A Game of Adjustments

Although it has just been a few days since my last post, a lot has happened. We left Salem-Keizer with a 1-7 record to come home for three games with the Yakima Bears (the Arizona Diamondbacks affiliate). We were also met with the arrival of our new manager, Casey Kopitzke, who joined the team after our first eight games after a tragedy within his family. Casey has been great so far, encouraging the guys and giving some stability to the team with his presence.

We had a very good series against Yakima as a team, and I have also started to play better. Our first game I was the DH and recorded my first ever RBI on a sacrifice fly and it also turned out to be the game-winning RBI as we ended up winning 3-2. The next night I played third base and had a decent game, drawing two walks (we won on a walk-off hit by Greg Rohan in the bottom of the 10th inning!) and tonight I had my first multi-hit game going 2-4 with a single and a double. We also won two of the three games and now are 3-8.

Baseball is always referred to as a game of adjustments and this is especially true with each level closer to the big leagues. I never anticipated the adjustment from college to pro-ball would be easy and knew that I had a lot to learn, but it would be an understatement to say that I have been humbled by having only one hit in my first seventeen at-bats. I have been used to having success at the college level and never expected to hit as well as I did at Miami, but the main adjustment has come as a hitter. Gone are the days when most pitchers throw 86-88 mph fastballs as guys now routinely throw 91-93 and higher. Pitchers throw both inside and outside more consistently (as opposed to mostly outside in college) and also have better off-speed pitches as well. The adjustment takes time for everyone, but the quicker you can adjust the better.

Imagine any habit that you have had for days, months, or even years. You may always answer the phone the same way or have the same breakfast everyday or whatever it may be, but these habits become second nature. We never really think about how we answer the phone, and I never thought too much about whether there was a better way to field a ground ball or swing a bat. When I arrived in Boise, I began to work with our interim manager Frankie Font and our hitting coach Ricardo Medina to change my approach both offensively and defensively. The changes we made (and are still working on) will definitely benefit in the long-run, but the trick is to also have some success now as well. I have been making changes in my swing that will help me hit for more power and "hit like a 6'3" guy as Medina always tells me. Medina is never afraid to tell me if I'm "hitting like Valdez" (our lightning-fast centerfielder who basically tries to just put the ball in play and beat the ball to first)!

I'm starting to really like the guys on the team and have started learning a little Korean courtesy of Jae-Hoon Ha and Spanish from some of the Latin players (Bellakaye, means home run and there is a 0% chance I spelled it right). We are leaving bright and early tomorrow morning at 7 A.M. for the bus to Tri-City.

Boise Hawks #37,

JP

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I'm trying not to steal too much from Bill Simmons and Mark "the Shark" Titus but I'm also going to attempt to add a YouTube video at the end of every post. I'll try to keep them baseball related and hopefully they are entertaining...

Josh Womack does a few other bat tricks before a Long Beach Armada game

Life in the Northwest

The idea for this blog came from both Uncle Dan and Ellen as a way to keep family and friends in touch with everything that is going on in my life in the minor leagues, mainly because the two and three hour time differences make it difficult to do so. I will try to update the blog as often as I can, mainly when something new or interesting happens so everyone can stay up-to-date on my exciting summer in Idaho!

So to start I want to give just a quick summary of the past two or so weeks and the whirlwind that I have been in since the draft. I left Monday the 15th for Mesa, Arizona for a physical and hopefully to leave shortly on a plane to Boise for Class A ball. However, it took almost two full days for me to get cleared medically (although I was one of the first guys to get cleared) so I missed the first trip to Boise so that I could get my feet wet in Rookie ball in Mesa. After a couple days of practice where I played really well, my manager in Mesa (everyone called him PP) pulled me aside during practice that Friday to tell me that I was being called up to Boise in time for the first game.

I flew to Boise and had no knowledge of who would be waiting for me once I arrived, although I eventually met my host-parents, the Fenns. The Fenns are awesome! It's terrible being away from everyone and being behind in time too, but my host-parents have made the transition as easy as it could be and have even given me a car to drive for the summer!

My host-parents took me straight from the airport to the field where I met some of the guys, got a locker and equipment and attempted to play some catch-up with everything that the guys who had been there for a few days had already learned. I was hopeful to play that first night, however there was some mix-up with my contract and I was told that I would not be cleared to play until Monday, the 22nd. So I sat and watched the first two games, which we lost, and showed up to the field Monday ready to play. I was in the lineup hitting fifth and playing first base (first time for everything I guess!), only to get scratched from the lineup shortly thereafter because my contract still had not cleard. The new deadline was Wednesday the 24th, which would be in Salem, Oregon.

After our third home game in a row to start the season, we left for Salem after our game was over at roughly 11:15 at night with an eight hour trip ahead of us. After about 3 hours of sleep and listening to almost every song on my iPod, we finally arrived in Salem at 6:15 A.M. on Tuesday. We lost again that night but I could hardly sleep because I was supposed to be cleared to play my first game as a professional baseball player the following day!

I arrived at the park on Wednesday and was hitting in the first (of three) hitting groups which meant that I would be starting that night (the first two groups are made up of the starters for that nights game). I eventually saw the lineup and I was hitting fifth and playing third base. The game didn't exactly go my way as my first at-bat was a strikeout and so was my last, although I hit two balls hard in between. The next night I hit third in the lineup and was the DH for the game and ended up getting my first hit as a professional baseball player!!! I wish it would have been a more memorable moment, a towering homerun or a double off of the wall, but it ended up being a broken-bat single into left-center field. I ended up with just the one hit and struggled a little tonight as well, going 0-4 again.

Things will turn around soon at the plate and I will continue to keep everyone informed as long as you are interested in reading!


Boise Hawks #37,

JP