Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2022 i Baseball America

The Low-A Tampa Tarpons’ 9-6 Opening Day win against Lakeland will be remembered for far more than Yankees prospect Anthony Garcia’s go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning. Because it was on this night—April 8, 2022—that 34-year-old Nebraska native Rachel Balkovec became the first woman in the nearly 150-year history of Major League Baseball ever to manage an affiliated baseball team. Even as the manager of the visiting team, the crowd greeted Balkovec with a standing ovation during pregame lineups. Among those in the crowd were 1,200 female student-athletes who had been given tickets by the Detroit Tigers Foundation (Lakeland is a Tigers affiliate). They broke into a “Let’s go Rachel” chant when she ran out to coach first base in the second inning. “I’ve never heard my name chanted…

Twitter polls are—how can we say this nicely?—not exactly the most scientific way to get to the heart of an issue. So you’ll have to take everything we’re about to share with a grain of salt. But on the heels of our annual survey of minor league operators, we were curious what fans might be thinking. So in late April, we decided to have some fun and post a few polls on Twitter. While the results are highly unscientific, it was fun to see what hundreds of @BaseballAmerica followers had to say. How many minor league games do you plan to attend in 2022? What is the most important deciding factor for attending a minor league game? For me, it’s the prospects. For most attendees, it’s the fun atmosphere, kids’…

Late in spring training, the Phillies dealt outfielder Adam Haseley in one of those trades that can best be described as an admission of a draft miss. Haseley was drafted No. 8 overall in 2017. After spending half of the 2019 season in the Phillies’ lineup, Haseley’s playing time diminished in 2020 and disappeared in 2021. He was dealt to the White Sox for 23-year-old righthander McKinley Moore, who failed to crack Chicago’s Top 30 Prospects ranking. While it’s not uncommon for a team to miss on a top 10 overall draft pick, Haseley’s selection was part of a stretch of five years in a row in which the Phillies chose in the top 10. Aaron Nola, the seventh pick in the 2014 draft, has proven to be an outstanding…

Kathryn Rowe didn’t grow up playing baseball or softball. She danced when she was young until she shifted her focus to soccer and went on to play at the collegiate level. But not having played the sport she’s now working in isn’t a disadvantage to her. It’s quite the opposite. The Orioles mental skills coordinator actually views it as a benefit. “The guys (view me) as a person from outside of baseball,” Rowe said. “I love to learn from them… I think (the players) also appreciate that I don’t act like I’m an expert in baseball. So I look to them to teach me and that also incorporates building trust and vulnerability.” Breaking down walls and connecting with players is the most rewarding part of Rowe’s job, but also the…

Even when the Lowell Spinners were left out of the 120 teams tapped to remain in Major League Baseball’s restructured minor league system, the hope remained that before long, affiliated baseball would return to the city of 115,000 that lies to the north of Boston. When the Spinners were left off the list of remaining affiliated teams, the Red Sox came out with a statement explaining how they were working to ensure baseball would return to Lowell, Boston’s short-season New York-Penn League affiliate for the previous 25 years. Initially, it was believed that $10 million in stadium upgrades would ensure that LeLacheur Park met the new Professional Development License facility standards that MLB will require of minor league teams beginning in 2025. If Lowell upgraded its stadium, the expectation for…

In one of the final tuneups of spring training, the Astros gave fans a sneak peek at their Opening Day lineup, headlined by Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Yordan Alvarez, Michael Brantley and Kyle Tucker. Fans couldn’t ask for more than to see the core of the American League champions. Announced attendance: 1,559 fans. Later that same day in the same ballpark, Bill Leroy, Jake Skole and Dakota McFadden took the field. So did the Man-Nanas, Princess Potassia and a yellow-tuxedoed team owner when the Savannah Bananas and Party Animals faced off. Even though almost no one could name a player on the field before they walked into the ballpark, every seat was filled. There were more fans standing in line to get into The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches a…

The 2021 season was a banner one for Gonzaga. The Bulldogs went 34-19, won the West Coast Conference and were the No. 2 seed in the Eugene Regional. It was by all measures, one of the most successful seasons in program history. After the season, Gonzaga lost several key players from its lineup, including third baseman Brett Harris and shortstop Ernie Yake, who were both drafted in the top 10 rounds. With 18 new players joining the roster, coach Mark Machtolf knew the Bulldogs would be young in 2022. A strong pitching staff would give them a chance, but returning to the heights of 2021 wouldn’t be easy, even as they entered 2022 as the WCC favorites. “I felt the pitching was going to be strong,” Machtolf said. “We have…

Though he was drafted by the Braves in the 46th round in 2001 out of Stagg High in Stockton, Calif., lefthander Dallas Braden found himself as a rare kind of ballplayer. He was wanted by the professional ranks but had nowhere to go when it came to college ball. Braden and his grandmother, who had taken him in following his mother’s passing during his senior year, were looking for options. With a poor transcript and a fastball that didn’t pop, Braden showed up at the door of American River JC in Sacramento, hoping for a chance. “I was 5-foot-9, 140 pounds. I was not physically mature,” Braden said. “The classroom stuff reflected that I wasn’t mentally mature at that point—or didn’t prioritize correctly. So junior college was the obvious route.”…

Every journey begins with a single step. For women in baseball, that journey began in earnest in 2015. That November, the Astros hired Rachel Balkovec to be the organization’s full-time Latin America strength and conditioning coordinator. She had previously served internships with the Cardinals and White Sox organizations, working in the strength and conditioning departments. In 2020, the Yankees hired Balkovec as a minor league hitting coach. She was the first woman to be hired full-time in that role, too. This year, Balkovec not only made history. She made national headlines when the Yankees named her manager of their Low-A Tampa affiliate. She won her debut on April 8, when she officially became the first woman to manage an affiliated minor league team. In the span of seven seasons, baseball…

Security Command Post There needs to be a centrally located “command post” for security. That location should have 24/7 video surveillance of staff/player parking areas as well as the entrances to the home and visitor clubhouses, female staff facilities and umpire facilities. Space For MLB Officials The press box shall have two spaces for MLB personnel to operate video/tracking equipment as well as two spots for a public address announcer and scoreboard operator. It shall also have a 50 megabits per second or faster dedicated WiFi and 50 square feet to be used by the parent MLB club. Clubhouses Both home and visitor clubhouses are to be 1,000 square feet or larger and should have 32 lockers for players with lockable storage. Home and Visiting Training Room Each shall be…

After a canceled 2020 season and a 2021 season spent under protocols and restrictions of varying severity across the country, the minor leagues will spend this season operating as close to normal as they’ve been since 2019. Games are underway at full-season levels across the country, and extended spring training games are taking place on the back fields as well. With that in mind, Baseball America is pleased to offer the latest version of its annual survey of minor league executives. This season, the questions focused mainly on the after-effects of the pandemic and the reorganization of the minor leagues, two phenomena which have impacted the sport for both the short and long terms. WHICH MEASURES INSTITUTED POST-PANDEMIC DO YOU PLAN ON KEEPING AROUND PERMANENTLY? In order for the 2021…

It’s a new spring all across Major League Baseball. MLB teams eschewed future service time considerations for their top prospects in favor of selecting the players who gave them the best possible roster configuration for Opening Day. A total of 10 Top 100 Prospects made their MLB debuts on or about Opening Day this season. Those making the cut for Opening Day ranged from No. 2 prospect Julio Rodriguez of the Mariners to No. 72 Jeremy Peña of the Astros. Tigers outfielder Riley Greene, the No. 4 prospect in baseball, likely would have grown the list to 11 players, but he fractured his foot late in spring training and missed Opening Day. Additional Top 100 Prospects made Opening Days rosters, but they have prior MLB experience. That list includes Rays…

USA Baseball’s National High School Invitational returned in 2022 for the first time since 2019 after losing the past two years to the pandemic. The event is one of the biggest high school tournaments in the country and routinely puts some of the best prep draft prospects on center stage in Cary, N.C. Here are five 2022 prospects who improved their draft stock at the event, led by the top overall pitcher in the class. Dylan Lesko, RHP Buford (Ga.) HS Lesko matched up with righthander Caden Dana of Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., in the first round of the tournament—the most highly anticipated matchup of the event. The best pitcher in the 2022 class rose to the occasion and pitched four innings with seven strikeouts, no walks and…