Mack’s Apples – Jordan Humphreys, Amed Rosario, Tim Tebow, Urban Baseball, Importance of Baseball

John Sickels on –

        

   19) Jordan Humphreys, RHP, Grade C+: Age 21, 18th round pick in 2015 from high school in Crystal River, Florida; in the middle of a superb season (1.79 ERA 83/12 K/BB in 81 innings between Low-A and High-A) when he blew his elbow and needed Tommy John; fastball anywhere between 88 and 94 MPH depending on the day; mixing in average curveball, slider, and change-up; stuff isn’t terrific but feel for pitching is truly outstanding and hitters just can’t seem to pick him up; ETA 2022; QUESTION MARK: health.

minor league ball

Mack – I talked with Jordan this week and he will not be ready for the start of the season. Still rehabbing from TJS surgery. We wish him a speedy, but correct, recovery.

Fangraphs on Amed Rosario –

          

  One thing Mickey Callaway said about Amed Rosario last year, as he watched him strike out 30% of the time and walk less than 2% of the time, is this: “That’s what you get when you have a young guy that can be a superstar one day. We saw the same things with Lindor when he first came up." And it's true, a lot of people look at Rosario and see something a little like Lindor, which is kind of a cool and also an overwhelming thing to say about a young kid.

But Lindor is way up in second place on this list and here is Rosario, with a lot of room between the two of them. Rosario, at his best, could be a good line-drive hitter who also steals some bases. That has value! But he has to stop striking out as much. And maybe take a walk! When Lindor came up, he struck out half as much as Rosario and walked three times as often. I'm not saying Rosario isn't going to be a star, or even a good starter, eventually, I'm just saying that he has a lot to prove before we can say whether he actually will or not.

Mack – So far, Rosario seems everything as advertised. He does still need to read breaking stuff better, especially when the opposing pitcher has two strikes on him. Still, this is our stone cold shortstop for years to come.

Tim Tebow in Binghamton outfield shows a different problem –

Photo by Ed Delany

It will be interesting to see how Tebow does at Double-A. I am one of those people who are in favor of Tebow getting a chance to compete, but his bad spring leaves a lot of concern as he heads up to a level where a call-up for most players isn’t too far away.

New York has to get better at in their development is in the outfield. They have found good ones with Conforto and Nimmo, but they haven’t had many others who have been able to get up to the big leagues. New York has drafted four outfielders in three of the last four drafts. Will that trend continue in 2018?

Mack – We wish Tim well.

Baseball As An Urban Revitalization Strategy –

                   

    The best teams nurture that connection.  Cities respond by making baseball stadiums, and the neighborhoods they inhabit, into even broader manifestations of optimism and renewal.  I noted in a piece I published some time ago about how the Chicago Cubs embraced their role as a community institution to build their brand and transform their surrounding neighborhood, while simultaneously aiding in Chicago's transition from Rust Belt to Global City.  Other baseball teams have made a similar contribution to their host city.  Conversely, Chicago's other team, the White Sox, has yet to have the same impact on a very different part of the city.  The Sox may have missed out on the locational advantages the Cubs enjoyed, but they, and nearly all MLB teams, have the opportunity to establish a similar impact.

                       Mack:  The good news… stadiums in urban areas are good for the local businesses that can suck in some extra income from the fans that are coming and going.

                       The bad news is they are bad for the local residents that have their streets and traffic patterns clogged by game attending fans.

The importance of baseball –

                

       Baseball was the first sport that truly grabbed my imagination, that made me dream I could be something more than I was. Watching Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa’s home run race in 1998 fueled my dreams of one day becoming a big leaguer, even though I would be forever cursed with an undersized frame, poor eyesight, and awful hand-eye coordination.

Every time I watched a game on television, I could picture myself out on the field diving for a grounder or stealing second base. In Ken Burns’ seminal documentary, Baseball, John Thorn, now the official historian for Major League Baseball, summarizes this aspect of the game beautifully: “Baseball fosters hopes. Baseball inflates us. Baseball lies to us seductively, and we know we are being seduced and we don’t complain.”

Mack – baseball was also the first sport in my life. The Brooklyn Dodgers were everything to me and Gil Hodges was a God.

It also was something my brother and I enjoyed doing together with trips on the A train to Ebbets Field.

My brother is traveling with a group of friends to Charleston this week and we’re driving there to have lunch with him.

I’m sure baseball will come up.