Nick Gordon and G-Cinco

[Guest]

FWIW, I saw some videos this winter that Gordon posted on Instagram or Facebook, etc., that showed him working on his hitting. He looked stronger, his swing looked good and he was taking some good rips.

[Seth Stohs]

 

My point would be that Gordon has lot's of "creative endeavors" as options.  This one is extremely expensive and not an option for most (if not all) other prospects.  Most others would have been playing Pokémon or watching TV, or maybe even approaching 24/7/365 on baseball...because those would have been the options available.  There's the rub.  All other things being equal, I'll take the hungry guy.

 

Nick Gordon isn't hungry??

 

And, there aren't many scouts or baseball people that would say 24/7/365 is a good thing. 

[Seth Stohs]

 

Yes ... Seeing Akil Baddoo's Instagram was much more inspiring than "G-Cinco" 's bling-flashing hip-hop video

 

Yeah, I saw Baddoo posting pictures of him working on a house, like fixing it up or building or something. That's not baseball-related either, so I assume that was also not good?

[Seth Stohs]

 

I hope you're right about this, Ash. I'll admit to seeing glimpses of another possibly more worrisome side. We've read all kinds of positive reports about his "makeup", so maybe he has the maturity and the talent, and through the sheer force of his personality he'll have the energy for both and be sufficiently dedicated to his baseball career.

 

I can't help think back to my reaction to some of his earliest tweets. It could be it's just me being an old fuddy-duddy, but I recall wondering about his focus because so much of it had this "me" orientation and the content was rarely baseball and usually involved commentary about pretty girls. He lost steam during the second half of the season. I hope this was an issue with his physical stamina and not with where his head was taking him.

 

He gets the benefit of the doubt from me, but I'll be watching his progress on the field and hoping his twitter feed isn't in overdrive.

 

Trying to understand what his social media activity has to do with his baseball? Hasn't hurt (or helped) anyone to this point. I haven't read or heard anyone be disappointed in Brent Rooker for his twitter feed and how active he is on there. 

[iastfan112]

 

I don't remember people ripping Trevor May for his baseball work ethic due to his music career:

 

 

Or his interests in journalism:

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/09/mlbtr-mailbag-with-guest-host-trevor-may.html

 

Remember the gall that Alex Meyer had to be a substitute teacher? Man, had he give that up sooner his control probably would be better:

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/twins/2013/12/25/alex-meyer-minnesota-pitching-prospect-teacher-offseason/4199115/

 

I'm ashamed to say that I type all this while sitting at work. I know I'm the only one here who is tickling his baseball interests while I have another occupation to focus on.

The new thing to rip May if he struggles will be his Twitch streaming. He should concentrate on baseball, not play video games!

[RaoulDuke]

Now Trevor May can make his beats and eventually Dozier's country time can be replaced in the club house lol.  Much more of a punk/ metal guy myself but anything is better than country.

[clutterheart]

remeber the outcry when Radke was fishing all the time? Or when TK was always betting on the greyhounds? Or when Neshek spent his time collecting?

 

Yeah I don't either.....hmmm...what's the difference between these players?

[bird]

 

Trying to understand what his social media activity has to do with his baseball? Hasn't hurt (or helped) anyone to this point. I haven't read or heard anyone be disappointed in Brent Rooker for his twitter feed and how active he is on there. 

 

 

Of course a player's social media activity doesn't have a cause and effect relationship to his baseball development. I never made the connection between baseball performance and the volume of social media activity.

 

Sometimes we get indications that a player is super-dedicated to be the best they can be. Sometimes those indications come to us via social media. Berrios for example. Deduno Abides scoped out some video of Gordon working on his baseball this offseason. That's a great indication for Gordon, exactly the type of indication we want to see.

 

It is interesting to note, however, that a lot of players DO pretty much shut off their social media activity and curtail other activities when the season starts, presumably to avoid distractions. Others may not feel the need to do this. Either way, all that counts is what happens on the field.

 

If you get the chance, Seth, maybe you can ask Gordon what his own explanation is about his dreadful second half.