THE MINOR LEAGUES
Long busrides. Hotel rooms. Week long roadtrips. Minimal pay. That´s the life of a minor leaguer. The minor leagues are rough for everybody, but for some it´s the pathway to their career. The journey to the Major Leagues begins at the low end of the totem pole; starting out in Rookie ball and finishing at the Major Leagues. There are many trials and tribulations that one endures while in the minor leagues. Being away from friends, family, and loved ones begins to take a toll. Throughout his first season in professional baseball, Matt has kept a travel log of his journeys while in the Minor Leagues.
Matt will be keeping a log of his travels and will periodically update it as he makes entries into his log.
MATT HAS A NEW BLOG WEBSITE! IT CAN BE VIEWED BY CLICKING HERE OR BY VISITING HTTP://HIRSHBROTHERS.BLOGSPOT.COM. MATT WILL NO LONGER BE POSTING BLOGS HERE!
March 15, 2008
It’s that time of the year again folks. This is my first blog since I’ve started spring training. I’ve been to busy playing video games and playing more video games to write a blog. I don’t know if I didn’t want to or if I was too glued to shooting people on Call of Duty 4 or sticking people with grenades on Halo 3, but I’ve finally found some time to write a blog. I’ve been here for two weeks now and it’s been a blast.
It all started February 29th when I took a morning flight from Burbank to Tucson; with a quick stop in Phoenix. I arrived at the Sheraton Hotel to find that my roommate had already checked in. I drug my three bags up to my room and got to know my room a little bit. Upon entering I found that we had a separate bedroom and living room with two TVs. I had also noticed that my roommate had his XBOX 360 setup on the TV in the living room. I knew then that we would get along great. He wasn’t there when I arrived but came a little bit later. I threw my stuff down and immediately setup my XBOX 360 on the TV in the bedroom before anything else. Why is that you ask? Well, honestly, I just wanted to play video games. Electronics are the first thing to be setup when arrive somewhere, whether it be a hotel or coming back home from the season. It’s either my computer that gets setup or my XBOX. Anyways, I digress. I played Guitar Hero III for a little bit and then unpacked my things. My roommate had arrived and introduced himself as Kane Simmons. It turns out that we both played Independent ball last summer. He played for the Reno Silver Sox of the Golden Baseball League and I told him that I played in the Atlantic League and Can-Am League. After chatting for a little bit we both assumed our video game playing spots; he in the living room and me in the bedroom and played video games for a little while. I called my brother and he invited me over to his place for dinner. He picked me up and took me back and we ate my mom’s famous stuffed french toast, which by the way was excellent. I came got back to my room around 8pm and got the rest of my things settled. I went to bed early because all the pitchers and catchers had physicals the next morning. That concluded my first day in Tucson.
Over the next week, the pitchers and catchers had their workouts and were done fairly early in the afternoon. I would usually get back to the hotel around 12:30pm or 1pm and play video games for the rest of the night until I had to go to bed. The position players reported a week later and our full squad workouts got going. During the first week with only pitchers and catchers I threw a bullpen every other day until we started full workouts. After everybody got here they put us into workgroups. I came in that day and saw my name in the Tulsa workgroup, which is the Double-A team. I was excited at first and kind of surprised as well. When we had the morning announcements the Minor League Coordinator told us they were just workgroups and that they didn’t mean anything. During batting practice later that day I was talking to one of the guys who had been with the organization for a while and he was saying that the workgroups they put you in are the teams you have a chance of making, with the exception of a few guys. They spread out the guys who are going to Extended Spring Training throughout all workgroups so they can get work as well.
So far I’ve only thrown in one game. I was supposed to throw an inning in the Double-A game Thursday but got bumped and stayed back to throw in an intersquad. I threw 2 innings giving up 1 run on 1 hit and walked 1. I only threw about 22 pitches. My arm felt pretty good, but not as good as when I get my long toss. Our throwing program here lasts about 15 minutes, which isn’t enough time for me to get my arm loose, but I’m trying my best to stay warm and loose. So far I think I’ve shown the coaching staff that I definitley have tools and the work ethic to play for this organization. All my pitches are working effectively and I’m staying down in the zone. I only hope they see the same thing I do. I really want to make a full season team. I think I have a great opportunity here to show the Rockies what I have, I just hope they see all the hard work I’ve put in this offseason and reward me with a job somewhere.
If you have a question that you would like to ask me regarding anything please feel free to email me. My email is address is mhirsh32@hotmail.com. Please title the email "Journal" so I know not to accidentally delete it. Thanks everybody.
Click HERE to view past entries from Matt´s journal.