First Half Review - Minor League Ball Can Be Crazy Sometimes

​Sorry it has taken me so long to get back on here folks, but I’ll give you my latest news here. Here is a review of the first half. It has been quite a whirlwind.

I arrived in Florida with my wife in early January, so I have been doing Twins related activities for a while now. The first change of plans occurred when I found I would be heading to Cedar Rapids to start the season. I was sent down the last week of Spring Training and began to prepare for the trip back up north. In the few days following I got to play with Byron Buxton, which was a treat. The way he goes about his business is impressive and his tool set is off the charts. He is an exciting player to be around.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

I like to say my first promotion was when the trucks were loading up to go to their respective cities. We ship a lot of our items to the cities, so that air travel is less hectic. I was told to take my stuff out of the Cedar Rapids pile because I could be staying in Florida. This was confirmed later in the day. I had been sent down and promoted within a week, minor league baseball can be crazy sometimes.

A 12 game win streak, a 24-4 record and a few Sano bombs later and I was heading to Portland, Maine to join New Britain. This was obviously unexpected when the season started, but was a very exciting opportunity. I played a night game in Fort Myers and played the next day at noon in Maine. I arrived in the clubhouse about an hour before the game to find out the pitcher we were facing threw 59-66 MPH. I knew AA would be different, but had they checked their radar gun lately? Charlie Haeger was on the mound-the first predominantly knuckleball pitcher I had ever faced.

My dad had been visiting in Florida so he decided to drive my car up the coast (roughly 24 hours) and made it for my second AA game. His reasoning, “this is exciting, this kind of stuff doesn’t happen very often.” Once again, minor league baseball is crazy at times.

My wife finished her travel nursing assignment and joined me a few weeks later with our dog. A couple of weeks after that, more friends from Fort Myers joined the Rock Cats. While I haven’t gotten off the best AA start, it has been quite the journey. Sometimes in baseball you have to expect the unexpected.

It has been fun getting the chance to play with guys who have been in the big leagues. We faced a pitcher early on, who got his debut a few weeks later. It makes the “Show” seem a lot more attainable.

I have seen three knuckleballers, numerous top prospects and some great stadiums. We just got back from Altoona, where a rollercoaster sits beyond right field.

Some more highlights have been seeing the hardest ball ever hit (a few nights ago off the bat of Sano) and getting two baseball cards in one season (got promoted at just the right time).

I hope to get back on here more often in the coming weeks and look forward to interacting with the Twins Daily community more!

Follow me on Twitter @apettersen1 or email me at ajpettersen1@gmail.com. I welcome any and all questions or comments!

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