It is that time of the year again. No, not the MLB playoffs, silly. Instructional League! Instructional League is one of my favorite baseball expierences. You get to get up close with the players, chat with them, and do some good ole fashioned scouting. All in a secluded enviornment without many people around.
Anyways, the Rays kicked off their 2005 instructional league season yesterday, and they take on the Blue Jays today in a game at Dunedin's Englebert Complex near Grant Field. It is a complex league, like the GCL, but runs for only two weeks as a lead in to the Arizona Fall League.
But, as you can see by looking at the schdule below, each team only plays the other teams in the immediate surrounding area, so you will not see the Rays playing in Vero Beach. Several Rays top prospects will be attending, and I have listed some of them below, as well as a scheduled, per the article that appeared in yesterday's St. Petersburg Times. NOTE: The schedule does not appear anywhere on the Times' website, it was a table that only appeared in print editions.
PLAYERS:
P Wade Davis (HV)
P James Houser (SWM)
P Chris Seddon (DUR)
P Andy Sonnastine (VIS)
P Mike Woldarcyzk (HV)
C Shawn Riggans (MON)
SS Reid Brignac (SWM)
OF Fernando Perez (SWM)
SCHEDULE:
YESTERDAY: vs. Phillies
TODAY: at Blue Jays
TOMRROW: at Yankees
THURSDAY: vs. Pirates
FRIDAY: vs. Phillies
SATURDAY: at Phillies (10 am)
MONDAY: vs. Yankees
OCT 4th: at Pirates
OCT 5th: at Yankees
OCT 6th: vs. Phillies
OCT 7th: vs. Pirates
OCT 8th: vs. Pirates (10 am)
*All games are 1pm unless otherwise noted
So there you have it. This is truly one of the best things in baseball to do, and I reccomend it to anyone with an immense knowledge of baseball. I will probably be at Carpenter Field this Saturday and at the Naimoli Complex the following Saturday, and I will post my findings here. I would have gone today, had I known that the incompetant Pinellas County Schools transportation system would not even show up, but whatever.
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