This is the week....
that my nephew finds out if a big league team will draft/sign him. He was given 5 letters of interest last fall when working out for the scouts at school. He has already gotten a serious call from Cleveland saying they would like to see him play professional baseball as an outfielder in an Indians' uniform. He knows he won't go on Day 1, the first two rounds are all mostly blue chippers and pitchers.
Last year's draft saw his league's best player picked by the A's and he is one of their up and coming prospects at Kane Co. this season, Jermaine Mitchell. My nephew has the advantage of having played the last two seasons with a wooden bat in the summer in the Northwoods League. He had 10 homers, an upswing from last season, and was 22/24 in stolen bags. He hit for a high average (.341) most of this season and at one point his slugging % was at .592. Yup, he hit 4 dingers in 5 games. He slumped a little at the end, but still had sparkling numbers over his two years at the Div. 1 school. He is a sparkplug and we hope he does either get selected on the second day, or gets signed anyway after the draft. His best buddy was playing for Virginia in the tourney the other day and broke his wrist. What a downer for the kid, also a senior looking toward the draft this week.
This week also sees the Red Sox make their only trip to Oaktown. I certainly hope we can greet them appropriately and do something like take 3/4 from them and send them on their way. Why do the A's play them twice in Beantown in the last week of the season? Makes about as much sense as putting tarps on the upper reserved. Mt. Davis I can see, but not the upper reserved.
We have won the last two series, and now is the time for that patented warm weather A's push to first place.
Let's go A's!
Later,
RDB
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