The story of Jeff McMillan (re-re try...)

[TheKenoshaKid]

**NOTE** This is just the preface, introduction, etc. (notes and stuff...) If you want to skip to the action, the story begins in my next post.



Yes, those of you keeping track will notice this is my third dynasty where I follow a player's career.

In my first one, I didn't have the settings right, and I lost the second one when I had to re-install Vista on my laptop. Everything got wiped clean...but third times the charm? I hope so...

So this time I browsed through the draft pool and chose Third-Baseman Jason McMillan. He immediately caught my eye because not only did he come from the University of Washington (where I go to school), he also shares my exact birthday. For some reason, that mattered a lot, so I kinda...had to pick him.


So before I begin the official "story" (later tonight probably), here's some info on him:

#21 JEFF MCMILLAN - THIRD BASE
Bats: R Throws: R
6'1", 200 lbs
Born: 12/08/87 in Copiague, NY

2010 College Stats (Univ. of Wash.):
G:44 AB:200 R:40 H:54 2B:4 3B:1 HR:2 RBI:24
.270/.333/.330/.663

RATINGS (potential)
CON:34(43) GAP:41(50) HR:8(14) EYE:22(40) Ks:25(39)
RANGE:55 ERROR:93 ARM:71 DP:33
3B:66 2B:22 SS:14
SPEED:44 STEALING:73

LEADER ABIL: Normal
LOYALTY: High
DESIRE FOR WINNER: Very Low
GREED: High
INTELLIGENCE: High
WORK ETHIC: Very High
"A baseball rat, he's the first one to the park each day and the last one to leave"




THANKS TO:

Dr. P.R. Park III (for his World of Baseball 2.0 mod which im using for this)
Bix Six (for giving me the idea in the first place with this Tom Haley story)

[TheKenoshaKid]

MAY 30, 2010
Dedeaux Field, Los Angeles, CA
UW @ USC
Top of the 9th inning, 2 outs, USC leading 11-5.

*PINGG!*
*ttthHWOP!*

And just like that, Jeff McMillan's college baseball career came to an abrupt end. He had just finished stealing second base and was ready to score as soon as he heard the crack of the bat. (well, the PING! of the bat...) Unfortunately, the batter sent a screaming line drive right into the first baseman's glove for the third out.

It was a disappointing way to end his final game of college ball. Of course, it didn't really matter, as both his Washington Huskies and the USC Trojans occupied the bottom two spots in the PAC-10. Either way, it was the last game of the season for both of them.

Jeff didn't quite know how to react as he walked off the field, into the locker room...for the last time. He was pretty down; his team had a mediocre season and he put up mediocre numbers. "but the draft!", he thought. "My god, only a couple weeks away! This is incredible...within two weeks I could be an actual professional ballplayer...getting paid to do this somehow...no more metal bats and that annoying *ping!* *ping!*..."

*PING!* *PING!* *PING!* *PING!*

"Oh goddamn it Ryan that is the worst ringtone in existence..."

His best friend and roommate Ryan Knight (second base) knew that one of Jeff's pet peeves was the sound of an aluminum bat, so he decided it would be hilarious to record the sound and use it as his cell phone ringtone. He came to this decision on opening day, and to him it was just as funny as ever.

"Ryan, is anybody even calling you? or did you-"

"-I just turned it on when I saw you. I know how much you love that sound"

This instantly put Jeff in a better mood. It was impossible to stay mad at Ryan, with all his stupid jokes that were only funny to him. Jeff and Ryan were a pretty mismatched pair, but that served as sort of a "balance" between the two. Jeff was constantly stone-faced and professional, while Ryan never seemed to take anything seriously. Jeff was built like a ballplayer "should" be built, while Ryan could best be described as a cross between "David Eckstein" and "David Eckstein back when he was in middle school".

"You seem kinda...low energy today Jeff. whats up?"

"Uh...I dunno...it's probably the heat or something. It was miserable out there"

Ryan laughed "Then lose some weight, fatty! I was perfectly fine. The weather was great"

"Ryan, you weigh like 50 pounds. If you were a normal person, you'd realize that it was literally an oven out there. I was standing in an oven. For three hours. They replaced third base with an actual oven."

"THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT THE HOT CORNER!", Ryan replied in a deep, loud voice. It was one of his many impressions he loved to do. He called that one "every color announcer in the history of ever".

Jeff knew he would miss these idiotic conversations. All he could think about was that long trip back to Long Island to play the waiting game. It was going to be a very interesting summer.

[TheKenoshaKid]

JUNE 16, 2010

The "long, agonizing wait" that Jeff was dreading seemed to last about ten minutes. Before he knew it, he had gotten the good news that he has been drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 16th Round and assigned to the Spokane Indians, the Rangers' short-season A affiliate.

Ryan had to wait a bit longer, but he too was the recipient of some life-changing news. The Minnesota Twins selected him in the 39th round and sent him to Rookie-league Elizabethton. Jeff was thoroughly enjoying giving Ryan a hard time over the phone.

"So Ryan...39th round huh? Is that...is that better than 16th round? or is it worse? Cause I don't know, you might wanna Wikipedia that...is it better to be drafted 23 whole rounds before someone else?"

"Is this seriously your first official act as a pro ballplayer? How old are you?"

"Why I'm 22 whole years old, Ryan. Which, come to think of it, is less than 23...which is the amount of rounds between you and me. That kinda sucks for you, right?"

"Dude come on, in a week we'll both be-"

"Playing pro baseball? Yeah, have fun in Rookie League. I don't know if you know this, but Rookie is lower than A...by like a full level, man"

"Short season A, Jeff..."

"Still higher than Rookie league"

"Not much higher"

"So you admit I'm better than you."

(this continued for a while, let's skip ahead...)


JUNE 21, 2010
Spokane, Washington

Well, there he was, back in the Northwest. His first professional team, the Spokane Indians would be facing the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes at home for the first game of the season. The first game of Jeff's professional career. Jeff had a stomach somewhere in his butterflies as he checked the lineup card:

6. Jeff McMillan, 3B

"This is the single happiest moment of my life", he told himself. He had actually told himself this about ten separate times within the past week, but it never stopped being true.


BOTTOM 2nd
Jeff led off the inning against Volcanoes starter Aaron King, score tied at 0-0. He fouled off pitch after pitch but finally hit a clean single to left on a 2-2 fastball. "OK, this is the single happiest moment of my life..."


FINAL SCORE: Spokane 5, Salem-Keizer 0
That single turned out to be Jeff's only hit, but he added a sacrifice grounder in the third and ended up going 1-4 with an RBI. He even got to make the final out, snagging a soft liner to give Spokane pitcher Wilmer Font an impressive shutout victory.

Jeff's baseball career is now officially underway...

[HGVoyager]

Ha ha ha... funny stuff here! Good read. Keep it up!

[TheKenoshaKid]

AUGUST 8, 2010

The Indians' game at home against the Vancouver Canadians started out normal enough, but that only lasted until the second batter. After the leadoff hitter was retired via strikeout, the next batter stepped up to the plate and popped up the first pitch into shallow left field. Jeff went sprinting towards the ball, and so did left fielder Ricardo Corona (or "Ricky Beer" as some fans and teammates liked to call him).

Jeff and Ricky collided like a couple of angry freight trains on PCP (I know that doesn't make sense but that's what it felt like). Jeff collapsed on the field in a daze. His manager (former major leaguer Tim Hulett) and some of the coaches came sprinting out to help him. Jeff was...pretty out of it.

"I gotta...I gotta...go do that thing...the thing with the...with the glove...uhhhhhhh and the running. Also...ball? Theres a ball. I wanna go do that now", Jeff tried to explain, still laying on the ground.

The word Jeff was looking for (in case you were wondering) was "Baseball". He was trying to convince his manager that he was good to keep playing. It was a pretty unconvincing argument, to say the least.

"Come on Jeff, let's get you inside, we'll get you looked at."

This set off an alarm in Jeff's foggy head. "Did he just end that sentence in a preposition?", Jeff thought to himself. "Oh my god he did". Ending a sentence in a preposition was one of 'the holy trinity' when it came to pissing Jeff off. (The other two were "irregardless" and "could care less")

To Jeff's brain, the most important priority now was to correct his manager's unacceptable grammar mistake. But how to break it to him gently? Jeff was a hardcore Yankee fan growing up, but always liked Tim even though he was an Oriole. Better mention that.

"I was a yankee fan but also baltimore is good they have crab there."

Tim chuckled. "Honestly Jeff I could care less about that right now, we need to get you inside now. Can you move?"

"Oh my god did he really just say that?!"



So Jeff got a concussion and will have to miss 2 weeks. He's only hitting .244 with a .620 OPS. He's been good with the glove, but he'll need to step it up a notch when he gets back.

[TheKenoshaKid]

AUGUST 31, 2010

(Jeff returned from the disabled list on August 24, and over the next 7 games went 10-29 with 5 doubles.)

Manager Tim Hulett had told Jeff he needed a word with him after that day's game, a commanding 8-0 win in Boise. He could tell Jeff was nervous.

"Uh skip...is this about all the granola bars I've been stealing from the clubhouse?"

"Actually Jeff, I was...wait what?"

(Jeff was talking a mile a minute) "Im sorry but they only sell them at Costco, and they're amazing, but the nearest Costco's so far away from my house, and my car isn't even-"

"Jeff, I wanted to talk to you because I've got some good news. You're being assigned to the Bakersfield Blaze. You're moving up a level."

Jeff was relieved.

"Oh thank god cause you know I don't even have a Costco card and I keep forgetting to sign up for one and did you know it costs money for one? I never knew that..."

As Jeff kept going on and on about how sorry he was and how he learned that stealing is wrong, Tim smiled. He was going to miss that weird kid.


SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Jeff made quite the first impression in Bakersfield, going 8-18 with a double in just 5 games at third base. The regular season was now officially over for Bakersfield, and luckily they had already clinched a playoff spot by the time Jeff arrived. They were about to begin the California League playoffs in High Desert (Mavericks).

before the playoffs start, here's Jeff's 2010 stats

                          G    AB    R    H   2B 3B  HR   RBI    AVG   OBP   SLG
10Spokane(A-,Tex)        49   189   23   49   11  0   1    22   .259  .333  .333
  Bakersfield(A,Tex)      5    18    1    8    1  0   0     1   .444  .545  .500

*Oh and one thing I forgot to mention: Jeff played 461.2 innings at Third Base and didn't make a single error!

[TheKenoshaKid]

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

The Bakersfield Blaze started out strong in the first round, sweeping the High Desert Mavericks with ease. They rode that momentum into the championship series, winning the first game against the Inland Empire 66ers 9-0.

The good times didn't last, though. Inland Empire simply caught fire, and managed to win the next four games to win the California League Championship.

It wasn't all bad news, though. Jeff's impressive work at third base with Spokane certainly did not go unnoticed. He was awarded the Northwest League's Glove Wizard Award for Third Basemen. So it was a bittersweet way to end Jeff's first year in professional baseball, but all-in-all Jeff felt pretty good about his performance.

[TheKenoshaKid]

MAY 27, 2011

Jeff was enjoying a week in Seattle, visiting some old college friends. He had learned he was to be assigned to Spokane again, so he had another month before the season began. This would be his last chance to enjoy a relaxing week, not having to think about baseball for a change.

The trip lasted about 5 minutes before he started thinking about baseball again.

On this particular night, he and Ryan decided to go to a Mariners game. The Yankees were in town, so Jeff was decked out in full Yankee attire. He was over-thinking things as usual...

"I'm telling you, what if like...someone from the Rangers sees me like this? I could be in big trouble!"

"Jeff, if you were so worried about someone seeing you, why did you wear Yankees gear to the game?"

"Cause I love the Yankees. Today, this isn't Jeff the Rangers prospect, this is Jeff the Yankee fan watching the yankees play"

"But did you have to paint your face?"

"As a matter of fact, I did"

"Then just chill out. Nobody's gonna recognize you. And I won't tell on you...probably. I might not tell on you. Maybe. Anyway, I'm wearing a Mariners jersey, you don't see me being paranoid."

"Well that's different, Ryan, you-"

Jeff stopped cold, and remembered why he should not have even began that sentence. Ryan had just been released by the Twins about a week ago, after an unimpressive and injury-plagued 2010. Jeff felt lower than dirt.

Ryan smiled. "It's OK Jeff, you don't have to worry about me, I'll be fine. There's some independent league teams I'm looking at, I think I've got a good shot with a few of them. I'm good."

This made Jeff feel a little better, but he still looked concerned. Ryan kept trying to reassure him.

"In fact, it's kinda funny. Just think: a year ago we were both wondering where we were going to play that year, and here I am, wondering the exact same thing this year. Kinda ironic, in a way."

Now, most people would have agreed with Ryan and just dropped the subject. But not Jeff. He had to say something.

"You know Ryan...nothing about that scenario is ironic. In any way. At all. Do you even know what that word means?"

Ryan laughed. "Jesus Jeff, you have got to be the most anal person I've ever met."

"I'm not that anal. I just respect the English language, is all..."

"No Jeff, I swear if I were to look up the word 'anal' in the dictionary, your picture would be right there. That's how anal you are about everything"

Jeff thought hard about this. "That would have to be one terrible dictionary. Very unprofessional."

They both burst out in laughter, and the tension and awkwardness was finally gone.

[TheKenoshaKid]

JUNE 21, 2011

Opening day for the Spokane Indians. They were in Eugene, Oregon facing the Eugene Emeralds. Before the game, their manager (Tim Hulett again) had announced that second baseman Luis Costa had been scratched and sent home with the flu. Jeff was chatting with fellow infielder Scott Joseph about the news as they were stretching.

"So they moved you to from Shortstop to Second Base today, huh?" Jeff asked.

"Yeah, they told me Luis was real sick, so I'm filling in at second and Ron's gonna be playing short till he comes back."

Ron Maddox, the last-minute replacement at second base joined their chat.

"Yeah, lucky break for me I guess. They told me I'd be on the bench mostly...I sure wasn't expecting this."

"Poor Luis though. Sick on opening day...terrible luck", Jeff said.

Ron smirked "must be that time of the month". Both Scott and Ron chuckled a little bit at the joke. Jeff however, saw this as a perfect opportunity to make a good first impression on his new teammates and let out a loud, hearty laugh...followed by a long, wolf-like howl.

Ron and Scott didn't know quite how to react. Did this Jeff guy have Tourette's or something?

"Uh..." Jeff started to panic, seeing how silent and confused his new "friends" were. "You know...like...like a warewolf? Cause it's that time of the month? A full moon? Cause Luis is a...is a warewolf? That's the joke?" Oh god it was awkward.

"Um, jeff..." Scott explained. "Ron was implying that Luis is a woman. A woman on her period. And that's why he's sick. Cause he's on his period."

Jeff decided that this might have been the worst first-impression of all-time.

[TheKenoshaKid]

AUGUST 1, 2011

Spokane's season was about halfway over, and Jeff was feeling good. He had managed to recover from his opening day "awkwardness" and actually started to become close to Scott and Ron. They had gotten used to his odd sense of humor and obsessive nature, and he seemed to fit right in now.

While he was still struggling with home runs (only one so far), his batting line was a very respectable .338/.410/.441. Definitely an improvement over last year. Even Ryan's career was looking brighter. He had gotten a spot on the independent league Brockton Rox of the Can-Am league, and was doing a pretty decent job as their everyday second baseman.

Jeff's Indians were in a heated battle with the Tri-City Dust Devils for first place, and had been all year. Things are looking promising for Jeff...

[ml3]

Good story so far, keep it up!

[TheKenoshaKid]

SEPTEMBER 10, 2011

And Jeff's headed to the playoffs again! He spent the entire year with the Spokane Indians, and they just defeated the Tri-City Dust Devils in a 1-game playoff. So now they're headed to the Northwest League championship series to face the Eugene Emeralds.

I'll start updating the playoff series in the next post, so here's his yearly career stats update...

                           G    AB    R    H   2B 3B  HR  RBI    AVG   OBP   SLG
10-Spokane(A-,Tex)        49   189   23   49   11  0   1   22   .259  .333  .333
   Bakersfield(A,Tex)      5    18    1    8    1  0   0    1   .444  .545  .500
11-Spokane(A-,Tex)        64   262   32   80   16  1   2   36   .305  .381  .397

Nice improvement across the board. His OPS is .778, compared to last year's .667. Still not much on the home run front, but it appears his gap power is doing fine and his average is probably the most noticable difference.

He didn't have a perfect error-less season like he did in 2010, but managed to have a .975 fielding pct and a 3.19 range factor. (for comparison: real-life 2010 AL GG winner Evan Longoria had a .966 with a 2.73 RF. NL GG winner Scott Rolen had a .977 with a 2.87 RF.)

[TheKenoshaKid]

SEPTEMBER 10, 2011
Eugene, Oregon

This was the most nervous Jeff had been all year. It had nothing to do with the playoff series beginning that night, though. (After all, it was just another game) What made tonight special was the lineup card. The lineup card that listed Jeff as the second baseman.

"Don't worry Jeff, you've got this...you're on top of this...don't let it phase you." he told himself as he tied his shoes. Or...shoe? Yes, Jeff was about to walk into the dugout with one shoe on. He couldn't imagine where he could have misplaced his left shoe...

Actually, his left shoe was on his right foot. He found his right shoe stuffed in his locker; it had somehow been there for the last 30 minutes. Jeff might have been a bit distracted.

It all started a couple days ago, when Luis Costa (as in "must be that time of the month...") broke his ankle in the last game of the year vs. Tri City. He would have to miss the playoffs, so Spokane called up Virgilio Barron, who was tearing it up in Rookie league. Problem was...Virgilio was a third baseman, and the way the roster was set up, the only logical choice for second base was Jeff. He had played a total of 4 innings at second in his pro career, all back in 2010. But Tim knew how automatic Jeff was with the glove, and felt confident in Jeff's abilities.

Things got a little worse when Jeff tried to break the ice with Virgilio. He knew that he was born in Nicaragua, so he figured this would be a good time to put his 4 years of high school spanish to good use. When Virgilio arrived with the team, Jeff tried to say "Hello! Welcome to the team! My name is Jeff, do you speak english? If you don't I'm really good at Spanish so that won't be a problem."

Now remember that's what Jeff thought he said. What he actually told Virgilio was that he needed to find the women's bathroom right away because he was very pregnant and the Koreans were after him. Not only was this statement completely absurd and pretty racist, but Virgilio happened to emigrate to the USA when he was 2 years old. He spoke perfect english with a slight southern drawl, having grown up in Texas. He stared at Jeff for a while, wondering why this strange pregnant man hated Koreans so much...

Again, not the best first impression in the world.

But that was all ancient history now (well, 2 days old but still...) and it was time for the best-of-5 series to begin.


GAME 1
at Eugene

Ugly 0-8 loss. Spokane starter Alfredo Anaya couldn't get past the 3rd inning. The bullpen stopped the bleeding, but there was nothing they could do about Spokane's offense. Jeff went 2-4 with a couple singles but they never amounted to anything. He was decent in the field, but missed a couple double play opportunities. All in all, it was a game to forget. Better luck tomorrow.



SEPTEMBER 11, 2011
GAME 2
at Eugene

A little change of pace as Jeff moves up in the batting order from #6 to #3. The game proved to be a wild one, as Spokane rallied from a 3-7 deficit in the 7th inning to tie it up. In the bottom of the 8th, LF Doug Rogers dropped a routine catch to allow a runner to score, making it 8-7 Eugene. But then Jeff led off the 9th inning with a home run that baaaaaaarely made it over the wall and was juuuuuust fair enough. But hey, they count the same in the box score. They went into extras, when in the bottom of the 10th Eugene got back-to-back doubles for a walkoff win. Dammit. Jeff did have a good day though, going 3-5 with a homer and even turned a couple crucial double plays. Still, Spokane is behind 0-2 in the series now, and facing elimination...

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011
GAME 3
vs. Eugene

The Indians and Emeralds battled and battled, going into extra innings with the score 0-0. In the top of the 10th, Eugene pinch-hitter Chris Allison singled in a couple runs, and the Indians couldn't do anything with their bats in the bottom of the inning. The series was over, and for the second year in a row Jeff had to sit in the dugout and watch the opposing team celebrate their championship.

Although Jeff went 0-4 in Game 3, he hit .385 in the playoffs with a nice round OPS of 1.000

So another season is over for Jeff, info on 2012 in my next post...

[TheKenoshaKid]

JUNE 23, 2012

Jeff's stomach was in knots as he walked down the hall of the clubhouse. It was a couple hours before game-time, and he had just gotten word that Steve Buechele, his manager, needed to talk to him.

He had been having a good year so far with the single-A Bakersfield Blaze, hitting .313 and being dependable with the glove as usual, but his mind was racing now. There had been a lot of shuffling around since the 2012 draft ended, and he was afraid that he would be one of the unfortunate few to be sent down...or worse: released.

He felt like he was on death row as he slowly entered his manager's office. Luckily, Steve had a big smile on his face.

OK Jeff, don't get your hopes up...wait to see what he has to say before you overract...

"Well Jeff", Steve said, still smiling. "I'd like to congratulate you..."

Oh my god I'm being called up! Double-A here I come! Jeff instantly decided that this was the best thing to have ever happened to anyone in the history of...well...ever!

"...on being selected to the California League All-Star Game!"

Jeff thought for a moment, and decided that this was the second-best thing to happen to anyone in the history of ever. (Which is still pretty good...)

All of the doom and gloom melted away, and Jeff's first instinct was to stand up and give Steve a big hug. He got to his feet, opened his arms out wide...and sat back down when he realized how silly he probably looked.

"You, uh...okay there Jeff?"

"Oh yeah, I'm just uh...really really tired", Jeff said as he let out a very loud and very fake yawn.

Steve frowned. "How tired exactly? I mean with the game this afternoon..."

As was expected, Jeff was handling another major step in his life in the most awkward way possible.


JUNE 26, 2012

Jeff stepped up to the plate for his first at-bat as an all-star. It felt great, and Jeff was fired up, ready to face his hated rivals who represented the foul, loathsome, disgusting, alien realm known as...slightly farther away cities in California. (OK so maybe he wasn't into the whole rivalry aspect of the game...)

He took the first pitch for strike one, then smacked the 0-1 pitch into left-center for a solid double.

Unfortunately, Jeff's North Division All-Stars lost to the South Division 3-8. But he was still feeling great. Starting Third-Baseman in an All-Star Game; quite an accomplishment!

[TheKenoshaKid]

SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

For the third time in three years, Jeff is heading to the playoffs again! This time it's against the Modesto Nuts, who had recently won the "Most Ridiculous Team Name in the California League" award. The judges (Jeff and his roommate) were unanimous in their decision. Congratulations Modesto Nuts!

Anyway, before the playoffs begin, here's his updated stats:

                           G    AB    R    H   2B 3B  HR  RBI    AVG   OBP   SLG
10-Spokane(A-,Tex)        49   189   23   49   11  0   1   22   .259  .333  .333
   Bakersfield(A,Tex)      5    18    1    8    1  0   0    1   .444  .545  .500
11-Spokane(A-,Tex)        64   262   32   80   16  1   2   36   .305  .381  .397
12-Bakersfield(A,Tex)     94   359   53  101   38  1   5   42   .281  .385  .435

Again, a pretty good season for Jeff. His OPS is around 100 points higher than his BA, and he's making up for his lack of home run power by continuing to hit doubles. On the fielding side, he had a .985 fielding PCT in 852 innings at third. He seems to be doing well, but more home runs would really help him advance faster...

But that's just nitpicking. Another solid season for Jeff.

[TheKenoshaKid]

SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

...and for the third time in three years, Jeff's team was eliminated in the playoffs. Modesto swept Bakersfield 4-7, 3-4, and 1-6. Jeff had another productive playoff series though, going 3-10 with a home run in Game 1.

In spite of yet another playoff loss, Jeff was definitely counting his blessings. His best friend Ryan had been released by two separate independent-league teams in 2011, and nobody came calling in 2012. Retirement was a possibility.

His friends from Spokane weren't doing very well either. Ron Maddox had been hurt most of the year and only managed to appear in 11 games in 2012. Scott Joseph struggled horribly and was released in August. He got signed by the independent St. George RoadRunners, but struggled there too.

Should be an interesting offseason for Jeff. Hot prospect Virgilio Barron absolutely tore up short-season-A and he and Jeff will probably be competing for the same job before too long.


OCTOBER 8, 2012

Some very encouraging news...Jeff won the CAL league Glove Wizard Award for 3B! In his three pro seasons, he has won it all three years! (He won it for the Northwest League in 2011 but I forgot to mention it)

[TheKenoshaKid]

JULY 21, 2013

It had definitely been the most challenging year of Jeff's baseball life. He started out the season in April with the Double-A Frisco Roughriders, then got sent down to the single-A Hickory Crawdads in June. Then back up to Frisco in early July. And now, he had just learned he was being sent back down to Hickory.

He was talking to Ryan about the strange year both of them were having.

"So you're officially...done then?" Jeff asked. Ryan had decided to retire from pro baseball in the winter.

"Yeah, but I have my degree, so I can start putting that to good use..."

Jeff laughed "Oh your Philosophy degree? The most expensive McDonalds application ever?"

"Nah I'm already looking at law schools. Maybe even grad school...but for now I'm just taking a year off."

"I wish I could do that. I'm going back down to Hickory tomorrow"

"Got you moving coast-to-coast, huh?"

There was an awkward silence.

"Uh Ryan, Frisco isn't on a coast"

"You're telling me San Francisco isn't on a coast? Seriously?"

"Frisco, Texas, Ryan. Texas. Not San Francisco"

long, long, long awkward silence...

"You're making that up."

The conversation was starting to cheer Jeff up a bit. It was nice to not think about baseball for a while.


OCTOBER 15, 2010

Well, 2013 wasn't quite what Jeff was expecting. Neither Hickory nor Frisco made the playoffs, and there was no fielding awards for him. To add to the stress, Jeff played 98 games at 2B versus just 47 at 3B.

                           G    AB    R    H   2B 3B  HR  RBI    AVG   OBP   SLG
10-Spokane(Tex,A-)        49   189   23   49   11  0   1   22   .259  .333  .333
   Bakersfield(Tex,A)      5    18    1    8    1  0   0    1   .444  .545  .500
11-Spokane(Tex,A-)        64   262   32   80   16  1   2   36   .305  .381  .397
12-Bakersfield(Tex,A)     94   359   53  101   38  1   5   42   .281  .385  .435
13-Hickory(Tex,A)         83   302   44   90   22  2   3   47   .298  .373  .414
   Frisco(Tex,AA)         39   136   15   33   10  0   1   17   .243  .354  .338

Not a bad year, but Jeff really wanted to make a better impression in AA. One positive: he took a good share of walks, even though his other hitting numbers were down.

Jeff will be turning 26 this December, so while time isn't a huge issue, now would be a good time to turn it up a notch.

[TheKenoshaKid]

APRIL 3, 2014

The good news: Jeff is back in AA, starting the season with Frisco again.
The bad news: He's on the bench for now.

For the first time in his pro career, Jeff wasn't a starter, and it was kind of hard to adjust to. Also, Jeff's roommate from last season Doug Perkins had the 1B starter job locked down. Doug was a couple years younger than Jeff, and Jeff liked to think of himself as sort of a "mentor" to him. That was only one year ago. Today, the tables were completely turned.

Jeff tried not to let it bother him too much, though. He was just happy to be back in AA.


OCTOBER 15, 2014

It had beed stressful, hectic, challenging...whatever you want to call it, Jeff felt completely worn out at season's end.

Here's his career stats now:

                           G    AB    R    H   2B 3B  HR  RBI    AVG   OBP   SLG
10-Spokane(Tex,A-)        49   189   23   49   11  0   1   22   .259  .333  .333
   Bakersfield(Tex,A)      5    18    1    8    1  0   0    1   .444  .545  .500
11-Spokane(Tex,A-)        64   262   32   80   16  1   2   36   .305  .381  .397
12-Bakersfield(Tex,A)     94   359   53  101   38  1   5   42   .281  .385  .435
13-Hickory(Tex,A)         83   302   44   90   22  2   3   47   .298  .373  .414
   Frisco(Tex,AA)         39   136   15   33   10  0   1   17   .243  .354  .338
14-Bakersfield (Tex,A)    11    44    3   12    6  0   0    5   .273  .347  .409
   Hickory(Tex,A)         78   295   41   95   27  1   4   44   .322  .391  .461
   Frisco(Tex,AA)         20    69    9   14    3  0   0    5   .203  .247  .246

He struggled for most of the first half, but in July and August he went on an insane hot streak and ended up with surprisingly good numbers. Of course, this was after he had been demoted from AA. But still, progress is progress.

He ended the season with the Hickory Crawdads, who failed to make the postseason again. So another slightly disappointing end, but like I said...he is showing progress, and that's always a good sign.