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Has anybody else been following the series in the Star Tribune on the Twins minor league affiliates? They've had some pretty good articles.
I did notice, however, that they cut it off after Elizabethton - no coverage of GCL. I would have liked to seen one on them, and even the Dominican league. They always seem to get short shrift when the farm system is covered.
Ys, it would be interesting to read about the Dominican league...I think they have focused on that in the past, the Academy and such that gives players food, education and, if they look decent, a salary to play baseball fulltime. A lot of the GCL guys do go to Eliza, or it is more of a pure instructional league, get the guys to know the Twins way and work on fundamentals and play games amongst themselves, or other area teams only. Few people in the stands and such.
What is interesting is the Eliz article, about players basically living out of homes (makes sense) and the competition. The players can look around at 25 faces and suddenly realize that they have made it to the absolute beginning level of minor league ball and ONLY 2-3 of the guys around them MAY see major league play IN ANY CAPACITY. Everyone else is doomed to 2-3-4 years of minor league play and maybe another handful become AAAA players for a few extra years. You suddenly discover that you may be the best thing in your high school or college, but suddenly you are playing with the best from any other high school or college.
Granted, in the world of minor league ball you need a place to sleep, do laundry and maybe cook ... but your whole life during the baseball season is playing ball in some capacity to reach the major leagues.
Can you think of a more fun life for a few years? Of course, nice to have something to fall back on, eventually.
Feel free to post the links here to the various articles. I read the Ft. Myers one about how if you hit like 10 homers there, you're a big prospect!