The 2014 Asheville Tourists

The Asheville Tourists announced their 2014 Opening Day Roster today and the Tourists have four of the Colorado Rockies Top 20 Prospects, as listed on Coloradorockies.com, on their roster to start the season. Three of the four are Outfielders as #2 David Dahl, #18 Max White, and #19 Raimel Tapia all made the roster. Dahl and White spent some time with the Tourists last season. The #15 prospect and newcomer to the Tourists, Third Baseman Ryan McMahon, was also placed on the roster. It is interesting to note that none of the Rockies top pitching prospects made the Opening Day roster. Pitchers Trent Blank and Matt Carasiti also spent time with the Tourists last season as did Infielder Zach Osborne and Catcher Jose Briceno. The Coaching staff, led by Manager Fred Ocasio, returned intact with the exception of new Pitching Coach Mark Brewer, who has 20 years experience as a Pitching Coach in various Major League organizations. He replaces the Pitching Coach from the past couple of years, Joey Eischen. The Tourists open up the 2014 season at home on a Thirsty Thursday against the Delmarva Shorebirds, the Baltimore Orioles low Class A team.

Another Former Tourist On The National Stage

Former Asheville Tourist Juan Uribe came up big on the national stage when he hit the game winning two run homer for the Los Angeles Dodgers series clinching 4-3 win over the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS. Uribe spent the 1999 season with the Asheville Tourists batting .267 with 9 homeruns and 46 RBI's. He was a Shortstop when he played for Asheville and committed 38 errors in his lone season there. He first appeared for Colorado in 2001 and was in the majors for good in 2002. He has fashioned a 13 year career in the majors and the homerun stroke really didn't appear until he became a member of the Chicago White Sox. He has had four 20+ homerun seasons (those with the Chicago White Sox and San Francisco Giants). He has won World Series titles with the 2005 Chicago White Sox and the 2010 San Francisco Giants so he is no stranger to the big stage. He has primarily played third base for the Los Angeles Dodgers for the past three seasons. He had a comeback season this year with the Dodgers batting .278 with 12 homeruns and 50 Rbi's after only batting .204 with 4 homeruns and 28 RBI's in 2011 and .191 with 2 homeruns and 17 RBI's in 2012 in two mostly injury filled seasons.

Todd Helton

Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies announced his retirement from Major League Baseball yesterday, effective at the end of the season. Todd Helton started his professional career with the 1995 Asheville Tourists after being a First Round, Pick #8, by the Colorado Rockies out of the University of Tennessee. He played 54 games for the Tourists after he signed with the Rockies and he hit .254 with only one homerun and 15 RBI's in 201 at bats. It was a unremarkable debut by a First Round Draft Pick with such high expectations. The real star of the 1995 Tourists was Outfielder Derrick Gibson who hit 32 homeruns and drove in 115. Todd Helton was on the fast track to the Rockies, however, and he was in Colorado to stay by 1998. He exhibited much more power in Colorado and hit 25 Homeruns and drove in 97 to finish 2nd in the Rookie of the Year balloting that season. He played 17 seasons in the majors, all with the Colrado Rockies, and has a career Batting Average of .317 with 367 Homeruns and 1397 RBI's in 2235 games to date. Those are Hall Of Fame worthy numbers. He appeared in one World Series with Colorado in 2007 against the Boston Red Sox. He went 5 for 15 with one RBI in that Series. The Boston Red Sox swept them in 4 games. Derrick Gibson made it to Colorado for a total of 17 games in 1998-99. His career totals were 14 for 49 for a .286 average with 2 homeruns and 8 RBI's. He spent a total of 14 seasons in the minors. I remember watching both of them play that season and the comparison between those two players is proof of how fickle a career in baseball can be. I remember being in awe of Gibson's raw baseball skills and I kept waiting on Helton to show me anything outside of being a First Round bust. It is a good thing I am not a baseball scout.

Turn Out The Lights

The Asheville Tourists turned out the lights on the 2013 season after yesterday's 6-2 Labor Day loss to the Augusta Greenjackets. That was a continuation of Sunday night's suspended game and there was an announced crowd of over 6,200 people. The Tourists scored their first run in the bottom of the second inning on a wild pitch and David Bergin tied the game at 2 with an RBI double in the sixth. Jayson Aquino (0-9) couldn't hold the lead and gave up four runs in the seventh to make the final score 6-2. The Tourists and Greenjackets did not bother playing the regularly scheduled game for reasons unbeknownst to me. The Tourists really took their lumps in the second half of the season to the tune of a 25-43 record and last place in the South Atlantic League standings. The offense struggled to score runs down the stretch and that was a big contributing factor to their record in the second half, an opinion that was shared by Tourists Manager Fred Ocasio in an article in the Asheville Citizen-Times last week.

A Rain Delay

One hard fact about baseball is that you cannot play baseball in a monsoon. Therefore the Greenjackets and Tourists made it to the bottom of the second inning last night before the rains came and the Greenjackets holding a 2-1 lead. They had to suspend the game and continue it today as part of the season finale. It has rained this summer like it never has before. I do not know the meteorolgical stats behind it but, I was talking to a few fans after the game and one older gentleman told me that he had only been able to come to five games this year and everyone had ended up being a rainout. I remember when Catcher Rick Dempsey of the Baltimore Orioles was playing in the 1980's, he used to entertain the fans during rain delays by coming out and doing a pantomime homerun routine where he finished up by sliding headfirst into a big puddle of water to a standing ovation to those fans that were left. The only entertainment we got last night was the Augusta Greenjackets bullpen throwing a football around. Where are the characters in baseball these days?

Stolz's Career Day

Asheville Tourists Shortstop Jason Stolz drove in a season high five runs with a bases clearing double over the Centerfielder's head in the fourth inning and a 2 RBI triple in the eighth inning. He also scored the winning run on Second Baseman Zach Osborne's RBI single with the next batter. Third Baseman Matt Argyropoulos went 4 for 4 with 2 runs scored. Tourists Manager Fred Ocasio shiffted the defensive lineup around a little bit as he had Jason Stolz at Shortstop, Zach Osborne at Second, and Matt Argyropoulos at Third. Newcomer David Bergin, who also had two hits, operated out of the Designated Hitter spot in the lineup. Tourists starter Ben Hughes went 6 innings, gave up 5 runs, 4 earned, and two homeruns but did not factor in the decision. Reliever Alving Mejias pitched two scoreless innings to get the win (5-5). Closer Raul Fernandez pitched a scoreless ninth to get his team leading 16th save.

Ocasio Sounds Off

Asheville Tourists Manager Fred Ocasio sounded off on his teams woes in the second half of this season that has lead to the worst record in the South Atlantic League, 24-42 in the second half and 62-72 overall after last nights loss to Augusta. He cited the fact that the "offense has really struggled" in the second half due to "not getting two-out RBI's." This lack of production is in spite of the fact that the Tourists lead all of professional baseball in stolen bases with over 200 and have the league MVP, Rosell Herrera, in their lineup as well as leading the SAL in team batting average (.273). In the games I have been to, I have seen the Tourists aggressiveness on the base paths run themselves out of several potential big innings. David Bergin getting thrown out at second base in the bottom of the 8th inning in last night's game cost them the opportunity to tie it up as the next batter, Max White, hit a double off of the top of the rightfield wall that probably would have scored Bergin. I do not know if someone missed a sign or if it was a botched hit-and-run but it wasn't even a close play at second base. Ocasio was professional enough to not name any of the teams players but it has been a frustrating second half for both the Manager and the players.