Vince Vancuso

[mauboy]

Vince Vancuso batted 8th on his high school baseball team as a senior, while batting a measly .260, he also hit a homerun in which he hit out of a 230 field down the line. He was by no means a great offensive player, but he did have some good skills on the defensive side.

When Vince got a call from a D-3 College that wanted him to play baseball for them, he was surprised, in a good way. It's what he wanted to do forever; play baseball He knew that he probably wouldn't get to play for a few years, and that's exactly what happened. He tried very hard to become a regular player for his baseball team, but he didn't get that chance until he was a senior in college. The star left fielder had dislocated his shoulder and broke his wrist all in one play which made room for Vancuso. Vince made his first start halfway through the season and made a good impression. He showed good defense along with a little life in his bat.

The team didn't do very well, but Vince ended up starting the final ten games of the season in which he batted .280, with a homerun. In the final game of the season, scouts were focusing on a few select players from each team. None gave any consideration for Vince, who just didn't look like a baseball player. The thing that caught the scouts' eyes though was his determination to get better. He had a great arm in the outfield with a great first step. He was always one of the first to the dugouts to congratulate players on a good play. He might be one of those players that just squeak by in the minors.

Vince had left a good impression to a few scouts and would possibly get some consideration for the upcoming June Draft.

[Tib]

Yay! Another ITP Dynasty! Looks good mauboy.

[mauboy]

Originally Posted by Tib

Yay! Another ITP Dynasty! Looks good mauboy.

Figured I could do this a few days a week. Why not? I get very bored in the morning on some days.

[mauboy]

After getting two calls from his girlfriend, the Twins selected Vince Vancuso in the 4th round of the draft. He went a little lower than some thought he would, but he's still happy with the $150,000. His girlfriend broke up with him because she thought he'd become rich but now she's embarrassed that he was a 4th rounder. Vince is a good looking fellow and is likely to find someone in the near future.

Minnesota Scout System has Vince rated to be a backup defensive replacement in the future. His future ratings are predicted to be:

50 Contact
20 Power
50 Eye
40 Gap
80 Speed
72 Defense
60 Stealing

Vince won't be getting any playing time to start the season because Minnesota has some good prospects in Span, Romero, and Oeltjen.

[mauboy]

Fort Meyers(A) ended up losing 4-2 while Vince came in as a pinch-hitter going 0 for 2. He had two chances to be a hero but did not do so. Perhaps its time to start reading the book, "Ross Gloads Mysterious Clutchness".

Apparently Vince forgot to read Gloads book because he went 0 for 2 again the next day with chances in the 8th and 10th innings to win the game, but he did not.

After Vince's first week of minor league baseball he is hitless in eight at-bats. He has one walk. He's been pretty pitiful in his young minor league career. Lets see if he can improve that over the rest of the month.

[mauboy]

Over the next month Vince was a part of a number of things. Vince started a rally, stole second and tied the game in the 9th. He helped his team win when he sacrificed himself to move two runners over. Once again he started a rally by singling to start the bottom of the 10th, promptly stole 2nd and scored the winning run. Probably the biggest game of the season for Vince was when he started a 9th inning, 2 out rally with a single, advancing to 2nd on an infield single and stealing third and home on an throwing error trying to get him at 3rd. This allowed for Mathew Moses to close out the game with a walk-off homerun.

After the first month, Fort Meyers is 11-11. Vince hasn't gotten to make a start yet, but he's making the most of his at-bats. After starting 0'fer 8 he's made great strides. He's now batting .308 with a .345 OBP. He's scored 5 runs, stolen 3 bases, and knocked one runner in.

Fort Meyers head coach said this about Vince in a recent Minnesota Farm System Magazine, "I like what he's done for the team so far this year. He's showing great patience at the plate and coming up big for us in some games. If he keeps it up, he'll earn a starting spot sooner than I would have thought."

[mauboy]

Vince's clutch ability has improved tremendously. On May 7th, 2004 it showed. Vince came up to the plate for the first time in the game, in the 9th inning, no less. He whacked his first double of the year with one out. He scored on outfielder, Romero's single for the win. It showed again a week later when Vince knocked in the game-tying run in the 9th inning to help Fort Meyers improve their record to 17-16 on the year. Yet another week later, in a pinch-hit appearance, Vince knocked in the game winning run with a single.

This could actually be the next Ross Gload!

[mauboy]

After two months of no starts, Vince has compiled 58 AB's. He's got 19 hits(two doubles) for a .328 BA, and a .339 OBP.

Vince is starting to wonder why his stats alone isn't pushing him up to AA, but that's not his decision. Then he realized that he doesn't even start at A, how would he start or play at AA?

[mauboy]

After complaining to himself about not getting any starts for the first two months, he finally got his wish. He was batting leadoff for Fort Meyers on June 1st. How would he do, he pondered. Ah, just pretend you're pinch-hitting everytime you go up. Look for the big hit all game.

1 for 6 is how Vince would do in his first start. A big double that continued a big scoring inning for Fort Meyers. But in the end he didn't help as his team ended up losing in 13 innings.

[Jazzmosis]

Keep it coming. Good stuff!

[mauboy]

A week into June, the coach decided Vince wasn't really fit for the leadoff spot since his eye wasn't that great(2 walks this season). Vince was moved down the lineup to the fifth spot. He'll get more RBI chances now, but less at-bats.

Halfway through June Vince showed some signs of slowing down. He's now batting .290 in 107 AB's. He's got a 6 doubles and 10 RBI's. Will AA be calling him up anytime soon? He's been trying to keep an eye out for the GM so he can get some more spending money, as he only have $10G left.

[mauboy]

The Miracle kept moving down in the minor league standings(33-43). Vince was moving the opposite way, each day he was vastly improving his game and earning his way to the cleanup spot, then after a few days locked up the spot as the number three hitter. Even though he wasn't a very powerful hitter, he was still inserted there. He got his first homerun on June 21st, in a loss, of course.

Regardless of his status as one of the best hitters on the team, his numbers weren't really showing it. He was now batting .253, the lowest since the start of the season. I'm sure Coach Ingram isn't really impressed anymore with Vince and will likely be moving him down in the order soon.

[mauboy]

After being threatened to be moved down the order, Vince showed why he should be batting in the 3 spot. He got 5 hits(3 walks too), 2 doubles, 5 RBI's over the next two games to improve his batting average back up to the .270's.

So far this season Vince has yet to make an error in the outfield. He's mainly been playing RF and CF, centerfield most of the time.

[mauboy]

Through the All-Star break, Vince has been pretty impressive. He should be moved to AA, but the Manager begs to differ. His defense has been superb. He's walking more often(17 times, .327 obp), 14 doubles, and 13 stolen bases(caught 7 times). His batting average has been steadily increasing and he's up to .275. A sprained wrist slowed Vince's production as well.

Minnesota's Farm System Magazine Reports:

Vince has showed good improvements halfway through the season, but definitely needs more improvement with his lack of overall talent. He's definitely improving his stock with 0 errors in 70 some games in the outfield this year.

Look for: End of season call-up to AA.

Major League Baseball News:

The Minnesota Twins lead the division at 47-40 over the Royals who trail by four games.

[mauboy]

Through the month of July, Vince stayed the same pretty much. He's now batting .271 with a .333 OBP. He knocked out another homerun to make his total 3. He continues to score a lot of runs, improving his total to 37 while he's only knocked in 27 men.

Fort Meyers continues to lose more games than winning. Their record is 44-59 at the beginning of August.

MLB News:

The Twins keep their lead over the Royals by 2.5 games now. Ichiro Suzuki leads the majors with a .369 BA, Jim Thome leads the Majors in homeruns with 35.

[mauboy]

The end of the minor league season has come and Vince never got the call up to AA.

He probably deserved it with the numbers that he had:

.275 BA
.340 OBP
22 2B's
6 HR's
42 RBI's
51 Runs Scored

Overall a pretty good season for an average ball player drafted in the fourth round.

[mauboy]

MLB News:

After struggling throughout the month of September, the Twins somehow find themselves in the playoffs with a .500 record.

Ichiro batted .375 to finish the season and Bonds ended up being the homerun leader with 60 of them.

The Twins took on the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs and bested them, 3-1.

The Red Sox took out the Twins in 6 games.

In the World Series, the Sox played the Cardinals. Boston took the first three games, while the Cardinals took the next three games. The final game was Boston's. World Series Champions: Boston Red Sox.

[mauboy]

For the start of the 2005 season, Vince got the call up to AA where he will bat 5th and play centerfield for New Britian.

Vince has improved his ability, and he's almost at his full potential already. One more full season and he'll likely be at his best for the rest of his career, pending and talent increases.

[mauboy]

Vince's 2nd season was pretty mediocre. He batted in the 3rd spot for the whole year pretty much. He got hurt for a two weeks which didn't help his ratings any. New Britian took the term of sucking to a whole new level as they went 49-82 on the season.

Vince's Final Stats for 2005:

.250 BA in .436 AB's
.333 OBP(Pretty much the only + this year).
17 2B's
10 HR's(surprisingly)
44RBI's
58 Runs scored

Overall pretty poor as a 3 hitter. Hopefully he'll start next season on AAA and make a move for the MLB Roster.

MLB News: The Twins missed out on the playoffs this year going 10 games under .500 for the year.

Cincinatti cruised through the playoffs to beat the Indians in 5 games to be crowned this years World Series Champs.

[mauboy]

Two Star Prospect on the Free Agent Market!

Someone pick him up, he's under-rated! His name is Vince Vancuso. Give him a shot!

To start the 2006 season, Vince was released by the Twins for some apparent reason. Vince was better then every outfielder in AAA, yet he got the boot. I have all the confidence in the world that Vince will be signed soon by another team.

Work out hard, Vince!