Welcome to 2018

The dawn of a new baseball season is here. For most of you the baseball season started in February with Spring Training, but for me baseball season really starts halfway through June.

Honestly June is around the time I get super amped up for baseball. Not just because the Staten Island Yankees season starts (although that is a big factor) but it's basically when the draft happens and an exciting new era of future stars joins the ranks, and it's about the 40% mark of the season, meaning that the "it's early" excuse no longer applies and teams/players will really have to take where they are seriously going forward.

So yeah, how about them Yanks? The SI Yanks. Though it looks like the big league Yanks had themselves a fun night of their own spearheaded by Jonathan Loaisiga Lasagna.

As per tradition we'll start with my autographs ;).

My first autograph of the day was from Canaan Smith. The Yankees prospect, not the country singer.
Smith was the Yankees' fourth round pick in 2017 and is an interesting name to watch. Namely because he's already on the Yankees' top 30 prospect list on MLB.com (which is NOT easy to get onto), and also because teams are already asking if they can trade for him. That's pretty big, teams are already trying to get in on him lol.
Smith is a lefty slugger with an incredibly patient approach and will take a ton of walks. But he also has a ton of power enabling him to hit the ball out of the park if the pitcher makes a mistake. He'll be fun to watch.

Next up is an autograph of Nolan Martinez.
Martinez was the Yankees' third round pick in 2016. Martinez is exactly the type of pitcher the Yankees like, high spin rates and with low-90's velo that can occasionally reach the mid-90's. And that's just Martinez at age 19, think of how much more muscle and velo he'll add as he grows out his frame a bit. Martinez hasn't seen a ton of action so far and if I had to guess he'll be on a tight innings limit this season to boot, but the ceiling is still tremendously high for him. The Yankees didn't just pool all of the bonus pool savings into his (and Rutherford's) bonuses for nothing.

Here's an autograph of Eduardo Torrealba.
Torrealba was originally signed by the Boston Red Sox in 2015 as an international free agent. However, after the Red Sox were discovered to have used shady measures of acquiring Latin American talent, Torrealba was one of the free agents that were voided by the MLB and allowed to sign with another team. Torrealba signed with the Yankees. He's an infielder who's been used at a lot of positions (namely up the middle). It'll be interesting if he goes on to be something special and make the Red Sox really regret letting him slip away. Sidenote, dude's English is great.

Here's an autograph of Eric Wagaman.
Wagaman was the Yankees' 13th rounder in 2017. He's a first baseman with a lot of power and probably the best hitter the Yankees took in the 2017 draft (mainly because they went so pitching heavy that year). No knock on Wagaman though (yet), dude's got plenty of time to show that he can be a viable first base prospect with lots of power and a knack of hitting.

Here are two autographs of Drew Finley.
Drew Finley was the Yankees' third rounder in 2015. Finley's coming into the season with the Staten Island Yankees for the third straight year. In 2016 he was shut down early. In 2017 he was shut down early again. In 2018 now he's been moved to the bullpen, I assume to keep him healthy. Hopefully he can find some success again in his new role. He also signed two copies when I offered him one for him to keep.

And last but not least (not by a long shot) is Matt Sauer.
Sauer was the Yankees' second round pick in 2017. He's another tall righty that can throw in the low-to-mid 90's. Armed with a fastball, curveball and changeup, Sauer's potential is anywhere between a really good middle of the rotation starter and a really dominant middle reliever. Both of which would be very good outcomes. Sauer got the nod to be the Opening Day starter and boy did he give the fans one heck of a performance.

So yeah, Sauer pitched against the Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets affiliate) for the 2018 SIY season/home opener. He pitched six innings and held the Cyclones to ZERO hits. He only had one base runner and he picked him off. It was a really good debut for yet the latest hardthrowing righty the Yankees grew in their laboratory.

It's funny, before the game there was a silly but fun little minor league promo where if the starter pitched a no-hitter a randomly chosen fan would get a free car. Sauer joked about going a full nine innings. He probably could've too given how dominant he was. But I guess his pitch count was up (I lost track halfway through).

After Sauer left, in came Chase Hodson who promptly gave up a hit that ended the no-hit bid. The Cyclones even scored a run. But all told Hodson had a solid two innings of work. I blame his blip on him using Kylie Minogue as his entrance music.

Offensively the Yankees threatened to score numerous times throughout the game but a lot of the runners in scoring position were left stranded. They finally delivered in the seventh inning when a double by Canaan Smith tied the game, and then later a solo home run by Frederick Cuevas gave the Yankees the lead.
For whatever it's worth, Wagaman and Torrealba also had doubles in this game. Proving that signing an autograph for me will ensure that you have a good game.

Then Garrett Mundell came in for the save. The Cyclones made things interesting with a triple in the ninth inning with two outs. But Mundell shut the door after that.

The Yankees won 2-1 over the Cyclones (yeah, fuck you Brooklyn), and in exactly the way you'd have expected of them given their roster, off of the strength of their pitching.

Other Things To Note

The Yankees expanded the protective netting to ensure a safer environment for the fans. I thought this was good and frankly overdue on the Yankees part since safety at the ballpark is a really underrated issue. I've had screaming line drive fouls come straight at me and hit me, those fuckers can hurt. Imagine those hitting the youth or the elderly. It does make getting autographs at the top of the dugout a bit harder, but I never get autographs there anyway. Also I don't particularly care if it's more inconvenient to get autographs as long as it's safer for all of the other guests in attendance. And I say that as an autograph collector.

Surprise surprise, the Staten Island Yankees waited until the last minute to put up their roster again. It wasn't even 100% accurate (more like 80%). I counted about two guys on the officially posted roster who aren't with the club, and roughly three guys who had different jersey numbers than on the roster sheet. Including Sauer!

Oh well, not like it matters for now since the Yankees might end up sending players back and forth in the upcoming weeks between Pulaski-Staten Island-Charleston. I don't see Luis Medina spending the whole year in Pulaski is my point.

I did get some pocket schedules though. One's already pegged for Mark Hoyle since I know he's into this kind of stuff.

The collector in me found it interesting that this marked the first time I had Bowman cards across three years signed for me at the same event. 2016, 2017 and 2018 Bowman. If I had a 2015 card of Finley I could've made it four! This does make me wonder if I could construct a "Bowman prospect cards throughout the years" type of project using only IP autographs. Although I suspect that the earliest I could go there is 2013 Bowman.

Also, in order to save transportation fees, I walked all the way from Grand Central Terminal (midtown) to the Staten Island Ferry terminal (downtown). I walked FOUR MILES in two-ish hours just to save on $2.75. By the time I reached the stadium my knees were sore, but I stood anyway for large chunks of the game (gotta get that good Sauer footage). Never skip leg day.

And finally, I really just love the New York Bay Area. It's probably not as grand or as fun as the more famous Bay Area over in California, but NYC's rendition has its charms. The Statue of Liberty is a big point in it's favor and there are points where the waterways look super cool from the ferry.

Both during the day.

And during the night.

Everyone talks shit about Staten Island (because it kind of is shit) but I'd be lying if I said that riding a ferry doesn't make it a little bit more interesting. I love the waterways and the hustle and bustle of the big harbour. I actually wanted to be a dockside worker (more specifically a crane operator) loading and unloading cargo in the wee hours of the night when I was a kid. That was my legit dream job lol. Still kind of is everytime I cross the NYC Bay. Also being a lighthouse keeper was another job I've always wanted (lighthouses are all automated now FYI). Something to get me closer to the sea.

And there you have it, the 2018 Staten Island Yankees season opener. Best of luck to the other NYPL teams (unless the Yankees are facing them in which case I hope they all fail spectacularly, especially those Black Bears ;)).

As always thanks for stopping by and take care.

2018 IP Auto Count: 7