"Unbelievable, extraordinary ... it's an out-of-body experience and I'm really enjoying it," said Horwitz, who obtained his home run ball from the fan who caught it by giving him an autographed bat. (Chris Haft article)
The 24-year old seems to have been pegged as a career minor-leaguer, a familiar refrain in our organization, mostly due to a lack of power. He's a .400 OBA kind of guy--check him out at The Baseball Cube. The real reason we are excited about this fella here at RMC is that he is a GRADUATE of the University of California! He's a goddamn GOLDEN BEAR, my friends! Let's hear it:
GRRR-Rah! GRRR-Rah! GRRR--RRR--RRR--Rah!
We already got to know our 49er, John "Dirtbag" Bowker. And our Golden Eagle, Steve "Backup Catcher" Holm. Add to the list future shortstop Emmanuel Burriss. Why? Because he's a GOLDEN FLASH! Emmanuel is a Kent State University product. They are The Golden Flashes. Don't you love college nicknames?
Player development in baseball is a bit like prospecting, eh? Trying to unearth the precious nugget from the mountains of gravel. Let's hope we found some gold in this bunch.
10 comments:
Brother Bob:
I was joking about expanding my beat to all players whose name ends in a "z" so I could focus on Latin players, but now I can add Horwitz to my list! If he goes on to become a star I can brag that I was at the park for his first 2 ML hits.
The picture in this AM's Bee accompanying the Giants story showed Sanchez hitting a two-run double in the 7th inning. So right away I knew my boy had a good game.
7 6 2 2 3 8
He widened his lead in the "better than Cain" department. I should start a blog for him. I think I'll call it "The Dirty Sanchez." Do you think people will get the wrong idea?
Yes.
And from the Who'd-A-Thunk-It department, comes this: Who'd a thunk that J. Sanchez would have more wins on his record than M. Cain and B. Zito combined?
So we have a couple of Golden Bears (Go Bears!), a golden eagle and a golden flash. This looks like a pattern. Scary way to select talent.
Forget this Cal stuff - it's about damn time that we had a Jewish superstar on this team. Well, it was back down to earth in his PH AB against Pedro Martinez tonight - he looked positively Feliz-like on strike 3. But, like Mark, I am heartened by his career OBP tendencies. I read all about him on the Internet last night. I think that he's a keeper! He certainly seems to be an instant fan favorite.
Even though he is a Cal Man, Brian has about a one in ten chance of making it. Come on, a corner OF with zero power and no speed or defense. He has to hit .330 to even be considered to bat second or seventh. Do we really need another non RBI type??
Oh yeah, Shalom.
Power, schmower. As The Keeper of the Goyim, I have extended a hearty welcome to our Hebrew brother. Is there a secret handshake I'm forgetting?
Horwitz is an interesting case. It remains to be seen if he can do the "line-drive-in-the-gaps" thing, which is great for our big park. (Does anyone like his funny open-stance leg-kick jive?) I can live with low HR totals if guys can hit to all fields, take pitches, work counts, etc. He's only 24, if he is a selective hitter he can learn to drive the ball. His lifetime SLG is .426, higher than Lewis, for example. He will get bumped by Schierholz for a corner spot, though. Maybe he can join the Ort-Bowk mix at 1B. One of those three guys will stick, I expect.
Where the hell are we going to find a 3B?
Nice to Sanchez smokin' against a good lineup. Prediction: Matt wil have a run here soon and finish the year with more wins than TDS.
That's "nice to SEE Sanchez . . ."
Brother Bob:
I got some All Star ballots at PhoneCo Sunday. Here are my picks:
National League
First of I chose Rowand and Molina. I think they both have a shot at being there.
1st Base- Berkman
2nd Base-Utley
Shortstop-Theriot (who?)
3rd Base-C. Jones
Outfield-Nady, Holliday
American League
Outfield-Gomez, Gutierrez, Ramirez
DH- Ortiz
Catcher-Martinez
3rd Base-Chavez
Shortstop-Hernandez
2nd Base-Lopez
1st Base-this was a tough one because there's no one on the ballot whose name ends in "z" but I went with Youkilis because it's a cool name.
The All-Star game is not baseball. It is an exhibition/merchandising operation. As long as they keep this insane all star game winner world series home team advantage thing, I have nothing but loathing for anyone who supports this effort in any way, including by paying attention to it. Except little kids, whom I just feel sorry for.
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