Reese Kaplan -- AAA Game Has a Totally Different Vibe

For most baseball fans, the introduction to the game occurred on the sandlot (playground, street, etc.) with organized ball taking the form of some type of community or regional Little League.  It was during those year many of us learned the fundamentals of hitting, throwing, fielding, baserunning and the unwritten rules of the game as well (such as not talking about a no-hitter when it’s in progress). 

From there most folks are forced to give up their dream due to lack of baseball skills or other life priorities getting in the way of varsity, junior college or college ball.  Maybe you join a beer league softball game or spend some time with friends lying about how good you were when tossing coins into a pitching machine.  The baseball diamond is now usually just relegated to the occasional visit to the home field of your favorite team for whom you have a rooting interest.

Many individuals (particularly those in proximity to major metropolitan areas) skipped right over one of the more interesting aspects of baseball – the minor leagues.  For folks in the New York City area, for example, it’s a bit of a drive to see the AAA Syracuse Mets, though the Staten Island Yankees and Brooklyn Cyclones are not too far away.  However, the lower levels of the minors are chock full of people who likely will never make it much higher than where they are right now.  A lot of fundamental mistakes are made on the field and there’s a certain palpable stress level as each pitch or at-bat can spell the difference between being asked to suit up tomorrow or being told that perhaps baseball just isn’t your thing.

The AAA baseball level is kind of special in a few ways.  First, you do have some of the hot shot prospects working their way up the final rung before being promoted to the majors.  They are not subject to the “one bad game and you’re gone” worry of the lower levels.  However, mixed alongside them are the fringe major leaguers who are hanging on for another opportunity to make it back to the show.  Then you have the AAAA type of players who seemingly drift between the minors and the majors, but never quite good enough to stick at the next level.  Finally you have the older lifers in the minor leagues who may never have had a shot at the Show, probably have long since given up the hope of ever having one, but who continue to play for either the love of the game or simply because they have not defined a new life path outside of the dimensions of the ballpark. 

Tuesday night, again on Thursday and finally for the last home game of the season next Wednesday I will be in the stands watching the hometown El Paso Chihuahuas play.  They are the AAA franchise affiliate of the San Diego Padres, and even from the beginning of the season until now I hardly recognize the team with the parent club having raided them for reinforcements like Franmil Reyes (since traded to Cleveland), Luis Urias, Ty France, Travis Jankowski and Josh Naylor. 

Taking their place are a number of high performing sluggers in the notoriously hitter friendly PCL where statistics like EPA gas mileage ratings must be taken with a grain if not a whole silo of salt.  Starting at first base these days for El Paso is former 3^rd baseman in the Mets organization, Aderlin Rodriguez.   More than once the announcers said he’s the hottest hitter in the league.

Perhaps even more surprising to me was the leadoff batter and centerfielder for the visiting Fresno Grizzlies, none other than former Met infielder Matt Reynolds.  Hitting .285 with 12 HRs he’s holding his own but again you have to remember that these numbers are a product of dry air and high altitude.  (By the way, for all the crap the Mets took for having their AAA franchise in Las Vegas for the past several years, the Grizzlies are the affiliate of the east coast Washington Nationals!)

Starting the game for the Grizzlies was another former major leaguer, Scott Copeland.  He appeared in 5 games (3 starts) for the Toronto Blue Jays at age 27 and in one game in 2018 for the Mets at age 30. 

Another name I recognized was infielder Luis Sardinas who has played 182 games in aggregate over several seasons with five different teams, now at age 27 hoping to catch on once again with a promotion to the Washington Nationals or perhaps to catch the eye of some other big league franchise.

The minor leagues are much more fan friendly than their major league counterparts with activities scheduled between each inning such as “Margarita Trivia” on Margarita Night at the ballpark.  Losers of the questions got doused with a giant helmet filled with water which, when it’s around triple digits, probably feels pretty good.  There was the forehead-to-the-bat and spinning in circles, then trying to race across the diamond, a foot race between a fan clad as a bottle of tequila, another as a salt shaker and another as a lime around the warning track.  There was a hamburger giveaway with giant cutouts of burgers, fries and Whataburger logos being passed from fan to fan to see who could move their logo the fastest.  There were t-shirts and balls thrown into the stands.  People got up and danced between innings to Latin rhythms, often on the scoreboard with animated accompaniments.  All-in-all, it’s a totally different experience.

Also, unlike the big league parks where giveaways are reserved for the weekends, the minor league ballparks manage to give something away virtually every day.  I have been given canned and bottled beverages upon leaving, hot sauce, caps, towels, Hawaiian shirts and next week I’ll be given a commemorative El Paso Diablos fleece blanket. 

One way in which the minors have caught up to the majors is at the concession stands.  The tickets to the games are indeed cheaper, but $12 for a burger and fries or $7 for a lemonade is nearly major league in price.  It’s a shame really, because between refreshments and parking it’s a night’s entertainment that’s probably still out of reach for a majority of folks in this impoverished community. 

Anyway, if ever you get the chance to go to a AAA game, I highly advocate it for the experience.  And oh yeah, there was a ballgame, too, with none other than Matt Reynolds driving in the go ahead runs in the top of the 9^th to give the Grizzlies a come-from-behind victory about which I got nasty glances from the El Paso fans for cheering.