\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 One of the charms of spring training that builds so much momentum for a baseball season is the great writing that emerges, and the memorable stories those in the baseball-writing business dig up.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Washington Post <\/em>writer Dave Sheinin <\/strong>brought to the surface the fact Brian Daubach<\/strong>, who managed in the Can-Am League <\/strong>at Nashua, NH <\/strong>and last season at Pittsfield, MA<\/strong>, very likely is going to have the much heralded Bryce Harper <\/strong>on his roster when he starts managing the Washington Nationals\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0low Class A team in Hagerstown, MD <\/strong>next month.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Harper could not be more highly regarded in that the Nationals gave him an all-time position player record of $9.9 million when they tabbed him as the No. 1 selection in last summer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s draft after he had left high school two years early after being selected Baseball America\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <\/em>High School Player of the Year as a sophomore.\u00c2\u00a0 Harper entered Southern Nevada Junior College <\/strong>where he hit .417 with 23 homers in only 180 at-bats, reached base .509 per cent of the time and stole 16 bases.\u00c2\u00a0 Formerly a catcher, he has started his first pro season as a rightfielder in Washington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s major league camp, and has continued to swing a solid bat, collecting five hits in 14 at-bats (.357) with two doubles and three RBI.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Sheinin, with concurrence from Nationals Farm Director Doug Harris<\/strong>, went to great length to point out how valuable Daubach could be in teaching the 18-year-old Harper the ways of the game since Daubach had to scratch for everything he accomplished before finally putting together a decent major league career which included hitting 84 home runs for Boston.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 <\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He was released, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcgranted\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 free agency or otherwise trash-heaped no fewer than eight times\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, the writer pointed out, during nearly nine minor league seasons and was condemned as a replacement player in 1994-95, which led to him being denied membership in the strong player\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s union.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I like the fact that he was in the Can-Am League because he had to do a little bit of everything,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Harris told The Post <\/em>author.\u00c2\u00a0 The 39-year-old Daubach said his work in Pittsfield included selling \u00e2\u20ac\u0153tickets, sponsorships, signage.\u00c2\u00a0 Whatever we could sell.\u00c2\u00a0 I got pretty good at it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Harris said he also\u00c2\u00a0 likes \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the fact he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been in the media, because that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another aspect of his experience he can share with his players.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0* * * *<\/p>\n www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com<\/a> ADDED TO www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n FOR ADDITIONAL INDEPENDENT BASEBALL COVERAGE?<\/strong><\/p>\n * * * *<\/p>\n Former Atlantic Leaguer Wielding Torrid Bat<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Most every spring training seems to produce at least one sizzling hot former Independent player, sometimes when least expected.\u00c2\u00a0 Chris Coste <\/strong>has had a turn.\u00c2\u00a0 Last season it was Jon Weber<\/strong>, who was the Yankees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/strong>Rookie of the Year, and did everything but land on the major league roster.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 It is pretty clear who this spring\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s star is.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 It is onetime New York Yankees <\/strong>prospect Erick Almonte<\/strong>, a .302 hitter with 77 RBI for the Long Island (NY) Ducks<\/strong> in the Atlantic League <\/strong>in 2006 well after his career with the Bronx Bombers <\/strong>faded out.\u00c2\u00a0 This former shortstop, now 33, has positioned himself to possibly grab the final bench spot with Milwaukee <\/strong>by becoming a hit machine.\u00c2\u00a0 Almonte has 10 hits in the last four games, and he was at bat only once on one occasion and twice in Wednesday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s game when his eighth inning homer and ninth inning RBI-double helped the Brewers <\/strong>outscore Arizona, <\/strong>11-8.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Almonte leads the team with his .429 average (12-for-28), hits, RBI (8), total bases (23), on-base percentage (.448) and slugging (.821).<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a professional hitter that gives you that good at-bat,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Manager Ron Roenicke<\/strong> told MLB.com. <\/em>\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our minor league guys like him.\u00c2\u00a0 We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got that spot to fill (on the bench), and it needs to be a right-handed hitter.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a chance to be that guy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0Wily Mo Pena Also Heating Up<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The Atlantic League <\/strong>has what is believed to be a record 21 players\u00e2\u20ac\u201dprobably also an all-time high for any Independent league\u00e2\u20ac\u201dgetting time in major league camps, and another of those swinging the bat well is first baseman-outfielder Wily Mo Pena<\/strong>, who spent much of last summer at Bridgeport, CT.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 <\/strong>Out of the majors since 2008 even though he has 77 big-league homers in his career, Pena is hitting .364 (8-for-22) with two home runs for Arizona.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0(This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes year round on Independent Baseball.\u00c2\u00a0 Fans may subscribe at <\/em><\/a>www.WirzandAssociates.com<\/em><\/a>, enjoy his blogs, <\/em>www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/em><\/a>, or comment to <\/em>RWirz@aol.com<\/em><\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 The author <\/strong>has 16 years of major league baseball public relations experience with Kansas City and as spokesman for two Commissioners and lives in Stratford, CT.)<\/em><\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 One of the charms of spring training that builds so much momentum for a baseball season is the great writing that emerges, and the memorable stories those in the baseball-writing business dig up.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Washington Post writer Dave Sheinin brought to the surface the fact Brian Daubach, who managed in the Can-Am League at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":452,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4746,78],"tags":[462,514,9396,542,13468,3420,5878,13471,500,1013,496,9556,816,13469,13470,13472,85,13473,1152,7849],"class_list":["post-12637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-indy-baseball-insider","category-minors","tag-baseball-america","tag-baseball-season","tag-brian-daubach","tag-can-am-league","tag-doug-harris","tag-eight-times","tag-farm-director","tag-hagerstown-md","tag-homers","tag-league-career","tag-league-seasons","tag-nashua-nh","tag-position-player","tag-s-high-school","tag-s-union","tag-southern-nevada","tag-spring-training","tag-time-position","tag-washington-nationals","tag-washington-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}