Valaika in Hawaii

[texasdave]

Didn't someone in another thread state that some of these games were televised last year? I have looked, but haven't seen anything. Has anyone been able to pick up any of these games so far this year? And, if so, was it on one of the ESPN channels or FoxSports or somewhere else?

[dougdirt]

They weren't on ESPN or FSN.... I believe it was a local cable channel, but I can't recall which one the poster said it was.

[Kc61]

Valaika is now at .222 with a .552 OPS. Didn't hit at Sarasota. What's with this?

[JKam]

So far, this league has proven to be a pitcher's league. The batters in this league also have the tendency to start off slow.

Last season the overall batting average for the first 2-3 weeks of the league was around .200. After 3 more weeks it moved up to around .230.

I think I heard on the radio today that this season the batting averages were around .220 for the first couple of weeks and now has moved up to around .260.

[Cooper]

Sarasota is a big jump....i know it's only 1 league up the chain, but it's the florida state league (a pitchers league) and sarasota is a tough place to hit. Everyone that goes there seems to have a difficult adjustment --purely guessing--appears to me that alot of players who go to sarasota do not lose much when they get promoted.

Everybody just kinda stalls there....if they work it out in sarasota then they can make the jump to chattanooga without too much trouble (see Dorn, Votta, etc...).

[WebScorpion]

Sarasota is a big jump....i know it's only 1 league up the chain, but it's the florida state league (a pitchers league) and sarasota is a tough place to hit. Everyone that goes there seems to have a difficult adjustment --purely guessing--appears to me that alot of players who go to sarasota do not lose much when they get promoted.

Everybody just kinda stalls there....if they work it out in sarasota then they can make the jump to chattanooga without too much trouble (see Dorn, Votta, etc...).

Not to mention that in Dayton you play in front of 7,000+ somewhat baseball-intelligent fans every day and in Sarasota you play for a handful of people working on their tans. Sort of hard to consistently play at the same emotional level.

[bucksfan2]

Sarasota is a big jump....i know it's only 1 league up the chain, but it's the florida state league (a pitchers league) and sarasota is a tough place to hit. Everyone that goes there seems to have a difficult adjustment --purely guessing--appears to me that alot of players who go to sarasota do not lose much when they get promoted.

Everybody just kinda stalls there....if they work it out in sarasota then they can make the jump to chattanooga without too much trouble (see Dorn, Votta, etc...).

What makes Sarasota a pitchers league?

[dougdirt]

What makes Sarasota a pitchers league?

The big parks and the weather.

[BoydsOfSummer]

Valaika was named the 12th best prospect in the HWL by Baseball America.

12. CHRIS VALAIKA, SS/2B
North Shore (Reds)

edit: premium content oopsie

[gedred69]

Sarasota is a big jump....i know it's only 1 league up the chain, but it's the florida state league (a pitchers league) and sarasota is a tough place to hit. Everyone that goes there seems to have a difficult adjustment --purely guessing--appears to me that alot of players who go to sarasota do not lose much when they get promoted.

Everybody just kinda stalls there....if they work it out in sarasota then they can make the jump to chattanooga without too much trouble (see Dorn, Votta, etc...).

Excellent observation! Sarasota is a tough hit. Valaika had limited time there to make any adjustments. Fla. State League is tough on hitters, lots of strong breezes especially early and again late season. Dorn struggled at first, then got good, and tore it up at Chatanooga late in the season.