Like Apprenticeship Programs or Artistic Pursuits: Minor League Baseball reporting 2017

The Colorado Springs Sky Sox have unveiled their list of finalists for their new team name for 2019. Are you ready?

1. Happy Campers
2. Lamb Chops
3. Punchy Pikas
4. Throttle Jockeys
5. Rocky Mountain Oysters

— Josh Norris (@jnorris427) July 18, 2018

christ

you know sky sox, not every team name needs to be made up of two or more words

'pikas' would actually be okay by itself

guaranteed to be rocky mountain oysters tho

can't wait til the Cyclones are renamed the Coney Island Whitefish

We want your input on the new North Alabama MiLB team name! Should it be...
🔘 Army Ants
🔘 Comet Jockeys
🔘 GloWorms
🔘 Lunartics
🔘 Moon Possums
🔘 Puffy Head Bird Legs
🔘 Space Chimps
🔘 Space Sloths
🔘 ThunderSharks
🔘 Trash Pandas

Which is your favorite? Let us know below👇 pic.twitter.com/mMhDWQAtzB

— Brandiose (@Brandiose) July 26, 2018

will we ever reach the bottom

i'm not sure what i would pick if i actually had to choose. i guess...gloworms?

i would select puffy head bird legs or trash pandas because i am a minor league team name accelerationist

we'll never have good names again until all names are bad

kinda want to know why Trash Pandas gets a space and ThunderSharks doesn't

A couple BP guys did a Saberseminar presentation on improving minor-league culture, and when they got to diet, they just put up a slide of a dozen minor leaguers hailing Chipotle.

speakin' of trash

https://deadspin.com/angry-baseball-guy-brings-trash-can-onto-field-tells-u-1828166387

there we go

https://www.milb.com/milb/news/abracadabra-astudillo-pulls-off-hidden-ball-trick-for-rochester-red-wings/c-289520148

i hadn't considered this ramification of starting extra innings with a runner on second -- a team had a two-pitch inning the other day

PawSox Sign Letter of Intent to Build a Triple-A Ballpark in Worcester, Massachusetts

Hudson Valley Renegades 4, Brooklyn Cyclones 1. Got to see the visitors celebrate a division title on the field, and on Military Appreciation Night I tipped my cap when members of the Coast Guard were solicited. (I have never been in the Coast Guard.)

the "fans of northern alabama" have spoken

beginning in 2020, madison, al (just outside of huntsville) will be home to the Rocket City Trash Pandas

jfc

the eugene emeralds finished the regular season with the worst record (31-45, .408) in the eight-team northwest league, but made the playoffs through the magic of half-seasons and wild cards and tiebreakers

they proceed to win five straight playoff games, taking the championship on a walk-off balk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9QDLrFiV7Q

Durham advances to play Memphis for the AAA championship

https://www.milb.com/milb/news/joe-mccarthy-helps-durham-bulls-repeat-as-governors-cup-champions/c-294766842

affiliate shuffle has begun -- las vegas is now the a's triple-a team

triple-a shuffle is complete, and the nationals got stuck with fresno

This is a complete disaster for the #Nationals. While I tweeted yesterday that geography is usually overstated, it's not in this case. They will be 2,796 miles from Fresno, 3 time zone aways, and their new AAA affiliate has one of the smallest airports in AAA.

— Josh Suchon 🎤⚾️ (@Josh_Suchon) September 18, 2018

yikes...how..?

Dusty Baker's Revenge

the mets have been mostly stuck with shitty triple-a affiliates (new orleans, las vegas) since losing tidewater like 15 years ago -- i suspect this had something to do with the wilpons' crappy management -- so they straight-up purchased the syracuse team, which had been with the nationals, last year

after years of being bad locations, nashville and las vegas have new ballparks and are now desirable. someone was always going to get stuck with fresno -- which at least has a nice park -- but having it be with an east-coast team is rough

i don't really know how this stuff plays out -- it's very secretive and there are a lot of rules like all the affiliation deals are for the same money and you can't promise to hold a big-league exhibition game there, deals are for two or four years, no longer or shorter, etc. the pirates' triple-a club was in hawaii in the mid-80s, and the marlins had calgary in the early 2000s, but player movement is much more extreme these days. the nats are probably going to have to call up their emergency pitchers from double-a harrisburg instead just to get them there on time

this is something that is rarely discussed in MLB expansion talk -- every new team is going to need not only a big-league stadium and a spring training facility but also four or five new domestic farm clubs with professional-grade parks. that is not something that is done easily or quickly, and i'm not even sure where they'd go. the landscape is pretty saturated

http://✧✧✧.m✧✧✧.com/shared/images/logos/176x176/logo_88w_aaa_t✧✧✧@2✧.p✧✧

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DppvN0KUUAA_czt.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dr6HRwEUUAATgqK.jpg:small

Meet Traverse City's new Northwoods League baseball team -- the Traverse City Pit Spitters. I like it. A lot. pic.twitter.com/NAmVjnXwkt

— Tony Paul (@TonyPaul1984) January 29, 2019

pit spitters is dumb but like kinda fun dumb and those colors are gonna be nice

armadillo pod doodles or whatever tho that shit looks awful

Salem making history in broadcast booth
Cool, Newman to form baseball's first all-female radio team

https://www.milb.com/milb/news/salem-red-sox-making-history-in-broadcast-booth/c-304819734

PROMO HIGHLIGHT>> Florida Man Night - July 26 - Join us as we attempt to break a weird Florida law every inning! pic.twitter.com/hWVP4xXKdf

— Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (@JaxShrimp) March 6, 2019

https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/03/09/minor-league-baseball-head-sees-high-threat-of-scandal-due-to-paltry-pay-and-weak-safeguards

tbf, anyone dumb enough to bet on minor league baseball deserves what they get

https://theathletic.com/830452/2019/03/15/i-cant-afford-to-play-this-game-minor-leaguers-open-up-about-the-realities-of-their-pay-and-its-impact-on-their-lives

PawSox to host @RedSox-themed Engagement Party for @AROD & @JLo on April 12 https://t.co/ZPh7XTggT7

*Fans in Varitek or Bronson Arroyo jerseys get in free
* @BenAffleck has been invited to throw Ceremonial First Pitch
*Jennifers get in free (Yes... All "Jenny's from the block") pic.twitter.com/nR1tPJxIFY

— PawSox (@PawSox) March 20, 2019

I guess it will take more than 4 titles in 15 yrs to kill of this inferiority complex

https://portside.org/2019-04-04/opening-week-labor-solidarity-and-plight-minor-league-baseball-players

fucked up

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D56LpzHXsAEVOBO.jpg

wow that's good drainage. ground crew take a bow!

I been dere! when it was drier.

this is quite a box score

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2019_05_20_tacaaa_renaaa_1

Fresno's Memorial Day "tribute video" showed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez between images of Kim Jong-un and Fidel Castro while the voice of late former president Ronald Regan mentioned "enemies of freedom." https://t.co/ATXHDdGt4W

— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) May 28, 2019

https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article230893789.html

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D8JbA6BWsAIwKxN.jpg:small

that's a little too graphic for me, but they should make their gloves from udders

They should put little gloves on the udders

Tracked down my former student Darren Shred; he's playing for the Barrie Baycats of the International League right now (and listed as an infielder, not a pitcher).

http://pointstreak.com/baseball/player.html?playerid=1369992&seasonid=32194

Not good, I don't think--guessing he was released by the Reds' organization?

yeah, he was released back in october. i wonder if he had an injury that made pitching no longer a possibility?

Probably. He's run the gamut by now: third base when he with us, then a catcher, then a pitcher, back in the infield now.

I said International League--what I meant was Intercounty League. Fergie Jenkins played in it a couple of seasons after he retired, Rob Ducey too. I feel bad for him, but a stepping-stone to the majors it isn't.