Why? Because it was a Monday. Baseball games have significantly less crowds when you go during Monday-Thursday (even during the summer) and as such the experience is so much more enjoyable.
As usual let's start with the autographs!
First up is an in person signature of one of the many (and I do mean many) up and coming pitching prospects currently in the Yankees farmsystem, Roansy Contreras.
Contreras was the crown jewel of the Yankees' international free agent haul in 2016. Even though the Yankees were still limited to only giving out $300k bonuses, he stilled signed with the Yankees for that amount in spite of being one of the best international amateur free agents (likely because he and the Yankees already had a verbal contract in place from when he was 14, which is normal in baseball). Contreras has a low-90's fastball and a curveball, both of which he's used to great effect because in his last outing (on Sunday actually), he was downright dominant. The rise of Contreras and other such lower level pitchers in the Yankees organization is exactly why the system is so deep when it comes to pitching talent.
Next up is infielder Jesus Bastidas.
Jesus Bastidas was signed by the New York Yankees as a non-drafted international free agent back in 2015 out of Venezuela. He was the only player the Yankees signed for the full $300k amount that year (he got even more than Estevan Florial and Luis Medina) due to how he projects to be a very serviceable shortstop with steady hands and an advanced bat (for his age). Bastidas has primarily been hitting leadoff or second for the Yankees this season, even down in these lower levels that means that he's seen as one of the better hitters on the team. Looking forward to seeing what Bastidas can do this season for sure.
Bastidas had a double in this game, proving that signing for me will boost your performance.
Another infielder (primarily 3B), Andres Chaparro.
Andres Chaparro was signed by the New York Yankees as a non-drafted international free agent back in 2015 out of Venezuela. Chaparro was originally a catcher but he was converted into a third baseman. Chaparro has a ton of power, an insane amount for a catcher, a fair amount for a third baseman, he even had a two HR game once in Pulaski. The question is if he can stay at third (most scouts agree that he is too #thicc).
Chaparro got the most hits out of everybody in the line up BTW (he went 2-for-3). Proving that signing for me will boost your performance.
Here are a couple of autographs courtesy of Abel Duarte.
Abel Duarte was signed by the New York Yankees as a non-drafted international free agent back in 2013 out of the Dominican Republic. The 6'1" righty was originally a starter but in 2016 it became clear that he and his fastball would be better served in a relief role. Which somehow worked itself out in a 6-1 record (Win-Loss records in the minors are dumb but still, WTF?) in 2017. Good for Abel I guess. Here in 2018 he's up with the Staten Island Yankees as a reliever. His first appearance didn't go as great as he'd hoped, but there's still plenty of time for him to show that his 2017 wasn't a fluke.
This isn't for me (and isn't included in the official count). But I just wanted to take some time to thank Seth Beer for taking the time to sign and inscribe this photograph for one of my friends over in Japan. Beer was the Astros' first rounder this year and he's been destroying the NYPL since he started playing with Tri-City. What a beast.
TBH I didn't think I had a shot at this one because first rounders that aren't drafted by the Yankees tend to shy away from signing but Beer was super cool and signed one thing for most of the people who were there (which was a lot since I think there were like a dozen folks there for Beer alone, they all later came to the Yankees side hoping to get like a dozen copies of Matt Sauer's Bowman cards signed, losers). Thanks Seth, my friend in Japan was super hyped when he saw this.
Last but definitely not least is Juan De Paula. Who didn't give me an autograph so to speak, but gave me an inscription. I love getting certified cards personalized. Now they're officially MINE suckers! De Paula was so confused when I asked him for an inscription but he went along with it lmao. Gracias Juan!
De Paula was also the starter for the game and personalizing for me proved to be key because he had one heck of a game.
In all De Paula threw five innings of scoreless ball. The radar-gun in the stadium started working again and according to that his fastball was sitting in the 89-92 mph range and topped out at 96 mph. His curveball was around 74 mph and his changeup was around 84 mph. His changeup wasn't fooling hitters too much but his curveball did get a let of swings and misses and boy where some of them nasty. Down in these lower levels pitchers are still refining their pitches but man, those breaking balls were a thing of beauty.
Unfortunately I decided to leave early again and it happened to coincide with when De Paula left too (5 innings in under two hours, baseball is fast again!). When I left the game it was a 0-0 tie, but when I got home it became a 1-5 loss for the Yankees. Drew Finley (who I like) gave up a hit-less run and the other relievers did much worse. Man, better luck next time.
Also I picked up a few programs. The inside of which is your usual minor league baseball program filled with fun activities for kids, advertisements...
...and my favorite section, an update on some of the top prospects currently in other parts of the farmsystem (arranged in alphabetical order). This is something super great and I wish the Yankees Magazine would do this too instead of brief blurbs on how each team individually is doing.
Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how I got to talk with Robert Pimpsner (one of the people behind the great Yankees prospecting site PinstripedProspects) and he told me that he had finished picking out photographs for the annual Staten Island Yankees team set. Oooh boy, nothing gets me more excited than minor league team sets. NOTHING. When I asked him for an autograph he kinda passed. I'll ask him again as the season goes on lol.
I suppose I'll end this post on a bit of self-indulgent note by saying that I managed to get every last player I wanted. Contreras, Bastidas, Chaparro and Duarte were the ones I wanted to knock out now because I wasn't able to last time. I was 50/50 on if I could get the inscription from De Paula or the autograph AND inscription from Beer but being the super cool dudes they are, I got them too. With this I've completed my initial stock of players in SI that I had cards of. Barring some mid-season callup of guys like Clarke Schmidt or Anthony Seigler, I probably won't have much else to get signed until the team sets are released.
Of course I'm addicted to ink (autograph ink, not tattoos), so you know I'll be looking to get signatures somehow. Especially since there are still a dozen other players on the roster too. We'll see what happens I suppose.
As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).
2018 IP Auto Count: 12
2018 Auto'd Inscription Count: 1
You ever thought about doing a ball or a bat and accumulate the entire team? That could keep you busy until the team sets come out.
ReplyDeleteFWIW, your favorite angle at the ballpark would be mine also. You can't get that angle at MLB ballparks and I would suspect at very few MiLB parks.
I thought about that entire team thing but that kind of thing would only appeal (to me) if I got the entire team throughout the course of the season. As in, everybody whoever geared up for the team at some point during the season. I learned back in 2015 that this is easier said than done.
DeleteAnd yeah it's a great angle. I wish we had access to more like it.
Love the idea of getting a certified card personalized. If I had more interaction with baseball players, I'd definitely do this.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever end up pulling a (to put it nicely) "disappointing" autograph, getting it personalized is one of the best ways to make the most of it.
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