Hazelbaker spent seven years in the minor leagues, always hitting well enough to stick around but never enough to excite anyone. He was a fourth round draft poick (by Boston) so it’s not like he was ever a huge prospect. Last year the Dodgers started off the season demoting him to AA - he’d been in AAA in 2014 - and then released him before May. You have to think the evening of April 30 ws a tough one, that this guy spent the night thinking “I’ve worked so hard, I’ve played so many games and done everything I could, and maybe this is it. I’m never gonna make it.” And then the Cardinals tossed him a line - and he went out there and hit the bejeezus out of the ball and went any played winter ball to prove he was serious. Whatever becomes of him, he worked harder than 10,000 other guys who said they wanted to be ballplayers but didn’t try as hard. and he finally got to play for a big league team and cracked some homers.
He’ll probably end up with a little career like Kevin Mass or Chris Colabello, a guy who can hit the ball but peters out quickly when MLB pitchers figure out what his hole is. Which is fine. Someday he’ll be able to say “I was a major league power hitter.”
Fourth round is a fairly high pick. That’s maybe outside Baseball America “Top Prospects” range, but it means the organization still probably paid about a year’s worth of MLB salary just as a signing bonus. He unquestionably had a scout in the organization advocating for him, to get taken that high.
Ryan Goins was the Jays’ pick, slightly earlier that same round, and he had a pretty straightforward climb of the ladder without ever dramatically distinguishing himself; that’s prospect treatment. Look at their respective 2013 seasons in the IL–not wildly different (Hazelbaker did strike out a lot, but still got on base as much, and hit a few more homers). Goins got called up; two years later he was playing 128 major-league games. Hazelbaker got packaged in a trade, to an organization that didn’t know him, and then had an off year in the new system. (He was playing winter ball even before this, BTW.)
I guess what I’m saying is, sure, Hazelbaker worked for his shot, but it’s not like he had things stacked against him. He was inconvenienced by a trade that served the big club’s needs, as a thousand guys a year are, and he had a bit of a slump at the wrong time, as uncountable players have. He didn’t get the benefits of injuries on the chart above him, as Goins did. Thass baseball.
I’m not saying Hazelbaker’s like Jim Morris or anything, but come on. He had to think it might be over last year. For many prospects it’s over a lot quicker than that.
I’m not saying Hazelbaker’s like Jim Morris or anything, but come on. He had to think it might be over last year. For many prospects it’s over a lot quicker than that.
That, and his real talent level (All-Star and WS MVP), and his youth, and the still-remaining possibility that he can get his eating disorder under control somehow. This is rock bottom right now, for him and for his trade value. BTW, he was a Cherington signing - Dombrowski wouldn’t be embarrassed at all to cut him.
I saw Hazelbaker play for the Portland Sea Dogs in 2011. He was hitting fairly well (about .280) with modest power, but apparently didn’t impress anyone too much until just the past year.
Hope he keeps it up and sticks in the majors; too bad it won’t be for the Red Sox.
Anyone else playing Beat the Streak? It’s effortless; you download the app and pick your champions and try to get to 57 and win $5.7 million. No cost.
Well, except in learning the incredible frustration of trying to build a hitting streak. I think my current record is 8. It is perhaps worth again remarking on how amazing DiMaggio’s streak was in that in years of running “Beat the Streak” not one of the millions of contestants has pulled it off, or in fact has even broken 50, which is the statistical equivalent of running, God, maybe a thousand years of MLB seasons without the record falling - and one has to assume most people are deliberately choosing games where a hit is likely, good hitters facing weaker pitchers.
You pick anyone you want. It makes suggestions but the app can be used to filter and pick whomever you like; it’s very user friendly.
You do not have to pick someone every day. If you don’t pick someone on Wednesday, that doesn’t stop whatever streak you’re on. Your streak is only broken if you make a pick and he doesn’t get a hit.
You can pick two players in one day if you wish (and you might as well.) IF they both get a hit, your streak goes up by 2. If one doesn’t, your streak ends.
You pick anyone you want. It makes suggestions but the app can be used to filter and pick whomever you like; it’s very user friendly.
You do not have to pick someone every day. If you don’t pick someone on Wednesday, that doesn’t stop whatever streak you’re on. Your streak is only broken if you make a pick and he doesn’t get a hit.
You can pick two players in one day if you wish (and you might as well.) IF they both get a hit, your streak goes up by 2. If one doesn’t, your streak ends.
I’m watching the Orioles and the Blue Jays at the moment (top of the 10th). Edwin Encarnacion swings at every pitch like he wants to hit it into Chesapeake Bay. I can’t believe he manages to keep hold of the bat.
