Power Pros Forum

It's springtime in suburban America... Which means it's time for baseball to begin!

At only 18 years old and entering my senior year of high school, I was definitely the youngest one at the coaches meeting, since legally you had to be 18 to coach in the league. This league was the Backyard Baseball League, a summer baseball league for 11-12 year old kids, both boys and girls. It was definitely intimidating, and most of the guys looked at me like I was a joke, which only fueled my fire to prove myself. Really I only applied because my mom works for the city and said they were having a hard time finding 30 coaches this year, and she said if I coached one I wouldn't have to work at the Dairy Queen on Park Street like I did last summer... bad times, bad times.

At the coaches meeting, we all drew numbers out of a hat, and whoever got the 1 got first pick in the draft, so on and so forth. The catch was that if you got 30th pick in the draft, you got 1st pick on which team you were, and since I ended up with the 5th pick, I chose the Florida Marlins with the 25th pick in the team selection draft. I was pretty satisfied with how the day went, and was ready to fill my roster.

The next day, Saturday, was the scrimmages, where all eligible kids played in 2 games each, and we coaches watched to get a feel for who's good and who's bad. I was feeling confident for the draft which was held that evening. However, due to low numbers of kids this year, I'd only end up with 9 kids on my team. Oh well, we'll make it work. So yeah... 9 inning games, 16 games in the season, and then playoffs for the trophy. Let's get it!

Draft results and analysis:
1. Ken Griffey Jr.- This kid is amazing. Great offensively, and a speedy, sure-handed center fielder as well. Super excited to have him as the star of the team.
2. Pablo Sanchez: Another great 2-way player, Pablo barely speaks a lick of English, but he gives his all on every play, and his all is really, really good.
3. Kiesha Phillips- One of the first girls taken, she's bigger than most of the boys in the league. And she can hit harder than most of them too.
4. Pete Wheeler- Appropriately named, this kid is one of the fastest in the draft, and not a bad hitter either.
5. Samantha Pearce- Excellent contact hitter, and also has good speed.
6. Dmitri Petrovich- This kid doesn't look like much, but he's a total genius, and a really good pitcher. His splitter is absolutely filthy.
7. Ernie Steele- A big goofball with some decent power.
8. Dante Robinson- This chubby little dude is actually a decent runner and contact hitter.
9. Vicki Kawaguchi- A speedy, nimble, small girl who's true sport is actually ballet.

Lineup
1. LF Pete Wheeler
2. SS Pablo Sanchez
3. CF Ken Griffey Jr.
4. C Kiesha Phillips
5. 3B Ernie Steele
6. 2B Samantha Pearce
7. P Dmitri Petrovich
8. RF Vicki Kawaguchi
9. 1B Dante Robinson
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Similar to dtigers' Backyard Baseball log, I will be doing a sort of fantasy league... So you choose the player you wish to be the agent for, and then you get points based on their play and whoever as the most points at the end of the season wins. Here's how this'll be scored.

Offense:
Each Total Base: 1 point
RBI: 1 point
Run Scored: 1 point
Stolen Base: 1 point
Walk: 1 point
Strikeout: -1 point

Pitching/Defense:
IP: 1 point
ER: -1 points
Win: 2 points
Loss: -2 points
Save: 2 points
Strikeout: 1/2 point
Walk: -1 point
Error: -2 points

Agents
LGM: Pablo Sanchez
AgentP: Pete Wheeler
Tdud: Dante Robinson
dish: Kiesha Phillips
BBTeen: Ernie Steele
dtigers: Ken Griffey Jr.
GoTwins: Samantha Pearce
Paul: Dmitri Petrovich
Reworp: Vicki Kawaguchi

I wanna be Pablo Sanchez's agent!!!!

I'll take Pete Wheeler!

I'll take Robinson

Ah, should've mentioned you only get 1 player.

I guess I'll go for Kiesha.

Ernie Steele the Chris rock of backyard baseball

Interesting comparing a baseball player and a comedian.

I'll take Griffey and that sweet, sweet swing.

I got Sammy Pearce

I'll take my boy Dmitri Petrovich.

Vicki Kawaguchi for me then

Oh btw today is Pablo's birthday

Alright gang, that's our 9! Best of luck to y'all.

Giants(0-0) @ Marlins(0-0)

Our first game of the year was against the Giants, played at Brickfield Middle School, our "home" field that we share with 4 other teams in the league. The game started out great for us, with Pablo giving us a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning on a 2 run blast to left. The bottom of the lineup contributed in the 2nd, with Dmitri driving in Samantha on a groundout, putting us up 3-0. In the 3rd, RBI doubles by Kiesha and Pablo gave us a 5-0 lead. A solo homer by Floyd Cortez put the Giants on the board in the 4th. In the 5th, they began to figure out Dmitri, scoring 5 runs in the inning, including another homer by Floyd Cortez, making it 5-6. Kiehsa tied it up in the home half, with an RBI single. Pete, who had a great day, drove in Sam in the 6th on a suicide squeeze, putting us up 7-6. I was hoping Dmitri would be able to hold the Giants after that, but no dice, as the Giants scored again in the 7th, to tie the game at 7-7. Neither team scored in the 8th, and Dmitri survived a leadoff double in the 9th by the Giants and got us into the bottom of the 9th with the game still tied. That was all our first pick needed, as Ken Jr. took a high slider opposite field for a walk-off solo homer! The kids went nuts and dumped the water cooler on him, then had a blast dumping water bottles on each other after they shook hands. It was a very satisfying, yet stressful first victory.

Giants: 7
Marlins: 8

Stats
P. Wheeler: 5-5, RBI, 3 R, 2 SB
P. Sanchez: 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI, 2 R, K
K. Griffey Jr.: 2-5, HR, RBI, R, K
K. Phillips: 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI, K
E. Steele: 1-4
S. Pearce: 3-4, 3B, 2 R
D. Petrovich: 0-4, RBI
V. Kawaguchi: 3-4
D. Robinson: 0-4, K

D. Petrovich: 9 IP, W, 4 K, 7 ER

Points
T-1. Pete Wheeler(AgentP): 11 points
T-1. Pablo Sanchez(LGM): 11 points
T-3. Samantha Pearce(GoTwins): 7 points
T-3. Dmitri Petrovich(Paul): 7 points
5. Ken Griffey Jr.(dtigers): 6 points
6. Kiesha Phillips(dish): 5 points
7. Vicki Kawaguchi(Reworp): 3 points
8. Ernie Steele(BBTeen): 1 point
9. Dante Robinson(Tdud): -1 point

Leaderboard
T-1. Pete Wheeler(AgentP): 11 points
T-1. Pablo Sanchez(LGM): 11 points
T-3. Samantha Pearce(GoTwins): 7 points
T-3. Dmitri Petrovich(Paul): 7 points
5. Ken Griffey Jr.(dtigers): 6 points
6. Kiesha Phillips(dish): 5 points
7. Vicki Kawaguchi(Reworp): 3 points
8. Ernie Steele(BBTeen): 1 point
9. Dante Robinson(Tdud): -1 point