{"id":7062,"date":"2010-07-30T08:47:06","date_gmt":"2010-07-30T15:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/?p=7062"},"modified":"2010-07-30T08:47:06","modified_gmt":"2010-07-30T15:47:06","slug":"he-uses-%e2%80%98the-only-sane-part-of-my-body%e2%80%99-to-throw-batting-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/30\/he-uses-%e2%80%98the-only-sane-part-of-my-body%e2%80%99-to-throw-batting-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"He Uses \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThe Only Sane Part of My Body\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to Throw Batting Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

It often seems that when we dig deeper a story gets more interesting.\u00c2\u00a0 That certainly has been the case this summer in the process of trying to find the best possible information for this Notebook. \u00c2\u00a0So today we are going to veer largely away from the usual stories of pennant races and exceptional performances to offer details on other personalities within the Atlantic League<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 <\/strong>Here is a portion of one of the stories:<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>The All-Star Game <\/strong>marked the first time I saw Fox Beyer<\/strong> as he threw batting practice and later coached first base for the Freedom Division <\/strong>team.\u00c2\u00a0 Every pitch from behind the typical batting screen used to protect the pitcher since he is much closer than the game time distance of 60 feet, six inches seemed right on target.\u00c2\u00a0 It has been that way for the four seasons the 31-year-old Beyer has been throwing BP for the Somerset Patriots, <\/strong>and presumably also was similar when the pitches were for the Harrisburg Senators<\/strong>, the Class AA farm club of the Washington Nationals.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 <\/strong>The accuracy becomes more remarkable because Beyer was very premature at birth.\u00c2\u00a0 It was not at all certain he would make it, and at two he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.\u00c2\u00a0 Despite what some would consider huge obstacles, he went on to pitch in high school and serve as manager and later as student coach at South Carolina<\/strong>, and today, as he told me this week, have \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a really, really good life.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 That life includes teaching Spanish at Whippany Park (NJ) High School<\/strong>, where he also is the freshman baseball and girls junior varsity volleyball coach, enjoying the beach at his family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shore house in Ocean City <\/strong>and keeping up with some of the friends he has developed in baseball.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was given a very very good body,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Beyer professes, while admitting at the same time his batting practice arm (left arm) \u00e2\u20ac\u0153is the only sane part of my body\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and confirming he needs to do a lot of stretching, yoga, running and lifting to be able to do what he does during pre-game workouts with Somerset.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I learn more and more how grueling professional baseball can be,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he admits.<\/p>\n

* * * *WANT MORE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL COVERAGE?\u00c2\u00a0 Check out\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com<\/a> and www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

This \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcn That<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 No sooner does Somerset <\/strong>add some pitching depth when the Los Angeles Angels <\/strong>swoop in and buy the contract of closer Ryan Houston.<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0 The right-hander with tons of Triple-A experience but no time in the majors struck out 37 Atlantic League <\/strong>hitters in 28 innings while saving 18 Patriots <\/strong>wins and posting a 2-2 record and 4.18 ERA.\u00c2\u00a0 He will join Atlantic League alums Eric Junge (Lancaster, Bridgeport), Cory Aldridge (Newark) <\/strong>and Michael Ryan (Somerset)<\/strong> in Salt Lake City<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Onetime Atlantic League hurler Brendan Donnelly (Nashua)<\/strong> has been released by Pittsburgh<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Bob Zimmermann <\/strong>gave Newark <\/strong>a big lift in only his second start with the Bears <\/strong>Thursday when he retired the first 16 Lancaster <\/strong>hitters, including 10 on strikeouts.\u00c2\u00a0 The 6-foot-5 hurler, who was 7-1 with first-half champion York<\/strong> before joining the Bears <\/strong>(1-1), went seven innings in quieting the Freedom Division <\/strong>rival Barnstormers, <\/strong>6-1.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0(Subscriptions to the Atlantic League Notebook are available on a monthly or full season basis via\u00c2\u00a0 <\/em>www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com<\/em><\/a> or <\/em>www.WirzandAssociates.com<\/em><\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Bob Wirz also writes a weekly subscription column, the Independent Baseball Insider, which can be found via his blog, www.IndyBaseballChatter.com. The author <\/strong>has 16 years of major league baseball PR experience with Kansas City and as chief spokesman for two Commissioners, and lives in Stratford, CT.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It often seems that when we dig deeper a story gets more interesting.\u00c2\u00a0 That certainly has been the case this summer in the process of trying to find the best possible information for this Notebook. \u00c2\u00a0So today we are going to veer largely away from the usual stories of pennant races and exceptional performances to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":452,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6254,9],"tags":[857,9420,3989,4843,9415,9419,6079,4706,9421,2078,344,4036,6242,966,9417,6595,9418,9416,1152,9414],"class_list":["post-7062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atlantic-league-notebook","category-general","tag-batting-practice","tag-beyer","tag-cerebral-palsy","tag-class-aa","tag-freshman-baseball","tag-game-time","tag-harrisburg-senators","tag-left-arm","tag-ocean-city","tag-pennant-races","tag-pitches","tag-six-inches","tag-somerset-patriots","tag-star-game","tag-student-coach","tag-target","tag-teaching-spanish","tag-volleyball-coach","tag-washington-nationals","tag-whippany-park"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t