Arizona Fall League – By Jon Schwartz

Rocket Man

(This story originally appeared in the May 2018 issue of Yankees Magazine.)

Like the Greg Bird feature I had the opportunity to write in October of 2016, this piece was almost a full year in the making, in a way that caught me totally by surprise. It started in June of 2017, when I was down in Charleston reporting a story on Donny Sands. Low-A baseball looks a lot different from what I’m used to seeing in the Bronx, but the truly elite prospects stick out. And I couldn’t take my eyes off this kid in the outfielder, a guy I’d never heard of named Estevan Florial. After the first game I saw down there, I met up with my photographer, and immediately, he asked me, “Hey, what do you know about Floral?” He was that impressive.

A month later, I was in Miami for the MLB All-Star Game, and Florial was one of two Yankees representatives in the Futures Game. One part of his story really interested me — the fact that he was from Haiti. Despite sharing an island with the Dominican Republic, which produces more baseball players than you can count, there has never been a major leaguer from Haiti. In the clubhouse before the game, I asked him about it (as he dressed in a uniform that had a Haitian flag on the chest). He told me that he was actually from the Dominican Republic, which confused me. I kind of restated the question, and he gave me the same answer. I figured there was some sort of language barrier (Florial speaks English well, but it’s still not his first language).

Fast forward three more months, and Florial is part of the contingent in the Arizona Fall League. I tried to find out again — what did he mean that he wasn’t from Haiti? Is he saying that he barely lived there, then moved to the DR? No, he told me. He was born in the Dominican Republic.

Now I was really confused, so I started poking around. What I found was a remarkable story of perseverance, of determination, of a great kid whose dream was almost broken by a well-intentioned system that was nonetheless unprepared to handle a story like his.

So when I was down in the Dominican Republic to report on my Luis Severino feature, I arranged to spend some time with Florial, as well. He gave me the whole story, the let me hang out as he worked out with some young kids and his old coach. I also spent some time with Bernie Tatis, the scout/manager/agent who discovered Estevan years ago, when he was named Haniel D’Oleo.

This was a remarkable story, one I was privileged to tell. I hope I did Estevan and his family justice, and I’m so grateful he trusted me enough to open up the way he did. I definitely root for most of my story subjects to do well — especially with the minor leaguers, it just makes the story look better if the kid turns into something. But I don’t care if Estevan never makes it to the majors. I’ll always cherish the time he gave me, and I’ll always be proud of this story.

https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/estevan-florial-ready-to-make-name-for-himself/c-274705446?tid=163658034

The Odds of Winning

(This story originally appeared in the April 2018 issue of Yankees Magazine.)

Man I loved writing this one.

I had never met or spoken to Jay Bell before we had dinner together in Scottsdale after he managed the Scorpions in an Arizona Fall League game, but I knew he had a reputation for being a great guy. That was an understatement. We sat for hours, Jay a photographer and me, as he told us all his best stories of a life in baseball. It was transfixing, and I did the best I could at using the best ones in the feature.

I was interesting in writing about Bell once the Yankees named him the Tampa manager before the previous season. Bell, famously, scored the winning run against the Yankees in the 2001 World Series, a moment low down the list of franchise highlights. Obviously, people trade sides in baseball all the time, and it’s not like Bell is Curt Schilling after the 2004 ALCS or anything, but still, it was a fun quirk, and I thought it would make a good story. Then Bell proceeded to win Manager of the Year with Tampa, and he managed the Yankees’ prospects in the AFL (as well as those of a few other teams, including the Reds, who sent along Bell’s son, Brantley, which was a fun touch).

There was one particularly funny part of the dinner, though. Just a few days earlier, the Yankees had parted ways with manager Joe Girardi, and Bell’s name was among those listed as being on the list of candidates. We’d scheduled our dinner before that news broke, though, and part of me wondered if Bell would cancel on me due to any potential awkwardness.

Quite the opposite. In fact, I’m nearly positive he thought that I was sent by Brian Cashman as some kind of envoy, charged with reporting back all my observations. So many questions I asked, Bell answered with some variation of, “This is Cash’s team, and he does such a great job, and I just do whatever they tell me to do.” Deep down, I’m sure he didn’t really think that it was a job interview under the guise of a magazine feature, but I do wonder if he was being extra cautious just in case. Anyhow, my photographer and I shared a few laughs after the fact.

Seriously, though, Jay couldn’t have been nicer or more interesting. I love the stories I got to share here, and I hope you’ll read them and get as much joy as I did.

https://www.mlb.com/news/jay-bell-uses-experience-guides-young-players/c-271786062

Back to the Future

(This story originally appeared in the Spring 2018 issue of Yankees Magazine.)

In the five months since I wrote this story, a few of the players have already been traded, so it was a bit funny to go back and read it last night. But I had a ton of fun reporting from the Arizona Fall League for the second straight year, and seeing some of the awesome prospects that are thriving in the Yankees’ system.

This year was a lot different from my 2016 visit, of course. In the course of that one year, the Yankees had gone from a team looking toward the future, to one very keenly aware of its arrival. Prospects are incredibly fun when you’re rebuilding, even if it’s a hyper-speed reload such as the one Brian Cashman put together during the 2016 season. But when I headed to Arizona this time, it was just a week after the Yankees’ season had ended in Game 7 of the ALCS. Times had changed, quickly.

Justus Sheffield (Photo Credit: New York Yankees)

And still, it was impossible not to be excited by some of the guys wearing the interlocking NY under the desert sun. Albert Abreu dazzled on the mound. Estevan Florial … the guy is special, and his talent screams out at you. Justus Sheffield sure seems like he’s going to be a star, and he took on something of an alpha-dog role mound the young future Yankees.

I did my best to highlight each guy out there, trying to show fans reading what they could look forward to in the months and years to follow. There was less immediacy than the year before, although Billy McKinney, one of the players out there this past year, would actually end up reaching the majors with the Yankees in the season’s first week, before a near-immediate injury cut down his time with the team. (He would then be traded at the deadline for J.A. Happ. Here’s hoping that he has a heck of a time in Toronto.

Their Estrada (Photo Credit: New York Yankees)

This is a light piece, a roundup, but I really loved checking in with these kids, and I’ll certainly be tracking their progress for years to come.

Hope you’ll read and enjoy.

https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-prospect-base-stays-steady-in-2018/c-267272684?tid=163658034

Short Track

(This story originally appeared in the 2017 New York Yankees Official Yearbook)

As I write this, Gleyber Torres is injured, and out for the rest of the 2017 season, which is a shame, because I can’t wait to see what happens when New York gets to know this kid. Acquired by the Yankees in the 2016 trade that sent Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs, Torres was said to be a stud, but as someone who pays incredibly little attention to midwestern teams’ farm systems, I didn’t really know anything about him other than what I could see on his Baseball-Reference page.

But in August, soon after the trade, I headed down to Tampa to meet with him and some of the other newly acquired prospects. And I was absolutely blown away by his poise, his maturity, his savvy. After he posed for a bunch of photos, he asked the photographer to let him see them. It was a small move — most guys just want to move on as quickly as possible, but he cared about how he looked. It didn’t come across as vain, just a kid in control.

Similarly, during the photo shoot, we were hanging out at second base (when I’m not interviewing, I’m often helping out by holding a light or something else in these situations). We were making easy small talk in English, just a normal conversation. Torres, from Venezuela, didn’t even appear to be struggling. But when it came time to sit down for the actual interview, he called over a translator. Again, he wanted to be perfect. I have no doubt that he would have been just fine doing the interview in English, but I totally respected the fact that he wanted to do it his way. I think that as long as translators are available, players should use them if it makes them comfortable.

Anyhow, no one should care about how Torres behaved toward me the first times I met him. But I honestly think that it was indicative of a guy who just won’t settle for anything other than perfection, and if he’s that way with interviews, I expect him to put similar work into what he does on the field. Watching him at the Arizona Fall League a few months later, and then during spring training this year, the impression stuck.

I figure he’ll be competing for a role with the big club when spring camp opens in 2018. I hope so. I really can’t wait to see him play in New York.

Hope you’ll enjoy.

http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/221541182/yankees-gleyber-torres-living-up-to-hype/?topicid=163658034

Small Ball, Big Time

(Story originally appeared in the March 2017 edition of Yankees Magazine.)

I had always wanted to see what the Arizona Fall League was like, and I picked a good year to do it. The Yankees sent a pretty remarkable contingent out west to play for the Scottsdale Scorpions, and I had a great time getting to see some of the top prospects in the organization. Plus, I also got to witness the Tim Tebow mania for the first time, which was a sight to see.

The headliner of the group was obviously Gleyber Torres (more on him in a future post), but there was talent all around. Greg Bird, James Kaprielian, Tyler Wade, J.P. Feyereisen, Dillon Tate, Miguel Andujar, Brody Koerner, Nestor Cortes … it was really great squad, with plenty for fans to get excited about. But mostly, I just enjoyed how free and open the Fall League is. We really had the full run of the place, hanging out on the field and doing whatever we wanted while the players were working out. I feel like I could have grabbed a bat and taken some swings if I had wanted to.

I hope I can get back there again sometime, maybe for a bit longer, but it was definitely a good first experience. It really made me miss getting to go to Cactus League games.

Here’s the story. Hope you’ll enjoy.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/215898390/arizona-fall-league-top-yankees-prospects/