Posts Tagged ‘Mahoning Valley Scrappers’

Congratulations are in order for some of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.  Four of the Cleveland Indians prospects have been named to the New York-Penn League All-Star Team.  Shortstop Tony Wolters and 3B Jordan Smith (above) join speedy Bryson Myles on the offensive side of things. Danny Jimenez was picked as a pitcher to give the Scrappers nice representation in a star-studded field of talent.

Tony Wolters is batting a shade above .300 and posted a big five-hit game against Staten Island on August 3.  He also has scored 36 runs, driven in 15, and has successfully stolen 15 bases.  The 5’10” Californian is enjoying the ride and will continue to push himself to improve.

Jordan Smith had an 18-game home hitting streak broken recently but has amassed quality statistics thus far in 2011.  As a Scrapper, Smith is hitting .327 and has knocked in 34.  Smith seems to be clutch and has a nose for winning and it is a contagious feeling in the Scrappers clubhouse right now.  He has played some outfield but gets the lion’s share of the plays at third base.

Bryson Myles has recently been battling his hamstring problems.  Myles holds a .294 batting average, but really knows how to be disruptive when he reaches base.  Myles has eleven stolen bases in just 109 at-bats.  He has good power, is always working on his bunting skills, and is getting better in the field as the year goes on.

Danny Jimenez has a 1-3 record, but his ERA is only 3.00 in seven starts for Mahoning Valley.  Given a chance on a spot start, Jimenez has posted a gaudy k/bb ratio of 33/15 and has recently transitioned from a bullpen guy to a staple in Coach Greg Hibbard‘s rotation.

Congratulations to all four Scrappers who were awarded the positions.

Hey NYPL, can you say Jake Lowery?

Just one night after a defensive collapse, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers regrouped and took care of business with a 5-3 win over the Auburn Doubledays.  The win pulls the Scrappers into a first place tie with the Doubledays in the Pinckney Division with identical records of 29-20.  Rob Nixon threw six good innings and the bullpen worked hard to keep Auburn at bay.

The game was delayed an hour by rain, and a good crowd of 2,000 plus stuck around to watch the Scrappers battle back to claim victory.  This was the second game of the two-game series.  Auburn won last nights game with the assistance of seven Scrappers errors.

Coach David Wallace said after that game that his players were probably embarrassed by their performance and that he probably would not address the problem.  Saturday’s result being much different, Wallace claimed afterwards that he stuck to his original plan.  “It took care of itself.  I was paying attention to how the guys would react today and how they were coming into the clubhouse, and just as I expected, they moved on, and that was evident in the way they played tonight.”

Nixon (above) threw six strong innings for the Scrappers for his fifth win, putting him in a tie for the most wins in the league.  He is a great location pitcher, sort of a Greg Maddux-type who will not overpower hitters, but locates his pitches and lets his defense do the work.  Drew Rucinski started the seventh and pitched two scoreless innings of relief.  Enosil Tejeda came in to start the ninth and slammed the door for his team-leading seventh save as he struck out all three Doubledays batters he faced with some dominant pitching, a big change in contrast from Nixon.

“He didn’t have his best stuff tonight, but he battled through it”, said Wallace of Nixon’s performance.  “He used the defense tonight.  A lot of guys nibble and nibble and get walks.  He was not afraid to challenge guys and trusted his defense, and that is how he got through six innings and picked up the win.”

Auburn tallied the first run on a Matt Skole RBI single that drove home leadoff hitter Caleb Ramsey.  Mahoning Valley went ahead 2-1 in the bottom half of the first inning.  With two outs, Jake Lowery and Jordan Smith were issued back-to-back walks.  Red-hot Todd Hankins (top photo) then tripled in both Scrappers base runners with a gapper to right-center.  Hankins would trot home a couple of pitches later on a wild pitch from Doubledays starter, Nathan Karns, who took the loss.  Auburn cut the lead to 3-2 in the second when Justin Miller tripled and would later score on a Billy Burns sac fly.

In the third, the Scrappers reclaimed the two-run lead to go ahead 4-2.  Tony Wolters, who had the rare “feat” of being hit in each foot during two separate at-bats scored on a Jordan Smith (above) single.  Auburn again cut the lead to 1 with a run in the fifth.  Mahoning Valley again responded in the bottom of the fifth when they closed out the scoring, forging ahead, 5-3.  It was a duplication of their last run as Wolters was hit in the other foot and Smith drove one through for his second RBI.

These two teams will both be on their respective buses headed to Auburn for about five hours.  ETA is set for about 5 a.m. and they will face off for two more in Auburn on Sunday and Monday to decide which team will walk away in first place.

Cleveland Indians fans, meet Tony Wolters.  He is a shortstop who is doing it with, both, the glove and the bat for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.  Wolters missed time last season due to injury after being selected by the Indians in the third round of the 2010 Draft.  So far in 2011, he has not disappointed.  Hustle and dedication are two intangibles that cannot be taught.  Wolters runs out every ball, no matter how routine of a play it looks like.  He is a quiet guy with a big smile who signs plenty of autographs for the fans after home games.  Learn the name, he is Cleveland’s shortstop of the future.

Paneech: Growing up in California, were you a Padres, Dodgers, Giants, or Angels fan?

Wolters: I was a Padre fan.  We use to constantly go to the games when they used to play at Qualcom Park.  My dad would always get tickets in the outfield right on the edge, those were his favorites.  The first player I was always watching was Tony Gwynn.  I try to pattern myself after him from a hitting standpoint.  My dad always tells me a 180-foot hit will get you there, keep doing those.  So Gwynn was my idol.  I was amazed with Khalil Greene at shortstop because he made some special plays and I tried to mock him and even went as far as wearing my pants the way he did, and I grew my hair out because he had long hair.  I liked Mark Loretta a lot too while he was there.  Once they moved to Petco, we started going there too.  I actually got to play at Petco for the Afflac game, it was an awesome and great experience for me.

Paneech: When you are here in Niles, Ohio, there is about a six foot radius around the mall with some nice restaurants but no beach, no Disney, no mountains.  There isn’t really as much to do, does that free your mind to think baseball?

Wolters: I love the game of baseball and feel truly lucky to play every day.  If I strike out, I get mad, but then I think myself down that I am so, so lucky to be doing what I am doing on a day-to-day basis.  Baseball was my first sport, I also played hockey, and very little, but some soccer.  Hockey was my first sport and then I fell in love with baseball.  It came easy, but as I progress it gets harder.  I have to get in the right mindset everyday and find my swing.  I love the challenge and feel like over the next few years, I want to develop into the best possible player that I can become.

Paneech: Coach Wallace and others before him say that this is a developmental league and the wins are nice but winning and losing are outweighed by progress of individual players.  What are your feelings on winning versus going 0-5 in a win?

Wolters: All of the players on this team want to win.  A lot of it is development, as far as learning how to be a winner at this level.  When we lose, nobody should have a smile on their face and be goofing around.  We want to win.  We want to get to the playoffs and win the whole thing.  We see it as getting better everyday, and secondly, winning as a team.

Paneech: You are in the 2011 Bowman Baseball Card Set.  How do you get into that process and are there other contracts for you?

Wolters: It all goes through my agent, and I really don’t know all of the aspects of it.  Every year you have a card that comes out at some level.  At extended Spring training, I took about five hours to autograph the cards of myself as part of the agreement.  (** Bowman Baseball inserted autographs into packs randomly in 2011.  There are 500 Wolters Autos, plus 150 Blue, and 50 Gold randomly inserted in the whole print run**).  The other contracts, I can’t really talk about right now.

Paneech: Last year you were injured and missed a lot of time.  What was going through your mind when you were drafted by the Indians?

Wolters: I was at breakfast and missed school that day.  I wasn’t expecting a call or anything and was kind of sad.  My dad looks at his phone and says ‘hey, you just got drafted by the Cleveland Indians’.  I was like ‘really?’  Right after that, I got a call from the scout.  I was really not expecting the Indians to pick me.  Ironically, I played for a team called the Indians when I was in Little League, and my father just happened to be wearing his old Indians shirt.  The Cleveland Indians were like the only team in the majors that I didn’t talk to much before the draft.  It was kind of a boring Summer.  I did go play for Team USA in 2010.  When I first got to Arizona, I was so excited, and I am loving it right now.

Paneech: What is it like playing for Coach Wallace and Coach Mansolino?

Wolters: It is awesome.  They both know so much about baseball.  I have learned so much physically, as well as, mentally.  I am working hard on my mental side and they are guiding me through it.  CoachWallace always comes to me and drops pointers of things that I need to work on.  Coach Manso has done good things for my hitting.  We butt heads sometimes, but that is how you learn.  They haven’t coached much, but I feel like they have.

Paneech: Sometimes when you bat, you lay the bat across the box (above), is it alignment or superstition?

Wolters: I am measuring how far I am from the plate.  If I don’t see where I step in, I do it.  I am very superstitious.  If I have a bad game, I can’t wear the same sliders, and I have to wear different socks, different things on my wrists, or rearrange the order of what is on my wrists.  I have to go out earlier to change the rhythm.  I do everything different until the right combination of things work, and if they work, I stick with them.  If they don’t then I change things some more.

Paneech: So if you go five-for-five tonight, what time do I have to come back and interview you tomorrow?

Wolters: (laughs) You are totally obligated to do that.

** Wolters went 5-6, and was 5-5 until his last at-bat the day of this game.

One Word Answers

Favorite Meal of The Day: Dinner.

Favorite Thing To Drink: Always Water.

Favorite TV Show: ESPN Sportscenter.

Favorite College Football Team: USC.

Favorite Baseball Team Still The Padres? I can’t say that (laughs).

Musical Preference: Starting to like Country.

Song on Your ipod That People Would Be Surprised By: Baby by Justin Bieber.

Best Friend On The Team: Jake Lowery.

Favorite Candy: Sour Patch Kids.

Fast Food Order: Chipotle, Chicken Burrito with rice, no beans, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, and medium salsa.

Favorite Cartoon Character: Tasmanian Devil.

** Top Photo Courtesy of Jesse Piecuch.

Just an hour into their game against the Auburn Doubledays, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers had to be scratching their heads and wondering who poisoned their food before the game.  After three innings, the scoreboard pretty much told the story (above).  The Scrappers played better after the first three disastrous innings but never got enough traction to get back into the game, ultimately losing, 10-1.

Auburn finished the game with ten hits and the Scrappers with seven errors.  Tony Wolters had three of the errors and could not make the plays he has made all year at short.  The fans sarcastically cheered in the seventh inning when Wolters made a routine play.  Not to worry Indians and Scrappers fans, he is the real deal, he just had one of those nights.

Starter Danny Jimenez struggled with his control at times and when he was able to throw strikes, the Doubledays either found holes or were given gift base runners.  Jimenez is a good pitcher and will have better starts.  Not to worry Indians and Scrappers fans, he is the real deal, he just had one of those nights.

A heckler sitting right in front of the press box made the comment that if he wanted to see this style of baseball he would go home and watch little league.  Haha… I think he was on the Muppet Show in the balcony twenty years ago and someone gave him a free ticket to the Scrappers game.  The moral of the paragraph is that one night and one loss will not cripple this team.  They will play harder tomorrow.  Not to worry Indians and Scrappers fans, they are the real deal,they just had one of those nights.

David Wallace is too good of a manager and his support staff of Greg Hibbard and Tony Mansolino have been around long enough to convince a bunch of young guys that they are way better than they played.  Wallace has preached to these guys all year not to look back and to develop not regress.  He has the composure of someone who has been managing for decades, yet he is a rookie.  Not to worry Indians and Scrappers fans, they are the real deal,they just had one of those nights.

Wallace (above), talked about his team’s uncharacteristic performance.  “They want to put this one behind themselves and forget about it pretty quick.  It really was one of those nights. We got off to a bad start and it just snowballed on us.  One thing I didn’t like was that if we are going to make mistakes, I want them to be aggressive mistakes.  I think some of the mistakes we saw tonight were passive and that is what bothers me. There wasn’t much positive to take from this one.  I think they were embarrassed out there tonight and they don’t need me to tell them about it.”

On the bright side, Scrappers pitchers recorded 12 strikeouts. RP Nate Striz had four strikeouts in relief, and Grant Sides struck out the side in the ninth.

These two teams meet again tomorrow night at Eastwood Field.  Expect a much different result.

It started out as a pitchers duel between the Mahoning Valley Scrappers and the Staten Island Yankees on Buck Night.  The fans, all 4,807 of them,  were treated to a great defensive game (0 errors) and a pitching clinic by both teams.  Cody Elliott (above) hit his first big-league home run to propel the Scrappers to a hard-fought 4-0 win over the Yankees on Betty White Night.

Scrappers starting pitcher, Will Roberts (below), threw 65 pitches covering six scoreless innings to pick up the win for the Scrappers.  Roberts had good stuff and only allowed one hit , struck out four, and didn’t walk anyone.  Not to be outdone, the Yankees Bryan Mitchell gave up only one hit through five, a single to red-hot Tony Wolters.

Roberts reflected on his first win.  “They [Staten Island] have some pretty big guys in their lineup.  I knew coming in that I would have to throw quality strikes and felt like I was able to do that today.  I felt awful warming up in the bullpen and I could not throw an off-speed pitch for a strike.  Once I got my slider working, and was able to throw some quality curveballs, I was able to keep them off-balance, they were pretty aggressive.”

After walking Evan Frazar and surrendering a double down the first base line to John Barr, the Yankees pitching coach, Danny Borrell, made a trip to the mound, but opted to leave Mitchell in.  Hindsight was 20/20, and Allen hit a scorcher to left-center that cleared the advertising banners to give the Scrappers a 3-0 lead.

Allen’s first homer was memorable.  “I ran hard because if it drops, I need to be on second or third.  It felt great, anytime you can do something to help the team win, it always feels good.  As my first home run, that makes it even better.”

The Scrappers tacked on another run in the sixth when Wolters walked after fighting back from an 0-2 count.  He advanced to second on a wild pitch and came around to score on a Jake Lowery double to the alley in left-centerfield.  Lowery’s double made it 4-0.

Cody Allen took the ball to start the seventh inning on the hill for Mahoning Valley. After allowing back-to-back singles to start the seventh, Allen was able to strike out the next two batters and record a pop-fly to escape harm.

The Scrappers are only the second team all year to defeat Staten Island in back-to-back games.  The other streak of note was Jordan Smith‘s 18 consecutive home games with at least one hit.  Smith batted in the bottom of the eighth with two outs, but walked, which unfortunately ends the roll.

Smith reflected on his streak.  “It’s not about me, it’s about the team.  It is always fun to have a streak like that, but we won a big game and that is more important.  It’s always good to win.”

Enosil Tejeda pitched the ninth inning to earn the save for Mahoning Valley.

The Scrappers, improving to 28-19 with the win, proved they are championship material against the Yankees, who dipped to 33-13.  Come September, don’t be surprised to see these two teams lock up for a championship meeting.

David Wallace was praiseworthy of both Roberts and Allen.  “What Roberts did was impressive tonight.  He was throwing his fastball both in and out and was able to throw off-speed pitches for strikes as well.  When he has that mix going he is going to be tough to hit, I don’t care what level he is at.  Cody [Elliott] has been giving us good at-bats no matter where we are putting him in the lineup.  His two-strike approach has been very impressive.  He has really looked comfortable in the box.”

Wallace also offered his opinion on Betty White Night. “I don’t know much about Betty White and I was wondering before the game what the obsession is with her lately.  I have seen her on Saturday Night Live and she has a huge following, so good for her.  “

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers were firing on all cylinders against the team with the best record at their level.  The Scrappers dominated Staten Island in every possible way en route to a 13-5 win.  The Scrappers pounded out 13 hits as Tony Wolters (above) went 5-6 and Todd Hankins and Jerrud Sabourin each collected a pair of doubles in the barrage.  Sabourin knocked in four.

“We went out and got hits in key situations tonight”, remarked Wolters after the game.  “They are a good team but we were a little better tonight.  It feels awesome to be in first place, we are excited about it.”

The Scrappers scored in the first when Bryson Myles reached via error, and later scored on an error. They added a run in the second when Hankins doubled and scored on a Sabourin sac fly in the second.  In the third the Scrappers plated four with Myles, Wolters, Jake Lowery, and Smith all scoring.

The floodgates opened in the bottom of the fourth.  Myles reached on an error, Wolters singled, and Lowery walked.  Jordan Smith then singled to extend his home hitting streak to 18 games.  Cody Elliott then hit a sac fly, Alex Lavisky walked, and then Hankins hit an RBI double, followed by Sabourin hitting a two-run double.

Joseph Colon (above) threw 81 pitches in four innings of work for the Scrappers. Colon was only able to complete four innings but fought his way out of mostly every obstacle.  He showed a lot of heart and got some run support departing with an 11-1 lead.  Colon’s only mistake was a third-inning home run to Staten Island’s Ben Gamel. The beneficiary of Colon’s early exit was Will Krasne, in line to get a gift win.  Krasne struggled, walking five in two-and-a-third innings, but ultimately got the job done to pick up the win.

The game got delayed 15 minutes due to inclement weather.  The high scoring didn’t help the pace much.  It was 9:35 p.m. after the sixth inning and the crowd of 2,345 was filing out with the outcome presumably decided.

Having interviewed Wolters before the game, I learned he was very superstitious. Claiming he changes everything when he has a subpar game –  from his wristbands to his sliding pants to the time he eats, I kidded that if he went 5-5 that I would not be able to interview him every night.  He just laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

“Same everything tomorrow, nothing will change”, said a joyous Wolters after his five hit gem.

David Wallace praised the effort of Wolters and Sabourin.  “Special night for Wolters. The way I look at it, it is the fruit of a lot of hard work.  When he stays within himself, he is a great player.  Jerrud [Sabourin] has really stepped up these last couple of weeks.  He has been swinging a good bat all year without much reward, now he seems to just be hitting over their heads.  If he keeps hitting like this, he will not be near the bottom of the order very long.”

Wrestling fans will want to mark August 28 in their planners.  The Mahoning Valley Scrappers have announced that Jimmy “Mouth of The South” Hart has been added to Baseball Brawl 2 following the ball game.  Mick Foley and Al Snow had already been signed to participate in the event, and Hart has recently been added.

All-in-all, there are seven matches scheduled for the card, which will feature mostly independent talent.

Hart was instrumental in the wrestling popularity craze of the 80’s.  He was best known for his screaming through a megaphone and was a great “heel” manager.

Tickets for the game are available at the Mahoning Scrappers Box Office and the game ticket will include the wrestling card, no additional fees.

Staten Island entered Tuesday’s contest against Mahoning Valley with the best record in the McNamara Division.  Conversely, the Scrappers had the best record in the Pinckney Division.  Something had to give as the two best teams faced off in game one of a three-game set.  With a nasty storm brewing, the Yankees took control of a tie game in the eighth inning and got by Mahoning Valley, 7-4.

The Yankees wasted little time scoring the first run of the game, as leadoff hitter Mason Williams homered off of Scrappers starter, Mason Radeke (below).  The next batter, Cito Culver, tripled into the right field corner.  Culver trotted home on a passed ball to increase the Yankee lead to 2-0.

The Scrappers cut the margin in half in the bottom of the first inning.  Tony Wolters scored on a Jordan Smith single.  Smith extended his streak of getting a hit at every home game with the knock.  Smith entered the game leading the league with a .352 batting average.  The Scrappers took a 3-2 lead in the third inning when Wolters and Jake Lowery scored as a result of a Cody Elliott clean single.

The Yankees tied the game in the top of the fourth and took a lead of 4-3 in the fifth.  The Scrappers tied the game back up in the bottom of the fifth.  Alex Lavisky doubled and scored when Todd Hankins hit what looked like a routine fly that was dropped by the center fielder.  Lavisky, hustling with two outs, scored easily from second on the gift.

At that point, pitching and defense kicked in for both teams.  Nate Striz threw a couple of scoreless innings before Staten Island got to him in the eighth inning.  A sacrifice fly by Ben Gamel put the Yankees ahead 5-4.  Striz then threw to first to keep the baserunner, Culver, honest, but Lowery mishandled the throw allowing the Yankees shortstop a path all the way to third base.  Grant Sides relieved Striz with two out in the eighth.  Angelo Gumbs greeted Sides with a triple on a 1-0 count to deep center for an RBI and a 6-4 Staten Island lead.

Mason Williams was tough on Scrappers pitchers all night.  The Yankees center fielder ended the game 3-5 with a HR and 2 RBI.

Striz took the loss for Mahoning Valley (26-19), and Fred Lewis picked up the win for Staten Island (33-11).

After the game, Scrappers Manager, David Wallace, talked about playing the team with the best record.  “It does make a difference when they [Staten Island] have some second and third year players.  However, we just focus on getting better as individuals and as a team without worrying about who is on their team.  They definitely made it happen, you can’t give them extra opportunities and we did tonight.  They gave us some opportunities too, and we were unable to take advantage of them.”

On Glee night, modeled after the hit TV show, which incidentally is Wallace’s favorite program, I had to ask if he was paying more attention to the between-innings themed entertainment than he usually would.  “I heard and saw some stuff on the scoreboard, but have to admit I was pretty disappointed in some of the singing that I heard tonight.  It looked like they were having a really good time with it.”

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers (22-17) celebrated Christmas in July in more than one way.  In the spirit of Christmas, the Scrappers were in a giving mood committing four errors.  Despite the generosity, Santa saved the day with some good bats he dumped down the Chimney of the Scrappers clubhouse, as the home team beat the Lowell Spinners, 5-3.

The Scrappers scored single runs in each of the first five innings.  In the first, John Barr hit a potential inning-ending double play ball, but the ball was bobbled at second base allowing Cody Elliott to score from third.  Aaron Siliga doubled in the second and scored on a Tony Wolters fielders choice to make it 2-0.

After giving up an unearned run in the top of the third, Alex Lavisky hit a bomb to deep left-center clearing both rows of advertising banners to make the score 3-1 in favor of the Scrappers.  The Spinners retaliated in the top of the fourth when Seth Schwindenhammer homered off of starter Rob Nixon to cut the Mahoning Valley lead to 3-2.

In the fourth, Jordan Smith kept his streak of getting a hit in every home game alive with a single that scored Elliott (above) to give the Scrappers a 4-2 lead.  Lowell SS Joantoni Garcia committed two errors in the fifth allowing the Scrappers to put another run up and take a 5-2 lead.

Cody Allen racked up seven strikeouts in three innings of scoreless relief for the Scrappers.  Enosil Tejeda worked the ninth to earn his team-leading fifth save.  Nixon is credited with a win for the Scrappers.  Raynel Velette took the loss for the Spinners.

Tony Wolters (above) had another good night for the Scrappers going 2-4 with an RBI and a stolen base.  Wolters commented on his progress.  “I am feeling great.  I haven’t had to come and play every day until now, and I am still adjusting.  I think we are all getting the hang of it and everyone is hitting great right now, we feel really great as a team.”

After the game, I joked with Manager David Wallace about his rare heckling of the umpires.  Anyone who has met or talked with Wallace will agree that he usually has a smile on his face and a positive outlook no matter what.  Wednesday, Wallace blew his cool and was almost ejected.  Earlier in the season, he informed me that there is a pool where personnel are trying to figure out if and when the ejection will happen.  If you said “never”, you are still in the pool, but it was close tonight.

“I did not do a very good job of controlling my temper tonight.  This crew is learning just like we are here.  I wasn’t trying to get thrown out, but I was on edge tonight for sure”, commented Wallace.

The Scrappers pitchers put up 14 strikeouts in the win.  “They [Lowell] have some good bats in that lineup and I was really happy with Nixon, Cody [Allen], and Enosil [Tejeda].  I thought we got ahead of the hitters in the counts which puts us in the drivers seat.”

When asked about the theme being Christmas in July at Eastwood Field, Wallace gave a great politically correct and honest answer.  “We definitely got a gift tonight, I don’t think it was our best effort.  I guess we made one less mistake than they did.  We will thank them for that gift. “

When I first met Heather Sahli at a Scrappers game a couple of years ago, I was intimidated.  Heather was pointing in a hundred directions and talking out of both sides of her mouth, it was scary.  Having gotten to know Heather, it is amazing that someone can multi-task to the level that she does.  She is very organized and precise and has won the respect of her peers and foolish bystanders like myself.

Paneech: Tell me what your official title is and what responsibilities you handle.

Sahli:  Director of Entertainment is my official title.  I am in charge of all of the game promotions, anything that goes on in between innings, any giveaways at the gate when people come in, the graphics for any print material or advertising, and am in charge of the production staff at the game as well.

Paneech: How many people are you watching over?

Sahli: My staff is comprised of about 15-20 interns.  Five of them are full-time and the rest of them come in on game days.

Paneech: What is good and bad about the job?

Sahli: Well, I have been here for seven years.  I really like the buildup period before the season starts with Opening Day falling as a deadline.  I couldn’t see myself doing anything where I sit at a desk all day, I need variety, not a nine-to-five job.  I had a marketing job straight out of college where I basically just sat at my desk all day.  I’m not sure what I would do now.  This job goes in cycles…  You have that buildup period, and the crazy period before the season starts and then you settle into game mode.

Paneech: You worked under Dave Smith last year, and Jordan Taylor this year, is it much different?

Sahli: I have been working with Jordan for years and have gotten to know him very well.  We work well together, and I really don’t think it was a difficult transition from Dave to Jordan.  The only thing that remains tough around here is pulling the tarp, or at least waiting to pull it.