Minor league baseball season preview (help)

Good advice there.. forgot about minorleaguebaseball.com (or milb.com for short). Excellent website resource for the affiliated teams.

 

Once you get into the regular season, you might want to try networking with the other beat writers in the league to exchange league-wide notes, news, trends, etc.

 

this is really good stuff. I really appreciate your help.

I ordered the Baseball America prospects book.

The PR guy hasn't got back to me about when I can head out to the ballpark and conduct some interviews. My SE told me he's kinda weird like that. I'll give him the rest of the day to call me back. If not, I'm trying tomorrow morning.

Would you suggest talking to the GM? Ya know, getting a feel about the organization as a whole - not just the players. I mean, the GM is the guy who brought the new manager in, I'm sure. Or at least was a part of the process.

 

geez, do you need us to wipe your ass, too? yes, talk to the GM. maybe he doesn't make it into the story but talk to him. talk to everybody, from the owner to the GM to the groundskeeper. seriously. never rule anyone out as a potential source. often the so-called little people will come through big time if you establish some rapport and they get to know you a little.

 

Maybe you could talk to the manager and really get into his head about managing. What are the best parts? Worst parts? Toughest calls to make? Favorite parts of the day? Things he likes/dislikes about this age of players? What will baseball be like in 20 years? Favorite contest/gimmick during the season/least favorite.

etc. etc.

The team is largely interchangeable.

 

When it comes to the GM, it really depends on the level of baseball here. The lower you go, the more the GM becomes a glorified PR rep, which can still make for interesting stories, but they rarely have anything to do with personel decisions.

 

The GM of an affiliated minor league team has no say over the manager or the roster. The major league team assigns the manager and players (and moves them whenever it sees fit). The GM basically runs the business side -- ticket sales, promotions, concessions, etc.

Each major league team has a minor league director (sometimes called director of player development). That guy would be your best source for comments on the manager and probably on the players as well.

 

Very good advice here. Introduce yourself to the organization's minor league director/director of player development. Get comments from him on the prospects on the team. He will also be your best source to confirm players getting called up to the next level, getting sent down to your team or players from your team getting sent down.

During the season he could be a good source to find out about the rehab assignments. If someone is due to come back from an injury soon, your team is at home, and your team is the closest affiliate to where the big league club is playing, find out if your team will get the rehab assignment.

 

NDub... what level of minor league ball is this?

 

Good point. If it's A Ball (Midwest or SAL), good luck trying to figure out who's on the roster. Anything Triple-A or Double-A is a little more certain, but not by much. Like I said before, PM me and I'll see what I can do to help.

 

Since he's worrying about previews now and most of last year's team is gone, I'd have to guess its high-A or AA, possibly AAA. If I'm not mistaken don't the lower levels of A ball and rookie ball start in June or July?

 

you have got to be kidding me...I would kill for this as my beat and you can't do basic journalism 101 to figure out how to write a preview of an upcoming minor league baseball team's season?