So I found this (among other things) in my drawer today….
Yes, coming soon from the Baseball Continuum by way of a 2007 promotional giveaway: Triple-A Baseball Heroes, guest-starring the Marvel superheroes.
If this isn’t Bizarre Baseball Culture, I’m not sure what is. Prepare yourself. For it is coming.
Ever wonder what the walk-up music for a certain MLB player is? Well, a site called Designated Hits seems to have the answers.
(If the picture doesn’t load, hit the link in the tweet)
#prayforcolorado pic.twitter.com/JY0ADpyoIR
— Peter McEvoy (@PeterMcEvoy2) June 12, 2013
Weather permitting, the annual baseball game between the Democrats and Republicans of Congress is going on right now. It’s taken very seriously, to the point where freshman congressmen who would otherwise not be noted in the halls of Washington suddenly become very popular amongst their fellows if they happened to have played college ball. At least, that’s what this article seems to say.
As part of MLB’s efforts to grow the game and spread international peace and understanding, the 2014 season will start in Australia. It will, of course, feature those epitomes of diplomacy, the Diamondbacks and Dodgers.
Tomorrow, the MLB draft begins. As I mentioned before, College Baseball is sort of the odd man out in college sports. And, as I referred to in that post, a lot of high schoolers get drafted in the MLB draft. So, with that in mind, in most years you need a scorecard to know who the people being drafted are. So, with that in mind, I’ve done some research to get you up to speed on the draft, and who will probably get drafted, check it out underneath the jump:
(Portions of this are copied or modified from last year’s Q&A)
Stephen Strasburg is headed to the DL, and I must wonder: could this be the continued work of the Curse of Steve McCatty’s Playgirl shoot?
BREAKING: MLB will seek to suspend A-Rod, Ryan Braun and about 20 players connected to Miami clinic. Founder Tony Bosch agreed to cooperate.
— T.J. Quinn (@TJQuinnESPN) June 4, 2013
Well, I wouldn’t say this came out of nowhere, but I don’t think I was expecting to see this today. You?
Is Rock Shoulders a great name, or the greatest name? We may never know.
It’s a yearly thing: the early returns for voting in the All-Star Game comes out, and I start to think that maybe this “democracy” thing has run it’s course, as people vote for their favorite players, instead of people who, y’know, actually deserve to be in there and are having good seasons.
So imagine my surprise when the earliest returns on voting for the American League were released today. I mean, look at it. Here’s a rough version of what I thought while look at it:
Oh, boy, early ASG voting. This should be good, let’s see how stupid the people of the internet are these days….
Hmmmm. Joe Mauer and then Matt Wieters at catcher. Nothing to complain about there, although Wieters isn’t doing so great at the plate this year so far.
Okay, Chris Davis is first at 1B. Good. I was a little worried he’d go under the radar of casual fans.
Robinson Cano at 2B. Again, probably the right choice, although I’m a little surprised that Dustin Pedroia, who at least as far as hitting for average is concerned is doing better than Cano, is such a distant third. Also surprised that Brian Roberts cracked the top five, since he’s only played three games this season.
Third Base. Miguel Cabrera, as he should be, is in the lead, and is the top vote-getter. Anyone who would argue otherwise is dumb. It’s a shame that Manny Machado has come up to the majors as a 3B… he’ll probably be a backup until Cabrera either starts a decline (And even then, Evan Longoria -who also would be an extremely worthy selection- might block him) or Machado moves over to SS.
Hang on, how is Derek Jeter in the top five of the shortstop voting? Oh, right, because he’s Derek Jeter. Elvis Andrus‘ spot on top is extremely suspect, and probably the only big headscratcher of the bunch. I’d go with Jhonny Peralta here, by the way.
Mike Trout is the leading outfielder, with Adam Jones and Torii Hunter rounding it out and Nelson Cruz, Jose Bautista and Nick Markakis looking in. Trout cannot be argued with, and the other two leaders aren’t bad selections either, but I feel like Bautista would be a better choice than them. Maybe. There are so many good OF that it’s hard to really complain about anything.
DH is David Ortiz. Good, that is the correct answer. Well, him or Mark Trumbo.
Presumably the NL’s early voting results come out tomorrow, so I’ll have my thoughts on them too.
The Baseball Continuum 