A minors oriented roundup
posted in 2007 ST, link roundup, minors |I was playing around on the internet doing research for an upcoming story about a minor league umpire I know. Anyway, I spent some time at MILB.com and noticed some Tigers related stuff I hadn’t seen linked to.
Tigers roaring with Top Notch Talent in 2007
This one is basically an organizational look at the Tigers. There’s a lot of guys mentioned we’re familiar with. Ryan Raburn, Cameron Maybin, the like, so I’ll just point out their under-the-radar. That one seems to be true. I like to think I have a nice idea about Tigers prospects up and down the ladder, and this was a new name to me.
Brett Jensen, RHP
Drafted three times as a mainstay in the bullpen at University of Nebraska, Jensen then filled that role with similar success for the Gulf Coast Tigers after he was taken in the 14th round. He was 1-0 with a 0.67 ERA in 26 2/3 innings, striking out 31 and walking only five.“He’s a tall, lean kid with a sidearm, down-under delivery,” Ezell said. “He’s a very strong competitor and he loves to be in there at the end of the game. He’s a guy we think will do some nice things.”
Naturally, they have the required Maybin story, this by Jason Beck actually ran on the Tigers.com main page a week ago, or around there.
By the way, Maybin had an EQ Average of .383 and contributed 6.4 EQ runs, per Clay Davenport at Baseball Prospectus.That put him behind Placido Polanco and around the same spot at Raburn. For whatever that is worth. *shrug*
Speaking of Maybin, the Lakeland Flying Tigers have a pretty cool looking site at MILB.
Also at MILB, and I don’t know how long this will last so you may want to look soon, they have streaming video talking about the top prospects of the A.L. Central. There’s an Andrew Miler interview early on in it.
That concludes the minor league portion of our festivities.
A more serious note from Danny Knobler, Vance Wilson had an MRI after experiencing elbow soreness. He says if it’s not serious, he’ll play through pain. As Knobler points out, Wilson is an important part of the team, but he’s still a backup catcher. So I’m not sweating it.
For some other stuff: Lee finishes his preview up with pitchers at Tiger Tales. I won’t ruin the”surprise” about how many wins he sees the Tigers getting, but I will say it’s a pretty good preview of what I’m going to predict myself.
Big Al at The Wayne Fontes Experince has parts 1 and 2 up. And the Mickey Tettleton Memorial Overpass does as well. Ian at Bless You Boys promises his preview soon. It kinda sneaks up on you, doesn’t it Ian? Ian also points out how tough the April schedule is for Detroit.
The stodgy Sporting News picks Detroit as the top team in baseball. Strange. Todd Jones says not so fast. Frankly the whole thing makes me a bit nervous. But being picked to win is actually no different than not being picked to win. None of it matters in the end. Hat-tip to a poster at Motown Sports who posted the cover to this week’s mag.
The Tigers reaction to being picked to win, at the least, the Central Division by so many people? “Thanks” basically. They’re keeping even keeled over it, Knobler reports. Leyland wouldn’t have it any other way.
Beck points to a poll which showed Tigers fans were among the most satisfied in sports. They ranked 12th overall, second in the MLB behind the Braves. They especially liked the ownership and loved Jim Leyland, but some thought the Tigers could have had more effort on the field. I’m not sure why that one came in a bit lower. Last year, the Tigers came in at 26th in baseball. Amazing what winning can do, huh?
And finally, the AP preview stories have crossed the wire and will probably sneak online at some media entity’s site ahead of the embargo. So keep your eyes open for that at Google.
Sphere It
Hey, when is the story about the minor league umpire going to print? I am positive that they guy you are writing about is a good friend of mine. Will you fire me an email when it is online? I don’t usually check the mining journal site very often.