Ironically enough, Bryce Harper made the point better than anyone. When Harper signed a 13-year, $330 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies in early March, after months of negotiations as a free agent, he talked about the significance of longevity in the life of a baseball player and […]
The only thing worse than a bad bullpen is a manager who’s determined to use it. The parade of awful pitchers in baseball continues, and just as it appears to have no end, there appears to be no explanation for why it continues. Major league rosters are replete […]
Seventeen players on the American League and National League All-Star rosters this year played for high school, college or minor-league baseball teams in Tennessee. Six of the players who made the teams once played for the Tennessee Smokies, a Class AA Chicago Cubs affiliate. All nine minor-league teams […]
Willson Contreras made a walloping 521 plate appearances for the Tennessee Smokies in 2015, an astounding figure for a minor league season, especially given that he played 75 games as a catcher. That catcher just made the National League All-Star team for the second straight year. He will […]
In these days when inning-eating pitchers are scarce, rookie Dakota Hudson is grinding out innings — and victories — for a St. Louis Cardinals club that is suddenly in contention in the National League Central. Hudson, a Chattanooga native and former Sequatchie County High School star, is second […]
Baseball in New York is interesting, isn’t it? Ask Mickey Callaway. Or rather, be careful what you ask Callaway, the former Germantown High School standout who is now managing the New York Mets. In what became a whirlwind, Callaway weathered a blistering series of questions about his bullpen […]
Former University of Tennessee star Nick Senzel has marched right into one of the most fun-loving baseball teams you’ll see. It’s easy to see how Senzel could feel overwhelmed by his surroundings, new to the big leagues, playing the outfield after spending most of his life as an […]
Just a couple of hours before his college team Vanderbilt won the Southeastern Conference tournament championship Sunday, former Commodore outfielder Bryan Reynolds launched his fifth major league home run for the Pittsburgh Pirates. It is looking like Reynolds will be more than just a temporary call-up. It’s conceivable […]
When he was dunking basketballs at 5-feet-10-inches at Germantown High School and on his way toward collegiate pitching success at Ole Miss, there was little reason to expect Mickey Callaway would become the subject of a major storyline in New York City. But then he is named for […]
He’s a catcher, and he can hit. What more needs to be said about the man currently considered the successor to Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina? There’s quite a lot to be said about Andrew Knizner, who is grinding it out behind the plate at AAA Memphis. Knizner (pronounced […]
