Former GATOR Players

Meanwhile, Brian Johnson is pitching very well for AAA Pawtucket: 2.68 ERA in 80 innings, 8.5 K/9, over a 3/1 K/BB ratio, fewer than one homer per nine innings. Considering what a disaster area the Boston rotation has been, Brian should get a call-up before the end of the year.

I'll admit I was a little skeptical of Johnson coming out of college, but he's been very good in his professional career. Amusingly, he's actually pitched better in the minors than he did at UF.

 

Wow, didn't realize he was doing that poorly. So the thought is that his "hot streak" of late - .273 - .304 - .545 is the absolute best case scenario for him in the future?

 

Unfortunately it's kinda hard to argue at this point. He's approaching 1,000 big league plate appearances and has struck out 297 times while hitting under .200. The only thing saving him is that he is one strong mofo, so when he hits the ball it tends to go a long way. Without the homers he's basically been a completely useless offensive player.

 

Plate discipline is a hard thing to learn, and there's a pretty good chance it's just not a skill Zunino possesses.

The good news is that you don't have to do too much offensively to stick at catcher in the big leagues. Henry Blanco played about 37 seasons without contributing anything with the bat. If Mike can keep clobbering the occasional home run and play sound defense, he'll have a looooooong career, if not a glorious one.

 

Brian Johnson called up by the Red Sox. He's done well in AAA. Congrats to him! http://www.mlbdailydish.com/2015/7/11/8934593/red-sox-promote-brian-johnson

 

Matt den Dekker went 1 for 2 tonight with a walk and a sacrifice for the Nationals.

 

That's 8 big leaguers from the 2010 team.

 

Coming up short in 2011 is going to hurt for a long, long time. Game one of the series with South Carolina is the sort of affair that haunts a coach for the rest of his career.

 

Did not need that on a Monday morning.

 

As always, f*** Scott Wingo.

 

Interesting that 2010 actually had more future big leaguers though because of den Dekker and Chapman, although to be fair a couple of them were still young and not yet the players they would become.

 

I generally don't like these sorts of explanations, but I think the 2010 CWS experience can be chalked up to youth and inexperience. It was a young team, and they really seemed like a bundle of nerves, especially in that first game against UCLA.

 

Dekker with a walk off HR today.

 

Not a walk off HR by den Dekker, but a two out, two run pinch hit HR into the upper deck in the bottom of the eighth to break up a 3-3 tie in a game eventually won by the the Nats over the Dodgers 5-3. Also, nice mention by Ray Knight in the Nats' post game TV show of den Dekker's background as a Florida Gator.

 

Video of the HR:

http://m.mlb.com/video/v267327183/ladwsh-den-dekker-blasts-homer-to-give-nats-lead

 

Brian Johnson is expected to make his MLB debut on Tuesday (7/21) against Preston Tucker's Houston Astros.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/9999/

 

I think somebody needs to share with Zunino the hitting approach of Barry Bonds (not the alleged PED aspect).

Bonds said he simply tried to "catch the ball with the bat." Mike is certainly good at catching the ball, and perhaps that advice would at least be a good two-strike approach, to at least cut down on the Ks.

But what does Barry Bonds know about hitting?

 

Tucker with 2 HR's tonight so far against Boston.

1st HR

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/0/v282970583/boshou-tucker-crushes-solo-homer-to-center-field

2nd

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/0/v283196883/boshou-tucker-hits-tworun-shot-for-second-homer