One of the things I’ve come to appreciate in my 55 years here on Braves Journal is the diversity of modalities that one’s baseball obsession can take. While this is obvious to some extent from April to October, it is far more obvious in the offseason. A few of you drop out altogether, content to emerge from hibernation and start anew, while a few others appear to care more about the Hot Stove League than the American or National Leagues. The only thing I know is that whatever form your baseball psychosis takes, it is not a sign of mental health.
And that’s OK! Mental health is ridiculously overrated, much like Scott Thorman was. (Scott, by the way, manages the AAA affiliate of the Royals now. Glad to see him anywhere in baseball other than the batter’s box.)
Anyway, I don’t really follow spring training, or prospects, or much of anything until Opening Day. But I’m really grateful for you guys who do. What brings this on is that I’m sitting in my local bar tonight when an old friend walks in, a guy who winters in Florida. He’s a Red Sox fan, and a fairly obnoxious one, but I like him anyway. He tells me he went to see a Braves-Mets game in Port St. Lucie, and tells me that he saw a player I ought to keep an eye on. I ask him who, and he tells me “Forrest Wall.â€
Now while I avidly read about every prospect you guys write about, the name “Forrest Wall†sounds like some sort of ecoproject in Costa Rica rather than a prospect. A quick search of Braves Journal reveals Ryan telling us he was signed, and a look aţ his Rotowire page reveals a 27 year old whose chances of making the majors are slightly better than mine, but only slightly. There are 8 million stories in the Naked City (I’m buying drinks for everyone who gets that reference and is still allowed by his doctors to drink) and I now am rooting hard for Forrest Wall, who hit a double off the Mets’ Jose Butto a couple of days ago. (Yes, that’s his name…. He’s going to have a hard time the first time he has a tough outing in CitiField.)
So y’all just keep on speculating. Spring Training is Forrest Wall time.
I can remember coveting Forrest Wall many years ago, in a very deep, NL-only dynasty league of which I was a part. He was the “best pure hitter” of his class, and he was going to be playing at Coors…
Yup, I kinda wake up on opening day, as well.
I’ve watched parts of 2 games so far. In the first one, I flicked on the TV just in time to see the Yankee catcher Trevino hit a 1st-inning grand slam off Bryce Elder. Wonderful. During the second one, a replay of Yanks/Bucs, I fell asleep. So… I’m not exactly dialed in. (Plus, my hockey team, NJ Devils, has finally become very competitive again.)
“Naked City” was a TV show that predated my birth by a couple years.
Does it count if you ignore your doctors?
Forrest’s Wallbangers!
Yeah, hot stove league, draft discussions, college recruiting… all of them are things I have a hard time getting excited about. There are so few sure things, so people end up getting themselves all worked up about guys who may never see significant time.
And preseason games are not about winning, so I glance at the score and go on with my day. I’ll see y’all opening day.
Hmm, we’ll have to see how Wall does in the flesh.
I’m definitely one of those fans that mainly follow the team during the season. But I remember being much more interested in the offseasons when the team was rubbish compared to this one. With all the major pieces signed this was way more boring than usual.
I follow baseball with equal fervor year-round, but I usually only actually talk about it during the offseason. The main reason for that is that the busy period at my job is May through October, so I tend not to have time to write long screeds about teambuilding philosophy during those months — which hey, just so happens to line up exactly with baseball season. By the time things slow down and I start to have a lot of free time at work, they’re handing out trophies and going to the winter meetings and other offseason stuff. The other reason is that if I’ve got baseball on the brain and it’s the season, I can just watch it. During the winter, my only outlet is to type words about it until I’m sick of thinking about it anymore.
I’m a 1 dimensional sports fan now and baseball is my only professional sport I care about. However, when I can get away from my 3 children, I play a lot of sports: Ultimate frisbee, disc golf, wiffleball, basketball, pickle ball. I also run 3 team sports classes, and always play with my students and since I live in Florida, I very often come home a sweaty mess.
There are two seasons, baseball and the off-season. I do confess to having two favorite college football teams, however. I pull for the Bulldogs and whoever’s playing Florida.
Question: do Rocco and the girls get neglected due to your need to perspire, Ryan?
@9
Nope, because my kids love to stay on the move too!
@1: Stu, that’s great. I somehow knew that the sieve of Braves Journal readers somehow snagged every player one way or another.
@3: Rusty, it counts double. Literally.
Baseball offseason, I should have mentioned, is basically alma mater sports season for me. My Yale Bulldogs fight this weekend to see whether or not they’ll have a chance to win a first-round March Madness game while the Women’s Hockey team, ranked fourth in the country, starts the NCAA Tournament this weekend. I know this is vital news to all of you, particularly those of you who depend on Braves Journal for Women’s Hockey coverage.
It is no exaggeration to say that I absolutely depend upon you for Yale Bulldogs coverage, JonathanF.
Oh, and here’s a nice little piece on why Spencer Strider’s reliance on two dominant pitches seems like it could work for him long-term:
https://theathletic.com/4260923/2023/03/08/spencer-strider-two-pitch-pitcher/
@11 -Dangit.
New thread.
https://bravesjournal.mystagingwebsite.com/2023/03/08/braves-spring-training-left-field-battle/