In years past when January would roll around, I would get all excited that baseball season was only a month away. Even while living in Brooklyn, NY and the snow all around us; all I had on my mind was playing baseball again, watching it and rooting the Mets onto victory. The thought of spring training games starting up again, was enough to melt the snow away and get my mind focused on a new season.
Now living in the Southwest part of the United States for the past seven years and experiencing hot winters, it hasn’t been the same as waiting on the Boys of Summer to start training again; one because it doesn’t snow in Florida, but the same feeling of anxiousness has still been a part of the wait. But now there is a new sense of anxiousness and excitement, one that I never felt before or never thought I would feel.
I am actually excited about the start of the 2014 Mets Minor League season. I mean, never before did I ever fathom that I would be concerned about what team the prospects will end up playing on, from Rookie ball all the way up to AAA. I started following their progress while writing for MMN this past summer, and now I am as interested in each of their developments as I am in what will happen with the big club and if the moves are enough to make the Mets something special again.
This past season had me looking forward to another year of baseball especially rooting for and following the future stars of the organization with a chance to share in the excitement that their fans experience in each city that the prospects call home. From Kingsport, up to Brooklyn, then back down to Savannah, south to St. Lucie, back north to Binghamton and then basically across the country to Las Vegas. Rooting with a country full of Mets fans as the prospects get ready to start another season full of many promises and hopefully many new achievements.
All the teams played a great 2013 season with all but two teams making the playoffs, while the remaining four ended the season in record fashion and one, the Savannah Sand Gnats, won their league championship. A great overall season for the minor league squads. There is something great to look forward to in 2014.
The 2014 season will not only be about the Mets, but for the first time in my baseball life, it will be about the Minors as well. I can not contain the excitement, and any true Mets fan that has had the opportunity to follow the whole organization, understands how I feel.
So bring on Spring Training, get the Boys of Summer back out there and preparing for a new season. Follow the younger Mets as they reach their goals and dreams and make 2014 a great baseball season. At the end of it all, even if the Mets don’t make the playoffs again, one thing is for sure, the prospects give us all hope for a better tomorrow.
(Photo Credit: Noah Murray/The Star Ledger & MiLB.com)
Before finding metsmerizedonline a couple of years ago (and now metsminors) I really didn’t know much about the minor league system. It’s great to get such great coverage from all of you guys, it has really expanded my notion of “the Mets” to include all the prospects trying to work their way to the pros. It also makes the off-season a lot more interesting to know who the prospects are, how they may fit into the MLB club in the future, and how that affects off-season moves and decisions. And of course the draft is much more interesting now as well.
Also, David, I’m excited about your joining MMO/MMN and I noticed that you did some spanish-language interviews this past year. There was a bit of a gap there previously, and I think most english-speaking-only fans were limited to looking at stats for the spanish-speaking-only prospects, without knowing anything personal about them. It definitely makes me feel more of a connection to the player when I can hear an interview. So thanks for that!
If I could make one suggestion for MMO/MMN, it would be to add a link at the top of the site to make it easier to jump between the two..
tc575
Thank you for being a loyal follower of our websites.
My grandparents were born in Puerto Rico but my parents and my siblings and I were all born in NY. My wife was born in Colombia and I have friends from different Latin countries, so it has always intrigued me to understand the journey’s that the Hisapnic players take to reach the majors. If you ever watch the movie “Sugar” it gives a great depiction of what some players go through and I guess that movie also intrigued me even more to find out. Having had the opportunity to interview a lot of the Hispanic ball players has really helped me to not only follow their journey’s but understand them better. It has been a great experience. I am very happy that our readers have also enjoyed the stories. And you are right it gives us all a better understanding of who the player is.
Also thank you for the tip about the links for both sites, we actually were just doing some new year cleaning of the sites and have now posted links to each page to make it easier for our loyal readers to go back and forth.
Thank you again for your comments, for following our pages and we look forward to a great 2014 of Mets Baseball.