The bridge as a backdrop at Modern Woodmen Park is what makes the stadium special. Without that view, it would be a fairly average minor league ballpark. I sat on the first row slightly to the left of home plate and, unlike other parks I have been to, there is literally nothing but net separating you from the action, about two inches from the knees with lots of give to it. I kept expecting to have Roberto Pena trying to catch a pop-up and ending up in my lap. Thankfully, that never happened.
I liked Teoscar Hernandez before. A lot. Now I really, really, really like him. He's an exciting young player to watch and he really could be one of those rarest of rare creatures ... a legitimate 5-tool player.
Teoscar Hernandez - April 2013
Photo by Jayne Hansen
Roberto Pena is locked in at the plate, and with his fantastic defensive abilities behind the plate, he appears to be on track. His floor is major league back-up catcher. If he hits, he can write his own ticket.
Vincent Velasquez was a joy to watch pitch. He appeared to get stronger as his outing went on. He's very aggressive and works quickly. Nothing was hit hard off of him in his five innings. Velasquez' tandem partner, Joe Bircher, had some balls hit hard off of him in his first inning of work, but then settled in very nicely to keep batters off balance the rest of the way.
There are no holes on the team defensively. In particular, the athleticism and energy from the left side of the infield is spectacular. If a ball is hit anywhere near Carlos Correa, he will get to it. Even more impressive to me is his arm and his instantaneous recognition of the game situation. Everything is very fluid with no wasted movement. And Rio Ruiz made one play on Friday, leaping to snag a ball that looked to be five feet over his head, that had the crowd gasping in appreciation.
Random random: Austin "Catfish" Elkins can motor, and he is very aggressive on the basepaths. Jobduan Morales' first name is a mash-up of the names of two or three relatives. Joe Sclafani is friendly, funny and very personable.
Personally, I don't like Lance McCullers game tempo, but since it seems to work for him, I'll let it go. His tandem partner Daniel Minor, on the other hand, works at a fast clip and keeps hitters off balance. He looked good on Saturday and appears to be building on that good freshman season at Greeneville.
I don't know what's going on with Colton Cain, but he just wasn't fooling anyone on Sunday. Mike Hauschild looked good, fast paced and aggressive, until he had base runners. After that, his pace slowed down a lot and he appeared to lose his aggressiveness.
The team as a whole is very loose and very confident. They know they have a ton of talent and they expect to win. Going in to the bottom of the ninth on Sunday, they were down 10-3, but they played as though they were only down by one run. They scored three before running out of outs and everyone was on the dugout rail, cheering on their teammates.
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