The Boston Red Sox’s All-Day Prospect: Outfielder Forrestt Allday

There is nothing like a baseball player with a great name. The likes of Rusty Kuntz and Razor Shines have graced diamonds of years gone by and will be succeeded by those with even more majestic monikers.

Although Boston Red Sox minor leaguer Forrestt Allday is part of the cool name club, that pales in comparison to what he brings on the field. The 22-year-old is a well-regarded outfield prospect and is starting his ascent up the ranks in the top-notch Boston player development system.

The left-handed Allday was a star at Friendswood High School in Texas. He went on to junior college, accumulating an amazing on-base percentage of .554 in 2011, according to OvertheMonster.com’s Ben Buchanan.

Allday’s strong play earned him a spot with the University of Central Arkansas. In 2012, he hit .324 with 49 runs scored and a .486 on-base percentage, according to the school’s athletic site.

Last season, he went out on top in a Bear uniform, hitting .365 with a .503 on-base percentage and 59 runs scored. He ranked near the top in most Southland Conference offensive categories and set himself up as a very desirable prospect for the draft.

The Red Sox took Allday in the eighth round (233rd overall pick) in 2013. After signing, he played his first professional season with the Lowell Spinners in the New York-Penn League. Appearing in 38 games, he kept up his reputation as an on-base machine, hitting .267 with 11 RBIs, eight stolen bases and a .418 on-base percentage.

Although he isn’t a power hitter, his ability to get on base will only become magnified as he continues to hone his line-drive potential. He also is capable of playing all three outfielder positions, making him a very valuable prospect that could really pay off if his development continues to go well.

To find out how Allday wound up in the Boston organization, check out the interview he recently did with me. If you want to see how he fares in 2014, it won’t be difficult to remember his name. Make sure to also give him a follow on Twitter, and give him the full support of Red Sox Nation.

Forrestt Allday Interview:

Who was your favorite player when you were growing up, and why?: My favorite player growing up had to be Ken Griffey Jr. He was the most exciting player to watch in baseball, and I wanted to be just like him.

How did you end up choosing to attend the University of Central Arkansas?: Well I went to a junior college out of high school (Alvin Community College) for two years, and my coach Bryan Alexander knew the Central Arkansas coach, Allen Gum, really well. Coach Alexander told me, ‘If I had to send my son somewhere to play right now, it would be to play for Coach Gum at UCA.’

At first, I was honestly a bit skeptical of going all the way to Arkansas to play baseball. But when I met Coach Gum, I knew this was the place for me. And it paid off as, we had a 40+ win season and went to an NCAA Regional before losing to Mississippi State in the Regional final of the winner-take-all Championship game.

How did you first find out that the Red Sox were interested in you?: Well, during the college season, a lot of scouts were coming to our games. I met a guy named Chris Mears, who is a scout for the Red Sox. He expressed their interest in me and kept contact with me up until the draft.

What was your draft experience like?: Anxious, excited, nervous, etc…  It was a lot of emotions all at once. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I wouldn't change it for the world. My family and friends were over and we watched the draft on the TV. It was an incredible day that I'll never forget and I'm so blessed to be a part of the Boston Red Sox organization.

What current player would you say your style/type of skills is most similar to?: I'd say Jacoby Ellsbury because he can do it all. Hit to all parts of the field, bunt and steal bases. That's the kind of player that I try to emulate when I step on to the baseball field.

What is one part of your game that you hope to improve on the most?: I'd say all parts. This game isn't easy and you can always get better at something. That's my goal; to get better each and every day even if it's a little bit.

A number of major leaguers (Clay Buchholz, Daniel Bard, Brayan Villarreal, etc) were on rehab with the Lowell Spinners this year. What was your experience with them?: It was great to see guys like this come to our team and show us what it's like to be a big leaguer. These guys have such a great work ethic and craft to the game of baseball. Obviously, we are striving to be like them, and hopefully one day we will be.

What are some things you like to do away from baseball?: I enjoy many things outside of baseball such as hanging out with my family, playing with my dogs, working out, etc…

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An Interview With Chicago Cubs Pitching Prospect Corbin Hoffner

The Chicago Cubs seemingly can’t be mentioned in a media report without also bringing up the fact they haven’t won a World Series since 1908—a mere 105 years ago and counting. The current iteration of the franchise is hoping their 2011 hire of wunderkind Theo Epstein as team president will help turn that around.

One of the things the new prez places an emphasis on is developing talent from within, so the team’s farm system has been a top priority since he assumed his role. There are many young players vying to earn the right to one day play in Wrigley Field, including right-handed pitcher Corbin Hoffner.

The big (6’5’, 235 pounds) hurler was a 14th-round selection out of St. Petersburg College in 2012. He only played one year of college ball, but it was a strong one, as he compiled a 2.52 ERA and had 73 strikeouts in 71 innings.

Now 20 years of age, Hoffner just finished his second season in the Chicago system. With an arsenal reported to include a low-90s fastball and a developing slider, he seems to have the makeup of an effective reliever—a role in which he has pitched almost exclusively as a pro.

He has made it as high as short-season Boise (this past season) and has pitched extremely well in his limited exposure. In a combined 23 games (one start) over his first two seasons, he has gone 2-1 with a 1.52 ERA and a save. He has also fanned 55 batters in 59.1 innings and is poised to start 2014 on a full-season roster.

I was able to catch up with the Cubs prospect last offseason. He graciously took the time to answer a few questions about his career. In addition to learning more about him, you can also follow him on Twitter to see where he takes his career in 2014 and beyond.

Corbin Hoffner Interview:

If you could sit down and pick the brain of any pitcher, current or former, who would that be and why?: Someone I would like to sit down with would probably be Roger Clemens because I love the way he went at hitters, and it would be neat to hear what he would say.

Leading up to the 2012 draft, what kind of contact and recruiting were you getting from different teams?: I got letters and calls from about 15 to 18 teams but talked to White Sox, Blue Jays and the Cubs in the days leading up to the draft.

Can you run through what draft day was like for you?: Draft day was very exciting. Having the great opportunity to play pro ball was a blessing.

What pitches do you throw and which one do you hope to improve the most?: I throw a fastball, slider and changeup. There is always room for improvement with them all.

What was one thing you were looking forward to the most about your first spring training?: Spring training is something I'm excited about to see how it is just to experience it.

How overwhelming were the first few days or weeks of your pro career and how did you handle that?: I did not know what to expect going out to Mesa, Arizona, but it was a great experience and I loved every moment of it and I can't wait to get started here soon. 

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Re-Examining an Interview with Branch Rickey

In 1955, Sports Illustrated’s Gerald Holland interviewed perhaps the most famous front office man in baseball history—Branch Rickey.

Although widely credited for integrating the majors by signing Jackie Robinson to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers, that shouldn’t define Rickey, as he had a long an diverse career in the sport.

It took him quite a while to find success. He began as a player, playing catcher and outfield in parts of four seasons with the St. Louis Browns and New York Yankees. However, hitting .239 with three home runs (although it was the Deadball Era) in 120 total games didn’t win him a permanent job, and he had to find another way to stay in the game.

He managed the Browns and St. Louis Cardinals for 10 seasons but finished with a sub-.500 record and only reached as high as a third place finish twice during that time.

Rickey found his greatest success in the front office. From 1919 to 1955 he served as the general manager and president of the Cardinals, Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates. In addition to his groundbreaking collaboration with Robinson, he was innovative throughout his career, as he championed things like scouting, the farm system development, and the use of batting helmets among others.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967—two years after he passed away at the age of 83. One of the greatest pioneers in the game’s history, it was a richly deserved honor.

The Holland interview is intriguing insight into the great executive. Reading the entire piece is well worth the time. However, for the sake of closer inspection, I am pulling out what I believe to be the most interesting portions of Rickey’s statements during the interview, and including my own thoughts in italics.

On his vow to never play baseball on Sundays: "Of my career in baseball, let us say first of all that there have been the appearances of hypocrisy. Here we have the Sunday school mollycoddle, apparently professing a sort of public virtue in refraining from playing or watching a game of baseball on Sunday. And yet at the same time he is not above accepting money from a till replenished by Sunday baseball.

A deeply personal thing. Something not to be exploited, not to be put forward protestingly at every whisper of criticism. No, a deeply personal thing. A man's promise, a promise to his mother. Not involving a condemnation of baseball on Sunday, nor of others who might desire to play it or watch it on Sunday. Simply one man's promise—and it might as well have been a promise not to attend the theater or band concerts in the park."

Rickey’s refusal to play ball on the Sabbath has always been one of those baseball maxims used as a general tool to describe him as a person. The clarification he provides about how he came about this standard, and how he very clearly refutes it being a morality issue, is refreshing to say the least.

On Some of His Contributions to Baseball: "More than a half-century spent in the game and now it is suggested that I give thought to some of the ideas and innovations with which I have been associated. The question arises, 'Which of these can be said to have contributed most to making baseball truly our national game?'

First, I should say, there was the mass production of ballplayers. The Cardinals were three years ahead of all the other clubs in establishing try-out camps. We looked at 4,000 boys a year. Then, of course, we had to have teams on which to place boys with varying degrees of ability and experience. That brought into being the farm system.

There were other ideas not ordinarily remembered. With the St. Louis Browns, under Mr. Hedges, we originated the idea of Ladies Day, a very important step forward. Probably no other innovation did so much to give baseball respectability, as well as thousands of new fans.”

The importance of the contributions of Rickey to the modern concept of minor league farm systems and advanced scouting cannot be overstated. Teams’ ability to plan and build for the future made it much easier to compete with organizations with deeper pockets and greater cache, like the New York Yankees.

The Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays and St. Louis Cardinals are the best current examples of the unlimited possibilities that can be reaped by embracing Rickey’s innovations. Really, it’s one of the greatest things a team can have—the ability to be successful on a self-sustainable level.

On His Role Bringing Jackie Robinson to the Majors: "Some honors have been tendered. Some honorary degrees offered because of my part in bringing Jackie Robinson into the major leagues.

No, no, no. I have declined them all. To accept honors, public applause for signing a superlative ballplayer to a contract? I would be ashamed!"

Regardless of how modest he was regarding being the front-office man to finally sign a black player; Rickey will always be congratulated for his role in integrating the game. He may have done nothing more than simply the “right thing,” but doing so in the staunchly segregated majors took a certain degree of chutzpah that only an executive of his reputation would have been able to pull off.

On The Process of Identifying Robinson as the First Player to Integrate the Majors: "I talked to sociologists and to Negro leaders. With their counsel, I worked out what I considered to be the six essential points to be considered.

Number one, the man we finally chose had to be right off the field…

Number two, he had to be right on the field. If he turned out to be a lemon, our efforts would fail for that reason alone.

Number three, the reaction of his own race had to be right.

Number four, the reaction of press and public had to be right.

Number five, we had to have a place to put him.

Number six, the reaction of his fellow players had to be right.

In Jackie Robinson, we found the man to take care of points one and two. He was eminently right off and on the field. We did not settle on Robinson until after we had invested $25,000 in scouting for a man whose name we did not then know.

Having found Robinson, we proceeded to point five. We had to have a place to put him. Luckily, in the Brooklyn organization, we had exactly the spot at Montreal where the racial issue would not be given undue emphasis.

To take care of point three, the reaction of Robinson's own race, I went again to the Negro leaders. I explained that in order to give this boy his chance, there must be no demonstrations in his behalf, no excursions from one city to another, no presentations or testimonials. He was to be left alone to do this thing without any more hazards than were already present. For two years the men I talked to respected the reasoning behind my requests. My admiration for these men is limitless. In the best possible way, they saw to it that Jackie Robinson had his chance to make it on his own.

Point four, the reaction of press and public, resolved itself in the course of things, and point six, the reaction of his fellow players, finally—if painfully—worked itself out."

Rickey’s detailing of the process he went through in identifying a course of action for Robinson is fascinating. In particular, his consultation of black community leaders is a part of the story rarely recounted in the re-tellings of the MLB integration narrative.

What was needed to make a success out of Robinson was an elaborate scheme of infinite layers, with Rickey thinking years into the future and of scenarios far from the playing field. Although Robinson had a tough go of it, the remarkable grace and poise he showed in his career demonstrates the great pay-off from the detailed planning.

On the Best Pitchers He Ever Saw: "The greatest pitchers I have ever seen were Christy Mathewson and Jerome “Dizzy” Dean.

Mathewson could throw every pitch in the book. But he was economical. If he saw that he could win a game with three kinds of pitches, he would use only three. Jerome, on the other hand, had a tendency to run in the direction of experimentation. Murry Dickson has a fine assortment of pitches, but he feels an obligation to run through his entire repertory in every game.

Yes, Murry is the sort of pitcher who will go along splendidly until the eighth inning and then apparently say to himself: 'Oh, dear me, I have forgotten to throw my half-speed ball!' And then and there he will throw it."

Two of Rickey’s choices are fairly easy picks.

Mathewson won 373 games and had a 2.13 ERA in a 17-year career. Although his teams only won one World Series, they made four appearances, and the right-hander became perhaps the greatest postseason pitcher of all-time, with a 0.97 ERA and four shutouts in 11 starts.

Because of injury, Dean had a small window of dominance, but when he was good, he was very good. Pitching for the Cardinals from 1932 through 1936, he won a total of 120 games and had 123 complete games while leading the National League in innings three times and strikeouts four times. Rickey, serving as the team’s president and general manager, would have had a front row seat to that video game-esque production.

The inclusion of Dickson is less obvious. With a career record of 172-181 with a 3.66 ERA in 18 major league seasons, the small right-hander was the picture of solid mediocrity. Interestingly, Rickey’s assertion that the pitcher had a tendency to meltdown in the eighth inning was surprisingly accurate, as his ERA jumped over half a run from the seventh to the eighth in his career, according to BaseballReference.com.

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Pitcher Rob Smorol Bringing Rutgers Tradition to the Boston Red Sox

The New England Patriots of the NFL have developed a recent reputation for their love of players from Rutgers University. It turns out their proclivity may have wafted over to their MLB counterparts, as the Boston Red Sox have acquired their own Scarlet Knight. He is left-handed pitcher Rob Smorol, and he is trying to make a name for himself in the organization’s vaunted farm system.

Smorol attended Arthur L. Johnson High School in New Jersey before moving on to Rutgers. He began as a reliever but became a dependable starter by his sophomore season. He won 22 games during his career and left as one of the best hurlers in school history.

He started his Red Sox career with the organization’s Gulf Coast League team, which according to a Rutgers press release, was managed by former Rutgers player and coach, Darren Fenster. In 13 games with them, and another with Single-A Greenville (all in relief), the southpaw combined to go 1-0 with a 3.57 ERA while striking out 14 batters in 17.2 innings.

Although he doesn’t have overpowering stuff, Smorol knows how to pitch. If he continues to produce results, his lack of a draft pedigree won’t matter. Boston is all about player development, and the young lefty is in a position to prove he can make his way to the majors.

Give Smorol a follow on Twitter and see what he had to say when we recently exchanged emails and I asked him about his career.

Rob Smorol Interview:

Who was your favorite player when you were growing up, and why?: My favorite player growing up was Ken Griffey Jr. Everything he did on a baseball field was so smooth and effortless. I really liked guys with some flash and looked great in their uniform, and Griffey was the epitome of both of these. I started wearing my hat backwards and wristbands just like him, and tried to model my game after him as well. 

How did you end up choosing to attend Rutgers?: I really wanted to attend and play at a Division-1 school that was not only prestigious academically, but also near my home. Rutgers was the perfect choice for me in that it is less than half hour from where I live, and really well known for its academics. My goal was always to play in a high-end conference, and Rutgers offered that in being in the Big East.

How did you first find out that the Red Sox were interested in you?: I did not know the Red Sox were interested in me until the day I was called to be signed. Ray Fagnant, the northeast scouting coordinator, called me and simply asked how I would like to be a Red Sox. He went on to say that Darren Fenster (rookie ball coach and an assistant at Rutgers for 2 years while I was there) had nothing but great things to say about me as a player, and that he though highly of me as well. There were a few teams that I really thought were going to sign me, never thinking it would be the Red Sox. 

How disappointed were you that you weren't drafted?: The draft was extremely disappointing for me. A couple teams had told me that I was a mid-to-later round draft pick on their draft boards, with many others showing interest. I was not only let down the last day of the draft, but completely shocked. I thought it really could have been the end of my baseball career. Fortunately, I was the lucky one in signing shortly thereafter, as a couple of my teammates at Rutgers that also received a lot of interest and were not drafted and never got picked up. 

What current pitcher would you say your style/type of skills is most similar to?: Mechanically, I really try to model myself after CJ Wilson and Scott Kazmir. I believe I throw pretty similar to both those guys, with our sizes being pretty similar as well. In terms of pitches thrown, I believe I'm more similar to Wilson, although he throws harder than I do.

What is one part of your game that you hope to improve on the most?: This offseason I'm really focusing on gaining some velocity. Most guys at the A-ball level throw harder than me, and I really think this is something I need to gain to move up in the organization. Overall you’re able get away with a lot more mistakes if you’re consistently in that 90s range.

What is life like in the Gulf Coast League?: Life in the Gulf Coast League is a lot different than the other affiliates. Usually everything is done in the morning, from conditioning to PFP (pitchers' fielding practice), to batting practice. Report time is 7:30 and the games are mostly played during the day, so you’re leaving the complex sometime around 4. Your day is mapped out for you and everyone is on an extremely strict schedule.

When I moved up to Greenville (A-ball) things were a lot different. Report times were much later and the games were played at night. Everything was a little more loose up there as well.

What do you believe you need to do to help yourself stand out from the guys who may be high draft picks or received big international bonuses?: I believe if you pitch well you’re going to stand out. Everyone gets a shot at this level, no matter where you were picked or how much you signed for. So in order for me to stand out and move up in the organization I have to really pitch well and do whatever is asked of me, no matter how big or small the role. The rest takes care of itself.

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