Power Pros Forum

I thought I'd go ahead and do a player log like DarkShade was doing. I'm currently in year 4 so I'll do some catching up I decided to write it in the first person, like updating a journal.

Year 1 (2008)
Offseason
I was drafted by the Texas Rangers out of high school. Matthew, my agent, said they liked my “Slugger” potential as well as my “amazing bat control” and that I’m “great in the clutch.” I’m a “poor base stealer,” but hopefully I’ll be able to improve that in time. But still, Matthew got me $390,000 for my first year, not a bad deal for a 17-year old kid like me!

Spring Training
We had our first meetings today at the opening of spring training. The Rangers already have an everyday third baseman in Hank Blalock, so it will be tough for me to break through. Hopefully I can impress the coaches enough to at least get on the MLB roster. I saw my scouting report today, here is where I am rated on my abilities:


Definitely room for improvement….

After practice a reporter named Mia stopped by. She talked to me but thought I was someone else. Oakley seems like he is in love, but I guess she’s okay for an older lady. She didn’t seem to have it together really.

The manager started me in the first exhibition game, and was pretty clear as to what I needed to do to make the MLB roster. I’ve got to get at least two hits in each of the four exhibition games. Otherwise I’ll be in AAA to start the year.
• Exhibition game 1 – 3 for 4! The manager was very impressed.
• Exhibition game 2 – 2 for 4! We’re looking good!
• Exhibition game 3 – 4 for 5! Mia stopped by for a post-game interview as well.
• Exhibition game 4 – 1 for 4

Despite my first 3 games and going 10-17 (.588) in the spring, I got sent to AAA anyway. How idiotic is that?

The coach asked each of us about making a charity commitment for the year based on RBIs, hits, or homeruns. I said I’d donate $500 for each homer, but then the next day found out that he made a mistake and I’m on the hook for $5000 per homer! That could get expensive if I have a big year *sigh*

April
After hitting .600 for the first couple of weeks, I got called up to the majors on April 14. Here we go!

While traveling by plane is much nicer than by bus, I’m having a hard time adjusting to life in the majors as a non-starter. Some games I don’t play at all, and in others I just get a pinch hitting appearance. I did get a solid opposite field single to left in my first major league at bat, which was cool. I’m trying to just practice on my own in my free time and try to get better, and hopefully I’ll get some more playing time.

After a dozen or so games of pinch hitting I finally got to start a game! It’s only as the DH, but at least it is more than one at bat. I went 2-4 in my first game as a starter, but the next day was back on the bench. Makes no sense to me, Marlon Byrd has been our DH and he’s hitting a buck 67 for the year so far.

May
The manager finally stopped platooning Byrd and me at DH and turned over the job to me on a full-time basis. If the idiot had done that two weeks ago at the beginning of the month maybe we wouldn’t be riding a 7 game losing streak and having lost 9 of our last 10. Fortunately Oakland is doing even worse than us, otherwise we’d be in last place. I don’t know why, but my motivation seems to be lagging even though I should be bouncing with becoming a starter.

June
I’ve been moved all the way up to the leadoff spot, even though I’m not all that fast. But I’m hitting close to .400, and have been a good “table setter.” I’m not having much luck hitting with power, but hopefully I’ll be able to get my first major homer soon. Then again, at this rate at least it isn’t costing me anything on my charity donation.

The team has been playing a lot better this month, but we’re still in third place in the division. We’re 8 games back of Seattle and 5 games back of the Angels as we get ready to move into July.

July
I won the AL Player of the Month award for June! I hit .420 for the month.

I didn’t make the All-Star team, but I’m not too surprised since I’m not even playing the field on a team that isn’t that good. Maybe next year.

I met a cute girl named Emma the other day. She seemed interested in me mainly because I’m a major leaguer, but who knows. I may try to see her a little bit and see what happens. If nothing else it would be a nice diversion from just practicing all the time.

August
Our hot play has continued, and we caught Los Angeles in the division race. Seattle is playing great though, and we’re still 6 back of them with a month to go. It’s going to be tough to catch them, but we’re only 3 back of Boston in the wildcard race. We’ve got a chance there.

I’ve cooled off at the plate, but I’m still hitting .363 on the season. The manager said other teams have been scouting me more, and I can tell because I’m getting less meat over the heart of the plate. It’s so freakin’ hot here in Arlington, even the night games start over 100 degrees. What idiot decided against building a dome here?

September
The division race came down to the last week, we were 3 back with a week to play and had 3 games in Seattle. Unfortunately we dropped 3 of 4 in Oakland and Seattle was able to clinch the division the night before our series with them started. But we beat Seattle the first two games and found out after the second game that we had sewn up the wildcard. So we’re in the playoffs anyway!

After one game I finally got my rookie hazing. I got back to my locker and my clothes were gone. In their place was a stuffed animal suit. So I had to wear the wolf suit and take the abuse. At least that rite of passage is over.

I won the batting title and Rookie of the Year!

October
We took out the Yankees in the first round, 3 games to 1! I don’t really understand what their manager was thinking. They had their division wrapped up weeks ahead of time, then ran out a poo-poo platter rotation against us of Hughes in game 1, Kennedy in game 2, Pavano in game 3, and Wang in game 4. We pounded Hughes and Kennedy, and got by Wang because we got to their bullpen.

Seattle just had our number this year. We faced them in the LCS and lost 4 games to 1. Still, not a bad year for a team many predicted to finish last in the AL West.
 

Year 2 (2009)

Offseason
I met an agent, Michael, but he seemed like a bit of a flake. So I went with Matthew to negotiate my new contract. He got me $800,000, which is a nice raise from the $390K I made last year!

I worked hard on my bat control this offseason. I didn’t hit any homers last year, and I think my main problem was that it was just too hard to hit the ball on sweet spot of the bat when I tried to power up my swing. So I had to lay back with more of a contact swing. Hopefully if I get my bat control up I’ll have more margin for error in swinging for power.

Spring Training
First day of spring training, got the welcome speech from the manager again. He implied that I didn’t have a roster spot guaranteed, and that I’d have to perform well in the exhibition games to get on the MLB roster. WTF is that about? I’m the reigning AL batting champ and was rookie of the year! Did he sleep through last year? I’m half wishing we would have tanked that 3 game set in July that the owner came to, when it looked like he was going to get fired if we’d dropped all three games. I got to see my current scouting report:


I played well in the exhibition games, and since the team traded Blaylock in the offseason I got the everyday 3B job this year.

On the off-chance the coach screwed up the charity form again this year, I opted for the $100 per RBI. Sure enough, now I’m on the hook for $1000/RBI. Batting leadoff I only had 43 RBI last year, so maybe it won’t be too bad.

April
We came out playing mediocre .500 ball for the month, good enough for 2nd in the division. I started off slow, but got my average back over .300 by the end of the month.
I’ve been seeing Emma more, and we’re steady now. For some reason I get the feeling that Mia likes me as well, she seems to be quick to stop by for a post-game interview when I play well. I’m pretending to be interested when she talks to me, I’m thinking that with her position as a national sports reporter she can get me some more exposure and help increase my fan base.

May
I hit my first major league homerun finally! I’ve been trying to pick spots to muscle up on swings. John Lackey hung some meat and I sent his weakass changeup into the cheap seats in the second deck. It was cool to hit it at home and see the fireworks go off as I rounded the bases.

My average has climbed back to .350, but I’m not getting that many All-Star votes. Not looking good for me to get selected this year either.

June
I’ve continued to hit well and have added a few more homers! We ended the month in first place! As I suspected, I didn’t make the All-Star team. I guess I’ve got to build up more of a fan base to compete with the top notch third basemen in the league.

July
My first extended slump in the majors, I finished the month losing 50 points off my batting average, down from .374 at the end of June to .323 at the end of July. Fortunately the team has hung in there despite my struggles, and we’re still in first place.

I practiced hard through the All-Star break, and my bat control is getting better than ever.
I took out Emma to a nice French place for her birthday. I’m not much on French food myself, but she seemed to enjoy it. And she liked the present I got for her. She came to our game afterwards and told me I was amazing after I went 3-4 with a triple and 2 RBI. I’m thinking about proposing to her after the season.

August
I started picking things back up in the middle of the month, just as the team’s play started sucking. Seattle has closed the gap, we’ve only got a 2 game lead as the month ends.

September

We ended up losing out on the division to Seattle, but hung on to win the wildcard again. I finished 3rd in the batting title race, behind Joe Mauer and Jason Veritek. I wonder when the last time two catchers finished 1-2 in batting average was?

October
I think Mia is pissed that I’ve been spending more time with Emma than with her. On the news she made the comment that she expects us to take a beating in the playoffs against Cleveland. *&$% her!

While practicing before the start of the LDS the coach told me that my batting control had reached its peak. I don’t understand that, I’m only 19 and I’ve reached my peak there? I know I’ve improved my batting a lot in the last couple of years, but I still feel like I could get better.

We pounded Cleveland, swept them 3-0. So much for Mia’s “prediction!” Dumb …..

We had to face Seattle again in the LCS, and this time we took them out 4-2! I didn’t do much to help actually, after hitting .429 in the LDS I saw my post-season average drop to .338 after the LCS. I need to pick it up in the World Series!

We face Houston in the World Series. Some of the players were kind of relieved that the Astros managed to knock off the Mets to get there. I guess I don’t care either way, other than that it’ll be nice only having a 45 minute flight between Dallas and Houston rather than 4 hours between Dallas and New York.

We took out Houston 4-1 to win the first ever championship in Rangers history! I was named WS MVP after having two walk-off RBI hits and increasing my post-season average back to .408. With my contract up for renewal, it should be a good time to cash in!

Year 3 (2010)

Offseason
I considered going with Michael on contract negotiations, but he just doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing. So, I had to use Matthew again. He only got me a modest raise to $1.2 million though. I’m not real happy with that, but I don’t have much of a choice. I was hoping to get enough of a raise be able to buy a house and another car for Emma and myself without having to take out a loan. I’ll have to think about what to do there. Still, I just turned 20 so it isn’t like I’ve got to be in a big rush.

Spring Training
Stupid manager has me back at DH for some reason, and I can’t even talk to him or the coach about it. The manager just tells me to practice more when I ask him for advice, and the coach won’t talk to me about anything other than my spot in the batting order. I’m fine hitting leadoff, I just don’t want to go back to DH while Wes Helms gets to play 3B. I know the team picked him this off-season, but they could make him DH instead of me!
My scouting report for this year looks like this:


As usual I rocked spring training pitching. Bring on the season, the defending champs are here!

April
I came out of the gates hitting everything in sight, I’m at .417 at the end of the month with 3 homers and won the Player of the Month award. With my bat control peaked I’m working on improving my running speed. I figure I can get even more infield hits and add stolen bases as a weapon to my arsenal, even though I’m still a pretty poor base stealer.

The team is blowing the doors off of everyone, we finished the month at 21-7!

May
As good as April was, that’s how bad May was. We went 8-20 on the month and closed at just a game over .500. So much for first place, we’re currently in 2nd behind Los Angeles. I went in the tank along with the team, losing 100 points off my batting average. I realized that I need to pay more attention to my energy level, when my vitality is pretty low I don’t play as well and the ball comes off my bat more like a marshmellow than a rocket.

June
Managing my energy level better has helped my game, and I’ve started swiping some bases as well. My power is just average but I’m hitting more balls out than last year and getting more extra base hits. My bat really came alive in the last half of the month, and I had a 21 game hitting streak this month!

July
Still no All-Star team selection, and I’m surprised I don’t have more fans with how well I’ve played since the start of my career. Then again, if my stupid manager would put me in the field instead of DH maybe I’d get more serious consideration. Too bad I’m not eligible to be a free agent for a few years and can’t demand a trade.

August
I’ve kept up my torrid pace, and I’m running neck and neck with Mauer for the batting title. We’re both hitting .373 as the month closes. The team is in first place with a comfortable 7 game lead on Los Angeles, so we’re looking good to make the post-season again!

September
We wrapped up the division with a week to go. The batting title came down to the very last day of the season. Mauer and I both started the last day at .376. He had a couple of hits to finish at .377, and I had 3 hits to finish at .378! I won the batting title for the second time in 3 years!

In the last week of the season I broke the record for the most hits ever in a single season!

October
We got to face Mauer and the Twinkies in the first round of the playoffs, and just like in the batting race I put him in his place. We knocked off the Twins 3-1 to take the LDS. I raked a pair of doubles and took Joe Nathan yard in game 4 to close it out. Mia came by after the game, but I was glad that she had to “hurry off” to her next interview.

We got the Yankees in the LCS, and I’m still amazed that their manager still has a job. Why Mariano Rivera kept pitching middle relief and Aaron Heilman was the closer is beyond me. We beat up on Hughes and Kennedy again, and then Heilman blew a pair of saves to account for our 4 wins. Looks like we’re defending our championship against the Mets.

The Mets took us to the wire, we went down 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 but came back to take the series in 7. I had a walk-off homer in game 6 and got the go ahead RBIs with a two run double in the 8th inning of game 7, which we won 5-4. That earned me the WS MVP for the second year in a row, and people are calling me “Mr. October.”

Year 4 (2011)

Offseason
I met superagent Darryl King in the offseason, right before contract renewal time. I considered going with him for my contract negotiation, but after “reloading” my thought process a few times I decided that Matthew would get me a better deal. He got me $3.3 million this year!

I finally bought a house and an SUV to go with the hybrid car I already owned, and dropped $60K on an engagement ring for Emma.

Spring Training
Spring training was pretty uneventful this year, same routine as it has been. I’m playing 3B in the exhibition games, so hopefully that means I’ll be the everyday 3B this year instead of DH. My scouting report for this year looks like this:


Once I remembered to have the ring “equipped” with me on a date I proposed to her and she said yes! We’re going to get married in January after the next season is over.

April
*sigh* Nope … still DH. I think I’m going to try to get the manager fired this year.
Like last year, I came out on fire and won the Player of the Month award for April. I hit .421 for the month. The team also started off great, going 21-7 just like last year.

May
We’re still playing great ball, and have had a few long winning streaks. For whatever reason team morale keeps going in the tank whenever a streak comes to an end, even though we’re 40-12 at the end of May and have a 13 game lead in the division already.

June
I'm hitting .385 on the year as we reach the end of the month, and the team is still playing great. Where are my All-Star votes?

The manager has been playing me at 1B during the interleague games, which isn't even a position I've ever played before. No wonder he keeps pulling me in the later innings to put in Adrian Gonzalez as a defensive replacement, even though the team would be better off with my bat in the lineup. Why am I not playing 3B? Helms is hitting .240 on the season!

July
While I didn't get voted in to the All-Star game, I got selected by the coaches! Woot!

I got into the game as a pinch hitter in the 8th inning with the AL down 1-0. I singled off of Liriano and scored the tying run, and the game went extra innings. I grounded out to short in the 11th off of Dempster, and then doubled to left center in the 13th off of Papelbon but was stranded. The NL won it in the bottom of the 13th and Papelbon got the MVP as the winning pitcher.

After the All-Star game I met Jacob, who said people call him a "genius agent." He said that now that I was an All-Star caliber player he would represent me in contract negotiations if I wanted him to. We'll see....

[To be continued ... this is where I am now]

Very clever with the diary entry style. It's a lot like the way I play the game. Keep it up. I'm really interested on seeing how this guy's life turns out.

Very nice. So nice that I think I'm gonna steal your idea.

priceless

Wes Helms is better defensivly than you. I might do this with my next player if I can. And how come your trajectory is 2? You're a slugger right?

Yeah, I know, but I'm trying to "play the character" so to speak -lol- My guy is 21 and has had a lot of early success, and it is going to his head a bit I'm working on improving defense and it *has* gotten better, but obviously E still isn't the greatest.

Not sure why TRJ is a 2, I did go with the Slugger profile. While the 2 TRJ was actually a good thing when my CON was low and I was using a contact swing almost exclusively, it ain't so good for trying to jack homers. It gets me a lot of lineouts. It doesn't seem to be something you can boost through practice either, the only time my TRJ goes up (that I've noticed anyway) is when I do get homers or extra base hits using a power swing.

I just got my first trj increase today with a double using power swing. So I think you are probably right.

You mean Darkshade's idea? He mentioned it in the first sentence I think. If I get around to it maybe I'll try something like this. I'll try to make it as original as possible.

Every single time I am looking through the topics, I think this says Dave Williams, LHP for the mets. But I know what it really says, I just have a brain cramp.

Don't worry I get brain Cramps all the time while browsing through the forum.

Can we see an update on the career stats sometime? Also the stats for each season if possible.

Year 4 (2011) cont.

July
(cont.) My hot hitting after the All-Star game continued, and I've already past my previous high for homers in a season (14) that I set last year. I closed out July sitting on 19, and am hitting .381 on the season.

After stealing a couple of bases late in the month I was officially no longer a "poor base stealer."

August
Yesterday (8/3) I was trying to stretch a double and got injured diving into third trying to beat the tag. To add insult to injury the ump blew the call so I wasn't even safe. Looks like I'm going to be out about 5 games, I guess I should be glad it wasn't worse.

I recovered from my injury as we were heading out to Cleveland for a 3 game set. Maybe a couple of extra days off would have done me good, I went 0-Cleveland at the plate, going hitless in all three games (0-14). We're off to Baltimore next, I'd better kick it back into high gear!

The first game in Baltimore I started off 0-2 at the plate before dumping a cheap flare over the second baseman's head to break the skid at 0-16. My next time up I beat out a dribbler down the third base line, and finished the game with a 2-4 that looked better on paper than on the field. At least I managed to swipe second after my last hit. I'm still leading the league in stolen bases, but my teammate Coco Crisp is only a couple behind me.

Today (8/20) I saw on the scoreboard that I had reached 200 hits for the 3rd straight year. That's even earlier than last year, when I broke the major league record for hits in a season! I finished last year with 267 hits, so I've got a good chance to break my own record this year if I can keep it going and not get hurt again.

September
We wrapped up the division title today (9/4), with our 100th win of the year! Hopefully with nothing to play for this month I won't lose out on playing time to September call-ups. I have a hitting record to challenge!

What is it with great hitting catchers in this league? I started the month at .379, but I'm behind Jorge Posada who is hitting .383, and Joe Mauer is lurking at .375. Looks like the batting title is going to come down to the wire again!

I cracked my 25th homer of the season in the last week of the month, and passed my previous career high in runs scored (143).

I got hot again in the last couple of weeks and finished the year with a .391 batting average, which took the prize for the second year in a row! I also got the Player of the Month award for September, making a nice bookend to go with winning it in April. I managed to break my own record for hits in a season as well!

For the year I ended up hitting .391 with 273 hits, 25 homers, 67 RBI, 147 runs scored, and had 49 stolen bases. I finished two back of Crisp, who led the league with 51 SB.

Looks like we're getting New York in the first round of the playoffs. Mia has predicted another beating for us. Then again, ever since Emma and I got engaged Mia has refused to talk to me, she doesn't even come by for post-game interviews anymore no matter how well I do. So I guess she just has it out for the Rangers now.

October
We swept the Yankees in the first round! I hit a walk-off homer off of Ohlendorf in game 1, went hitless in game 2, then had a 2-5 with a stolen base and run scored in the clincher.

In the LCS we got Boston. My motivation has been lagging badly, and my performance is suffering for it. I managed two weak hits and 2 runs scored in a game 1 win, then went hitless in back to back losses in games 2 and 3. I came back in game 4 with a 3-run homer (1-4 overall) that helped even the series up at 2 games a piece. Boston took game 5 behind a strong performance by Dice-K, I didn't even get the ball out of the infield off of him. It's good to be heading back home to Arlington, even though we're down 3-2. We've played great at home this year.

We scrapped by in game 6, though I wasn't much help. I took an 0-5, but did reach once on an error and swiped a base. It didn't amount to much as Crisp stranded me to end the inning. We got a late run and won 1-0 to force a game 7!

Game 7 went back and forth, but we pulled it out! I went 4-5, ripping a pair of doubles and scoring 3 runs in our 8-6 win. Back to the World Series!

Since the NL won the All-Star game, we took off for Milwaukee to start the World Series. We came out strong behind Jake Peavy's shutout, taking the first game 5-0. After that the Brewer offense showed up, and they hammered our pitching staff for 3 straight games. I've played fairly well, but we're still down 3-1 in the series.

Peavy threw another gem in game 5 to bring us back to 3-2, and Brandon Webb followed it up by bouncing back from his game 2 meltdown. Stout performance winning game 6 in Milwaukee to keep their champaigne on ice! Series tied at 3!

I led off game 7 with a blast into the right field stands, great start! The Brewers came back though with 3 runs of their own in the bottom of the first on a Prince Fielder homer. The score stayed that way until the 5th, when I singled and scored a run to get it to 3-2. Milwaukee answered in the 6th to make it 4-2, then a two run shot by Michael Young tied it at 4 in the 7th. I grounded out leading off the 9th, but Crisp got on and stole a base and Young brought him home to go up 5-4. Jeremy Affeldt closed the door in a shaky 9th, and we're World Series champs again!

I found out the following week that I was named AL MVP in addition to having won the batting title! Contract renewal is coming up, I should be due for another nice raise!

[to be continued]