How to beat Vegas

As you may know, our own Ollie Osprey is among the final 64 candidates for Mascot Mania, an event put on by MiLB.com which is meant to determine, by fan vote, who is the best mascot in all of minor league baseball.

Ollie was pleased to be a part of the field, and felt like Montana men’s basketball, when he essentially received, according to The Dude from Corridor fame, a No. 13 seed in the West region. He’s paired up with Cosmo, the mascot  for the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s.

So, how do you beat Vegas? Well, we asked around.

We asked people in the know … successful card players, people who love slot machines, card dealers and, last but not least, pit bosses. Their response … no comment.

So we tried everything. Then we talked to members of the Osprey front office. They had their own theories.

The answer …
1. Get your friends to be involved. Often. You can stuff the ballot box, so go for it!!
2. Trade votes. Members of the Osprey front office have already been employing this tactic, getting votes for Ollie in exchange for votes for their mascot, if they are in the Mania voting. Although our full-season affiliates forgot someone (this was found on both the South Bend Silver Hawks and the Visalia Rawhide websites … apparently they forgot to send this to Reno …) …

3. Ask our Osprey Nation members on both Facebook and Twitter to spread the word and do the same thing.

First-round voting goes through May 29, so get to networking people!!!

Elmore opens eyes, changes looming – or not, and more

by Ben Catley

35 days until Opening Night, 31 days before season opens in Billings

As I get ready for my sixth season of calling Osprey baseball on the radio, I can look back fondly at a few former players who made quite an impression on me. And one of my favorites is tearing it up in the Pacific Coast League … and finally getting some love from the blogs.

So now you’re wondering … it’s not our Adam Eaton (2010)? Well, he is also one of my favorites … but not the one I speak of.

I speak of Jake Elmore (2008), of course, who has produced in a big way at the plate while showcasing nearly all of his versatility. The only position he hasn’t played this season that he has in the past is pitcher – he pitched in at least one game each of the past two seasons while at Double-A Mobile.

Right now, though, Elmore is making plenty of noise with the bat. He’s hitting .372, with nine doubles, a triple, two home runs and 25 RBIs, as well as a .477 on-base percentage, a .504 slugging percentage, eight stolen bases and just two errors in 34 games. Continue reading →

Bianco, BirdWire and the latest from around the farm …

by Ben Catley

OK, so after I had this all written, and set to post at a certain time, it would be helpful to not to change the year. Better late than never, I guess. So now that I have figured that out … let’s not hide all of this until next year, shall we. Especially this part …

36 days until Opening Night at home, 32 days until Opening Day in Billings Continue reading →

EatonMania, Goldy’s power outage and the latest on Eichhorn

by Ben Catley

Every year, it seems to be a different guy we love to feature on Bird Droppings.

Last season (OK, keeping in mind that we only started to do this full-bore last March, but still …), it was Paul Goldschmidt (2009 Osprey), who hit his second home run of the season this past weekend, and could be one of those guys who help the D-backs to a NL West repeat. This season, we have moved from the Goldy Watch (because it was a matter of when, not if, he was getting a call-up to the D-backs), to EatonMania.

OUR Adam Eaton (2010) is drawing attention everywhere nowadays. And when you are hitting .410 and leading the Pacific Coast League in batting, attention tends to follow. Continue reading →

More Droppings, Hester called up and more …

by Ben Catley

First, the following announcement on Bird Droppings … we …. wait, breaking news first ….

– It looks like catcher John Hester (2006) caught a good break when Chris Ianetta caught a bad one. The starting catcher for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim was hit by a pitch in the same game he caught Jared Weaver’s no-hitter, took three games off, then caught three more games before the diagnosis of a broken bone in the right wrist. Surgery will be preformed and Ianetta will be out for a while.

And, with Hank Conger also ailing with an arm injury, Hester gets to draw on his brief stint with the D-backs as experience, while he will come up to the big club and fill in when needed. Continue reading →

Miggy’s humble start and a nice win

Some quick hitters so you don’t go a whole week without your fix of Osprey news …

–  Well, the D-backs picked up a nice win tonight in a game where a pair of former Osprey delivered big hits. Paul Goldschmidt (2009) ignited the D-backs 3-run top of the eighth, while Scott Hairston (2001) also delivered a two-run, game-tying double for the New York Mets. In fact, every former Osprey who had an at-bat in the game had a hit.

– Speaking of one of them, Miguel Montero (2002-03), we came across a great story on him from Fox Sports writer Ken Rosenthal on Montero. It goes into the background on how Miggy started his road from Venezuela to the Major Leagues, by way of Missoula, of course.

Which reminds me – the D-backs are on Fox tomorrow, one of the games to be featured across the country.

– One more little bit of Fox … this fantasy update has CarGo at the top of the list. Carlos Gonzalez (2003) is indeed starting to heat up, which is good for former Osprey followers, the Colorado Rockies and fantasy baseball players.

History is made again …

by Ben Catley

Time for a dose of Six Degrees of Separation, Osprey style.

There have only been two cycles hit at the Major League level by former Osprey players, with the second one happening on Friday night in Denver. New York Mets outfielder Scott Hairston, a 2001 member of the Osprey, hit for the cycle in a game which turned into an 18-9 loss to the Colorado Rockies. In part, the win – buoyed by an 11-run fifth inning – was ignited by former Osprey outfielder Carlos Gonzalez (2003), who drove in six runs on the night, five in that fifth inning. Continue reading →

Brewer’s Audition Now in Reno

by Ben Catley

Charles Brewer is going to get the chance to play that role of “I’m Major League Worthy” in a different location now. He’s gone from his days as a member of the Missoula Osprey in 2009, to getting a chance in South Bend and Visalia in 2010, and pitching in Mobile both in 2011, and at the start of the 2012 season. But now, Brewer has another stop – at Triple-A Reno – to show that he is ready for the ultimate stage.

The promotion was among a series of moves made by the Arizona Diamondbacks over the weekend, and included another former Osprey, who was here a shorter amount of time than nearly any other former Osprey this side of Daniel Taylor. Continue reading →

How things can change in a hurry …

by Ben Catley

Remember when there were all of those trade rumors swirling around Gerardo Parra?

Funny how a jammed thumb and a take-out of the left-center field wall at Chase Field can change things, isn’t it?? Especially with Chris Young now on the 15-day DL because of that collision. Continue reading →

Roster moves

There have been a few roster moves involving former Osprey throughout the D-backs’ system over the past few days. A summary …

– OF Adam Eaton (2010 Osprey) has been promoted to Triple-A Reno from Double-A Mobile.
– RHP Chase Anderson (2009) is back healthy and pitching in Double-A Mobile. He pitched two-hit ball over four innings in his first start on Wednesday, but also had three walks and five strikeouts while surrendering just one run. Eury De La Rosa (2009) came on and pitched 1 1/3 shutout innings in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Montgomery to pick up the win.
– Anderson comes in and takes the roster spot of 2B David Nick (2009), who has landed on the 7-day DL with an injury. Right-handed pitcher Bryan Henry (2007) has also landed on the DL.
– Ryan Court (2011) was moved from Class A South Bend to Class A Short Season Yakima. Court, for now, is back in Arizona at Extended Spring Training.
– Two other players on the DL – right-handed pitcher Jeremy Erben (2010) and outfielder Ollie Linton (2008).

Three other players have been released by the D-backs in the past couple of days – right-handed pitchers Casey Upperman (2090-10), Miles Reagan (2008-09) and Daniel Stange (2006). Stange was the most surprising, being a right-hander with Major League experience. Upperman’s growth was slowed by injuries, while Reagan battled control issues throughout his stints with both Missoula and Yakima. However, Reagan will forever be a part of Osprey history – he started the game back on June 30, 2008, which was the most recent Osprey no-hitter, a 1-0 win at Helena.

Ironically, none of those three pitchers are in the D-backs minor-league system – Reagan was released, Jesse Orosco moved on to the Padres’ organization after being released in 2009 (not sure he is still there) and Bryan Shaw is currently in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ bullpen.