Observations from the Fan Forums at Fan Fest, Part I

Note from Jayne: In an effort to bring new voices to What the Heck, Bobby?, I reached out to Nance, a very knowledgeable Astros fan, baseball fan and prospect fan who I originally met through twitter. After agreeing to try her hand at writing a post, I gave her zero notice when I saw her at Fan Fest last weekend and asked her if she would write up her take on the Fan Forums. Since all of the bloggers were tied up in Q&A's with Reid Ryan, Bo Porter and Jeff Luhnow, Nance brings us some observations that the rest of us missed. I think you will enjoy her voice. Please make her feel welcome.

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Hi, I am Nance. I have been a baseball fan ever since I can remember. I started by watching my big brother’s Little League games (girls couldn’t play Little League back then). The Dodgers were my favorite team as a kid. I have followed baseball my whole life, including several independent league teams and affiliated minor league clubs. I became an Astros fan when I moved to Houston in 1988. My son played high school ball and I must have watched 500 hours of hitting lessons over the years. I am not really into Sabermetrics. It is the mental challenge of the game that intrigues me. I love the camaraderie associated with baseball and the many friends I have made through baseball.

Observations from Fan Forum, Part I - by Nance @Bbfanlady

I must confess, the only other time I had been to FanFest was about 10 years ago. Back then, it had all of the feeling of going to a zoo. Only thing was, with the restraining “bars” along the warning track, I couldn’t figure out who were the animals on display – the fans or the players and coaches who paraded past. This year’s FanFest was a vastly different experience. Unlike 10 years ago, it was interactive and I felt involved. My thanks go out to all of the Astros players and staff who participated to make it such an enjoyable event. And special thanks to Jayne Hansen. Through her blog, our minor league players get the recognition they deserve and I recognized most of the names mentioned during the Forum.

I attended two of the Fan Forums, “The Future” and “All Stars”. I had to leave before story time with Milo…… I observed a consistent message from all Astros participants. The strength and depth of the farm system and championships in the minor league were a common theme. As far as the 2013 Major League Team, it was a year of evaluation to see what they had. This is the first of three parts. Information gleaned is not broken down by forum, but is divided into three parts describing what I heard from representatives of Baseball Operations, Manager, and Players. First up is Baseball Operations.

Quinton McCracken, Director of Player Development – Said there is a very impressive group and talked about how high the farm system was rated and their championships. He travels 2-3 weeks each month among the affiliates. Tries to stay 5 nights at each stop so he can see the entire rotation and get a chance to see all hitters. In response to a question from the audience, he said Minor league minimum at A ball was $1000 per month and might go to $2500 as they move up. Minor leaguers only get paid during the season. McCracken was asked about prospects that may not be getting the attention they deserve. He mentioned Buchanan, Rollins, and another player that Apple autocorrect decided was named Tolstoy. My best guess is that Tolstoy is either Ronald Torreyes or Preston Tucker. I also had the opportunity to talk to McCracken about the mental aspect of the game for about 5 minutes as we were walking along the concourse. But that’s for another day.

David Stearns, Assistant GM – Only 5-7% of minor leaguers ever make it to the majors. Not all of those stick. He has been impressed with the enthusiasm and energy in the minors. They play extremely hard. Jonathon Villar and Robbie Grossman played with lots of energy. All prospects have growing pains, but character and work ethic are important. To determine if a player is big league ready they use performance, reports by minor league manager, needs. It gets more complicated as depth grows. This is the greatest depth in an organization he has been part of.

One of the most significant questions/answers to me was when the panel was asked who fans can count on keeping and becoming attached to without suffering separation anxiety in the near future. The answer was that Feldman, Obie, and Cosart show a lot of promise and talent and who a team could build around. They show promise and talent, but not too much pressure will be put on them and will see how the year goes. I can’t say with certainty who answered that question, (would guess it was David Stearns) so don’t call me Lois Lane. I found it noteworthy that the names Altuve and Castro were not mentioned. Maybe somebody coughed and I missed them or maybe he thought those two were so obvious he was trying to throw out some less familiar names.

Disclaimer: The content of this article is not intended to reflect direct quotes from the forum participants. Content is based on what I “heard”. I apologize in advance if my hearing was impaired.