Heels On The Field: A Baseball Blog

Long Island Ducks Coach Jamie Quinn Talks About Gary Carter & Atlantic League Playoffs

When Gary Carter managed the Long Island Ducks, Jamie Quinn listened and learned.

As a player, Quinn,26, began his career with the Ducks in 2010 after stints with the Windy City Thunderbolts and the Capitals of the New York State League. He's also in his first year as assistant coach with Hofstra University. The Gary Carter mentality has become even more important in his coaching duties, especially after Carter died in February of brain cancer.

"We wear the #8 patch in honor of him. He was the utmost professional, hard-nosed and taught everyone how to go about their business," Quinn said Friday. "He'd tell the story so many times about Game Six with the '86 Mets. That he stood in the box thinking, 'I do not want to be a trivia question.' He got the bloop hit and the rest is history. That's a testament to his work ethic."

The Ducks (24-44) work ethic is being put to the test as they play the first round in the Atlantic League playoffs against the Southern Maryland BlueCrabs (39-31). They went into Friday's game needing just one game to advance, but Southern Maryland won 7-5. Long Island leads the best-of-five series 2-1.

The bullpen led the league in saves this year, something Quinn is proud of.

"I'd like to think I helped prepare them mentally and contributed to that."

He thinks this year's team has a better shot of winning the whole thing. But not because it was an easy road. There were times they needed a wake up call to improve as a team.

"We've gotten hot at the right moment. Last year's team didn't hit bottom until the championship. This year's team is more humble. We won the first half [Liberty Division] then hit rock bottom in the second half and we came to realize we had to step up our game," he said.

He credits the pitching of Matt Way, Randy Keisler, and Bob Zimmerman (2nd in the league in strikeouts) for helping get them where they are.

"Way has been phenomenal. He throws a lot of strikes. There's been limited scouting reports on him, so no one really knows about him. That's helped us. Keisler has kept us in games and been gutsy. He's a big game type of pitcher. Zimmerman has been our MVP in my opinion. He's been our workhorse."

Quinn also praises the bullpen, including Bobby Blevins Jr., saying, "They've been damn good."

He believes his closeness with the team has been helpful and that his age helps.

"I'm more like a player than a coach because I'm a younger guy. I hang out with them more and talk to them."

Quinn hung it up as a player, but the Ducks wanted to keep him around and asked him to be the bullpen coach. He keeps Carter's big hearted approach in his own heart at all times.

"He was the first to get your back. I was the low guy on the totem pole and he took time with me. He was there for everybody."

The Ducks will face the Blue Crabs Saturday night and try to wrap it up.

"Hopefully, we can go home and rest for a couple of days, come back and get a ring."

Padres Cody Decker Reflects On Team Israel Experience

Winning is everything in sports, but that doesn't mean nothing else matters.

That might sound like double-talk, but Padres prospect Cody Decker was reminded of that, after failing to advance to the World Baseball Classic. While calling it 'heartbreaking,' that couldn't erase the bond he shared with his teammates.

"This will sound so cliche, but the camraderie was special," he said Thursday. "And maybe it was that little underlined thing, that we were all Jewish, but we just got along so great and spent so much time together."

Israel fell to Spain 9-7 in a modified double elimination game that Decker was actually not immediately aware of.

"That was frustrating. I didn't know at first that we had to win the third game. I would've liked one more shot."

Decker played alongside favorite childhood players such as Shawn Green and fondly recalls time spent with him.

"Being in the batting cage with Shawn Green is not something I'll soon forget. And I was introduced to Eric Gagne. He was a god to me as a kid. I was tongue tied meeting him."

Those memories were part of the collective experience, one that he pursued and was proud to take part in.

"We both played our a**es off. We felt we were the better team and that's not to take anything away from Spain. They were a great team. They earned it. It was exciting to the end, going back and forth."

Now he's looking forward to seeing Team Israel teammate Adam Greenberg play out a one-day contract with the Marlins to get his first major league at-bat since he was injured at the plate in 2005.

"I am ecstatic for him. I'll be giving that my full attention Tuesday night."

Checking In With Indians Pitching Prospect Cole Cook

You had a lot of chances to catch pitcher Cole Cook in a town near you this season. And everywhere the twenty-three-year old went, he experienced a good amount of success, putting together solid results.

After starting 2012 with the Lake County Captains of the Midwest League, the righty was re-assigned six different times, and impressively finished the season with Triple-A Columbus. In 12 innings he didn't allow a run and struck out 10. He went 2-4 overall with a 2.64 ERA, striking out 54, and surrendering just 5 home runs over 78 innings.

Here's what the Indians 2010 5th round pick(Pepperdine) said about the season & looking ahead this winter.

On level jumping: I didn't mind it. It worked itself out.

On the differences in each league: Hitters just get better higher up. But there was nothing very difficult, it was more just the speed up the game moves up. The hitters have a better idea of what they're going to do. There is less room for error.

On what he needs to improve: Developing a secondary pitch. My fastball command was fairly good. But I really believe rounding out my arsenal will help me get from the minors to the majors.

On his redefined off-season program: I've been with my same trainer from college the last two years and am going to do more on my own in addition to my trainer. I'll be doing more yoga and Pilates, and less weight lifting.

You can follow Cole Cook on Twitter @C_M_Cook. His engaging and humorous content landed him at #12 on the Baseball Digest Twitter Twenty.

Checking In With Yankees Prospect Saxon Butler

There was no hitter more impressive for the Staten Island Yankees, than first baseman/DH Saxon Butler.

His quick adjustments in pro ball and solid power numbers led to a promotion from Class-A SI (short season) to Class-A Charleston after hitting .296 with 36 RBI and 10 home runs. He led the league with 10 home runs until teammate Peter O'Brien caught him, tying him, in the last two weeks of the season.

For the season, Butler,22, finished hitting .273 in 61 games, knocked in 45 runs, scored 38 runs, with 18 doubles, and 20 walks.

The Yankees 2012 33rd round pick is currently participating in instructional league in Florida and here's what he had to say about the season and what he's working on improving.

On his progress with Charleston: I did decent. I thought I could do a lot better. But my mind was saying one thing and my body was saying no, just from the wear and tear. I started to feel the effects. But now I know what to expect heading into next season.

On making adjustments at higher level: I didn't really think it was harder. There were times I was getting myself out. But nothing overwhelmed me.

On getting selected to go to instructs: I was hoping [for it]. I wanted the opportunity. Physically the two weeks off were good for me. I feel refreshed. I really love being here and working on just hitting and just defense.

On what he's focusing on: Defense and offense. Because if you look at what a player does wrong, his offense mirrors his defense. If you watch me play, where I go wrong at the plate is when I don't control my lower half. And then defensively, I jump off too early to ground balls. Controlling my lower half is really the main thing I'm working on in both areas.

On where he expects to be in 2013: My goal is to just have a good spring training and see where it takes me. I put high expectations on myself. I'd like to start at Tampa. But if not, hopefully Charleston.

On his off-season program: I'm definitely going to try to eat better. Not a strict diet, but just eat healthier. I'm not trying to lose weight, but get stronger and in better playing shape for [a full season].

Read my New York Penn League coverage & interview with Saxon Butler http://www.going9baseball.com/2012/06/29/gotham-baseball-minor-league-report-si-yankees-saxon-butler/#.UF5cnzQIUpc.twitter (slight typo at the end of the story, final paragraph should have been edited out)

Also, follow Saxon at @SaxonHolt33. He made the cut here in the Twitter Twenty as an Honorable Mention http://www.going9baseball.com/2012/08/31/twitter-twenty-twenty-best-minor-league-players-to-follow/

Amazin' Art of 'Knuckleball' Explored

Slight departure from the minors to bring a review of the much-talked about baseball documentary...

Brooklyn, New York - It's referred to as 'The Brotherhood' in the 93 minute documentary about knuckleball pitchers. And what a brotherhood it is.

How were any of the men featured in the film able to build and sustain careers throwing what is effectively, always, a wild pitch?

The just-released documentary sets out to ask that question and does so by going to the source - the game's living legend knuckleball pitchers.

The focus is on the two most current knuckleballers, Tim Wakefield, recently retired from the Red Sox, and the only one left standing, R.A. Dickey of the New York Mets. The trajectory of their careers by way of the knuckler makes clear that this is no game. The pitch is one that both men developed when all the chips were down. It is what saved them, because they had nothing else as good. In the beloved era of the power pitcher (Aroldis Chapman's 106 mph fastball makes an appearance) a knuckleballer is an "alien", as Dickey puts it.

The film doesn't profess to be about analysis and it doesn't explore the depths of the pitch in a broad sense. The humanity of the story is center stage. Those two men and how they survived and succeeded is what you get.

The historical aspect is also tied in to the overall journey, with conversations with baseball's most famous knuckler, known as 'Knucksie', Phil Niekro. Of the group, he's the only one that was brought up through his early career and into his professional career as a knuckleball pitcher. His brother Joe, who died in 2006, was also a knuckleballer and they owe it to dad. Their father taught them the pitch from the time they were young boys.

The directors, Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, have been perfectly honest about their lack of baseball knowledge. And, perhaps, in the hands of more knowledgeable baseball minds this documentary would dig deeper. But that's part of it's charm. And, also, not out of the ordinary. People make movies and write books all the time about subjects they have to research. Not every person writing a legal thriller is John Grisham.

Ultimately, the film isn't about the science, but the heart (sweat, heart attack inducing, anxiety-causing) of throwing the knuckleball for a living. The pitchers devotion to baseball and desperation to achieve led them to a question with one answer.

Thanks to 'Knuckleball' their passion, and oddity, is honored.

My interview with Phil Niekro will run tomorrow on 'Going Nine Baseball'.

UPDATED: Instructional League Report: White Sox Prospect Kevin Vance

New York, New York - There are guys that are cut out for the bullpen, it's a mentality, and stop me if you've heard this, and the bullpen mentality is different from anything else.

But that argument consistently proves true.

In Kevin Vance's case, where he'd started, and where he's come back to really is his place in the pitching landscape.

"I'm just better at it," he said, speaking from Arizona where he's participating in instructional league. "I'm a full force kind of guy. I like the high pressure situations."

Not every pitcher can handle that. But for him that's where he excels. Or, if you're familiar with his Twitter account, where he has maximum feel. (It's a whole complex system you can look into. Follow him @SorryBoutIt10)

Selected by the White Sox out of the University of Connecticut in the 19th round, he spent 2011 pitching in the Pioneer League, where he went 2-1 with a 4.54 ERA.

He entered the 2012 regular season in the South Atlantic League, but struggled in the nine games he started. After being promoted from Class-A Kanapolis to Advanced-A Winston-Salem, he lowered his ERA from 3.05 to 1.66, striking out 29 over 21 innings. He walked just five. The move back to the bullpen proved to the big club exactly where he was best used.

"They came to me and said they felt that's where I should be. It was a big adjustment to start. Mentally and physically it's totally different."

Despite the unsuccessful experiment, it was not a waste of time.

"I learned a lot," Vance said. "It forced me to use all my pitches. My changeup improved."

Upon returning to a starting role, he says his velocity increased. The report on him is that he has an above average fastball, with the ability to touch 94-95 mph, and a plus curveball.

For the better part of the season he worked on making his curveball sharper and harder.

"Plus, I was throwing more strikes. I felt like everything clicked for me."

He wasn't surprised about being selected to go to instructional league after being asked last year and declining. He'd wanted to go back to school and couldn't do both.

"I'm happy to be here and work on some things."

*After finishing playing in the Arizona Fall League, Kevin Vance spoke about his time there.

"I feel like I got more comfortable with my changeup," he said. "Now instead of it being just a third pitch, I turned it into more of a weapon."

He also said he "cleaned up" his mechanics and said he felt his fastball command was there all season.

He's currently finishing a 12-credit internship at the University of Connecticut, coaching baseball. As for 2013...

"My personal goal is to break Double-A next year."

See Kevin Vance's ranking on the Twitter Twenty.

http://www.going9baseball.com/2012/08/31/twitter-twenty-twenty-best-minor-league-players-to-follow/

Padres Prospect Cody Decker Proudly Represents With Team Israel

Cody Decker's successful, sometimes challenging season, is capped off with an experience he pursued and hoped for.

The Jewish infielder was named to the Team Israel roster and will play in the September 19th double-elimination game against South Africa. The winner will participate in the World Baseball Classic, a 28-nation tournament,in March.

It's exactly where he wants to be.

"When I heard about it and knew there was going to be a Team Israel, I seeked them out," he said Tuesday from Florida. "I called Brad Ausmus and told him I would really love to play."

It was discussed at length throughout the year, while Decker split his time between Double-A Texas League and Triple-A Pacific Coast League. He hit .263 with 25 home runs during his time with the San Antonio Missions, before being promoted to Tuscon. He had his ups and downs in his short time there.

"I started off great and then I just hit a rough patch. Baseball is baseball wherever you go. I started squaring the ball, but I ran into bad luck and got sent back to Double-A."

He finished the season hitting .252 with 29 home runs,81 RBI, and 65 walks overall.

If he had to guess he's say he'll start 2013 in Triple-A, but that's something he doesn't put much focus on.

For now, it's all about Team Israel.

"This means a lot. There's a lot of pride involved."

His teammates include Mets minor leaguer Josh Satin, as well as former major league players Gabe Kapler and Ausmus, who was chosen to manage the squad.

Shawn Green is also on the team and that's no small thing to Decker. Green was one of the Santa Monica, California native's favorite players growing up a Dodgers fan.

"It is surreal," Decker said. "Being in the same lineup with him and hitting back to back is sweet. If you'd told me when I was fourteen years old that I would be doing that, I'd have said you were crazy."

With the regular minor league season over, Decker sees the bigger picture of being part of something so special and personal.

"It's bigger than the team. It's a very cool experience."

New York Penn League Memories, Lessons

The sounds are the same. The pop of the bat. The ball hitting the leather. The screams from the dugouts on bad calls and big hits.

But the sights are different in Class-A Short Season than covering an advanced league or even the majors.

Mental errors and physical struggles are everywhere. Many of them go there from college, sparking with energy, scrappy isn't a strong enough word, not hungry, but ravenous. They want, want, want. And they've not yet been touched by professional disappointment. They've not anywhere near touched the major league dream. They've caught slivers of glimpses. For many of them, their assignments to Short-A signify the first real step toward the full picture.

Watching managers and coaches try to coach their players on the field is nothing compared to seeing them try to motivate their players through mentally low times and early games. Early morning contests that put them on the field with little energy.

'Tell yourself you're not tired,' Staten Island Yankees manager Justin Pope said, when he talked about what he does to get players on track.

Many guys in the league, such as Mets prospect Brandon Nimmo, are their teams top picks. Playing for the Brooklyn Cyclones, the outfielder talked about his religious devotion with fervor and sincerity during difficult times at the plate. He felt humbled. He also felt tired, something he acknowledged as July dragged to an end and he continued on as big a roller coaster as The Cyclone next door to the park.

Consistency. Nimmo found out just how difficult that was. That and the demanding schedule. Many of them aren't yet adjusted to playing everyday. They aren't all physically full grown yet. That adjustment takes some time, some seasoning.

There is limited access in the short season. Clubhouses are not open, therefore player access isn't scheduled conveniently. Team public relations gets players as they become available and sometimes you wait awhile. You already wait in the higher leagues, so add a few extra minutes to that and you get the idea. It made me realize the reason for the reaction a lot of the guys we cover in Double-A have when a woman enters the clubhouse. They don't get much of that in the lower leagues. It's likely a shock when they first come up.

That was addressed on this blog and on Twitter where I admitted that the Staten Island Yankees tried to keep me out of the clubhouse. I was told there was a no-women-allowed policy. That turned out to be untrue. And when I say 'out of the clubhouse' that means the hall outside of it. Before I argued the bogus policy, men were allowed to stand in that hallway, but not women.

Because so many of those guys are just coming from college, that's a terrible message to send to them about women in baseball. It tells them that we're different. How will they respect us if they aren't encouraged? How will they learn to feel comfortable with our presence as professionals if they aren't expected to be professional when we're around?

As for the players themselves, they never seemed fazed by my presence and often talked casually or joked with me as they did with everyone else. A good sign.

Some guys picked up the on-field part pretty quick. Yankees prospect Saxon Butler appeared to improve with every at-bat. The first baseman/DH had an immediate look of a professional hitter at the plate. Confident, patient, unaffected, and powerful. The power gave him ten home runs before his late summer promotion Class-A Charleston. That number wasn't matched until the end of the season when his teammate, Peter O'Brien, tied it.

Hudson Valley Renegades catcher Jake DePew comes off as an old-school catcher, a veteran-like grizzle about him with the commanding presence of a leader. Quiet, but intense, straightforward, but carefully professional.

Guys like them seem destined to make a mark at some point. They get it. They know they have to be better than the rest and they go about the job with a steely focus. For guys that young, it's notable.

New York Penn League is the foal stable. It's fascinating and exhilarating to watch them steady themselves and start to run. It's full of moments that can make you wince when they just can't seem to straighten out.

It's a level of the growing process that doesn't show much. But in that time they've got to show as much as possible.

Pressure on, but don't allow it to get to you. Have fun, have fun, have fun. Yes, but bear down, do what you never have at an intensity level you have never gone to. Got it? Now go.

PHOTO/QUOTE: HV's Jake DePew Talks...Patience Is A Strongpoint

Fishkill, New York - Saying you're in a place called Fishkill is strange, Hudson Valley Renegades catcher Jake DePew being humble & focused on his pitchers performance isn't.

He's the classic guy behind the plate: a strong leader whose primary concern is always how he handles his pitching staff.

When asked about tonight's starting pitcher, Jesse Hahn, he said, "He's got a good fastball [NOTE: clocks in around 95 mph]. He throws a lot of strikes. He's going to throw up in the zone and challenge hitters."

DePew is also the patient kind at the plate. He's not quick to jump on pitches he can't handle. He's been good all season at waiting for HIS pitch and has shown more of the same throughout the NYPL playoffs.

He's also patient with what's going on in that photo. If you're counting, that's problems 657 with the tape recorder. So to pen and paper we go.

I'll have NYPL final coverage for Gotham Baseball and Baseball Digest/Going Nine at the conclusion of the playoffs.

Pinch Hitting: Southern Maryland Blue Crabs Richard Giannotti On Loving The Game

Keeping it Loose

By the time September rolls around, most minor league organizations are winding down their seasons and player reports and evaluations have been submitted. One hundred and forty games have been played, thousands of miles logged in travel and plenty of hotel room keys have been collected (or trashed). Most people think that a hundred and forty games is around a hundred more than they would like to play, but the reality is that you get more and more conditioned each year you play and the most difficult part is the mental fatigue. I remember my first full season (2005) I was itching for days off physically when August rolled around, but seven years later, I find that my body holds up much better and the mental fatigue side of it is a lot harder to battle. I believe good nutrition (almost impossible because, when on the road, you’re limited to what’s around the hotel), a consistent workout routine and constant stretching helps your body maintain a full season. Let’s be real though, baseball comes with minor bumps and bruises versus that of a full contact sport like football. The difference is that football players get six, sometimes seven, days off before their next game while we have to strap it up less than twenty-four hours later and grind it out again. Playing through tweaks, tears and hit by pitches isn’t fun, especially when you have numbers you need to hit like stolen bases, doubles and triples.

Are the numbers that important?

Absofreakinlutely! Baseball is a stat driven sport. If you want to keep moving up in the organization, you better put up some impressive numbers. The reality is that not every player is Mike Trout or Bryce Harper, those are once in a generation five-tool type players. But if your goal is to keep moving up, you need to do at least two of the five tools exceptionally well and be able to hold your own on the other three. The five tools that grade out players are Run, Hit for Average, Hit for Power, Throw and Field. So, for example, if you run well but don’t hit for power, you better have a good batting average and field well. The old cliché is that you can hit your way to the big leagues and that is still true today, just not as valued when talking about homers because the PED testing is very real and working. I see the game transitioning back to doing the little things like bunting, stealing, moving runners over and playing defense – fundamental baseball – and less about gorilla ball and five-hundred-foot homers. This is unfortunate to all those guys that got lost in the minors the last fifteen years whom were very good players but somehow didn’t fit that thirty homerun mold because they were a corner position player (1B, 3B, LF, RF) and all organizations set standards for corner guys to put up monster power numbers. If you didn’t, thanks for coming, next guy up. Like it or not, baseball is a “what have you done for me lately” job, especially in the minors when you’re just another number.

So how do you get through the mental fatigue?

I get asked this question all the time by family and fans and the answer is simple…I love to play baseball. I tell younger guys all the time that you will find out right away if you are cut out for this kind of lifestyle. Between being away from family and the grueling season, the only way you make it through and want to keep coming back is “For the Love of the Game” (s/o Billy Chapel). There’s nothing else out there that can supplement the competitive edge and camaraderie that being a baseball player gives you. It took me missing an entire year due to an injury to really understand this. Fortunately for me, I was able to come back and I appreciate the game a lot differently after having it taken away from me briefly. Part two to this question is having a great group of guys in the locker room. If you play long enough, you come across a lot of characters – good and bad. There’s selfish guys, bitter guys, guys that love to tell you how good they are because deep down they’re insecure and are always looking for that compliment, comedians, work horses, angry helmet throwers, team players and your infamous “bonus babies”. This is why having a good group of guys in the locker room is important, it weeds out the idiots by making them conform to being a good locker room guy or sit by themselves because nobody wants to deal with their crap.

Dress up day.

Once a year we like to cut away from all the frustrations of the game and have the “dress up day”. It is single-handedly the most fun I’ve had during the “off the field” part of the baseball season, and is a real team bonding thing.

The way it works.

Everybody that wants to participate puts their name, pant size, shirt size and shoe size on an index card and places the card in a jar. Once all the cards are in, everybody that put a card in gets to randomly draw a teammate and dress them up however they want. One rule, no women’s clothing. From there, we would all meet in the hotel lobby before heading to the ballpark (on a road trip) and all walk together. You should see the look on people’s faces as twenty-five baseball guys walk by dressed as Mario from Mario Brothers, an Arby’s Worker, a cowboy, a “Jersey Shore” Guido, Dumb & Dumber, and the infamous black guy from the movie Grease (must have gotten cut from trailer). I was dressed as Shaggy from Scooby Doo, and you better believe I wore that ridiculously loud wig out for batting practice! It doesn’t end there though. After the game, everybody jumps back into their saucy outfits and goes out to the bar together and there is no shame in the dress up game. Little things like this, though it may seem trivial and only one day, last years of storytelling and really bring a team together in those “dog days of August”.