Sticking Points 2060.4: Salinas Puts Target on His Back

[JimSlade]

"Just watch me," says Rockville Pikeman 1B/LF Manuel Salinas to no one in particular, as he takes hack after hack in the batting cage the day before the team's home season opener against the Jacksonville Zombies. "I hear things. I see things." He steps out of the batters box and wipes his brow. "I feel things."

After a disappointing sophomore season, in which Salinas' rookie-year gap-hitting prowess and passable defense at 2 positions dropped off, it was no secret that he could be had. For cheap. The Pikemen came into spring training with at least a half dozen similarly skilled double (not quite) threats hungry for a chance to call Rockville home.

"Look, man," said Salinas, as a line drive rockets off the wall in right-center and he catches this eyes of the gathered media, "I come to play. I come to win. Things don't work out the way we'd like everyday. Then they do. But I hear what people say about me."

There have been whispers that Salinas does not train as hard as he could in the offseason, but he looked cut this spring, where he put up a nearly .900 OPS with 5 HR.

Teammates occasionally refer to Salinas as El Fantasma for his ability to quietly duck in and out of the clubhouse. "We see him on the field," chuckled one teammate who asked to be quoted anonymously, "but I have to look twice to see if he made it into our team photo."

"I've got a life outside baseball: my wife and kids, my horses." Salinas owns 2 thoroughbreds and dreams of training a Triple Crown winner during his regular visits to nearby Pimlico Race Course.

"You watch this space, man," as another line drive zooms into the gap. "I want Rockville fans to look back and say, 'Thank god no one wanted to trade a bag of balls for Manuel Salinas!'"

[Trebro]

Always fun to see how a guy you didn't believe in performs. Hope he makes all 32 GMs look foolish.