Once again, I want to thank Pete Yarbro for sending in these reports. Since I didn't make it to Spring Training, it was nice to have someone file a bunch of stories about what goes on in the desert.
"They say no one wants to go down to Tucson in the summer.
It seems like no one wants to go in the springtime either. Today I'm leaving Tucson. Next week the Diamondbacks will too. Arizona's home team plays two more games in its second largest city before leaving, not just for spring, but for good. Starting next year the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies will play their spring training games at a brand new state-of-the-art complex at the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, adjacent to Scottsdale. Its the first professional sports stadium on Indian land.
The Diamondbacks Class-AAA team left Tucson Electric Park before last season to move to Reno. The Tucson Toros, an independent Golden Baseball League team will still play at Hi Corbett Field. But unless another AAA team decides to move, or a couple of Japanese teams can be convinced to train here, there won't be much professional baseball in the Old Pueblo after next week.
They'll leave behind a history of spring training baseball that goes back to 1947. The advantages for the players, coaches and executives --- especially for the Diamondbacks --- of playing their spring games in the Phoenix area are undeniable. Even the farthest stadiums is only a 45 minute drive. Some are ten minutes apart. For the D'Backs major leaguers, every game will be a like a home game. They'll trade a month of hotel rooms for their own beds every night.
For the fans, with 15 teams in the Valley of the Sun, most days there will be up to seven games to choose between. Half of the major leagues will be less than an hour's drive away. Unless the Cubs are playing the White Sox, or the Dodgers are playing the Giants, good seats should be available just walking up to the gate on the afternoon of the game.
Even still, there will be a lot of things I'll miss about Tucson. The city is easy to get around. Even when traffic is bad, its not that bad. The view of the mountains surrounding the city is beautiful. Even in the middle of the city, you never feel like the desert is very far away. Everyone I've met has been friendly and helpful. It's a city of a million people, but it has a small town feel.
But at the same time, I know --- from experience --- that the food's just as good up the highway. I'm guessing there's a Sonoran hot dog to be found if you look hard enough.
This morning I paid one last visit to the minor league complex. I don't know what they call it, but I watched one of the most entertaining drills I have ever seen. A catcher, in all his gear, gets in his crouch. Two coaches pick up five baseballs each. They take turns firing balls in quick succession from about five yards away to different locations. The catcher does his best to snatch and quickly release each of the ten baseballs while whipping his glove from side-to-side up and down. The catchers seemed to be genuinely having fun. I certainly enjoyed watching, knowing I wasn't going to have ten baseballs thrown at me all at once any time soon.
I did my best to find out which players we could expect to see in South Bend this summer. The most consistent answer I got was "we don't know yet." AJ Pollock injured his arm a couple of days ago when he slipped while fielding a fly ball. Pollock had surgery today. While they won't know his timetable for coming back for a while, Coach Haley told me that the type of surgery he had has a very high success rate. A Diamondbacks executive told me that AJ's injury has thrown a lot of their plans for assigning players into disarray.
Haley did give me a few names of guys he is confident will start in South Bend.
Chris Owings is a shortstop from South Carolina who was drafted out of high school. He was the 41st pick in the first round of last summer's draft. He batted .306 in 24 games last summer in Missoula.
David Nick was drafted in the 4th round last summer, also out of high school. He's a second baseman from California. In 66 games in Missoula last summer he had 78 hits 6 homeruns and 35 RBI, batting .286.
The guy everyone said to watch was Bobby Borchering. Borchering was drafted in the first round, 14th overall, one pick ahead of AJ Pollock. Also a high school selection, out of Florida, he plays third base. D'Backs Executive VP and Special Assistant to the General Manager Bob Gebhardt told me that everyone's been very excited to watch Borchering progress. Gebhardt tells me he's a switch hitter, who hits with power from both sides, and plays a pretty good third base.
Haley said that the pitching staff is still completely up in the air.
If I had to skip Mexican food for one day, the Silver Saddle Steak House was the way to go. They brought me a huge slab of prime rib that was perfectly medium rare. The side of cowboy beans was the perfect compliment. I don't know how they make plain old beans in to cowboy beans, but I'm glad they do it. Across from the salad bar --- yes I finally had a salad --- is an open mesquite pit where they cook the steaks over a roaring wood fire. The location is ever so slightly out of the way, but the prices are thoroughly reasonable and the service is excellent.
Unfortunately, the dream has ended. I just finished a double cheeseburger at the Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix. Only two more hours until I board the redeye flight to Chicago. Then a nice long nap at O'Hare before my early morning connection back to South Bend.
Just before I left the minor league complex this morning, I checked the South Bend weather on my Blackberry. I quickly asked Hales if he really needed me to join the team at the beginning of the year, or if he didn't think I could benefit from a little extended spring training. His exact words were: "You're ready to go. The only tune up you need is the Silver vs. Gold game between the Silver Hawks and Notre Dame on April 5th at 5:30pm. Tickets are available by calling the box office at (574) 235-9988 or visiting www.silverhawks.com . And a portion of the proceeds going to the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation to fight Niemann-Pick Type C." Ok, maybe those weren't his exact words, but I'm pretty sure that's what he meant."
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