Article: MIN 5, MIL 3: Smeltzer Shines in Emotional MLB Debut

[Moosa105]

They are pretty much polar opposites in everything from pitching style to build.  I may be missing sarcasm because there probably couldn't be two pitchers more different.

 

The only thing they have some similarity in is maybe the pitching motion and the way that motion kind of hides the ball and slings around their body before reaching their release point causing hitters to struggle to time pitches well.

 

Sarcasm guys, sarcasm.

[Doctor Wu]

Great story! Congrats to Smeltzer on a fantastic almost storybook-like debut (getting a win would have been sweet, but hey, you can't have it all!). But Buxton bouncing off the outfield wall again causes my heart to skip a beat. I DON'T want to see him injured again.

[jctwins]

 

Let's not cry too much for Swarzak, who's still pitching (poorly last night for another new team). A second-rounder making it 11 years, accumulating 4.8 WAR, albeit with 8 different teams.

 

Not sure I wouldn't take that deal if I was Smeltzer and it was offered.

 

But yeah, great story and game, so fun.

 

Good point.

 

 

[Brock Beauchamp]

Baldelli stated during his interview that the current plan was for Smeltzer staying with the team and getting another start. I suppose it will be at Cleveland. I suppose the plans could change too.

I don’t see any reason not to push everyone back, give the starters a break during the coming off-days, and letting Smeltzer stick in a five man rotation to see what he can do.

 

The team has a 9.5 game lead in May. They can afford to take small risks in hopes it improves the team for the rest of the season.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Great feel good story for Smeltzer and the Twins. Fun to see him have a great start. Not to be a Debbie Downer but to me his stuff looks really fringy. Kind of like a Tommy Milone. His delivery might make it look a little faster but if teams see him more than once, it probably won't go well. Hope i'm wrong.

I agree but the kid sounds like he may be the type who will press on until he succeeds.

 

It’s worth a couple of starts to find out more.

[MMMordabito]

 

In all seriousness... This is what baseball needs right now... this very second and shouldn't wait until tomorrow. 

 

They need to market their players and their stories. Baseball sucks at this. 

 

The baseball audience is primarily old white and male. They are not going to grow trying to get more old, white and male audiences. They will grow by reaching all the others.

 

Telling the stories of players will help baseball reach new audiences.

 

My wife will sit and watch Survivor, the Bachelor and the Voice just to see who gets voted off. She watches the produced biographies of each contestant and she listens to what they have to say and why these moments are important to them and she lets those production pieces determine who she wants to get chosen and then she watches to see who gets chosen. 

 

While my wife watches these shows... I tell her that Baseball has all of this ten times over. Players are voted off the island all the time but baseball does a crappy job of telling their stories and as a result... declining numbers and poor name recognition beyond the baseball fan elite. 

 

I told my wife about Smeltzer surviving cancer as a 9 year old... She listened to his parents being interviewed... She watched the game and cared about Smeltzer. 

 

I love the Smeltzer story but there are a lot of stories that need to be told. Tell them and baseball has a chance of increasing it's audience base. 

 

I enjoy hearing the stories as long as it doesn't take away from viewing the game.

 

Devin Smeltzer likely wants to be a major league baseball player that happened to beat cancer when he was 9.  He likely doesn't want to be the cancer kid who plays baseball.

 

It seemed a bit awkward for Devin's dad to cheer for his son making a nice play on a weak groundball with Marni and a mic in his face.

 

Again, it's a great story.  It's obvious that what didn't kill him made him stronger and all that good stuff, but I think people like Morris take it too far.  He just keeps adding to his resume of being the worst option as a color analyst.