The Mumbai Mirror
06-25-2038
The Mumbai Metro Stars have signed their top two draft picks, have broken off talks with their third round selection, and still hope to reach deals with their fourth and fifth rounders.
Rex Marriott, the power hitting left fielder drafted by Mumbai in the first round, signed a minor league contract and negotiated a $700,000 bonus last week. He has reported to the Metro Stars’ AA affiliate in Ho Chi Minh City and is expected to start Saturday’s game against Tokyo Kaiju.
Rex Marriott
“All I have ever wanted to do was play baseball, and now someone is paying me to do it. I’ll bust my butt here for the … I’m sorry, what’s this team called? … The Explorers? Gotcha. … I’ll bust my butt here for the Explorers and do whatever I can to get to the big leagues soon. Very soon, I hope …”
Marriott’s potential grades out, on a 10-point scale relative to the UMEBA competition he will eventually face, as an 8 for contact, a 9 for gap power, an 8 for home run power, a 6 for plate discipline, and a 4 for avoiding strikeouts. His overall grade is an 80, as high as the scale goes.
Mumbai’s second round pick, starting pitcher Damon Odgers signed last week for a reported $300,000 bonus and has actually pitched two games already. In the first, he went 4.1 innings against Tokyo, giving up 4 runs on 7 hits and taking the loss. In the second, he went 3 innings against Bangkok, allowing no runs and one hit before leaving with a blister on his throwing hand.
The team put Odgers on the 7-day disabled list out of “an abundance of caution,” according to Explorers manager Giulio Cennini.
“We want to take good care of Damon. We don’t want a simple blister to develop into something that will plague him all season. So, we sit him down now for a week, let the finger heal, and then get back after it,” he said.
Damon Odgers
Meanwhile, Metro Stars General Manager Vic Caleca announced that the team had broken off talks with 17-year-old closer Nick Angwin, their third round pick out of Melbourne.
“We knew the talks would be difficult because Nick was committed to furthering his education, and we do believe we schooled him a bit on contract negotiations because what he was demanding was absurd. We sent him a realistic offer, he said no, and we said ‘Have a nice life.’”
The team is still waiting to hear from 19-year-old power hitting left fielder Darren Vankrimpen, out of Sydney, Australia, and 18-year-old starting pitcher Wesley Moss, of Melbourne.
“We’re definitely hoping both of these young men will elect to join the Metro Stars family. We made strong offers to both and told them to look everything over carefully, and we believe that’s what they are doing.”