Lefty
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If true about Green not be calling up, I wonder why?
Unfortunately for prospect, season could end without rewards
How's this for unfair? The guy who has had the best season in the Pacific Coast League, if not all the minor leagues, has just as much chance of being on an interstate somewhere between here and Kentucky in two weeks as he does occupying a section of pine on a big-league bench.
Even more more unsettling? He likely won't even have a deserving chunk of award hardware to accompany him on that long drive home.
Sidewinders star Andy Green is having the type of season worthy of a league MVP award or a September call-up, if not both. He might not get either.
Baseball can be so cruel sometimes. It also often fails to follow the normal parameters of reason.
Green, 27, had a pretty good season in 2004, his fifth as a pro after his pastor, wife, mother and "basically everybody I knew kicked me out the door and told me to play ball."
He hit .327 with 31 doubles, nine home runs and 45 RBIs for the Sidewinders, and thanks to the woeful year the Diamondbacks were having, the little-known utility player also spent 89 days in the majors.
Though he hit only .202 with a homer and four RBIs in 109 at-bats, Green gained the valuable experience - and confidence - that enabled him to improve by leaps and bounds this year.
"The confidence you get from realizing you can play at the big-league level is so big," he said. "You can't take swings in the cage to make up for that. You can't take ground balls to make up for that. Whether or not you can put up the numbers or not, I realized I could play at that level."
Whatever Green learned while with the D'backs, it stuck. Entering Saturday night, Green posted career highs in homers (19), RBIs (79), doubles (44), hits (176) and runs (123), batting .346 in 130 games. His hits and runs totals are tops in the minors, and he is four ahead of major-league hit leader Michael Young of the Texas Rangers.
MVP numbers? Definitely. MVP consideration? Sure, he'll get some votes, but not as many as he would have had the Sidewinders not fizzled out in the standings the last few weeks.
"His numbers definitely deserve some consideration," said Tony DeFrancesco, manager of two-time defending PCL champ Sacramento and the league's last two MVPs, 2003 winner Graham Koonce and 2004 winner Dan Johnson. "But usually it's the guys from a winning team."
Well, if an MVP trophy can't be attained, how about another call-up to the bigs? If only it were 2004 again.
Twenty-three people have played for both the D'backs and Sidewinders this season, but most of those are either pitchers who opened the season with the D'backs and were demoted or injured big leaguers down on rehab assignments.
A year after 13 players made their major-league debuts with the D'backs, including nine position players, only second-year Scott Hairston and rookie Conor Jackson have been promoted for their bats.
"It's a numbers game, and that path to the majors gets blocked sometimes," D'backs assistant general manager Bob Miller says of why Green has spent all year in Tucson. "Guys on the (40-man roster) versus guys not on the 40."
Green is not on the 40-man roster. Neither is top prospect Carlos Quentin, but that likely won't stop Arizona from getting the slugging outfielder up to Phoenix before the year is out. Remember, Jackson was not a 40-man guy, either.
So what is keeping Andy Green from getting more of a look? Just listen to Tacoma manager Dan Rohn's description of the Sidewinders leadoff hitter.
"Andy Green is one heck of a little player," Rohn said.
Emphasis on the word little. At 5 feet 9 inches and 180 pounds, Green does not strike fear into opposing pitchers. Maybe that is why so many of them fail to retire on a regular basis the University of Kentucky grad with a degree in finance.
All of this good-but-not-good-enough talk is likely to mess with the psyche of even the most even-keeled of players. But the closest Green has come to venting that frustration was when he was ejected for arguing balls and strikes earlier this month in the midst of a rare thin stretch at the plate.
"That didn't have anything to do with anything other than I obviously disagreed with the call, and I got a little heated," Green insists. "There are too many things that I can't control, though. Just take care of what you can take care of. When the time comes, if they need me …"
http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/sports/90643.php
Unfortunately for prospect, season could end without rewards
How's this for unfair? The guy who has had the best season in the Pacific Coast League, if not all the minor leagues, has just as much chance of being on an interstate somewhere between here and Kentucky in two weeks as he does occupying a section of pine on a big-league bench.
Even more more unsettling? He likely won't even have a deserving chunk of award hardware to accompany him on that long drive home.
Sidewinders star Andy Green is having the type of season worthy of a league MVP award or a September call-up, if not both. He might not get either.
Baseball can be so cruel sometimes. It also often fails to follow the normal parameters of reason.
Green, 27, had a pretty good season in 2004, his fifth as a pro after his pastor, wife, mother and "basically everybody I knew kicked me out the door and told me to play ball."
He hit .327 with 31 doubles, nine home runs and 45 RBIs for the Sidewinders, and thanks to the woeful year the Diamondbacks were having, the little-known utility player also spent 89 days in the majors.
Though he hit only .202 with a homer and four RBIs in 109 at-bats, Green gained the valuable experience - and confidence - that enabled him to improve by leaps and bounds this year.
"The confidence you get from realizing you can play at the big-league level is so big," he said. "You can't take swings in the cage to make up for that. You can't take ground balls to make up for that. Whether or not you can put up the numbers or not, I realized I could play at that level."
Whatever Green learned while with the D'backs, it stuck. Entering Saturday night, Green posted career highs in homers (19), RBIs (79), doubles (44), hits (176) and runs (123), batting .346 in 130 games. His hits and runs totals are tops in the minors, and he is four ahead of major-league hit leader Michael Young of the Texas Rangers.
MVP numbers? Definitely. MVP consideration? Sure, he'll get some votes, but not as many as he would have had the Sidewinders not fizzled out in the standings the last few weeks.
"His numbers definitely deserve some consideration," said Tony DeFrancesco, manager of two-time defending PCL champ Sacramento and the league's last two MVPs, 2003 winner Graham Koonce and 2004 winner Dan Johnson. "But usually it's the guys from a winning team."
Well, if an MVP trophy can't be attained, how about another call-up to the bigs? If only it were 2004 again.
Twenty-three people have played for both the D'backs and Sidewinders this season, but most of those are either pitchers who opened the season with the D'backs and were demoted or injured big leaguers down on rehab assignments.
A year after 13 players made their major-league debuts with the D'backs, including nine position players, only second-year Scott Hairston and rookie Conor Jackson have been promoted for their bats.
"It's a numbers game, and that path to the majors gets blocked sometimes," D'backs assistant general manager Bob Miller says of why Green has spent all year in Tucson. "Guys on the (40-man roster) versus guys not on the 40."
Green is not on the 40-man roster. Neither is top prospect Carlos Quentin, but that likely won't stop Arizona from getting the slugging outfielder up to Phoenix before the year is out. Remember, Jackson was not a 40-man guy, either.
So what is keeping Andy Green from getting more of a look? Just listen to Tacoma manager Dan Rohn's description of the Sidewinders leadoff hitter.
"Andy Green is one heck of a little player," Rohn said.
Emphasis on the word little. At 5 feet 9 inches and 180 pounds, Green does not strike fear into opposing pitchers. Maybe that is why so many of them fail to retire on a regular basis the University of Kentucky grad with a degree in finance.
All of this good-but-not-good-enough talk is likely to mess with the psyche of even the most even-keeled of players. But the closest Green has come to venting that frustration was when he was ejected for arguing balls and strikes earlier this month in the midst of a rare thin stretch at the plate.
"That didn't have anything to do with anything other than I obviously disagreed with the call, and I got a little heated," Green insists. "There are too many things that I can't control, though. Just take care of what you can take care of. When the time comes, if they need me …"
http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/sports/90643.php
