I meant to make this post right after the draft, but life kind of got in the way. Well, better late than never. A few days ago we went over 4 million hits since the inception of the site. I realize a lot of that is people hitting refresh, but every hit counts! In all seriousness, its been a really wild ride over the last 3.5 years, and most all of it has been positive. As I mentioned previously, I’m planning some redesign stuff for the site, but I really like where the content of the site has gone. Over the last 6 months, I’ve received quite a few offers to have ads placed on the site for a fee, and I’ve also received an offer (somewhat sizable too) for the domain name itself. But as I’ve stated in the past, I will never put ads on the site, and I have no plans on selling the domain name or content. The handful of donations I received, and more importantly, the consistently positive direction of the site is enough to keep me happy and motivated. This site would be nothing without the help of my fellow writers, notably Gregg and Todd, who manages all of the transactions and rosters on the pages at the top. Another thanks goes to all of the affiliate writers and those who have written guest articles, as well as those who have helped with the nuts and bolts of the site. And most importantly, a big thank you is in order for all the people who continue to come here, read the stuff we write, engage in solid discussion, and share this site with their friends. Next stop, 5 million!
All posts by giventofly41
June 18th Discussion
June 17th Open Discussion
Keep the personal attacks, derogatory language and childish antics to a minimum*
Last night’s games
Lakewood loses 9-2
Clearwater wins 2-1.
Reading loses 11-9.
Singleton takes an 0/4, Hewitt goes 3/4. Mass hysteria ensues.
* NONE AT ALL. Please don’t make me play comments police. Just stop. There’s no need to discuss it, or anything else. Just don’t engage in it.
The emergence of Brody Colvin
My time is short during the week, but I really had to point out Brody Colvin’s breakout. Back in April I said not to really worry about early struggles. The jump to full season ball for high school pitchers can be tough. Learning to throw every 5 days, dealing with the common arm soreness from a pro routine, bigger crowds and ball parks, tough lineups, its a learning process. Colvin’s splits, by month
April: 15.1 IP – 11.15 ERA – 23 H – 9 BB – 9 K – 0.85 GO/AO
May: 33.2 IP – 3.21 ERA – 28 H – 10 BB – 31 K – 0.94 GO/AO
June: 20.1 IP – 1.77 ERA – 16 H – 5 BB – 21 K – 2.08 GO/AO
Last 10 appearances: 59 IP – 3.05 ERA – 49 H – 19 BB – 55 K – 1.35 GO/AO
And that includes a horrendous 1.2 IP – 5 ER game on May 12th. Since that appearance he has 6 starts
39.1 IP – 1.61 ERA – 28 H – 9 BB – 39 K – 0 HR
And the scouting report matches. His fastball has been 93-94 and he’s hit 96 on occasion with improving command. I think if Jarred Cosart is 1-A in terms of pitching prospects, Colvin is 1-B. It will be interesting to see if Cosart is promoted in the next few weeks. I’d personally like to see both guys stay at Lakewood all season, and then move up the ladder at the same time. I think you’ll see a friendly rivalry develop there, and that could be beneficial for both of them.
June 16 Discussion
Site Design Changes/Help
Quick update here.
Over the next couple days/weeks, you’re going to see some changes to the site. I’ve started to grow unhappy with the way the site looks. I get lots of compliments (and I appreciate all of them) on the content of the site, but I want the site to be more visually inviting. While I’m not ready to splash out $500+ on a custom designed WordPress theme, which will involve even more than just the money, I am going to go about cleaning up the display here. That means that the layout of the site is going to change, some stuff will be moved, some stuff won’t be displayed anymore, and things might just look all out of sorts. But hang with me, it will be worth the hassle. If you are looking for anything specific and can’t find it when stuff starts to get moved around, you can always use the SEARCH box at the top right of the site, I’ll make sure to leave that there.
I’m also going to ask for help on two fronts.
1. If you’d like to help (well, you’ll have to do most of it) design the new header for the site, and you have experience with photoshop, please send me an email at phuturephillies at gmail dot com.
2. I’m also looking for someone to help me with a simpler (but more time consuming) task in terms of getting some of the content here properly organized. Again, if you’d like to help, send me an email to the same address right above.
Thanks.
June 15th open thread
2010 Draft Review
I’m going to start off my annual 2010 draft review with a quick note. I’m not one for self-editing. When I sit down to write something, I normally do it in one shot. I’ve written some very very long pieces in the history of this site, and off the top of my head, I think all of them were written in one sitting. Its the way I work. When I want to write something, I generally sit down and either it happens or it doesn’t. I have ideas, I want to talk about them, then I move on. But in writing this draft recap, I did a lot of self-editing. I started writing last night and ended up writing 5,500 words which I’ve since scrapped, or more accurately put, shelved until a later date. I started writing and realized my draft recap barely even talked about the 2010 draft, it was more of a philosophical writeup on the draft mechanics as a whole. Which I want to save for a later date, because I think they are still valid, but they’ll require me doing more work. And right now, all it seems anyone wants is my take on the draft. I’m going to pull a few small parts from that previous writeup, and its still going to be somewhat philosophical, but I’m going to focus more on the 2010 picks, and I’ll polish up that other piece for a rainy day while we wait for the signing deadline in August. So, for what is sure to still be a really long piece, check below…
June 11th Open Discussion
Last night’s scores
Lakewood wins 8-2.
Clearwater loses 10-3.
Reading lost 9-7.
Lehigh Valley lost 4-3 and lost 2-1.
June 10th Discussion
It rained a lot last night.
Clearwater lost 5-4
Phuture Phillies 