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Injury Leaves Ishibashi Full Time
July 3, 2058: Pasco: A high, hard fastball put Ryan Blakeney on first base, technically, anyway. The 26-year-old third baseman never made it that far, though, because the team trainer came out and, on the spot, diagnosed the fracture he’d sustained.
“I’m sorry for that,” said Richmond pitcher Jacquot Notta. “It just got away from me. I had first base full already, you know? I certainly didn’t want to put another guy on.”
Development Stunted?
At 26, Blakeny’s star had been being questioned for a while now. His numbers at AA the past two years were interesting enough, but most scouts kept saying there had to be more there, and that it seemed like his power stroke was always just around the corner. “The cat just looked like he should be hitting it harder than he was,” one scout said. “That’s important for him, because no one thinks his glove is going to be good enough to handle the hot corner at the big league level.”
Alas, development has just not come easy on the kid, and despite scouts saying his plate discipline and power should make it in, he’s struggled through a tough time in Pasco, posting 8 homers and a .229/.294/.379 slash.
A fractured finger may well signal the end of his run as even a fringe prospect.
Ishibashi Steeles in For all the Reps
If there’s a silver lining, its that this could be good news for Kata Ishibashi, the 24-year-old who went straight from AA to the Atoll, and posted an eye-popping .302/.287/.566 April, with 4 homers and 10 RBI, before the league made adjustments and saw him spiral to .486 and .520 OPS totals in May and June—numbers that got him sent back to Pasco to “work out some kinks.”
Some are suggesting that his abrupt transition from Gilstrom candidate to shark chum is a leading cause of why ex-hitting coach Chris Workman is now an ex rather than a hitting coach.
“He really should hit right handed pitching anywhere he goes,” said new Bikini hitting coach Frank Thomas. “I’ll be watching him closely.”
July 3, 2058: Pasco: A high, hard fastball put Ryan Blakeney on first base, technically, anyway. The 26-year-old third baseman never made it that far, though, because the team trainer came out and, on the spot, diagnosed the fracture he’d sustained.
“I’m sorry for that,” said Richmond pitcher Jacquot Notta. “It just got away from me. I had first base full already, you know? I certainly didn’t want to put another guy on.”
Development Stunted?
At 26, Blakeny’s star had been being questioned for a while now. His numbers at AA the past two years were interesting enough, but most scouts kept saying there had to be more there, and that it seemed like his power stroke was always just around the corner. “The cat just looked like he should be hitting it harder than he was,” one scout said. “That’s important for him, because no one thinks his glove is going to be good enough to handle the hot corner at the big league level.”
Alas, development has just not come easy on the kid, and despite scouts saying his plate discipline and power should make it in, he’s struggled through a tough time in Pasco, posting 8 homers and a .229/.294/.379 slash.
A fractured finger may well signal the end of his run as even a fringe prospect.
Ishibashi Steeles in For all the Reps
If there’s a silver lining, its that this could be good news for Kata Ishibashi, the 24-year-old who went straight from AA to the Atoll, and posted an eye-popping .302/.287/.566 April, with 4 homers and 10 RBI, before the league made adjustments and saw him spiral to .486 and .520 OPS totals in May and June—numbers that got him sent back to Pasco to “work out some kinks.”
Some are suggesting that his abrupt transition from Gilstrom candidate to shark chum is a leading cause of why ex-hitting coach Chris Workman is now an ex rather than a hitting coach.
“He really should hit right handed pitching anywhere he goes,” said new Bikini hitting coach Frank Thomas. “I’ll be watching him closely.”