Chisoxfn Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 FutureSox Goes to the Carolina/California League All Star Game By Jason Gage June 25, 2003 FutureSox.com On Tuesday, June 25th the best of the Carolina and California League met in Rancho Cucamunga, California at the epicenter, home of the Rancho Cucamunga Quakes (High A – Angels). Represent on the Carolina league roster were four Winston Salem Warthogs: Ryan Wing (LHP), Kris Honel (RHP), Ryan Meaux (LHP), and Ruddy Yan (2nd). Outfielder Jeremy Reed also got the invite, but was promoted to Birmingham a few days before the game. Prior to the game there was an All Star Fan Fest that included a pitching contest and a homerun derby. The pitching contest consisted of a wood board with a few holes cut out of it at home plate and the pitchers would get points for throwing it through the hole (points varied depending on the hole). Ryan Meaux took part in this contest and got one point in five pitches. The Sox had no representatives in the home run derby, but lefty Luke Scott put on a show, cranking out seven home runs in the first round. He eventually went on to win the contest. Scott is from the Kingston Indians of the Carolina league and hit several bombs, one of which cleared the scoreboard in right field. While the festivities before the game were fun, they didn't out-do a very well played and exciting game in which the Carolina League won 5-3. Ryan Wing was the starting pitcher and he picked up the victory. Wing got into a two out jam in the first inning (Hit and Walk) but got out of it and wouldn't give up another hit (2 INN, 1 HIT, 1 BB, 1 HBP). Steven Shell (R.C. Quakes – Angels) started for the California league team and took the loss. Shell gave up two runs in the second inning. The MVP, Andy Marte, ripped an RBI double in the inning. Sox farmhand Kris Honel pitched a hitless seventh (one walk). Another Sox Ryan Meaux picked up the save despite a rocky start to the ninth inning. Meaux gave up a solo homer to the first batter and then the next batter reached on an error. That was all Meaux could stand as he induced the next better into a double play and then struck out the final batter to end the game. My Experience: This was the first minor league game I had ever attended and I had a great time. It was very cool getting to see the White Sox prospects up close and in person. The game was very fun and the facilities in Rancho Cucamunga were state of the art. I'd rate it up there as one of the better smaller parks I’ve been to (Cactus League Stadiums). I now know why minor league baseball is becoming more popular. The stadium was very fan friendly and fans don't have to spend a lot of money to sit up close. The players were also very friendly, signing in an autograph session for an hour before the game (All players signed) as well as signing before and after the game for those that were interested. The stadium also had raised bleachers down the left and right field lines, which allowed fans to stand right by the bullpen and watch the pitchers warm up without getting in the fans way – very cool as it allowed me to get great shots and video footage of all the Warthogs pitchers (See Below). For those that have never caught a minor league game, I advise you to check one out. What I saw: Ryan Wing was the first pitcher I saw warming up. He was very friendly and had a very awkward delivery while doing his long toss. He seemed to stop his motion at a few different points. After watching him go into the bullpen and throw, I realized this must be a pre-game technique he does to keep his mechanics straight. Stuff wise Wing had a lot of sinking action on his pitches. The fastest pitch I saw him throw (Stadium had a Radar) was 90 MPH. The majority of his fastballs seemed to be around the 86-87 MPH range and had excellent movement. Wing does a nice job changing his speeds as his slowest off-speed pitch was 69 MPH. He seemed to really vary the speed of his off-speed pitches as they would go anywhere from 80 MPH to 69 MPH. The one weakness I noticed in Wing was his control. He's a typical lefty who gets guys out I saw Kris Honel earlier at the autograph session. Mentioned to Honel that I expect to see him on the South Side real soon and his face lit up. The kid seems really confident and excited to make it to Chicago. From what I gathered, he really wants to play in front of his friends (From the Chicago Area) and family. Later on when I saw Honel in the pen I noticed how big of a guy he is. At 6'6 he has plenty of height, but he also had good size (strong). When I saw Honel an immediate comparison to Kerry Wood's body-type came to mind. I always heard Honel was thin, but it looks like he's addressing those concerns by hitting the weight-room. Seeing him pitch was something. Early in his session Honel was flashing the knuckle curve (See Honel Knuckle Curve Picture on Bottom of the Page) and it had incredible movement. The ball had great drop and I couldn't get over how easy he through it and how much control he had over it. Then Honel started throwing his fastball (Clocked in the low to mid 90’s) and that had great movement. He could cut the ball both ways and they had good action for a pitcher that throws hard. After seeing Honel in person, I can see why he's one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, and he's now #1 in my mind in the organization (ahead of Borchard). Ryan Meaux was the last of the pitchers I saw. Meaux is much shorter then Wing (6'4) and Honel (6'6) and isn't a velocity guy, much like Wing. The big thing that stood out with Meaux was he seemed to have a good feel for pitching. He had good control and the ball had movement. He didn't really throw many breaking pitches and seemed to be a fastball-change kind of guy. I don't know whether Meaux can make it in the majors, but he is a solid minor league pitcher. Ruddy Yan was the leadoff hitter. When I saw Yan at the autograph session he had a huge smile on his face (Had it the entire time) and seemed to really be enjoying himself. At the plate Yan didn't have a good game. He struck out in his first at bat, flied out in his second (looked like he upper-cut it; I was hoping to see him slapping the ball everywhere) and then grounded into a fielders choice (player was thrown out at home; I thought it was a questionable call). Once on the base-paths I finally got to see Yan run. The next better hit a grounder and Yan took off for 2nd. This kid has amazing speed and quick acceleration. He really reminded me of Rickey (In regards to great acceleration). After that Yan was taken out. He looked to have good fundamentals fielding the ball and his throws were accurate. Multimedia: Below are pictures and movies that were taken by me at the game. The pictures are a little big (Size wise) but I’m going to resize them pretty soon so they load faster. I apologize for the video clip of Ruddy Yan. The sun was right there and I was far away so it didn’t come out all that good. Kris Honel Honel Knuckle Curve Honel Talking to Fans Honel Playing Catch (1) Honel Playing Catch (2) Honel Playing Catch (3) Honel Playing Catch (4) Honel Pitching (Only Got Part of his Face) Video Footage of Kris Honel (Part 1) Video Footage of Kris Honel (Part 2) Ryan Wing Ryan Wing Jogging Ryan Wing Jogging(2) Ryan Wing Doing Long Toss(1) Ryan Wing Doing Long Toss (2) Ryan Wing Warming Up(1) Ryan Wing Warming Up(2) Ryan Wing Warming Up(3) Ryan Wing During the Game(1) Ryan Wing During the Game (2) Ryan Wing During the Game (3) Ryan Wing During the Game (4) Ryan Wing During the Game (5) Ryan Wing During the Game (6) Video Footage of Ryan Wing (Part 1) Video Footage of Ryan Wing (Part 2) Video Footage of Ryan Wing (Part 3) Video Footage of Ryan Wing (Part 4 - In Game Footage) Ruddy Yan Ruddy Yan Jogging Ruddy Yan Throwing Ruddy Yan Throwing (2) Ruddy Yan With a Bat (1) Ruddy Yan With a Bat (2) Ruddy Yan During the Game (1) Ruddy Yan During the Game (2) Video Footage of Ruddy Yan (In Game - Not Very Clear) Ryan Meaux Ryan Meaux During Warm-Ups Video Footage of Ryan Meaux Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted June 25, 2003 Author Share Posted June 25, 2003 Note: Please tell me if the video files work, as I have no idea whether I uploaded them properly or not. The images in this are rather big so it may take a bit for them to load. I'm going to resize them but I just cleared my harddrive so I don't have any graphic editing software on there just yet, but will get it updated. All Camera work was done by me with the exception of Ryan Meaux, who was done partially by my friend as I was talking to the person next to me. I don't have speakers on my computer, so I apologize if any bad language is on there as sound does get picked up on the videos. Enjoy If this works well, I'm going to try and do something like this on almost every player I see on the roadtrip and take a ton of discs with me to put them on the camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cy Young Porzio Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 nice stuff, especially the zoom in on meaux's rear, i see that jason found some attraction at the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted June 25, 2003 Author Share Posted June 25, 2003 nice stuff, especially the zoom in on meaux's rear, i see that jason found some attraction at the game. Ah, if it isn't the great camera man Gary who filmed Meaux Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cy Young Porzio Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 thats ok jason, i'll let them think it was me this time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 All links working ... Great stuff. Thanks Guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Hudler Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 Nice work Jason. Just curious though, did you have media credentials for the game or were you just there as a fan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 Good stuff Jas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted June 25, 2003 Author Share Posted June 25, 2003 Nice work Jason. Just curious though, did you have media credentials for the game or were you just there as a fan? I was supposed to get media credentials, but I didn't call in in time, so I ended up being just there as a fan. I'm assuming what I did was legal. No one bothered me while filming. I tried telling Ruddy Yan about being in Birmingham and talking with him, but he didn't really understand what I was saying. Well I think he understood it, but didn't pick up on it. I'm assuming he isn't very comfortable talking to fans in English. Ryan Wing seemed like a really nice guy while Honel had a cocky type of image but he was real nice as well. When I told him I expect to see him in Chicago soon his face lit up and he said how excited he was to be up there and he seems to think he can make it there real quick. After seeing that knuckle curve and the movement on the fastball, I'm a believer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Hudler Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 I asked about the media credentials because I figured you would have been able to get better access. I would think you shouldn't have a problem getting credentials. The Minor Leagues, at least, aren't too picky about it and with your work on the web site, I wouldn't think it would be a problem at all. I am sure there was no problem with you taking the shots and video you did. As long as you aren't making 500 copies and selling the footage, you should be just fine. Next time, think ahead damnit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted June 25, 2003 Author Share Posted June 25, 2003 I asked about the media credentials because I figured you would have been able to get better access. I would think you shouldn't have a problem getting credentials. The Minor Leagues, at least, aren't too picky about it and with your work on the web site, I wouldn't think it would be a problem at all. Next time, think ahead damnit. Lol I know, I have contacted all the minor leauge teams and gotten passes. They told me to call them when I'm going to get to games and they'll set me up. Only thing is I didn't call them to tell them about this for some reason. Sometimes I Get to slow with things and then a few days ago I was like aw crap, its this week and got on the phone. I promise to do better next year. This was my first time at a minor league game. Also on the roadtrip I'm gonna be getting tons of footage. I figure this is a great way for those that only read about guys to see them and put their face on them. In terms of closeness, it was really cool. I saw a few members of the media and I don't even know what they were doing, cause none of them were on the field. They were all standing back farther then me for some reason. Rancho Cucamunga had a very fan friendly stadium and it was an absolute blast. The bullpen was right down the line and it was by the bleachers. The nice thing was the bleachers were elevated and there was this little stair section that took you down to the field right next to the bullpen where you could stand there and watch the guy pitch without getting in anyones way. One of the nicest parks I've been to. It ranks there with quite a few of the spring training parks in Arizona. I also picked up all the autographs of the Carolina team. Usually I don't go for auto's but they had an hour set aside soley for that. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the California teams as well. Two players that I wanted to see were missing from the game: Jeremy Reed and Grienke (Royals top prospect). I'm assuming Grienke was promoted as well. Either way it was an absolute blast and for those of you that haven't been to a minor league game, if you have a team in your area, I say check it out. Its a huge difference from major league baseball because you can sit real close without spending a ton of money. Kind of a great alternative if you have a huge family and can't afford to get good seats at a major league game. But I guess thats why minor league baseball is growing so much. I thought they would have more gimmicks at the game, but they didn't. The mascots they had were pretty funny though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Hudler Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 Welcome to the world of those of us "in the know" about Minor League Baseball. Basically it is like buying $35 or $40 seats in the first 15-20 rows of a Big Leauge park, but only paying $6-$8 and not having the rest of the stadium to deal with. Minor League Baseball is so much more fan friendly. It is much more intimate. The players are good about signing autographs before games and access is easy. They will also sign after games. Lots of guys wait until after the players have showered and catch them on their way out. If you ask nicely, and show respect, Minor League players have much less attitude than some of the Big League guys. One note: Promotions are usually scaled back for All-Star games. You will generally see some kind of promotion in between almost every inning in a Minor League game. They have to do that to cater to the families. Unfortunately there aren't enough baseball die-hards left to pay the bills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Hudler Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 Lastly, Jason, when you go to a game and get media credentials, ask them about getting field access before the game to take some of your shots. Each team will be different in what they will allow, but you can't get the access if you don't ask. Hell, some teams may even give you clubhouse access or set up interview times with certain players if you plan ahead. Generally, if you stay out of the way, they will give you good access. And don't ever ask for autographs while wearing a media credential. I have a friend that got kicked out of the park one night because he was doing that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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