Rodger’s Diary - Look Homeward Angel!
I love the surrounding mountains, different neighborhoods, and author Thomas Wolfe’s legacy in Asheville, NC..
Last weekend, I was lucky enough to be able to mix some business with pleasure there, shooting photos
of a very good Asheville Rockies Sally League team and the Red Sox Greenville Drive affiliate.
I could breathe deep again, all that good air, that I missed at home in Northern Virginia.
Like the AA- Portland Sea Wolves, I had the pleasure of photographing and conducting two Greenville player interviews for consideration in Boston Baseball, which I wrote in an earlier article, publisher and editor, Michael Rutstein developed into a quality magazine catering to the Red Sox fans the past 15 years.
Greenville is blessed with several good Red Sox prospects, BA #6 OF Ryan Kalish, BA #9 3B Oscar Tejada, BA #24, Taiwanese OF Che -Hsuan Lin, and BA #29 Yamaico Navarro.
BA #17, 1B, Anthony Rizzo and BA #8 LHP Nick Hagadone are on the roster but not with the team having gone onto the disabled list earlier this season.
Also deserving recognition are Greenville’s 1B Michael Jones, catcher Luis Esposito and LHP Felix Doubront, who were all very impressive and important players in the Drives’ lineup. .
1B Michael Jones is hitting 320 BA, 2 HR, and 16 RBI in 28 games, and was recently named to the SALLY All Star team This 23-year old prospect has a perfect left handed stroke. Down the road, he should become a power and batting average hitter galore. I chose to interview Michael for one of my two interviews that weekend.
Luis Esposito is an aggressive catcher, who is hitting 311, 5 HR, and 12 RBI in just his first 61 AB at
Low A - Greenville . He has his act together, also demonstrating good leader and pitcher handling qualities while I was there.