"Straight ahead never turn round
Don’t back up, don’t back down
Full throttle wide open,
You get tired, you don’t show it."
Jason Aldean, 'That's The Only Way I Know'
The pace is already quick and unforgiving in baseball. But Anthony Giansanti had to contend with an even bigger whirlwind in 2012.
Keeping his footing, and his focus, was a challenge, through an ankle injury and a position-change, that was more experiment than a concrete decision by the Cubs.
"I was in a weird transitional period," he said Tuesday. "I was originally converting to a catcher, played some, then played third at Peoria. I played a few games at catcher, but was then moved back to the outfield. Then there was the injury...."
He hit a wall making a play on a fly ball, spraining it and heading to the DL. The road back was tedious.
"It's the waiting game. I was going to physical therapy three times a week, then could hit with the boot. After a couple of weeks, I was able to hit without it and walk without crutches."
Giansanti, 25, played in 36 games, between three levels, but mostly in the Midwest League. He hit .296, with 12 RBI, and 9 runs scored for the Peoria Chiefs.
His first full-season was in the Midwest League in 2011, when he played a career high 125 games, hit .232, knocked in 56 runs, with 103 hits, 21 of them doubles.
Despite the disappointing turn 2012 quickly took, he was able to be productive in a short time. Something that may have helped keep his confidence up. His concern isn't one of anxiousness about the upcoming season.
"It's not so much about proving myself, but getting back out there and showing them the injury didn't slow me down. I go at it hard all the time. That's my style of playing. So I have to show I can still do that."
His arm, ranked by Baseball America as the best of all outfielders in the Cubs system, didn't betray him upon returning, but he did struggle some on his feet.
"The most difficult part was getting my wind back. If I had to chase a ball down the line, I'd be huffing and puffing. But they didn't rush me back and didn't hold me back either. I took the time I needed."
Looking back on his successful 2011 campaign, it's obvious that the lessons the Florida native took from then, carried into 2012 and helped him through that trying period.
"The most important lesson I learned was to not look too far ahead and stop looking at numbers. I'd be driving myself crazy, telling myself I had to get my average up. I learned how to set more monthly or yearly goals for myself, and take one day at a time, instead of adding goals day to day. Mentally I learned more of that aspect of the game."
There was also the matter of the positional shift. Why the Cubs, who signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2010, felt he should be moved from the outfield, to behind the plate isn't entirely clear.
"They gave me a kind of general response. They liked my agility and quick feet. I could get rid of the ball quickly. I'm not exactly a six foot three gazelle out there[He's 5-11]."
He explained that his throw, a short motion, helped him with assists. When they switched him back to the outfield, that was also a bit sketchy, but one of those typical baseball situations that players don't control.
"I'm not sure. I didn't get much of an explanation. But a couple of guys got hurt. I was experienced in a few positions, so they knew I could do it."
Heading into spring training, the versatile player is holding tight to the lessons he took from a rough 2012 experience.
"There's a lot of question marks for me. But the more I think about it, the harder it will be for me to perform. The goal this year is to focus on what I can control. Just play hard, be healthy, work on fundamentals, and not pay attention to the stuff around me. I often didn't know what position I was going to play, and I learned to just prepare myself and give myself the opportunity to execute when it was my time to
produce."
You can follow Anthony Giansanti on Twitter @GianSanity
Just one day after being ranked the 2nd best right-handed pitching prospect by MLB.com, Taijuan Walker spoke about his 2012 experiences and what he hopes to achieve this season.
The Mariners took Walker in the first round (43rd overall) in 2010, out of Yucaipa High School in California.
He spent all of 2011 in the Midwest League, pitching for the Clinton Lumberkings, and going 6-5 with a 2.89 ERA in 96 innings. His workload got heavier in 2012, when he pitched 126 innings for the Double-A Jackson Generals, posting a 4.69 ERA in 25 games started.
MLB.com calls him a potential 'frontline starter', and, so far, he's proving that projection could be right on target.
Here's what the twenty-year-old 2011 Mariners Minor League Player of the Year had to say Wednesday....
"I felt last year was one of my best years overall. One of the biggest things was learning about myself and just how to pitch. I went through a lot and had a really rough month of June. My curveball wasn't working and I was leaving my fastball up." [In June, he went 0-3 in 5 starts with a 9.15 ERA. He lowered his ERA to 3.41 in July.]
Head Games: "Yeah, my confidence was down. I had to push through it and I did get back on track. But that was the biggest and hardest part to get through. I was figuring it out. I worked on the little things, mentally and physically.""
Trouble With The Curve: "It was more like I got it in my head that I couldn't throw it. If it was called a ball, I would think to myself that I didn't want to throw it again, just because I didn't want to throw a ball again. I had to learn to just trust it."
2011 Lessons: "After that season, I knew I needed to work on better fastball command and the changeup. I went into the off-season with that in mind and that's what I worked on all winter."
Three-Pitches Strong: 'At this point, I have confidence in all my pitches. I have the three: fastball, curveball, and changeup. I think they're all pretty solid. I'm comfortable throwing them in any count."
...Fourth Offering: "I've added a cutter-type-slider. I started throwing it toward the end of last season. I just really wanted a fourth pitch to go to."
Forward Motion: "Well, the overall goal is to make the big league team out of Spring Training. But when I'm there, I just want to watch the veterans. I want to learn more from them, on the field and off the field about how to be a better pitcher. I'm going to be a student of the game."
You can follow Taijuan Walker @tai_walker
In 2011, pitcher Guido Knudson spent most of his time in Rookie level Gulf Coast League. While a lot of players take their time getting used to the workload and pace, Knudson took right to it.
"I didn't really struggle with it," he said Wednesday. "I enjoyed the travel. Being in a comfy hotel and eating good food was nice. The season didn't wear on me. It's definitely a grind, but I can't complain about playing baseball."
In 23 innings of relief, he posted a 2.74 on the season, giving up 18 hits and walking just 4 batters. He also got in 5 games in the New York Penn League, but that wasn't so easy right away.
"My first outing was rough. But I came back from it, and just got better and better."
In the course of the season, it wasn't so much his mechanics, but his approach that improved.
"My aggressiveness, got better. And my ability to get ahead of hitters. I was able to manage my pitches, rather than simply control them."
The Tigers 2011 28th round pick headed into 2012 armed with an improved grasp of what he needed to be successful.
He started the season with Class-A Lakeland where he pitched twenty-seven innings, allowed 13 earned runs, walked 6, and struck out twenty-seven for the Flying Tigers. He got an end of season promotion, pitching 3 innings for the West Michigan Whitecaps. Overall, he finished with a 3.86 ERA.
"I was executing one pitch at a time. I can keep that mentality throughout my outings."
The Tigers drafted him out of UCSD, where he developed into a pitcher after playing shortstop throughout high school.
"I knew then. And it was good just to focus on that one thing. There was no question I was going to be a pitcher."
He went 29-12 with a 3.63 ERA in his time with the Tritons, where he was All-West and All-CCAA in 2011. That same year he put up a career best 2.80 ERA. In 2010, he won five straight, and finished the season with 10 wins and 10 saves.
With 2012 in his rear-view, the lessons are simple looking forward.
"I learned how to pitch. I just need to keep executing my pitches and throwing that first pitch strike."
Not playing everyday is never easy for players to accept, but St. John Fisher catcher Parker Ross approaches that challenge with maximum effort.
"I have to bide my time," he said last week. "You're working on maybe one chance a season. You have to keep pushing everyday."
The twenty-year-old is entering his junior year at St. John Fisher, where he's studying law enforcement. In 2011, the Connecticut native and graduate of Canandaigua Academy, appeared in just four games, and six in 2012. In high school, he lettered in track, and led the baseball team in batting average (.493) SLG (.676) and runs scored (30).
Despite majoring in sociology, there's no gray area about his desire.
"I came here just to play baseball. Academics is secondary."
As a catcher, he's focused on the importance of that role. It's something he had to get used to. He's only been a catcher for three years, after being moved from the outfield. That happened due to need, but he's grown into it.
"It's a position where you have to know a lot more. Freshman year in college is where I really started to get it."
Keeping the physical aspect sharp is difficult enough not playing everyday. But a catcher has to be in tune to every part of the game, every second. Keeping his mind sharp is just as much the focus. Ross knows who he is and what is required of him.
"My strength is leadership. I really am a people person. I talk to the pitchers. I study what they do wrong. I want to help them get better."
At the plate, he's putting it all together as best he can. And THAT'S an everyday process.
"Hitting is repetition. So batting practice is important. I have to repeat everything I'm doing and be ready when I am needed."
How much does that downtime affect a player? Those holes in time, where he's riding the bench, rather than contributing, don't put a player in the action. Maybe that does take a toll....
"I might not might always be confident. You second-guess yourself."
That aside, he's energetic, focused and hopeful about a future in baseball.
"If the opportunity presents itself, I'm going to take it and run with it."
You can follow Parker Ross on Twitter @ParkerRoss7
I wanted to find a way to create work for other writers, that, while low-paying, gave them some initiative and some respect for the time they put in.
I wanted to make a small point. If you ask people to write for you, why not give them something? Even if it's this- $15-20 dollars for a 500-1,500 word guest blog spot.
So that's what I'm going to do. Once or twice a month, I'll invite a guest-blogger or two to contribute a story. The subject has to be about minor league baseball. It can be an interview, a feature, an opinion piece, a prospect report or statistical analysis, as well as game coverage that focuses on something interesting in the game or a standout player.
Whatever it is, expect that when you're doing it, someone is paying you for your time. Because writing is a job. And it should pay. Just make sure you have PayPal.
For anyone interested in paying gigs, I'll contact writers I'd like to bring on, but please also feel free to pitch ideas by DM on Twitter if I follow you. If not, contact me at @[email protected]. Don't contact that address about anything other than writing work. Thanks!
The Yankees have been a part of the majority of Justin Pope's entire professional baseball career. That won't change in 2013, and he's glad for it.
Pope will return to manage the Class-A, Short-Season Staten Island Yankees for the second year in a row.
"The decision was easy," he said Sunday. "I am very grateful for the opportunity the Yankees have given me to manage."
Though he didn't discuss his contract, he's at least locked in for 2013. Because of his rich history with the team, it's not hard to understand why they'd want to keep him on. He understands what it takes. He knows what the Yankees want and knows their beliefs. Nurturing is important, but so is discipline and making no excuses for losing.
The RHP and switch hitter was drafted by the Cardinals in 2003, and acquired by the Yankees via trade in 2005. He played four years in the Yankees system, much of that with the Double-A Trenton Thunder of the Eastern League. After spending time as a coach with the Thunder, he was offered the job with Staten Island for 2012.
The job wasn't an easy one. Many of the guys he was working with were just jumping over from college playing not a couple of months earlier. Their energy is different and that energy can be tough to tame and channel.
"I love the challenge of it and I feel like having a year under my belt will really help me for the up coming season."
Staten Island finished tied 2nd to last in the league, going 30-45.
His emotional connection made returning different than if it were with another team. It's all baseball, and it's a job, but there's something to be said for creating that family aspect of sticking with a team. Talks never stalled.
"The conversation was very little about returning. They asked me what I thought about going back and I told them I would love to. I definitely wanted to."
The Yankees name carries with it a certain expectation. Many guys talk about how it creates more pressure, but mostly they talk about how it creates inspiration. Do your best always. You're a Yankee.
"I have a passion for this organization. I admire what it stands for and the tradition that comes with putting on the pinstripes. Things are done in a different manner and I truly enjoy passing on the tradition."
There appears to be a kind of grooming process happening. And it wouldn't be a surprise if Pope, 34, takes over for Tony Franklin, when the day comes that deeply respected Trenton Thunder manager Tony Franklin is no longer at the helm. Pope's admiration of Franklin and the time he spend as both one of his players, and as a coach, taught him many lessons about how to approach the job.
He learned many things on his own, on the job, just figuring the right balance out in the 'Tell 'Em Twice' league, as he once called it.
"I learned so much last season. If I had to choose one thing, it would be how to relate and communicate with each player on an individual basis. Understanding them personally and their motivations, finding out what makes them tick."
He will continue finding that out, when Staten Island opens their season against the Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets), June 17th.
Follow the Staten Island Yankees on Twitter @SIYanks
It isn't just baseball that runs in Logan Moore's family. It's the Phillies.
The catcher was drafted in the 9th round of the 2011 MLB Draft by the same team his father, Brad, a pitcher, played for in 1988 and 1990. From 1986-1994, he played in the Phillies system for Clearwater, Reading and Scranton/SWB. He also played some in the Reds and Mets organization.
While Moore acknowledges that the overall goal is to be in the big leagues, regardless of team, he also has strong feelings about playing for the Phillies.
But the playing history is only part of it. Moore was also born and raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
"I actually was [a Phillies fan]. Always was," he said from Florida, just hours after arriving. "I always had my dad's hats and jerseys that were around the house. It's weird how it worked out. It would be more emotional if I make it to the big leagues with them. It would be that much sweeter."
Moore's arrival in Florida marks the start of the 2013 season that could see him jumping another level. He played last year in Short-Season Class-A New York Penn League for the Williamsport Crosscutters, getting in 38 games and hitting .277 on the season.
In high school he played third base. It was then that he realized he wanted to play professionally.
"That's when I started to get more serious."
2013 will mark the third season that the twenty-two year old has been a catcher. But in that time, he's grown in confidence behind the plate.
"My defense is my strength. But I think I excelled in every [area]. I got better at situational hitting as the season went on, and improved in the second half," he said.
After being drafted out of Northeastern Junior College (Colorado), he made his professional debut in 2011 in the Gulf Coast League. He got 16 hits, and knocked in 9 runs in thirty games.
He split time in 2012 between Class-A Lakewood and Short-Season Williamsport. He played in a career high sixty-five games, with a combined .233 average, 50 hits, 30 walks, and 22 RBI. In July he hit .333 in 14 games, staying consistent into August when he hit .250 in 16 games. Consistency is the key word he came back to when reflecting on that experience, as well as looking forward to this season.
"I figured some stuff out mentally. The improvement in my hitting was my biggest achievement. I figured out my swing a little bit more, how to hit better in any situation...just overall, I got a lot better."
While he doesn't work with his dad in the off-season, there's familiarity there. They share the game in the way many fathers and children do, but added to that is the shared professional relationship to it.
"We just talk baseball. He will throw a batting practice, though."
When Moore thinks of baseball and the Phillies, he thinks of Pete Rose.
"Just the way he gave one hundred percent. I loved that about him."
His own aggressiveness and drive kept him going through the grueling grind, and learning how to handle the daily push. The physical wasn't even the toughest part.
"You get more mentally tired. You're just absolutely drained thinking about baseball everyday. You want to go into the following season stronger. Because I'm still learning catching, I can only go up. Hitting-wise I just want to be more consistent."
He also values his relationships with the pitching staff. It's a delicate bond, with trust and respect deeply important to success.
"I try to become friends with all my pitchers. We had a great bullpen [in Williamsport] and I was close with a couple of the starters. I think being friends off the field carries over into the game. That can only help [communication.]"
Last season was big for Pirates lefty Joshua Poytress.
After coming out of short-season ball in 2011, where he pitched thirty three innings for the New York Penn League State College Spikes, Poytress, 22, had to be ready to take on a heavier workload. He did a fine job, splitting time between High-A and Low-A, as well as recovering from an early-season injury to his forearm.
He began the season in the Low-A South Atlantic League, going 2-0 with a 0.79 ERA in eleven innings for the West Virginia Power. He spent the majority of the season with the Bradenton Marauders of the Advanced-A Florida State League. In 41.2 innings of relief, he gave up 36 hits, 26 walks, with 29 strikeouts, and picked up a save.
Here's what he had to say about last season, the off-season, and what he's focused on heading into Spring Training.
"I've always started out slow getting command of my change-up. It's a good pitch for me, but I struggle with it starting out. I have to show it off while I'm [at spring training]."
"I struggle to get finger command of [the changeup]. It still has life and movement starting out, but the command part takes time. I had a little injury [early in season], and then I lost it again. Lately, it's been easier to get a feel for it."
2012 Reflections
"Adjusting was [the most difficult]. Hitters that I faced more would catch on and I had to counter that. I got the hang of it. But it was good experience for me. I was only in Low-A [short time]. High-A was a little bit tougher. They were seeing me more often."
"I was able to work my off-speed pitches off of my fastball. Even when I wasn't ahead, then I could drop a cutter or curveball in and keep hitters off balance. I used all of my pitches in any count."
"My fastball averaged about the same speed or a little bit higher. But the difference was that I could maintain it longer, it didn't drop [in velocity] as far. My command was better with my fastball and all of my pitches."
Biggest key for 2013
"Fastball location and more consistency. I can hit that spot, but I need to get it to where I can hit it ten times out of ten. That's what will get me the farthest."
Also read this interview with him from April 2012- http://www.highheelsonthefield.net/my_weblog/2012/04/pirates-joshua-poytress-makes-early-jump.html
In 1974 Melissa Ludtke, a lifelong baseball fan, began her career reporting on America's pastime for Sports Illustrated.
A few years later, she would be part of changing baseball for every female reporter covering the game.
At a time when women were battling for equal rights socially, politically and professionally, Ludtke had a part in the big picture. Everything was changing, and baseball had to as well. But in a male-dominated industry, the fight for that change went deeper than just legal precedence.
In 1977, Ludtke's editors at Sports Illustrated learned that she was not begin given the same access to the clubhouse and players, as her male colleagues. That led to a lawsuit filed by Sports Illustrated publisher Time Inc., and, finally, in 1978 a federal law was passed that stated men and women should have equal access to the clubhouse.
But the events that led to that moment weren't angry verbal battles and threats to sue. No, that wasn't the way Melissa Ludtke conducted herself. She didn't draw the spotlight to herself. Instead, she chose to face the difficulties with a game-face, a can-do attitude, and did her job to the best of her ability. When it came time to fight the legal battle, she understood what was on the line.
In a lengthy conversation, some of which was off the record, she discussed the case, her part in it, and the struggles she faced as a woman in baseball in the late 1970's.
After graduating from Wellesley College, Ludtke took the job with Sports Illustrated, covering a sport she'd watched all her life. Her enthusiasm to learn and be part of baseball journalism was met with unexpected resistance.
"At Sports Illustrated, we did have a lot of women on the staff. Most of them were researchers, rather than reporters or writers or editors, but at the office, I wasn't working only among men."
"There were emotional hurdles that I was dealing with, internally, and on my own. Then there were the dynamics at the ballpark. And then there were the dynamics at my office. The first was more personal, I grew up as a girl loving baseball. and I never imagined that girls weren't supposed to love baseball. When I followed my dream, and ended up working for Sports Illustrated, and started going up into the press box, and in the park interviewing players, I was surprised by my usually being the only [woman] there. I had to absorb that."
As she began to get into the business of reporting on the New York Yankees and Mets, she became increasingly aware of the attitudes that permeated the press box. Knowing baseball is one thing, but covering the game is a much different animal. The help of others matters when you're a rookie reporter. Ludtke quickly learned, that she was very much on her own.
"It hit me that most of [the men] didn't really want to engage very much."
"I've come to understand in later years, that it wasn't because of the person I was, but because of the gender I was. It wasn't maybe threatening to them personally, but it was threatening to the institution they had known."
"It was like I'd gone into one of their [all-male] dining clubs on Fifth Avenue."
"Not all of them, but a lot of them, just didn't want to talk to me or engage or help. It was challenging. Already I was very uncertain, because this was my first reporting assignment."
"I've come to understand the history of this. I didn't know when I started that just two years before, there were women told they couldn't go on the field or in the press box. I didn't know that."
"There were wonderful exceptions. Some of those men were just amazing to me as friends, and are to this day."
The women's movement was busy battling various injustices, and baseball would become an unwilling participant in that battle. Women wanted to go to work, be respected like men, and receive equal pay, ideas that were still unacceptable to many Americans.
Ludtke remembers the activity of activism all around her, especially living in New York.
"I was twenty-seven and there was a lot going on at that time. There had been a lot of activity at publications, such as Newsweek and the New York Times. A lot of women in those institutions said, 'Excuse me. But some of the practices we're seeing here are discriminatory.'"
We don't often don't talk about the psychological sacrifices women make to cover baseball. Doing our work to the best of our ability is the greatest defense against any sexist doubts. But in those days, those sacrifices were far greater. With few women around, Ludtke had to find a way to survive and thrive.
"I began to feel like I almost had to leave what was everything I had brought with me from girlhood, and who I was as a woman. I almost had to leave that behind, and try as best I could to be like the men. That doesn't mean that I had to dress like them or carry on in ways that they did, but it was very clear to me that if I was going to be able to function in this environment, I had to learn how to talk baseball as men talked baseball. I listened to how they asked questions. I took it on as me learning how they were doing this job."
"I began to take on some of their characteristics. I could spout statistics and anecdotes. I would spend a lot of time after games, late at night, in bars around tables, sharing stories. I never drank very much, but I understood that had to be kind of part of it, if I wanted to do it."
"Inside, that meant that I had to give up a sense of femininity and this other part of me, that was very much there. There I was spending almost every available moment of my life, eight months of the year, at a ballpark, with men who, for the most part, didn't want to be around me."
As Ludtke continued doing her job in the face of those challenges, something started to unfold. How the lawsuit came about might not be as you imagine. It was not a sonic boom, like so many sports scandals involving women in sports media. The lawsuit was really the final straw in what had been a series of frustrating moments.
"Here's the thing. I never actually decided it was difficult and that I was going to sue."
"I actually had the lead feature story in Sports Illustrated in 1978, and it took me an inordinate amount of time. [A story on catchers and umpires relating to one another behind the plate]. To do that, I had to talk to almost every catcher in the major leagues. And what would often happen was I would approach a catcher I wanted to talk to during batting practice, and a number of times, they'd say yes, and I would be waiting and waiting, then they would come off the field and just walk right by and into the locker room. And there went my chance, because I couldn't go in and talk to them."
"I would try to send a male reporter in to talk to them. That meant that I just spent the entire night trying to get a player, who I couldn't talk to."
"I didn't complain. I didn't whine. I didn't go back to my editor and say 'I need help with this'. I just kept going up. Because I knew that if I complained, I would either lose my job or lose the respect of the players."
"The irony was that during the off-season, I was covering the NBA, and I was in locker rooms. But I never asked if they saw the dichotomy. You have to play the game by the rules, until you can't abide by them anymore."
"The lawsuit came about because of my request. Leading up to the World Series in 1977, I had been given backdoor access to the locker room by [then Yankees manager] Billy Martin. That didn't mean I went into the locker room, but I was in his office at least. I was able to at least be that far in, and I thought that was pretty good. The last two home games of that season, I was even given a pass."
"I approached [former Dodgers coach and manager] Tommy Lasorda, the day before the World Series, and told him that Billy let me in his office and asked him how he felt about it, and asked, 'Will this work? Can I go in and cover your locker room?' I don't know what the policy is. He then put me in contact with Tommy John, who was the player rep for that team at the time. Tommy John took a vote of all the players, and the players voted a majority in favor of it, which he told me the next day right before the World Series started."
"What I want to have you understand, was that it wasn't just me demanding. I was doing my job, getting to know people, letting them see the work I did, see how I handled myself, all of those things are much more difficult in some way."
Ludtke left Sports Illustrated around January 1979, and moved on to pursue other areas of journalism. She did, however, continue to cover sports events throughout her career, most notably the 1984 Olympics.
But the experience was one that she remembers as a tremendous and gratifying learning experience, not just in gender politics, but in being part of the SI staff.
She's also come to a time in her life when telling the story of what she went through felt right, and is writing what she says is not so much a memoir, but a way to reflect on a key moment for women in baseball.
"It's always important to understand history. It tells you something about what's come before you. And helps you understand why you're confronting what you're confronting."
"I'm just beginning a theme in chapter two of my book, talking about those walks I made, down the dugout tunnel, and how I'd emerge out of the dugout, firmly placed on the grass, and I'd never have even thought of wearing high heels. For many reasons. You didn't want to look too much like a woman at the time."
For women in baseball today, many of the same attitudes prevail. Women are more protected, certainly by law, but that doesn't keep incidents from arising, or sexist thinking from being openly displayed.
But Ludtke forged a path, no matter how unintentionally, by being the consummate professional. Her actions were her weapon. Even today, that course of action is still the best one.
"I chose to do it in a way that built up my credentials and showed people that I knew what I was doing. Rather than demand."
"But just going out and complaining about them is not going to get you anywhere. Go out and prove yourself."
When the line is crossed and women know they need to speak up, hopefully, they gather courage from Ludtke's experience. When the time came to force a change, baseball had no choice but to allow women their fair place in the game.
Ludtke is impressed with the countless women now covering the game.
"I'm so inspired by young women today, that are out there doing what you're doing."
Women that enter the clubhouse and have equal access today, owe a great debt of gratitude to Melissa Ludtke. Following her example of hard work, preparation and bearing down and being fearless, are lessons as valuable today, as they were when she lay the groundwork thirty-five years ago.
Earlier this week, Blue Jays prospect Justin Jackson announced on Twitter that he was making the transition from shortstop to pitcher. A decision that he arrived at after the 2012 season, when he split time between Class-A Dunedin and Double-A New Hampshire. Combined, he hit .220 with 23 RBI, and 38 walks in 110 games.
He knew he had to talk about the idea with a few people, including the big club, but the righty was also certain he was making the right move. Jackson, 25, spoke about this important moment in his career Thursday, and here's what he said.
"What happened was, I looked at it and realized my number one tool was my arm. My agent and me had a talk. And we put it out there to the organization, and they said yes. So then it was just up to me to give it a full go."
On whether high school experienced helped: Definitely. I closed my junior and senior years. I pitched all growing up.
When asked if he had expected to be drafted as a pitcher: No, not at all. I actually used pitching as a showcase for my arm, as a shortstop. I did it so scouts that came to see me would see my arm. (He was drafted in the 45th round in 2007 by the Jays)
On when the idea started to form: I think what I did was look at my skill set, and at the end of the day, I didn't want to be an old man and say I didn't try. I wanted to give myself a chance. And I'm young enough, and am being given opportunities, that I can try it. I didn't want to wind up with regret.
Preparation: I want to be fundamentally sound. I've been working with [former MLB pitcher] Darren Holmes, and he's helping me get ready and just talking to me. I'm also going to go early to spring training. I'll be heading out in the next couple of weeks, so I can throw in warmer weather. It's pretty cold up in the [North Carolina] mountains right now.
On possibly starting again at the bottom: I'm doing something new, and whatever it is I need to do to get that experience on the mound, that's all that matters to me. So [whatever level I start at], I just need to get time on the mound. I don't care, as long as I get experience.
On his independent hip hop single, 'Dedicated': It was actually a Wiz Khalifa song called 'Medicated.' So I changed the words. I wanted to do an uplifting positive type song. I just really like to be creative.
You can follow Justin on Twitter @JaxChillinONE
Listen to 'Dedicated' here: http://m.soundcloud.com/justin-jax/dedicated
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