Happy 5th Blogiversary to WTHB!!!

Five years ago today, this innocuous post went up. 5901 posts later, a lot of things have changed. I no longer use my database for much more than keeping track of birthdays. My twitter handle changed from the genderless @whattheheck57 to @JayneWTHB when I realized that most of my readers had zero issues with a woman writing about baseball. I started spending less time on the stats side of things and more time getting to know the players. And I finally had to stop posting every single day (as I had for the better part of four years) because I decided that I needed to sleep occasionally. (My deepest gratitude to Dustin Nguyen for having my back and keeping things running smoothly!)

Some things haven't changed. I still like to look at the big picture. I don't care so much about what a player does in one game as I do about what he does over time, the trends and tendencies, whether he is moving forward or falling behind. I also still make mistakes and I always will. I strive for accuracy, but time is not always my friend, and sometimes there isn't enough coffee in the world to sharpen my wits. And I still largely write for my own entertainment, about the things that I'm most interested in.

But the one thing that has changed more than anything else is the depth of talent in the Astros system. Back in the day, I was hard pressed to find very many bright spots. Now I find it difficult to keep up with all the talent. Over the past five years, I've conducted ~184 interviews with ~148 players (in addition to dozens of interviews with coaches, managers, front office personnel and others). Of those 148 players, 31 have now made their major league debuts, and another two or three dozen more from that list will likely do so in the next five years. I no longer have to search to find the silver lining.

I do not know where the next five years will take me, but as of right now, I plan to keep traveling, taking photos, and talking to minor league players, coaches, managers, fans, writers, broadcasters, agents, scouts, front office personnel, clubbies, groundskeepers and whoever else will talk to me and then writing about it. I will write about upcoming star prospects, but I will also continue to look for under-the-radar players, players with great stories, underdogs and the next wave of young talent. And I hope to continue making friends and making memories. Thank you for continuing with me on this journey!

George Springer, Jayne Hansen and Rafy Valenzuela

August 2012 - Lancaster, California

WTHB State of the Blog Address: One in a Million

If you were reading WTHB at around midnight last night, you may very well have been the blog's 1,000,000th page view. It's a milestone for the blog that, in all reality, is fairly meaningless. But people like round numbers, particularly nice big round numbers.

One million page views is probably a pittance for those who have dozens of writers and the support of SB Nation or Fansided, but for those of us independent sports bloggers like Astros County and What the Heck, Bobby?, it's kind of a big deal.

I wasn't able to write a "Blogiversary" post last month when WTHB turned four, but now that the Astros minor league season is rapidly winding to a close, this seems like as good a time as any to give you my State of the Blog Address. Pardon me while I meander.

The blog started with my desire to learn more about the Astros farm system as the on-field play in Houston was rapidly deteriorating. I thought, "Why not share my findings?" It's never been a sophisticated blog. I don't embrace advanced statistics much. That's not because I'm against them. It's simply because a lot of those metrics don't mean a whole lot in the lower levels of the minors where the competition is often incredibly uneven as the rawest of the raw high schoolers and international free agents face former collegians and the ages range from 17 to 21 and older. As the Astros PITCHf/x guru Mike Fast once told me, a pitcher's ability to miss bats is probably the best indicator of a rookie league pitcher's potential as any other metric.

I also found that I don't really have the patience to do detailed game recaps. My many thanks to Dustin (and Buca before him) for handling that thankless chore. Dustin has recapped approximately 860+ games this season and most of those have been full detailed game stories. Wrap your head around that! That is incredible, and I hope that Dustin will continue with his fine work next season.

But I honestly don't have the patience for the recaps because with a few exceptions, the day-to-day doesn't interest me. Yes, I get excited when Jon Singleton drives in 10 runs in one game or when Dean Deetz gets lifted from a game after pitching seven no-hit innings, but I am more interested in the big picture. I'm not likely to point out that a .189 hitter went 3-for-5 in a game. I'm more apt to tell you what a hitter or a pitcher has done over the last month or two. I like to look for trends in a player's development, not what they've done over one or two games.

And, as a part of the big picture, I love getting to know the players. Not just talking to them, but watching them. Watching how they "go about their business," a popular phrase from coaches and managers. I can learn almost as much about a player from watching them take early work, batting practice, pitcher's fielding practice and the like, and seeing how they interact with others, as I can from watching them in a game or talking to them. A player is so much more than stats. His work ethic, his ability to lead by word or example, his ability to keep a clubhouse loose are all important to building a good team. Is a player a "team player" or is he only focused on his own goals and desires? How does that player handle adversity and success? Character is important. It won't replace talent, but it certainly can supplement that talent and take a player just that much further. It's all a part of that bigger picture.

Which brings me to a thought that I had when I was visiting California in May. I hit up Fresno and Lancaster while I was there, but first I went to Yosemite to commune with nature. As is always the case, I took a lot of pictures. But I don't just take pictures of gorgeous vistas. I take pictures of things other people might consider odd. Two of my favorite pictures were these:

It struck me that both trees were beautiful, the giant Sequoia and the small gnarled and twisted specimen arising from the rocks. Carlos Correa is the Sequoia, a majestic awe-inspiring specimen, a thing of beauty. But most ballplayers are more like the latter photo. Their path is rarely straight. Just making it up through the various obstacles and detours thrown at them is nothing short of miraculous. And those are the players I like to follow and write about.

Sure, I'll write about Carlos Correa and players like him whose path is straight and true and majestic. But I'm more interested in the 40th round 25-year old draft pick who made it back to baseball after a detour in life or the atypical corner infielder who has mashed his way to AAA in 3 seasons after falling to the 33rd round in 2013 or another corner outfielder who has largely flown under the radar (despite being one of the most consistent hitters in the system since he was drafted) and has never appeared on a top prospect list but just made his major league debut.

My own path has been littered with obstacles the last year and a half. A contract to sell my company should be signed in the next week or two with a potential closing after the first of the year. Maybe it will happen. Maybe it won't. Maybe I'll have a job when the next minor league season rolls around in April. Maybe I won't. Maybe I'll be able to continue travelling to minor league games. Maybe I won't. And with the big league club doing so well, I expect a decline in readership as interest in the farm system wanes. But I intend to continue persevering. I don't know what the blog will look like a year from now; it will likely continue to evolve and adapt just as those players have whose lives I find interesting, just as my own life may over the next few months and years. In any event, I will keep writing about the things that interest me and I hope that my readers will continue with me on the ride, wherever it takes us.

Thank you for reading and thank you for indulging me.

WTHB Makes it through the Terrible Twos

Today marks three years since the inception of "What the Heck, Bobby?" I'm not sure that I had a clue what I was doing (sometimes I still don't) or where I was going (ditto), but I forged ahead regardless. This thing seems to have taken on a life of its own and evolved in ways that I didn't necessarily envision. Sometimes I feel as though I'm just along for the ride.

The past year has been a very difficult one for me personally and, at times, that has kept me from doing some of the things I would like to have done with the blog, this season in particular. I have far more ideas than I have time to bring them to fruition. I do, after all, have that pesky "real job" that pays the bills while I follow my passion. I would much prefer to do this all day long, but a couple hundred dollars a year in ad revenue doesn't exactly pay the mortgage.

But I digress, as is often the case. When I started the blog, I quickly recognized that there were some very talented players in the organization, but that they were few and far between. For example, when I looked at minor league depth at the end of the 2011 minor league season, the depth chart for lefty starters at AA and above included only Dallas Keuchel, the recently acquired Brett Oberholtzer, Xavier Cedeno who had since been converted to relief, 28-year old Ryan Rowland-Smith and 31-year old Andy Van Hekken who pitched about half of his games in relief. That was it at the higher levels.

Fast forward to 2014. Keuchel and Oberholtzer have graduated. Rudy Owens is in the mix. Luis Cruz, Tommy Shirley, David Rollins, Josh Hader and Colton Cain populate the upper rungs of lefty starter depth with other pitchers such as Kent Emanual, Evan Grills and Brian Holmes nipping at their heels. The lower rungs of the system have interesting lefties such as Reymin Guduan, Chris Lee, Salvador Montano, Cristopher Santamaria, Austin Nicely and knuckleballer Blaine Sims in their midst. Before, we were hoping and praying that Keuchel and Oberholtzer could take the reins from Wandy and Happ because there was no one else in the system even close to being ready. That is, thankfully, no longer the case. The Astros have options.

Which brings me to this thought. Fall in love with a minor league player in the Astros system (or a major league player for that matter) at your own risk. There are still so many changes to come before the perennially contending Astros of the future are more or less in place. Look at the outfield. Who will be on that team in 3 to 5 years? Will Dexter Fowler, L.J. Hoes and Alex Presley be long gone? Will Marisnick and Grossman stick? We all assume that Springer and Santana will be on that future team. But where does that leave Aplin, Tucker, DeShields and Teoscar Hernandez? What about the next wave of players, including Brett Phillips and Danry Vasquez? And don't forget about Derek Fisher, Jason Martin and others that are still on short season teams. Where will they be at this point next year?

I've alluded to this before, but I'll mention it again. Last May after my trip to Lancaster, I ran into Jeff Luhnow at Minute Maid Park. He asked me about my trip, and I gushed over Andrew Aplin. In my enthusiasm for Aplin, I asked Luhnow, "Can we keep him?" He laughed, but he knew what I meant. The Astros are not going to carry 8 outfielders. Springer, Santana, Teoscar Hernandez, Aplin, Tucker, Phillips, DeShields and Vasquez aren't all going to stick with the team. Minor league fans will lose favorite players, just like we did last week losing Austin Wates and Kiké Hernandez, as well as Jarred Cosart. There just aren't enough spots for all the players we want to see in an Astros uniform.

The good news is that these players aren't being blocked. They are being given the opportunity to succeed with other teams. I will miss some of them dreadfully, but at the same time, I am so very happy for the opportunity that they have been given.

There will be regrets at times. I'm hoping that the Astros don't lose another Johan Santana, but the reality is that it could happen. Because knowing who will succeed at the major league level is an inexact science that even the best of the Decision Scientists will not be able to predict with 100% accuracy. But it is a good problem to have. When I spoke with Lancaster Manager Rodney Linares two years ago about Kiké, he predicted that there would be some tough decisions ahead for the Astros when it came to players like Kiké. He called it "a good mess."

And that's what's happened over the last three years that I've been following these young men. The Astros system has gone from simply being a mess to being "a good mess." And I'm happy to have witnessed the transformation.

I'd be lying if I told you that I know what the next year will bring for the Astros, for this blog or for me personally, but I hope that you will continue to join me for the ride. Thank you for reading. And thank you for your support.

Best of luck to those friends of WTHB to whom we've had to say goodbye this season. Thanks for sharing your time and your stories with me. Godspeed.

Kiké Hernandez

Bobby Doran

Andy Simunic

Austin Wates

Alex Sogard

Michael Dimock

Andrew Robinson

Chris Epps

Dan Gulbransen

Erik Castro

Jarred Cosart

Justin Gomiskey

So, What Now?

With the Astros minor league season at an end, you may ask, "What now?" Will there be any reason to check back with WTHB in the off-season? The answer is a resounding "YES!" I will still be bringing you Tweets of the Day and Birthdays, but I will also follow all of your Astros minor and major league players who participate in the Arizona Fall League and in winter ball in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and any other places where I find them (last year, I found players in Australia and Nicaragua as well).

I will also be playing catch-up. There is still video from my various minor league travels that I haven't finished going through; photos that need to be labeled and posted; and interview material to sort through as well. I have post-season awards to hand out and season recaps for all the teams (which I've been working on all weekend long). And after the players decompress for a week or two, I'll start bringing you player interviews throughout the winter. And there's the Rule 5 draft, and off-season signings and releases to follow as well. And there should be at least a couple more Funky Foto Fridays in the future.

Actually, for me, now is when the fun starts as I really take an in-depth look at the Astros minor league players and the seasons that they had. I will look at the depth in the organization, position-by-position, and I will try to identify some below the radar prospects that you should be watching. I love looking for the next wave of talent.

But I also plan to sleep and read and catch up on Seasons 3 and 4 of "Justified." I will go from spending an average of 25 hours a week on the blog to around 10-12. I'll admit that I got a little burned out at the end with the schedule I was maintaining, and I ended up making far too many mistakes. I'm going to spend the off-season thinking about maybe making some changes at WTHB next year. I need to find a little more balance. I need to make sure that WTHB doesn't become too much like work. But I promise the focus will still be on the players themselves and getting to know them a little bit better.

I would like to thank Buca Morris for helping me maintain my sanity by taking on the weekend recaps and always doing a fantastic job. And I enjoyed having Steve at Appy Astros participate as well. We will all miss his voice as he has discontinued his blog. I would also like to sincerely thank all of the players and coaches who took the time to talk with me and the local media directors who helped me out throughout the season as I traveled to the various ballparks. And I would like to thank Astros Daily and Crawfishboxes for linking to my site and helping it grow.

When I look back on the 2013 season, few things stand out as vividly as the Mother's Day no-hitter in Lancaster. But there are tiny little moments that I will carry with me: Rio Ruiz' excitement over his mostly invisible mustache, George Springer's unbridled joy at being on the field with his teammates, watching Vince Coleman drilling outfielders in Tri-City, the wonderful breeze coming off the bay in Corpus Christi, a gorgeous sunset in Greeneville ... there are far too many to mention. I had wonderful conversations with Catfish Elkins, Joe Sclafani, Jonas Dufek, Nick Tropeano, Delino DeShields, Andrew Aplin, Brett Phillips, Tanner Mathis and many others about everything under the sun. And I got to meet so many people from crazy fans to photographers to ushers to front office personnel to player's family members, girlfriends and wives. There is nothing quite like being at a minor league ballpark to remind us all that baseball is more than just a business. Much, much more.

Photo by Jayne Hansen

Thank you for your encouragement. Thank you for reading my rambles. Thank you for indulging me in my blatant love affair with catchers and lefty pitchers. Thank you for continuing to support the Astros through some tough times. Thank you for becoming a second family to me.

Happy Off-Season!!! Spring Training will be here before you know it, and the Astros will be winning a whole lot of games before you know it too!

An Interview with ME!!!

Jayne has long been the person we turn to when we want Minor League information. Unless we dig hard to find out how our affiliates are doing, the casual fan doesn’t know what’s going on with our farm systems. Names like Singleton, Springer, Oberholtzer, Foltynewicz & Wojciechowski are just names (and mostly unpronounceable) without Jayne.

So what drives her to get up at the crack of dawn to write recaps, stay up late to catch games & travel to Godforsaken places like Lancaster and wherever the River Bandits play? Who is this talented woman?

I thought I would turn the tables on the lady who interviews the young Astros prospects and ask her a few questions of my own!

--DeAnna Williamson

Q: How did your love of baseball begin?

Like most people, I suspect, it was a family thing. I grew up in Athens, Texas (before the Rangers, thank God) so we became Astros fans, listened to them on the radio and made a few pilgrimages down to the Astrodome when time and money allowed. As a little girl, I must admit that the scoreboard made more of an impression on me than the game on the field, but it was a start.

Q: Why did you start blogging and why the minor leagues?

It's hard to believe that it hasn't even been two years since I started up. I had always been a casual minor league fan, checked the boxscores of the MiLB games most days, read the occasional article and that sort of thing, but as the play got worse and worse on the field in Houston, I started digging deeper out of desperation. I wanted to know that help was on the way. Thankfully, I didn't look that hard any sooner because the depth even two years ago was extremely discouraging, even appalling. Certainly, there were some talented players that were rising to the top, but overall the depth was bad. Once I started really digging, though, I thought, "Why not share this with others?" And that was how WTHB got started. It would never have gotten off the ground without twitter, though. Mad props to those who established themselves in the pre-twitter era.

Q: How did “What the Heck, Bobby?” come about? Was Bobby Heck flattered?

I wanted a catchy name and the Bobby Heck (the former Astros scouting director) play on words seemed to fit the bill. Frankly, since my blog is more about the development of the minor league players than scouting, I should have named it The Full Nelson or something like that (after then Director of Player Development Fred Nelson), but all-in-all it was more just finding a catchy name than anything. When I interviewed Bobby Heck, I was nervous as hell. I told him that I half expected him to issue a cease and desist order, but he chuckled and assured me that, "Nah, we're cool." Everyone expected me to change the name after Heck left the organization, but I like the name. And since so many people find my blog by googling the name, I figured it would probably be easier to change my name to Bobby than it would be to rename the blog.

Q: Who have been some of your most memorable interviews?

There are so many. My first interview ever was an email interview with Kyle Hallock. I was extremely nervous about approaching him, but he was terrific about it (and I think I had the answers back from him in about five minutes). If that had been a bad experience, who knows whether or not I would have persisted.

I think I was most surprised by Mike Foltynewicz and Lance McCullers because I think I expected them to be egos on legs with all of their talent, but both were extremely sweet and charming. Nick Tropeano was great because he is so easygoing and easy to talk to; one thing that strikes me about Nick is how comfortable he is in his own skin. Another memorable one was Joe Musgrove. His personality is as big as he is and he is very charismatic. Brett Oberholtzer and I talked for 15 minutes after the interview was over about how Astros fans felt about the big league team and the farm system; he wanted to know how we felt.

And of the recent interviews I've done, Andrew Aplin stands out because of how quickly we hit it off. And David Rollins was just a sweetheart. And Joe Bircher intrigued me; I'd like to talk more with him sometime.

The email interviews that stand out to me are Josh Zeid, Ross Seaton and Alex Sogard. Zeid is a natural born cheerleader and his enthusiasm is infectious. I did not have to change one comma in Seaton's interview. It was beautifully written, and that really stands out for someone who was drafted out of high school. Sogard's was just extremely interesting to me. I really enjoyed hearing about his experience in the World Baseball Classic. Of the non-players, Lancaster Manager Rodney Linares is hands down the most interesting guy to talk to.

Q: You seem to have a good eye for minor league prospects. What do you look for in the younger players?

That's a good question. I definitely look at stats, but I also look at trends and consider other factors ... the intangibles as it were. I don't get as caught up as some in the whole "he's old for the level" or "he's repeating a level" thing. Sometimes that is driven by other factors ... injuries, being blocked at the next level, off the field issues, etc. I really believe that you have to look at the whole player, his whole history, where he's been, where he's headed and his character and make-up. I cannot stress enough how much weight I will put on work ethic and desire. Oberholtzer is a good example of this. I really believe that he will have success because, after talking to him, I know that failure is just not even an option for him. He was only on the periphery of my radar until I talked to him and saw first hand how hard he works to become better. It is impressive.

Q: Who are some of your current favorites that you think we’ll see moving up in the leagues?

I'm always most intrigued by the guys at the lower levels of the organization because I'm always looking for the next wave. I try to identify guys who are flying under the radar a bit. There are so many guys to like in the system, but I'll just single out two of the lesser known names that I have my eye on. Teoscar Hernandez is an outfielder up in Quad Cities who I've been watching since he was in the DSL two seasons ago. His stats back then screamed five-tool player. He had modest success in his first season in the states last year and earned a spot with the full season QC team this year. He is a very exciting player to watch ... speed, a tremendous arm, a good approach at the plate, a good all around athlete. On the pitching side, I've seen LHP Luis Cruz pitch twice now ... once in Lexington last year and once in Lancaster this year. On both occasions, he simply dominated. During the most recent occasion, he pitched the second half of a no-hitter. He's a small lefty without dominating stuff, but he is the ultimate competitor. He's the Jose Altuve of pitchers. He doesn't know what he can't do.

Q: What has been your favorite memory as an Astros fan so far?

There are many, but I've got to go with the Mike Scott no-hitter to clinch the division in 1986. It still gives me chills.

Q: What has been your biggest influence in life? (Baseball or non-baseball related)

I've been thinking about this for a while. Of course, my mom and dad were a huge influence. They always encouraged us to think for ourselves and stand up for ourselves. We were never ever told that our thoughts or opinions were wrong when we were growing up no matter how bone-headed they were at the time (thinking back in retrospect). My mom was an incredibly strong woman and because of her, it never occurred to me that there was anything I couldn't accomplish if I wanted it badly enough. But, frankly, I was also influenced by a number of fictional characters, whether from books or movies. I was always drawn toward strong female characters and one of my very favorites is the lead character in Auntie Mame. A quote from the play, "Life is a banquet and most poor bastards are starving to death" has become a daily reminder to me to live my life to the fullest.

Q: How much do you hate Bud Selig?

I hate Bud Selig with the white hot heat of a thousand suns.

Q: In your opinion, how has social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc) changed the fan experience?

I'm not a Facebook person, but twitter has enhanced the experience for me to no end. It's much easier watching a bad team when you're watching it with a few dozen of your closest friends, most of whom are really, really funny.

Q: Who is your favorite person on Twitter?

I love funny people. James Yasko of Astros County routinely makes me howl. And I adore Andy (@HouCounterplot) for being one of the funniest, most outrageous and outspoken Astros fans ever. And there are many, many others. But there is this one chick named DeAnna [@itsallaboutde] who is not only very, very funny, she manages to keep me informed about all of the important things in life, like what silly thing Jose Canseco has said recently, when there is a car chase on Houston freeways and just how weird a place a public library can be. {interviewer note: Good answer, Jayne. Good answer!}

Q: Speaking of libraries...as a librarian, I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you to list your top 5 favorite books!

Oh yeah. Ask me who my favorite player is too, why don't you? :)

The first four are easy for me. My favorite novel of all time is Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens. I've read every work by Dickens, but that's my very favorite, probably because of the strong female protagonist. Next in line is The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut which is an incredibly wonderful, funny and irreverent work. Only Vonnegut could make the meaningless of life so entertaining. Next would be The Stand by Stephen King. Good vs. Evil supersized. The Great American Novel by Phillip Roth combines two of my favorite things, a love of baseball and a love of words into a satiric masterpiece. The fifth on the list is problematic. I perused my shelves through Twain, Hemingway, Steinbeck, John Irving, Tom Robbins, Christopher Moore, Carl Hiaasen, the Brontes, Jane Austen, all the Russians ... how to pick just one! Today I will pick A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, but that can change at a moment's notice depending upon my whim.

>>>>>>><<<<<<<

I was expecting a simple bulleted list but Jayne gave me reasons behind each book.

This unwavering attention to detail is why she is the one to read for all Astros farm system information and also why she’s super cool!

[Posted by DeAnna Williamson]