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RELIGION BECOMES AN IMPORTANT PART OF BASEBALL SCENE
THE God Squad. That nickname has followed the San Francisco Giants since 1978, eventually giving them a reputation of a team somehow weakened by the presence of several ''born-again'' Christians.
Friday, December 29, 2017
Is The ‘Old School’ Method of Teaching Hitting Outdated?
Listen to Angela Duckworth on Grit in Podcasts
Listen to Angela Duckworth on Grit from EconTalk in Podcasts. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/econtalk/id135066958?mt=2&i=1000373059701
How important is grit relative to talent? Can grit be taught? Angela Duckworth of the University of Pennsylvania and author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance talks with with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the nature of success in work, play and life. How much does grit matter? Is grit malleable or something we're born with? Duckworth discusses her research on these questions and how to think about what it means for a child and an adult to thrive.
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WHY we coach | Coach Cano, ONEighty Athletics
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ONEighty Athletics, LLC, 102 Clements Ave, Starkville, MS 39759, United States
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ONEighty Athletics, LLC, 102 Clements Ave, Starkville, MS 39759, United States
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
2018 CBD Top 100 Countdown: 39. Sean Hjelle (Kentucky) – College Baseball Daily
Hjelle would be an intriguing pick for the Giant in the 2nd round.
from College Baseball Daily:
http://www.collegebaseballdaily.com/2017/12/26/2018-cbd-top-100-countdown-39-sean-hjelle-kentucky/
The 6-foot-11, 215 pound right-handed pitcher enters the 2018 season as one of the top pitching prospects in the country.You can see from the video that is a very tall, lanky right-handed with a cross-body delivery.His fastball is able to get on hitters quick. I watched him pitched several times in 2017 and he just knows how to get hitters out. I wasn’t as blown away by his stuff as I was hit ability to get hitters our and work deep into games.We’ll see how he follows up a breakout sophomore season as he tries to move up into the first round of the MLB Draft.
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Friday, December 22, 2017
Giants 2018 Prospects: Pitchers Edition
I just finished updating the Giants minor league prospects statistical profiles and there were some real surprises throughout the organization. We'll start with the pitchers and finish up with the hitters in a separate post. The surprise is that, much like the Giants 21st century track record (shown above), the Giants have not done as bad a job as advertised and the system isn't as barren as some would have you believe, even after the recent deals.
Let's start with the starting pitchers:
- Tyler Beede is Chris Stratton which is to say an iffy bet to give solid, consistent starts, based on their prior performance and statistical profile.
- Chris Stratton is a fringe prospect at best, flashes a good start here and there, but we had guys do that to death in 2017 and it leads to a 64-98 record.
- Sam Wolff, who was just picked up from TX in the Matt Moore deal, is a tepid prospect, but his statistical profile appears to be a bit better that Stratton and Beede, if that tells you anything. I almost puked.
- Ty Blach is solid. Solid as a rock.
- Andrew Suarez is Ty Blach, with a chance to be better. Great pitch-ability, great consistency. Solid if unspectacular, and another lefty. Lefties are Dodger killers so, you know......<3 li="">
- Shaun Anderson is a SOLID pickup from the Red Sox for Edwin Nunez. It wouldn't surprise me if he contributes solidly in the near future. He's starting in the minors but has closed for University of Florida.
- D.J. Snelten is a SOLID prospect and it wouldn't surprise me if he contributes in a big way out of the bullpen. Hopefully in 2018.
- Sam Coonrod has fallen off the radar.
- Garrett Williams is a favorite of many, I think it's a borderline case right now and behind the others mentioned earlier.
At the major league level, a lot revolves around Derek Law getting his head straight. I don't think his arm or his stuff are at issue. He seems to differ on pitch selection more than most, so the Giants need to get him on the same page and move forward or part ways.
Steven Okert needs to get the stars out of his eyes and just pitch. His stuff is good enough.
Those two only elevate the bullpen. Law had the makings of a future closer and ended up in the minors. If he doesn't come through, Reyes Moronta looks ready to step in and be the guy. Julian Fernandez, Sam Wollf and Kyle Crick round out the back end of the bullpen. In the future, watch out for Garret Cave from the University of Tampa. Just a hunch and based on a small sample size, but keep an eye out.
I wouldn't be too heart-broken over a 2018 starting rotation of:
Bumgarner LHP
Cueto RHP
Blach LHP
Samardzija RHP
Suarez LHP
I know many would prefer Stratton and/or Beede in there instead of Blach and Suarez. I don't mind two or three out of five LHP's. Stratton looked like he was getting things together late last year, so hopefully the trend continues and in that case Suarez challenges Blach for the final spot.
+ Propsects: Andrew Suarez, D.J. Snelten, Reyes Moronta, Shaun Anderson, and Garret Williams
I am high on Derek Law bouncing back, Okert getting his act together and Ty Blach continuing to produce. If Moronta and Okert contribute, it adds length and versatility to the bullpen.
?? Prospects: Julian Fernandez, Sam Wollf
Fernandez probably goes back to the Rockies unless he flashes over his prior profile
in spring training. I don't know how they clog a roster spot on a ??
- Prospects: Tyler Beede, Chris Stratton, Kyle Crick, Sam Coonrod
I'd like to be wrong on Beede and/or Stratton, but.....I just don't see it based on performance and their statistical profiles, which flash AVERAGE prospect, but the expectations are PREMIUM prospect.
The hitters are up next. Some pleasant surprises there as well, and some of the SOSDD kind of stuff.
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Giants get Longo in a bittersweet deal (on both sides)
My initial reaction was "Oh, no!! The Rays snookered us again" but this is a "face of the franchise" kind of guy and has been for the Rays. Described as a "winning player" on a team that has been a symbol of losing, almost since inception.
He has been through a lot with the Rays and hopefully he regroups and rededicates himself to perform at an All-Star level. He slipped to 3.6 WAR, which would be only behind Posey on the Giants last year.
To me, Span is addition by subtraction (-1.1 WAR last season) but a local Tampa product, who could also be revitalized by a change off scenery. Arroyo is a scrappy competitor, fan favorite type of guy and also a local product (Pasco-Hernando HS). Of the two minor league pitchers, Krook was one of the more highly regarded LHP's to start his senior year, but slipped somewhat by the end of the season. If he clicks, he makes this deal swing to the Rays side of the ledger. Woods is a favorite of some of the SFG "prospect mafia", who want to trade Bumgarner for three or four prospects they can circle-jerk over. So a long-shot, but who knows?.....Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.
The Giants receiving CA$H in the deal, from the Rays must be some sort of baseball insider cruel joke on the state of the game economically. Like me donating money to Mitt Romney or Donald Trump.
The Giants receiving CA$H in the deal, from the Rays must be some sort of baseball insider cruel joke on the state of the game economically. Like me donating money to Mitt Romney or Donald Trump.
Glad to have Longo, I didn't think it would happen this soon, if at all. Hopefully, Tampa sends him off the way they should, which is like the champion he is. He deserves no less, he gave them everything he had.
Good luck to Christian Arroyo, the Giants will miss his fight. I didn't want to lose Panik and I didn't want to lose Arroyo. You just can't keep 'em all.
from thescore.com:
Rays trade franchise stalwart Longoria to Giants
Rays trade franchise stalwart Longoria to Giants
It's the end of an era in Tampa Bay.The Rays traded third baseman Evan Longoria to the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday in exchange for outfielder Denard Span, top-prospect infielder Christian Arroyo, left-hander Matt Krook, and right-hander Stephen Woods Jr., the clubs announced.San Francisco will also receive cash in the deal, according to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal."Evan is our greatest Ray," Tampa Bay owner Stuart Sternberg said in a statement, via Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. "For a decade, he's been at the center of all of our successes, and it's a very emotional parting for us all."
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Giants re-sign Nick Hundley
The Giants seem to want to lavish more riches and security on guys that haven't done a lick for the franchise, rather than for those who have been around for a while.
That dynamic really has to change and fast. Congrats to Nick Hundley.
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When the Giants were known as the "God Squad" | RELIGION BECOMES AN IMPORTANT PART OF BASEBALL SCENE - NYTimes.com
A blast from the past, the late 1970's early 80's version and the more recent vintage (link above).
Amazing how it's never an issue when the team is winning, only when things head south. What do you expect from the media?
The basis for this reputation seems to be a quote attributed to Bob Knepper, now with the Houston Astros, that it was ''God's will'' when he gave up a game-losing home run. Although Knepper and his friends deny he made the statement, it continues to follow him and the Giants, and popped up in several baseball previews this spring.
''The tone of the article makes us sound pacified, but God does not expect us to be goody-two-shoes,'' says Gary Lavelle, a 32-yearold relief pitcher who once pitched in an All-Star Game and is the leader of the spiritual movement in the Giant clubhouse.
As a result of the quote, a few Giants have worried whether their ''born-again'' teammates are intense enough, even though many Giants praise the witnessing players as among the most dedicated of players. The confusion points out the problems in mixing religious beliefs with the simplified perceptions of sports.
Religious witnessing has become more common in all sports in the last decade, particularly in baseball, where chapel meetings are held in the clubhouse every Sunday with the endorsement of Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.
The ''God Squad'' label began in 1978 when the Giants contended for first place until late in the season, but ultimately finished third. Many of the Giants were active in the Baseball Chapel, a Sunday-morning prayer service run by Watson Spoelstra of St. Petersburg, Fla., a retired sportswriter. Several Giants also became deeply involved in Bible study groups on their own time.
The ''born-again'' movement was hardly confined to a few locker rooms in the 1970's, but was a growing religious force in America, based on Biblical evangelical tradition. Evangelicals accept the full authority of the Bible, have made a personal spiritual commitment to Christ, and also accept the responsibility of witnessing their faith to others.The basis for this commitment is taken from John 3:3, in which Jesus tells Nicodemus: ''I tell you the truth: no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.''
Just as President Carter and many other public figures spoke openly of their faith, so did athletes when given the opportunity. ''A lot of neat things were happening in 1978,'' says Rob Andrews, an infielder on that squad, now a youth pastor and teacher in Concord, Calif. ''A lot of us were having success on the field and finding Christ in our personal lives. As long as we were winning, the Christians were given credit for being a driving force on that team.'' Example of a Teammate
Andrews recalls that he had been traded from Baltimore and Houston with a reputation as a hothead. In the minor leagues he once asked his manager, Joe Altobelli, to install a punching bag behind the dugout so he could punch away his frustrations. He still had personal problems when Altobelli, then managing the Giants, brought him to San Francisco in 1977 and his locker was next to Lavelle's.
''I saw Gary Lavelle go through hard times that would have killed me,'' Andrews recalls. ''But he was always calm. He never preached to me but one day I asked him, 'Gary, what is it?' He said it was Christ.''
In 1979 the Giants never regained the winning touch, and Altobelli lost his job. Rumors began circulating that the Giants had been divided between carousers and born-againers, as if they were two extremes surrounding some kind of competitive ideal.
''Some guys fight like tigers but they always seem calm,'' says Altobelli, now the third-base coach with the Yankees. ''Other guys, Italian guys maybe, talk with their hands, get more physical. It takes all kinds. I had no complaint about those guys. Our problem in 1979 was pitching, not our chapel guys.''
The chief criticism from that year was the ''God's will'' quote attributed to Knepper after he gave up a home run. He says he can neither recall the game nor the quote. Knepper, who has pitched three shutouts this season with Houston, says he originally said, ''A lot of people believe we pray to God for victory and that we say it is God's will if we lose, but we never say that.
''We say God lets you perform. I do believe that as long as I give my best, I can't determine the outcome, but a Christian still has to go out and bust his fanny every day. I believe Christ died on the cross so I would give my best in life. For me to give up a home run and say God made me hang a curve ball is ridiculous. He doesn't play favorites. He gave me a certain amount of talent for me to use the right way.''
Fritz Peterson, a former major-league player now a chapel representative in the Chicago area, says, ''The religion was something that could be used against players, just like when I was pitching and my weight was fine as long as I was winning but I became overweight when I started to lose. Yet I never changed a pound. Some people said these guys were pacifists but they always played tough within the rules. I firmly believe that if Jesus Christ was sliding into second base, he would knock the second baseman into left field to break up the double play. Christ might not throw a spitball but he would play hard within the rules.''
Criticism From the PressThe born-again Giants claim that most reporters who cover the club regularly were fairer than some columnists. Lavelle recalls: ''One columnist wrote we were not getting anywhere by praying to Jesus and that maybe we should try praying to Satan. I remember that column well. I was not really surprised. The Bay Area is the center of devil worship, radical groups and homosexuality in this country. It is a satanic region.''The evangelical players insist most of the criticism came from the press, but several suggest that Altobelli's replacement, Dave Bristol, was a little less tolerant than Altobelli. Now raising horses in the dogwood spring of North Carolina, Bristol said: ''I saw Rob Andrews turn his life around, and that was great.
''I do think there has to be a line drawn somewhere. The Lord is watching over all of us once the game starts. I don't like to think anybody uses religion as a crutch. It's supposed to make you a stronger person, not a better player.
''But I never said anything about those guys and nobody said anything to me. I didn't always understand Bob Knepper but I liked him a lot. I don't think religion was his problem - it was mechanics - dropping to a side-arm delivery. Bobby is a battler. I never thought he was complaisant.''
Frank Robinson, the new manager of the Giants, says he knows nothing about the issue. Joe Torre, manager of the Mets, says he has seen Pete Falcone become a more controlled adult since his spiritual conversion.Chuck Tanner of the Pirates points to his intense born-again shortstop, Tim Foli - once known as ''Chief Crazy Horse,'' fighter of teammates, opponents, managers and umpires alike -and says, ''Nobody is more of a battler than Foli. I think religion has a place everywhere. I go to the chapel meetings myself whenever I can.''
Both the Mets and the Yankees hold chapel meetings every Sunday, with Tom Skinner, a former street-gang member-turned-evangelist, coordinating the services for the Yankees. Dave Swanson is the Baseball Chapel representative to the Mets, whose attendance is not as high as some other teams, according to Falcone. Roman Catholic priests occasionally visit both the Met and Yankee clubhouses. Although Torre praised Falcone for his growth since his spiritual experience, the manager said he did not want to discuss whether he had ever seen a player become complacent following a conversion. ''Religion is a touchy subject,'' Torre said.
Did any Giant player feel concern over the zeal of the born-again players? Randy Moffitt, a regular at chapel, says he detected ''a little bit of it a few years ago, but it's all gone now.'' Lavelle says he heard rumors the born-again players took a separate bus on trips.
One Giant said, off the record, two years ago that he thought that a few teammates were spending too much time in prayer and not enough time in practice, but that same player said last week, ''We should probably be more like them.'' Pressure for a Commitment
One Giant who raised concerns recently is Darrell Evans, one of the founders of the Giants' chapel group who says he feels estranged from his evangelical teammates because he perceives ''pressure'' on him to make a stronger spiritual commitment.
''For the last couple of years this club has been frustrating,'' Evans said recently. ''When a game is over, you should reflect on it. I want to see everybody is involved 100 percent. I just don't get good vibes sometimes. I see a guy come off the field, I think, maybe it's just not that important to him. It looks like he just went through a normal day's work.
''This is not a 9-to-5 job. I'm not saying we should throw things around the clubhouse, but a few times in baseball I've seen guys who used to be very intense and are now very placid. You wonder if guys think things are predestined.''
John Montefusco, who was traded from the Giants to Atlanta this season, says his religious beliefs differ from the evangelicals but he praises them strongly.
''When I was pitching for the Giants I hated to come out of a game,'' Montefusco said recently, ''but I always felt better when Gary Lavelle came in for me. You could see he had competitive spirit. He may hold back his feelings, and maybe that's not healthy, but he is one of the finest people I've ever met in baseball. These are good people. They are my friends. I think the press took a few things and blew it out of proportion to make those guy look bad.''
Lavelle says he has tried to avoid the ''religious fanatic'' label by not preaching to people unless they ask him about his faith. He is disturbed that what seems like a positive to him, a stable life, an even disposition, could be described as a potential detriment for a team.
''It seems so natural to me to carry my faith with me into the locker room,'' Lavelle says. ''I'm not asking for things, but I believe my relationship to Christ makes me a better husband, father, ballplayer. To see it turned around the way it has been - it makes me wonder.''
Illustrations: Photo of Gary Lavelle
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