Goldeyes southpaw Zach Baldwin says that if it wasn’t for our winters, he’d consider mov to Winnipeg full time.
“I just love it up there,” said Baldwin, who signed with the Goldeyes today for another season. “The golf is great and it’s a terrific place to play. Honest, it’s one of my favourite places in the world. If it wasn’t for the winters, I’d move there.”
Of course, the winters are a problem. Especially when your first love is baseball and your second love is golf. This winter, while he teaches pitching at the Tri-State Baseball Academy in Huntington, West Virginia), Baldwin has spent much of his time playing golf with his close friend, mini-tour professional Drew Whitten. For those who don’t know, Baldwin plays regularly at the 27-hole Quarry Oaks Golf Course outside Winnipeg and shoots from 68-74 depending on the course combination, the weather and the accuracy of his driver.
“We’ve been having fun playing at Sleepy Hollow Country Club,” said Baldwin, who lives in the bedroom community of Barboursville. “It’s about a 7,000-yard golf course and we go at it pretty hard every day. Drew, a guy I’d played with and against in the big golf tournaments throughout high school, had moved to Atlanta to play and prepare for a couple of mini-tours and he made 30 cuts in the last year. But he ran into some financial and sponsorship problems, so he came back home to work with his dad and just plays around here. We’ve been playing a lot.”
Along with his off-season golf, Baldwin offers pitching lessons. He says when he gets a good, young high school star that wants to take it to the next level, that’s when he has the most fun.
“When you get a teenager who already has some idea how to pitch well and you help him get to the next level, it’s pretty satisfying and a lot of fun,” said Baldwin, who has about a dozen kids in his stable now, but usually gets 25-30 by February. “I teach them how to throw everything and the kitchen sink. You know me. They’ll learn a lot of pitches.”
Baldwin went 4-0 in 29 relief appearances with a 2.65 ERA last season. After going 5-7 with a 4.70 ERA in 2008, he went 4-4 with a 3.71 ERA last year. He has a career record of 7-2 with two saves and a 3.08 ERA in 49 games out of the bullpen.
He’s so excited about coming back, he expects to be in Winnipeg by mid-April.
“I’d go back right now if the weather was good enough to play golf,” he said with a laugh. “It’s nice to be back home with family and friends, but I love Winnipeg.”
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
November 26: Forney’s First Move Gives Him Options At The Top Of The Order
Goldeyes manager Rick Forney isn’t quite sure what he’ll do with Aharon Eggleston. He’s just happy Eggleston will be somewhere in his line-up in 2010.
Earlier this week, Forney sent pitcher Andrew Cruse to the Kansas City T-Bones in exchange for Eggleston, a gifted outfielder who can play centre, left or right field.
He can also lead off, steal bases and drive in runs and with so many ways to go, Forney still isn’t sure how Eggleston’s talents will fit into what should be a powerful Goldeyes line-up.
“He’s a good player in our league,” Forney said of Eggleston, who hit .318 in 2009, led the league in hits for the second-straight year and was named to the Northern League All-Star Team. “He brings a lot to a team. He hits for average and has a high on-base percentage and he drove in a lot of runs hitting out of the lead-off spot in Kansas City last year. It’s his ability to hit with men on base that I like, but he can also run the bases really well and steal when he has to.
“But I’m not sure if he’ll be a lead-off man with us. Assuming Wes (shortstop Long) comes back, I would think he’ll lead off, and then I’d likely use Aharon in the No. 2 spot. I like having a left-handed hitter bat No. 2 because it makes it more difficult for the catcher to get a good look at Wes when he’s on first.”
Forney says he doesn’t want to get “too far ahead of himself,” but will admit that if all goes well in the off-season, he would be excited to see a batting order that goes Long, Eggleston, Diaz, Harrison, Patton, Brown, Asanovich...
“It’s a tough spot to be in but I’d like a lot of these tough spots,” Forney said. “Remember, Cory (Patton) did a great job leading off after Wes was hurt last year, so we have three guys who would be comfortable in that spot. Now, at this stage, I wouldn’t think Cory would be a lead-off man next year, but that’s why I don’t like to get too far ahead of myself. You never know what’s going to happen between now and the day the season starts.”
Eggleston, who is splaying in Colombia this winter, has put up outstanding numbers in five seasons of independent baseball. He’s a .317 career hitter who had a 1.000 fielding percentage in 2009. He’s a tremendous hitter at the top of the order because he strikes out only once in every 12.9 plate appearances.
“He’s a good player and he’ll really help us, but I have to admit he isn’t a guy I’ve been chasing after for a long time,” Forney said. “As part of my off-season phone calls, I talked to Tim Doherty (the new manager in K.C.), and he said he would talk about moving Aharon. I had to give up a lot to get him. When he throws strikes, like he did in that playoff game with Fargo in September, Andrew Cruse has a lot of talent and he really has a chance to get back to organized baseball.
“But Aharon’s a good player. He’s a guy who hits with men on base and I like that.”
Earlier this week, Forney sent pitcher Andrew Cruse to the Kansas City T-Bones in exchange for Eggleston, a gifted outfielder who can play centre, left or right field.
He can also lead off, steal bases and drive in runs and with so many ways to go, Forney still isn’t sure how Eggleston’s talents will fit into what should be a powerful Goldeyes line-up.
“He’s a good player in our league,” Forney said of Eggleston, who hit .318 in 2009, led the league in hits for the second-straight year and was named to the Northern League All-Star Team. “He brings a lot to a team. He hits for average and has a high on-base percentage and he drove in a lot of runs hitting out of the lead-off spot in Kansas City last year. It’s his ability to hit with men on base that I like, but he can also run the bases really well and steal when he has to.
“But I’m not sure if he’ll be a lead-off man with us. Assuming Wes (shortstop Long) comes back, I would think he’ll lead off, and then I’d likely use Aharon in the No. 2 spot. I like having a left-handed hitter bat No. 2 because it makes it more difficult for the catcher to get a good look at Wes when he’s on first.”
Forney says he doesn’t want to get “too far ahead of himself,” but will admit that if all goes well in the off-season, he would be excited to see a batting order that goes Long, Eggleston, Diaz, Harrison, Patton, Brown, Asanovich...
“It’s a tough spot to be in but I’d like a lot of these tough spots,” Forney said. “Remember, Cory (Patton) did a great job leading off after Wes was hurt last year, so we have three guys who would be comfortable in that spot. Now, at this stage, I wouldn’t think Cory would be a lead-off man next year, but that’s why I don’t like to get too far ahead of myself. You never know what’s going to happen between now and the day the season starts.”
Eggleston, who is splaying in Colombia this winter, has put up outstanding numbers in five seasons of independent baseball. He’s a .317 career hitter who had a 1.000 fielding percentage in 2009. He’s a tremendous hitter at the top of the order because he strikes out only once in every 12.9 plate appearances.
“He’s a good player and he’ll really help us, but I have to admit he isn’t a guy I’ve been chasing after for a long time,” Forney said. “As part of my off-season phone calls, I talked to Tim Doherty (the new manager in K.C.), and he said he would talk about moving Aharon. I had to give up a lot to get him. When he throws strikes, like he did in that playoff game with Fargo in September, Andrew Cruse has a lot of talent and he really has a chance to get back to organized baseball.
“But Aharon’s a good player. He’s a guy who hits with men on base and I like that.”
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
November 18: Forney Excited To Be Back
It’s November. That means, for Goldeyes manager Rick Forney at least, it’s officially Telephone Season.
“I’m excited to be back to work,” said Forney, who signed a new deal with the Goldeyes earlier this week. “I’m ready to get back to working the phones.”
Goldeyes president and CEO Sam Katz announced on Wednesday that Forney will be back at the helm of the Fish for the 2010 season. Forney said his deal was “two-years-plus-an-option” and it means he’ll start talking to his players as well as the managers of other independent pro teams this week.
“Yeah, I’ll be calling guys and wishing them Happy Holidays and asking ‘Hey, what you gonna do with that guy?’” Forney said with a laugh. “This is the time of year when you call all your players and really get a good gauge of their interest in coming back and you also call the other managers to see what they might be doing with the guys on their lists.
“It’s just the usual November stuff. This is phone call season.”
The 38-year-old Forney, who was once one of the Goldeyes finest starting pitchers, will return to the team with a career record of 210-173 in four years as manager. He has led his team to the playoffs in each of his four years on the job. In total, 15 of his players have been signed by big league organizations.
The former pitching coach said this week that he’s extremely happy about returning to an organization he’s been with since 1997.
“I love it in Winnipeg and I’m excited about coming back,” he said. “I really thought we had the team last year that should have won the championship, but for whatever reason, it just didn’t work out. This year, I think we’ll have another really competitive team that will take another run at a championship. There is still a lot of work to be done but we’re starting with a good nucleus and we’ll just spend the rest of the off-season building on it.”
Season tickets for the 2010 Goldeyes campaign are available now. Just call the box office at 982-2273. Rick Forney would love to see you at the ballpark next summer.
“I’m excited to be back to work,” said Forney, who signed a new deal with the Goldeyes earlier this week. “I’m ready to get back to working the phones.”
Goldeyes president and CEO Sam Katz announced on Wednesday that Forney will be back at the helm of the Fish for the 2010 season. Forney said his deal was “two-years-plus-an-option” and it means he’ll start talking to his players as well as the managers of other independent pro teams this week.
“Yeah, I’ll be calling guys and wishing them Happy Holidays and asking ‘Hey, what you gonna do with that guy?’” Forney said with a laugh. “This is the time of year when you call all your players and really get a good gauge of their interest in coming back and you also call the other managers to see what they might be doing with the guys on their lists.
“It’s just the usual November stuff. This is phone call season.”
The 38-year-old Forney, who was once one of the Goldeyes finest starting pitchers, will return to the team with a career record of 210-173 in four years as manager. He has led his team to the playoffs in each of his four years on the job. In total, 15 of his players have been signed by big league organizations.
The former pitching coach said this week that he’s extremely happy about returning to an organization he’s been with since 1997.
“I love it in Winnipeg and I’m excited about coming back,” he said. “I really thought we had the team last year that should have won the championship, but for whatever reason, it just didn’t work out. This year, I think we’ll have another really competitive team that will take another run at a championship. There is still a lot of work to be done but we’re starting with a good nucleus and we’ll just spend the rest of the off-season building on it.”
Season tickets for the 2010 Goldeyes campaign are available now. Just call the box office at 982-2273. Rick Forney would love to see you at the ballpark next summer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
