Its been a poorly concealed secret that this year has been a tough one for me and my family. While I have been more involved in collecting baseball cards, helping a friend set up and sell at local shows and attending baseball games in person, I have not been posting much of any of it. Frankly, I just haven't felt like it. The experiences are what I've been focused on, not blogging them. I'm just not the kind of blogger that will post every step of my hobby.
My personal life dumpster fire has died down a bit recently. Its not over by a long shot but I was able to schedule a weekend to visit my good friend William down in Winterville, NC. He's the Down East Wood Ducks' number one fan and at his coaxing, I made the trip down to see them play the Delmarva Shorebirds (Orioles Low-A team). The Wood Ducks are packing up and leaving Kinston, NC and moving to Spartanburg SC after the minor league season ends.
The Orioles have usually sent the college players they had most recently drafted and signed to their Low-A affiliate to get their feet wet at the tail end of the minor league season. The Shorebirds at this time were stacked with high round draft picks and they played like it. Each major league team has its own philosophy on promoting, playing time, etc so sometimes you end up with a mismatch baseball game. This was the case during the 2 games we were able to watch.
Vance Honeycutt was the Orioles first round pick in this July's draft. He didn't set the world on fire during the season but he did have some fans in the stands because he played collegiately for UNC Chapel Hill. He was nice enough to sweet spot a minor league baseball for me after the game Saturday night. He only has cards through Onyx right now and it didn't arrive in time for me to bring it down with me. There was a photographer there after the game on Sunday that may have been from Topps or maybe Panini. He snapped some posed pictures of Vance and my next player that may end up in a future release. I'll keep an eye out.
Griff O'Ferrall was the draft pick that the Orioles received as a reward for Gunnar Henderson winning Rookie of the Year last year. It was a pick between the first and second round. Griff is actually from Richmond near where I live and went to UVA. He was very nice in person, signed for me both days and carried on a short conversation too. I'm definitely going to be followng Griff's career and I hope that the local kid makes it all the way up to Baltimore.
Ethan Anderson was the Orioles second round pick this past July. He also went to UVA and is from Virginia Beach even though he was born in Hawaii. He played Catcher on Saturday night and Left Field on Sunday. He saw the difference between the 2 cards he signed and asked me what the difference was. I was happy to give him the cliffnotes version of baseball card parallels.
Austin Overn was the Orioles third round pick this year out of University of Southern California. He's very fast and had a great game on Saturday night. He got the day off on Sunday after running wild on the basepaths the night before.
Ryan Stafford was another draftee from this year's class. He was the 5th rounder and played second base Saturday night and catcher on Sunday. He's a smaller guy but he was a very scrappy hitter. I look forward to seeing him advance up the minor league ladder.
Maikol Hernandez was not a draft pick but one of the first big signings that the Orioles got from the international pool a few years back. He's a big kid and seems to have a lot of potential if he can stay healthy.
Braylin Tavera also is another international signing from a few years ago. He's having a tough season this year stats wise but he is still highly regarded as a prospect in the Orioles system.
I was nice to get away to take a break for a few days and enjoy some baseball, 'graphing and great food with a good friend. Thanks William!
