November 1, 2060
by Banjo Jackson
Nashville, TN
Another offseason, another chance to get back to work in the development lab. The Bluebirds sent some of their top players to the development lab last season and had mostly poor results. Luckily, they didn’t skip a beat and went on the win a Monty, but they vowed not to send the stars again in case they lump further. Let’s take a look at who we saw in the lab this week.
1. Cf Alfonso Gonzáles: wait a minute; didn’t they say they weren’t going to send stars to the development lab? Especially Gonzales, who tanked last year and his eye actually got WORSE. Well, I guess they wanna bump that back up, because he’s been taking more drills to improve his plate discipline. Why tinker with the reigning Silk winner, though? It’s been a week and he still doesn’t seem to be seeing the ball any better. FRUSTRATED
2. RF Ra’id Usamah: this might be the last hope for Usamah, who at 25, has yet to develop his power. He is working on increasing his bat speed, but results have not been evident. FRUSTRATED
3. CF Zee-loo Tsao: another case of last chance for the #1 prospect. He didn’t develop much last season and will be 24 later this year. His power might never come in, but there’s hope he can increase his plate discipline. He actually finally looks like he might have figured it out. ON TRACK
4. SP Bin-ying ‘Bye Bye’ Yen: Yen played well last season and developed nicely. He’s close to a rotation spot in Nashville, but an improvement in his control would surely help make that promotion come sooner. He’s working on locating his fastball and painting the corners, but keeps missing the mark. FRUSTRATED
5. CF Adolf Dragota: Dragota needs a lot of developing to become a BBA player. Scouts love his power potential, but his bat speed isn’t quite there, so trainers have been working on getting him to generate more pop, but haven’t found any luck. FRUSTRATED
6. SS Luke Cage: the notorious Cage is still young, so he’s got some time to improve, but it’s been rather slow. His glove looks good, but his offensive prowess is lacking. Perhaps improving his plate discipline will help, so he’s been working on identifying breaking balls. He’s still swinging at balls in the dirt. FRUSTRATED
7. SP Brent ‘Black Jack’ Chappel: we didn’t see much growth from the young Chappell last season, so he’s working on improving the movement on his pitches. Hopefully a little bump will move him up to Single A so he can get a full season of work instead of shortened season in Short A. So far it doesn’t look promising. FRUSTRATED
8. CF Carter ‘Fortnite’ Cramer: though his swing path looks like he has potential to hit a lot of homers, he only hit 6 last season. Trainers are working on increasing his bat speed to accelerate his development, but Cramer has focused more on video games than actual training this offseason. FRUSTRATED
9. SP Harry Spurlock: another brilliant season in the minors has Spurlock on the verge of the BBA. Perhaps a little increase in his velocity will help get hitters out at the next level. Working on his lower body strength to push off the mound a little harder has not worked so far. FRUSTRATED
10. SP Javier ‘Pops’ Basanta: another candidate for the Bluebirds rotation, Basanta can also benefit from throwing harder, but he has yet to show any progress. FRUSTRATED
