Help Is Here
It wouldn't be unfair to criticize this blog for concentrating too much on the competition side of the minor league game, which on many levels is an individual endeavor for players over team interests. A perfect example was what took place about three hours ago here at Nettleton Stadium, two hours before tonight's Outlaws game with the Scorpions.
Catcher Matt Ceriani emerged from the Outlaws clubhouse and made his way across the field to check in on activity way over in the Yuma bullpen in left field. That's where Scorpions personnel were watching 26-year-old Vallejo left-hander Bart Braun go through a bullpen session in what was basically an informal tryout (Braun is a free agent.) Braun and Ceriani were teammates on the Sussex Skyhawks last season in the Can Am League. They're also members of a group -- a handful of current and former minor league players -- that works out together every offseason in Vallejo.
Ceriani didn't stop by Braun's session merely to say hello. He also engaged in a lengthy conversation with Shannon Hunt, Yuma manager Mike Marshall's chief assistant, and also brought Braun over to join the discussion.
"I'd love to see Bart get a look," Ceriani told me before making his way over to Hunt. "I can put in a good word, that's all I can do. Anything to help a guy from home, and someone I know is capable of pitching at this level."
Bart Braun, by the way, is actually Bart Braun Jr. The elder Bart Braun is a name major league enthusiasts might recognize -- he was an assistant general manager with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays who helped build the franchise's minor league system that paved the way for the team's rampant success in the American League East this year.