10/9/11

Baseball: - Willn Rosario, HOF Broadcaster Finalists, Sleeping Tigers, Grade C Prospects



Wilin Rosario should find his way to the full time job in Colorado by midseason 2012 at the latest. The Rockies do have a potential logjam but are expected to move Chris Ianetta over the winter. If they do not, Rosario may see some additional minor league time in Triple-A, just a phone call away. He projects as a .270 AVG/25 HR hitter with high strikeout totals. With his above average defense, that makes him a valuable commodity and he could be even better than that. He will need to work very hard on his conditioning and plate discipline over his career and if he can turn some of the strikeouts into walks and better pitches to hit, then and only then, will he be able to take the next step to the elite catcher ranks. He has elite power. How much he will be able to utilize it will be determined by how well he can control the count and get the best pitches for him to drive. - http://baseballinstinct.com/2011/10/04/prospect-instinct-wilin-rosario-c-colorado-rockies

Ten of baseball’s most beloved and honored broadcasters were named today as the finalists for the 2012 Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in baseball broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. The 10 finalists for the 2012 Frick Award are: Skip Caray, Rene Cardenas, Tom Cheek, Ken Coleman, Jacques Doucet, Bill King, Tim McCarver, Graham McNamee, Eric Nadel and Mike Shannon. The winner of the 2012 Frick Award will be announced on December 6 at the Baseball Winter Meetings and honored during Hall of Fame Weekend, July 20-23, 2012 in Cooperstown. - https://plus.google.com/u/0/#s/baseball

As the baseball season is drawing to a close, watch the documentary “Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Story”. This feature-length documentary tells the story of the Asahi baseball team. In pre-World War II Vancouver, the team was unbeatable, winning the Pacific Northwest Championship for five straight years and outplaying the taller Caucasian teams. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, all persons of Japanese descent in Canada were sent to internment camps. Faced with hardship and isolation, the former Asahi members survived by playing baseball. Their passion was contagious and soon other players joined in, among them RCMP officials and local townspeople. As a result, this quintessential North American game helped break down racial and cultural barriers. This remarkable story is told with a combination of archival footage, interviews and dramatic re-enactments. In Sleeping Tigers, award-winning director Jari Osborne skillfully weaves rarely seen archival film and dramatic recreations, along with candid interviews with the last of the Asahi, to tell this remarkable story. - http://www.channelapa.com/2011/09/sleeping-tigers-the-asahi-baseball-story.html#ixzz1a72Qgswx

Grade C prospects are the most common type. These are guys who have something positive going for them, but who may have a question mark or three, or who are just too far away from the majors to get an accurate feel for. A few Grade C guys, especially at the lower levels, do develop into stars. Many end up as role players or bench guys. Some don't make it at all. A Grade C prospect in rookie ball or Low-A is, in most cases, a very different thing than a Grade C prospect in Double-A or Triple-A. The latter tend to be older prospects or future role players, while many Grade C guys at the lower levels have considerable upside, but are just too raw or inexperienced to project beyond "maybe they will pan out." - http://www.minorleagueball.com/2011/10/8/2477538/thinking-about-the-grade-c-prospect

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