Posts belonging to Category Mike Rosenbaum

After a long and arduous offseason, the beginning of Cactus and Grapefruit League play has officially ushered in the 2011 season.  For prospect junkies like myself, Spring Training is one of the more exciting portions of the MLB season; an opportunity to watch the future of the game alongside future members of the Hall of Fame.

Sometimes, however, there are simply way too many players to follow.  In any given Spring Training game you are bound to see a slew of players with completely unfamiliar names, and jersey numbers that edge triple-digits and more appropriate for an NFL lineman or receiver.

But if you were to take a few minutes to scan each team’s respective roster – that’s right, numbers 1 through 99 – you’d naturally assume that many of these players are bound for greatness.  Or at least their names would lead you to believe so…

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The Golden Sombrero presents MLB Look-alikes: Homer Bailey and Christian Bale

Thanks to Clint from Diamond Hoggers for bringing this one up last Saturday on The Baseball Show.

If it weren’t for Bailey’s distinguishable tattoo, we’d never be able to tell them apart.

On Monday, all eyes were on Bryce Harper as he made his Spring Training debut off the bench for the Nationals.  The 18-year-old, who served as the team’s DH, received two at-bats, striking out in both of them.  I was just happy to see him get his hacks in, and could care less that he struck out twice.

Elsewhere, Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas both went yard in a 12-11 loss to the Rangers; a game that featured 25 hits, 12 of which went for extra-bases.  Danny Duffy managed to surrender a run without giving up a hit, and fellow left-hander Chris Dwyer was tagged with the loss after allowing a three-run seventh.

But at the end of the day it was Brandon Belt who turned in the day’s best performance, which included an RBI single in the second, and a bases-clearing double in the seventh inning that broke the game open.

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[Photo courtesy of Jason Getz/AJC]

With Spring Training now officially under way, and rampant speculation firmly in place, I thought that it might be interesting to track the performances of Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects.  Some of these players have the potential to crack the opening day roster; some are years away.  Regardless, they are the faces of the future and ridiculously fun to follow.

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Today on The Baseball Show Clint Evans of Diamond Hoggers and I usher in Spring Training the best way we know how. Today we talked about the following:

• The beginning of Spring Training baseball games
• The Adam Wainwright injury
• Was Jonny Gomes really singing a song in The Karate Kid? Or celebrating not having to face Waino?
• What is Chris Carpenter’s value on the open market if the Cardinals fall out of the race?
• Was the Jose Bautista’s contract a poor move for the Blue Jays?
• Thoughts on Miguel Cabrera’s DUI
• Can Bryce Harper play at the big league level for the Washington Nationals this season?

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