End of the Weekend Post

Way back last Tuesday I had a stack of cards I needed to scan in order to start planning out some posts for the next few weeks.  There have been way too many 2015 cards enter my collection and sit on my desk.  Not really go anywhere or doing anything.  After thinking a nice long holiday weekend would help resolve the matter I am sitting here on Saturday night and I am feeling slightly overwhelmed by the fact that I have done almost nothing.

I posted a cool new Mark McGwire card from a Panini USA Baseball set last night, so I am going to stick with that same theme this evening.  I picked these three USA Baseball cards up awhile back, so this help clear a little bit of the backlog.  First up.....

Lucas Sims is pitching in the Braves organization.  I saw him pitch last summer for the Carolina Mudcats during my baseball tour and was really impressed.  Not a really great outcome for the Mudcats considering they lost badly to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, but it was not really Sims fault that the team lost the game.  He has a few other autographs out there, but I really liked the looks of this jersey/autograph combo from the Stars & Stripes product.

How many times has Chris Okey played for USA Baseball?  I feel like I run into him every summer, or perhaps it's just the fact that I also see him when he plays for Clemson.  Either way, I like Okey and enjoy watching him play.  Is he a senior this year?  I think so which means he will likely be drafted by a team that I watch locally.  Okey appears frequently in games I watch now, I expect little will change once he is drafted.

and Thomas Echelman is here because I saw him pitch a few times over the years too.  Not in the same games as Chris Okey.  Okey goes to Clemson, Eshelman went to Cal-State Fullerton.  Nevertheless, he always seemed to pitch every time I watched a USA Baseball game two summers ago.  He is in the lower levels of the Astros Minor League system at the moment.  

A Night Out At USA Baseball

A lot of the games that I attend in person are Durham Bulls games, but I have decided to do a little bit better job at showing off some of the great baseball that is around central North Carolina.  We may not have a Major League team, but there are plenty of minor league and amateur baseball games around here.  Tonight I took a short 10 minute excursion up NC55 to the USA Baseball training complex to watch the College National Team battle a college team from the Chinese Taipei.  The USA Baseball Stadium is small, but a really nice complex.  

Here's a look at the field.  Not a huge crowd, but definitely some die hard baseball fans were in attendance.  There is a scout section behind home plate which was pretty full too.  The College All-Star team consists of a group of very good college players.  There are a few that I would love to add to the roster, but I am sure there is a reason that they are elsewhere.  Here's a look at this year's squad.....

The starting pitcher for tonight's game was Thomas Eshelman from Cal State Fullerton.  Eshelman was the College Freshman pitcher of the year in 2013 for the Titans and also made the Baseball America All American Team.  Eshelman is a big guy, but seems to rely a lot on control.  USA Baseball does not have a stadium radar gun, but there are so many scouts around the stadium you can just kind of listen and figure out how hard they are throwing.  Eshelman seemed to live in the low 90s.  Taipei had one big inning against the right-handed pitcher who exited the game with a 3-3 tie.  Here is Eshelman warming up in the first.....

The next pitcher into the game was more impressive than Eshelman.  In fact, it was Eshelman's teammate from Cal State Fullerton Justin Garza.  He's short (5'11) and only weighs 170 pounds, but he has an arm.  He reminds me a lot of Marcus Stroman who I saw pitch at Duke.  Garza may be short, but he has an arm.  

Garza seemed to be sitting in the mid 90s and had some sort of second pitch which he flipped up from time to time.  Hitters seemed completely off while Garza was in the game.  Several sites have him projected as a first rounder.  Seems like a legit talent.  He threw a no-hitter last year at Fullerton....

I also spent a little bit of time checking out shortstop Alex Bregman who should be another first round draft pick next year.  I would guess he'd be in the top half of the first round.  The LSU shortstop is extremely polished in the field and has a good bat for a middle infielder too.  He made a great play in the field tonight, but I did not get any pictures or video clips of him.  Another night.  Here's a clip of him hitting a home run against Houston in the NCAA regionals last year.  

Last player I will share tonight is Tate Matheny who is the son of Cardinals manager Mike Matheny.  If you know me away from this blog you are probably aware of the fact that I am slightly hard on the Cardinals manager.  I went into this game with a clear mind and paid a little extra attention to this Missouri State All American.  Matheny was playing centerfield tonight and was batting fourth in the lineup.  Here's his first at-bat which resulted in an RBI single.  

Matheny did a great job of going the other way with that ball and getting the run home from third.  I have one more video of a Matheny at-bat, but he flies out.  

Matheny also made a great play in the field during the game.  A Taipei batter hit a ball towards the right-center gap.  Matheny had a bad read on the ball and actually broke in at first.  He ran back and to his right, reached up over his shoulder, and made a leaping catch to take away a double or triple.  

Overall it was a great night to take in a game at the USA Baseball complex.  The game ended in a 5-5 tie (Ann Coulter would be irked) in extra innings.  The two teams play a few more games this week.  I might have to go back and check out Louisville pitcher Kyle Funkhouser.