Viene el Otoño

We're now in the final days of August. Minor league baseball is coming to a close (the GCL/DSL leagues have already ended), and we're getting to the awful time of the year where baseball itself is winding down and people are more preoccupied with how Jimmy Garoppolo is going to make or break their fantasy team.

So to cherish the time we have left to watch baseball this year, I went to a Staten Island Yankees game yesterday.

My first autograph of the night was courtesy of Ricky Surum. Surum was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 16th round of the 2017 MLB Player Draft. A jack of all trades, master of none type of infielder, he's already been yo-yo'd up and down between multiple levels this season as he's been tasked with basically being a warm body off of the bench at single-A Charleston, high-A Tampa, double-A Trenton and triple-A Scranton. Seriously, he's been everywhere in the system this year except Pulaski and the rookie ball leagues.

My next autograph was from Luis Gil.
Gil was originally signed by the Minnesota Twins as a non-drafted international free agent back in 2015. He was traded to the New York Yankees in the trade that sent Jake Cave to the Twins. At the time of the trade Gil was seen as an under the radar type who had the potential to blossom into something special but had missed some time due to shoulder injuries. A few months later and he's a top 30 prospect in the deep Yankees farmsystem. Gil's fastball sits in the mid-90's and can even reach 101 mph at times. He also has a curveball and a changeup which are both work in progress pitches. His ceiling is anywhere between a really good back of the rotation starter or a really good reliever.

Here is Ron Marinaccio.
Marinaccio was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 19th round of the 2017 MLB Player Draft. During his time with the University of Delaware he found success as both a starter and reliever but he really stood out after converting into a reliever full time. His low-90's fastball and slider allowed him to miss a lot of bats and as a college senior it wouldn't surprise me if he manage to dominate for the lower levels before reaching double-A.

My last autograph for yesterday was from A's prospect, Alfonso Rivas.
Rivas was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the fourth round of the 2018 MLB Player Draft out of the University of Arizona. The lefty hitter is a first basemen at the moment but did play some outfield in college so there may be some versatility in his game. Offensively he's still growing into his power but he has pretty good contact skills. With some line-drive power he could be an impressive corner outfielder.

And those were my autographs.

As for the game itself, it was a slaughter. The Vermont Lake Monsters (A's affiliate) pummeled the Yankees 10-3. The game was pretty close for the first few innings but things got really out of hand in the eight inning when the Lake Monsters scored six runs.

So was there anything else to the game?

We are excited to announce that @vermontlakemonsters will be wearing their pink jerseys in support of our GM Jane Rogers during tonight’s game for Breast Cancer Awareness Night!

If you’re coming to the ballpark, be sure to wear pink or donate $15 to receive a Rogers ‘99 t-shirt! pic.twitter.com/uvqopv8AbR

— StatenIslandYankees (@SIYanks) August 29, 2018

Yes, it was breast cancer awareness night. In honor of the Staten Island Yankees GM Jane Rogers, who herself was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The team (both teams actually) wore special jerseys which were auctioned off (all proceeds went to cancer research). There were also special t-shirts you could receive if you donated $15. Those proceeds also went to cancer research.

Very cool and worthy cause in my book. Cancer sucks. Even though humanity is going to be wiped out one way or another within the next 100 years, I hope the human race can at least find a cure for all forms of cancer before that happens.

On a more selfish/personal note, I did manage to receive a ball. A foul ball landed near the Yankees bullpen and reliever Aaron McGarity caught it. I was the only one around the area so he asked me if I wanted it. I said yes and he gave it to me. In return I gave him and the rest of the bullpen two packs of Hi-Chews. One thing I've known since childhood is that gaijin's LOVE Hi-Chews. The Yankees were "addicted" to Hi-Chews back when Hiroki Kuroda would get free ones by the caseload. The Marlins and Red Sox were addicted to these back when Junichi Tazawa and Daisuke Matsuzaka shared them with teammates. I think even Gosuke Katoh gets some cases for free even as a minor leaguer. The guys chilling in the Staten Island bullpen all seemed to enjoy the Japanese taffy. At least now I have another gift idea for future players lol.
(Sidenote, I also got my workplace addicted to Hi-Chews this past summer, it was great lmao)

And that was yesterday's game. A lousy score, but a very noble cause was carried out and I made a fun little personal memory. With there being so few games left (and with Staten Island looking like it's not going to make it to the playoffs), I'm cherishing the few games we have left.

Because I'm going to miss it all when it ends.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

2018 IP Auto Count: 68 (almost nice!)