguer
"Herrera is the heir apparent to the catching throne in St. Louis"
Ivan Herrera had a good year in 2019 playing for the Peoria Chiefs. That's an A-Ball team. As a Cardinals fan, I am excited about Herrera. I was also excited about Carson Kelly and Andrew Knizner. Yadi is still starting. This phenomena is not just something that happens with Cardinals fans.
Cliche #4 - This draft pick is going to be in the Majors really soon.
"He (Jordan Walker) should have no trouble getting to it in the pro ranks."
I am not going to share the statistics of Major League draft picks that make it to the Majors, but it's not great. How many make it to the Majors quickly? How many make it to the Majors and are actually really good players? I hope Jordan Walker makes the Majors and is a very good player with the Cardinals, but there is a good chance they may not happen.
The "May the odds be ever in your favor" women from Hunger Games pops in my head whenever I hear someone talking about high school kids being in the Majors.
There are plenty of other cliches that people use with prospects, but I am out of cards.
Nice Gore. I'd love to pick up his autograph at some point, but I'm not in any rush. The bright side to him is the Padres rotation is loaded and he won't be pressured into feeling like he has to be the staff ace. Assuming there aren't a plethora of injuries... he'll be able to sit at the back of the rotation behind Snell, Darvish, Lamet, Musgrove, and Paddock. Can you imagine what that rotation is going to look like if everyone stays healthy and Clevinger come back healthy in 2022? I realize they still have to score runs, stay healthy, and live up to some lofty expectations... but it's nice to be a Padres fan and feel like there's actually a chance they can compete.
ReplyDeleteSadly, this is my first Mckenzie Gore autograph.
Delete1. He's from North Carolina and people here rave about him all the time.
2. Three years ago, there was a kid on my grade level (not in my class) who walked around wearing an old-school brown Padres Tony Gwynn jersey. Not a usual thing to see around Raleigh, but everyone who lives is a transplant. I would walk by him, tell him "cool shirt" or "sweet Tony Gwynn jersey" when I would see him wear it. The one day we are standing around in the hall and we start talking about baseball. The kid got the jersey because his cousin got drafted by the Padres and was awesome. I will let you infer the cousin's name. Rest of the school year he'd mention it here and there. Gore autographs were under $20. I never followed through on the awesomeness of the kid's cousin. <-- This reply should have been it's own post.
Do you keep in touch with your former student? That's pretty darn awesome. I think the closest I've been to having a famous athlete in my class is I once had Kristi Yamaguchi's niece or cousin's niece in my class.
DeleteI have not kept up with him, but the district I teach in pushes high school kids to volunteer, so most volunteer to work school fairs and tutor elementary school students. I have reconnected with a lot of my former students that way.
DeleteWhen I student-taught, I had the daughter of a Cardinals player. I taught a Blues player’s kid my first year. I have also taught a baseball players kid since I moved to NC. My wife is also a teacher. She’s had all three kids of a 1990s NBA player. Probably not surprising that an NBA player lives in North Carolina.
Love the Bowman's Best autos. I am waiting on a Gorman redemption from the same set. I believe Herrera is finally the answer once Yadi is gone. I can see Knizner starting next year (I assume Yadi will resign for 2021), then Herrera taking over in 2023.
ReplyDeleteI love the Bowmans Best autographs too. Never quite understand why they don’t get more love. I think Herrera is likely legit, but just want to see what happens with Minor Leaguers after last season. Knizner is trade bait at some point.
DeleteI'm probably admitting this to the wrong person, but I've still never seen Bull Durham!
ReplyDeleteWhat? I actually know quite a few people who have never seen Bull Durham. Besides, my list of movies everyone else has seen is pretty extensive.
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