There are more pressing projects that I should be working on, even as far as my blog posts go, but today I wanted to talk about a few things we are all dealing with and that’s the month of August. The last two weeks of August to be more specific; the worst two weeks of the year. In a year that gave us Covid, a miserable heat wave, and the burning of the American west, everything is depressing about August.
Not only is summer coming to an end, but its doing so with thick smoke in the air and ash falling all around. Our grass is dying, our flowers are wilted, its tough all over. There is no other time of year that makes you feel like time is going by than the dregs of hot August nights. You might say we have New Year’s, but that is filled with happiness, joy, and the hope of a new beginning. August is the end of everything; with Labor Day just around the corner, summer ends, school begins, and we all start to drag a little thinking about it being too hot for too damn long. For all the miserable things that 2020 has brought, and for the dog days of August that creep slowly by this year, here are some nuggets that might help brighten your day.
The Major League debuts of some of the baseball’s best prospects have happened this summer. Just last night, Joey Bart the top prospect for the Giants and #15 in all of baseball made his debut against the Los Angeles Angels going 1-4 with a double. Bart’s debut made it so that the top four picks of the 2018 draft have all made it to the Majors this year. Earlier this week Casey Mize the #1 pick in 2018 struck out 7 in his Major League debut, while the third pick Alec Bohm of the Phillies also debuted in August, and if we go back to July, Nick Madrigal rounds out the top four. Dylan Carlson of the Cardinals, Spencer Howard of the Phillies, Luis Patino of the Padres, and Jo Adell of the Angels have also set foot upon Major League fields this earlier month. There are so many players making their debuts this season that its hard to keep track of as there have been 66 debuts between August 1st-20th, and 128 in total; by comparison 2019 had 261 in a full season.
Joey Bart may have been the most anticipated debut of the night, but he wasn’t the only catcher from the 2018 Draft to debut, as Minnesota Twins second round pick Ryan Jeffers out of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington went 2-3 with an RBI and run scored. Jeffers is a plus defender with power who the Twins thought highly enough of to surprise everyone by selecting him in the second round when he had not even made the Top 200 amateur prospect list in 2018. He was taken 59th overall, and the fourth catcher taken behind Bart, Cleveland’s Bo Naylor, and the Yankees’ Anthony Seigler. He impressed the Twins so much that he made it to Double-A in his first pro season. So while his ceiling may not be seen as high, and the hype may not be as loud as Bart’s, Jeffers career is one that I’ll make sure to keep a close eye on.
So while I complain about the last two weeks of August, and the restrictions that keep us from enjoying baseball in person, take the time to watch a ballgame and catch these players now because time flies when you’re having fun.
Dugout Tales 