Front Page: My Name is Travis Harrison

[Seth Stohs]

 

same old stuff, some good some bad. How about you?

 

Temps up north even in Cedar Rapids are getting cold... I'd expect Steve will be down in Ft. Myers shortly, probably trying to talk you into getting out on a course with him! 

 

 

[Guest]

 

same old stuff, some good some bad. How about you?

Was going pretty well. Getting too cold/snowy to play now though. Heading down there after a day or 2 after Thanksgiving, so maybe we'll have to get together.

 

Actually, I WAS going to pose the question of who you felt was the best local media person among Twins affiliates, but I figured I already knew the answer.

 

Good to have you aboard the Twins Daily train. Great first article!

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Thanks Travis for a very good article, but especially for your time on the Q&A.

 

Good for you to go back to school. How did you decide on finance?

[scottz]

Hey Travis, thanks for doing this!

You mentioned in one of your answers that you had a full-ride scholarship to USC on the table. Do you recall which other schools had offered you scholarships, and what reason(s) pushed your decision to USC? Was it a difficult decision to pass on the college experience to go pro?

[Travis Harrison]

I have always been much better at Math then English so I hope there less English classes haha I also figured that it cant hurt to understand how to make and lose money.

Thanks Travis for a very good article, but especially for your time on the Q&A.

Good for you to go back to school. How did you decide on finance?

 

[Travis Harrison]

Great question! I was lucky to have a few options, ASU, Cal state fullerton are just a couple. One thing that suprised me was there was a couple schools that wanted me to skip my senior year of high school to go to college a year early. They said i would get drafted to high and they didnt want to lose me to the draft (LSU, Oregon, UCLA, Miami). USC is a beautiful school and the people there treated me very well. The decision to go was not that difficult after I knew the twins would pay what we were asking for. (which was 15 minutes before the deadline)

Hey Travis, thanks for doing this!

You mentioned in one of your answers that you had a full-ride scholarship to USC on the table. Do you recall which other schools had offered you scholarships, and what reason(s) pushed your decision to USC? Was it a difficult decision to pass on the college experience to go pro?

 

[MALKITT]

Travis,

Loved watching you play for the Ft. Myers Miracle. I did the graphics and ran the scoreboards. Scotty P (official scorer) and I would constantly talk about your hustle and how we never saw anyone who could take an extra base on balls in the dirt like you. For years we'd say "Travis Harrison would have been on second on that pitch!" Wish you all the best in the future.

Mitch K

[tarheeltwinsfan]

 

cool list! I love the passion everyone has about the Twins. I am now just a guy on the internet as well ))

You are not "just a guy on the internet". You actually were good enough to be paid real money to play baseball. Every one of us contributors at Twins Daily would love to have had that opportunity. We are your "groupies". We are all interested in your perceptions of spring training, what players in the low minors think about bus travel, whether you have seen a change in the nutrition program and training with weights since you started with the Twins organization, whether you think the baseballs were juiced this year, etc. We have tons of questions. Thanks for agreeing to respond and for your answers.. Speaking for all of us at TD, I can say whether you are starting for the Minnesota Twins, or playing in Rookie ball at Elizabethton, we all are fans of the Twins organization, and especially the guys who actually get paid to play. So thank you for taking time to respond. I can assure you we are interested in your perspectives.

[Travis Harrison]

Thank you! that means a lot! I worked hard on that. 

Travis,

Loved watching you play for the Ft. Myers Miracle. I did the graphics and ran the scoreboards. Scotty P (official scorer) and I would constantly talk about your hustle and how we never saw anyone who could take an extra base on balls in the dirt like you. For years we'd say "Travis Harrison would have been on second on that pitch!" Wish you all the best in the future.

Mitch K

 

[diehardtwinsfan]

So another question... Are you now a Twins fan? 

 

Hope you stick around. 

[Badsmerf]

Hey Travis, glad to have you. I went to Minnesota at the same time as Perkins and shared the locker room with the baseball guys. I had concussions my senior year of college. Without suffering from them, it is hard to understand what people go through. There is a lot more information on them now, so hopefully guys are better able to recover.

 

What do you make of all the effort in advanced analytics being put toward the minor leagues? Would it have helped you? Did you get involved in the lawsuits on minor league pay? Have any opinions you're willing to share....

[Travis Harrison]

The Twins are the only baseball games I watch! I will watch At Bats of my buddies on the other teams but not the game.

So another question... Are you now a Twins fan? 

 

Hope you stick around. 

 

[Travis Harrison]

That is very nice of you! Thank you and I know myself and many players highly respect what you guys do here at Twins Daily.  The nutrition got much better the second half of my career with the Twins. And with weight lifting... I was always the strongest guy in the gym

You are not "just a guy on the internet". You actually were good enough to be paid real money to play baseball. Every one of us contributors at Twins Daily would love to have had that opportunity. We are your "groupies". We are all interested in your perceptions of spring training, what players in the low minors think about bus travel, whether you have seen a change in the nutrition program and training with weights since you started with the Twins organization, whether you think the baseballs were juiced this year, etc. We have tons of questions. Thanks for agreeing to respond and for your answers.. Speaking for all of us at TD, I can say whether you are starting for the Minnesota Twins, or playing in Rookie ball at Elizabethton, we all are fans of the Twins organization, and especially the guys who actually get paid to play. So thank you for taking time to respond. I can assure you we are interested in your perspectives.

 

[Travis Harrison]

oooo minor League pay is an interesting topic.... I guess my main thought on that is minor league baseball players are the top 1% of anybody who ever played baseball. Its hard to find another profession where the top 1% makes $1800 a month haha. The difference in someone making 50 million and someone making 10k is so small its mind blowing. I was lucky and was paid a lot of money to play but most guys are not. 

 

What do you make of all the effort in advanced analytics being put toward the minor leagues? Would it have helped you? Did you get involved in the lawsuits on minor league pay? Have any opinions you're willing to share....

 

[Guest]

Travis, would be interested in your thoughts on the MLB proposal to eliminate a couple levels of minor league ball.

 

Setting aside the whole issue of so many communities potentially losing their minor leage affiliations, what are your thoughts on the number of levels that exist currently?

 

Are there too many levels? Do the teams have to fill too many roster spots with players that have little real hopes of success, just to provide enough competition for those that do? How would your career have been affected, positively or negatively, if there had been no short season leagues other than GCL and one fewer class A levels, for example?

[DocBauer]

 

oooo minor League pay is an interesting topic.... I guess my main thought on that is minor league baseball players are the top 1% of anybody who ever played baseball. Its hard to find another profession where the top 1% makes $1800 a month haha. The difference in someone making 50 million and someone making 10k is so small its mind blowing. I was lucky and was paid a lot of money to play but most guys are not.

....

I think I speak for an awful lot of us here, probably most of us, especially considering this topic has been discussed a great deal on TD, that the milb pay structure needs to change.

 

Most affiliates, of course, are owned independently and not by the parent club. And I am a little unsure where and who milb player salaries are paid through, to be honest. But in the multi billion dollar business that is MLB, I would like to see ownership, and the players union, step forward to make salary changes in milb.

 

Prospects are the lifeblood of the sport, PERIOD, even though a small percentage make it, much less make it big. But there is no reason...pennies on the dollar in the sport...salaries couldn't be raised to a more acceptable "cost of living" type level.

[gunnarthor]

Very nice that Travis is kind enough to answer questions. I'll just ask what was your favorite on the field memory as a baseball player? And did you excel at other sports in high school or just focus on baseball?

[Travis Harrison]

 

Very nice that Travis is kind enough to answer questions. I'll just ask what was your favorite on the field memory as a baseball player? And did you excel at other sports in high school or just focus on baseball?

good question! that really is hard, I loved every AB in the 9th inning. One thing I am proud of is every manager I had said if they could pick anyone to be up to bat with the game on the line, it would be me. I finally learned how to take that intensity to every AB but just a little late

[Travis Harrison]

 

Travis, would be interested in your thoughts on the MLB proposal to eliminate a couple levels of minor league ball.

 

Setting aside the whole issue of so many communities potentially losing their minor leage affiliations, what are your thoughts on the number of levels that exist currently?

 

Are there too many levels? Do the teams have to fill too many roster spots with players that have little real hopes of success, just to provide enough competition for those that do? How would your career have been affected, positively or negatively, if there had been no short season leagues other than GCL and one fewer class A levels, for example?

ooooo good one. To be honest, I am not well-versed enough to answer this question. This is not a political answer, I just simply do not know exactly what there purposing. But, eliminating lower level teams probably would have been great for me personally being a high pick. Overall though, probably bad for the sport and not giving opportunities to people who otherwise would not get a chance.  

[ashbury]

I finally learned how to take that intensity to every AB

Go on.......?

[Rosterman]

Until they saw the medical history?

 

How does that work for minor league players? Who pays the medical bills? And since you are not aprt of the player's union, what kinda longterm worries do you have about medical issues associated with play in the minors?

 

Also, you mention that the minor leagues include the top 1% of ballplayers (as would, say, certain collegiae institutions). You are thrown togetehr with others who are the top in the sport. Yet the "extra" minor league teams allow more people to play and showcase themselves than if the minor league system is reduced...in which alternatives would remain either college ball or the indy leagues, and both don't really pay anything of worth...although one you do get an education for life after baseball.

Which brings the question, how much thought ortalk do players, as a whole, have about "life after baseball." Especially when toiling in the minors, seeing wedded bliss on the horizon, and maybe the addition of a child or two in a family setting?