One of my favorite scenes in Bull Durham takes places on the bus while the team is return home after a successful road trip. Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh climbs over the seats on the bus to the front and sits down next to Crash Davis. Nuke asks Crash to teach him something. Davis is reading (seriously) a newspaper article about Blue Jays A Ball outfielder Mark Whiten.
Davis tell LaLoosh they can work on his interviews. The diolouge goes something like this:
You're gonna have to learn your clichés. You're gonna have to study them, you're gonna have to know them. They're your friends. Write this down: "We gotta play it one day at a time."
After a minute, LaLoosh notices that the cliches are boring. Maybe a little tired and stale. Crash Davis closes out the scene by telling LaLoosh:
"Of course they're boring, that's the whole point"
Baseball card collectors have cliches too. I notice them all the time, esepcially when people are talking about prospects. They are somewhat ridiculous, but at the same time entertaining. I recently bought four autographed cards of some Minor Leaguers that I am going to try to collect during the 2021 season. I thought I would try out some of the cliches while posting their cards. I bet you've heard a few of these.
Note: The quotes under the cliches are things that people have actually written on the internet about these players. I am not going to attribute the quote to the author. They all come from Twitter, Facebook, or Reddit.
Let's try it out with the new cards.
Cliche #1 - Comparing A Minor Leaguer To A Major Leaguer
"Vidal Brujan is the next Ozzie Albies"
Why does every Minor Leaguer need to have a Major Leaguer comparable? Ozzie Albies is 24 and has played two whole seasons with the Braves. We don't even get a Major Leaguer who has been around for ahwile? Vidal Brujan last played in 2019 with the Double Montgomery Biscuits as a 21 year old. He hit .266 while he was there.
Ryan Brett once hit .303 for the Montgomery. Who is Ryan Brett? He was the next Dustin Pedroia, or someone like that. Ryan Brett got 3 Major League at-bats.
Vidal Burjan will likely be on the Durham Bulls in 2021.
Cliche #2 -Minor Leaguer Is Going To Help The Team Win The World Series
"Mackenzie Gore is going to be the Padres third starter in the World Series"
or
"Can't Wait Until Mackenzie Gore starts the 7th Game of the World Series
I think the Padres are good enough to make the World Series, but they have to play 162 regular season games to qualify for the playoffs so that they can play a few other good National League teams in the first two rounds of the playoffs. Maybe then they will get to play a good American League team and maybe win the World Series.
Mackenzie Gore's highest level in the Minors was Double A. He pitched 5 games there.
Not sure he's going to have a chance to pull an Anthony Reyes.
Cliche #3 - This player is going to replace a long-time Major Leaguer
"Herrera is the heir apparent to the catching throne in St. Louis"
Ivan Herrera had a good year in 2019 playing for the Peoria Chiefs. That's an A-Ball team. As a Cardinals fan, I am excited about Herrera. I was also excited about Carson Kelly and Andrew Knizner. Yadi is still starting. This phenomena is not just something that happens with Cardinals fans.
Cliche #4 - This draft pick is going to be in the Majors really soon.
"He (Jordan Walker) should have no trouble getting to it in the pro ranks."
I am not going to share the statistics of Major League draft picks that make it to the Majors, but it's not great. How many make it to the Majors quickly? How many make it to the Majors and are actually really good players? I hope Jordan Walker makes the Majors and is a very good player with the Cardinals, but there is a good chance they may not happen.
The "May the odds be ever in your favor" women from Hunger Games pops in my head whenever I hear someone talking about high school kids being in the Majors.
There are plenty of other cliches that people use with prospects, but I am out of cards.