Brooklyn State of Mind: Dropping Morales Jr. In Lineup Has Been Working So Far (2054.9)

[lordtoffee]

Emilio Morales Jr. is the poster boy of the X Generation, and the player on which the future hopes and dreams of the Robins rest. That is pretty strong pressure for a 20 year old in only his 2nd season of play at the BBA level. But when you were a first round draft pick and almost immediately named as a top 5 prospect, having a lot of hope invested in you is understandable given the Robins rebuild. The thought process at the start of the year was to have Morales Jr bat in the cleanup position so that Earnest McBride and Raul Fernandez could provide protection on either side. Well, it turns out that way of thinking wasn't working. So after some discussion before the Robins left Brooklyn on their largely Western road trip, Morales Jr. was dropped to the 6th spot and the 7th spot in the order depending on the matchup.

Morales Jr. has been responding well in a limited sample size, raising his average to a solid .250, and driving in a couple of runs. More importantly, the Robins have been scoring some more runs on this road trip, meaning that at this early stage in the season, the Robins have been fairly competitive in most of their games, and have put themselves in position to win most days. As a baseball team, that is all you can ask.

The late Bobby Bowden was asked back in the day about the stages of building a program in college football. Those stages are you lose big, lose close, win close, and win big. The Robins last year lost big a bunch. So far this year, they've lost close and won close a bit. Winning big will have to wait, but the Robins are showing some signs of progress. While I don't think the Robins are playoff contenders yet or close to dining at the top table of the Johnson League, the fans have responded. All 3 of the Robins home games have had 40,000 fans show up, and season ticket revenue went up by over 5 million dollars. If the Robins can get some improvement from the pitching, and increase the farm system in the upcoming draft, then the X Generation and Robinpalooza has a chance to work out. And in the BBA, all you need is a chance. Anything can happen with said chance.