I\’ve a long-running fascination with Magglio Ordonez.
As observed in his player comment in BP \’04, Magglio\’s consistent excellence since 1999 has been uncanny. As early as it is this season, he\’s once again putting up standard-issue Magglio rate stats: .291/.356/.582. But what engages me beyond his recent history is the seeming discontinuity between Ordonez\’s minor league and major league numbers. Check out these career rate stats:
Minors: .271/.328/.416
Majors: .307/.365/.528
He was, in some senses, a \”Hidden Hitter\”–one whose statistical bestowals on the farm didn\’t portend the greatness to come. Or did they?
Are the Kids Alright?: Rays fans may know that B.J. Upton and Delmon Young ranked eighth and 31st, respectively, on this year\\\’s Top 50 Prospects List. Rays fans may also be wondering how they\\\’re faring so far. As always, we\\\’re built to please…
Upton is toiling for Double-A-Montgomery of the Southern League, and thus far the shortstop is hitting like a house afire. In 70 plate appearances, Upton has drawn nine walks and put up a line of .344/.429/.525. Sample-size concerns abound, but what\\\’s encouraging, even in the early going, is that Upton is showing power. Prior to this season, he\\\’d drawn walks and hit for a career average of .297, but the second overall pick of the 2002 draft had yet to show the power stroke he\\\’d displayed as a prep in Virginia. He\\\’s still appears to be terribly error-prone (nine in 13 games thus far in 2004 after recording 56 last season), but on balance he\\\’s faring very well for 19-year-old in the high minors.
As for Young, he\\\’s off to a less encouraging start in the Sally League: .237/.247/.355 in 77 plate appearances. Those numbers are ugly, but it\\\’s early. Still, Young\\\’s drawn only a single walk against 76 at-bats, which is troubling to say the least. The thing to keep in mind is that, other than a strong showing in the Arizona Fall League, this is the first professional stop for Young, and the Sally League is a fairly high starting point for a high-school trained ballplayer. It\\\’s far, far too early to begin casting aspersions at his promise.
This is the second installment of my six-part survey of how much fans can actually expect to pay for tickets to major league games. I choose a mid-week game, then shop for tickets on MLB.com a few weeks in advance. First I look for a block of casual fan seats: ideally, four behind the plate and towards the front of the upper deck. These are usually, but not always, cheaper than the average price ticket used by Team Marketing Report to calculate the Fan Cost Index.
Then I repeat the process three more times. Twice I look for the best available seats, as determined by the MLB.com ticket computer–once for a family of four and once for a single fan. The seats available for the family of four serve as a rough proxy for the club’s season-ticket and advance sales, while the best single-seat option shows where a fan who doesn’t care about the cost can sit without paying scalpers’ prices. Finally, I look for the cheapest seats to find the lowest a fan using MLB.com could pay to get into the ballpark.
To complete the survey, I check the club Web sites for promotions that could reduce the cost of my hypothetical fan’s attendance, scan the club’s promotional schedule for unusual events, and put it all together in the form below…