So on Tuesday I made the 2 hour trip up to Scottsdale Stadium to see the Peoria Saguaros (aka Jason Heyward, Freddie Freeman, Mike Minor, Craig Kimbrel and Co.) take on the Scottsdale Scorpions. I was hoping to get to the ballpark early to get some autographs and to watch BP, but the horrible Phoenix traffic caused me to get there just minutes before the start. It was a BEAUTIFUL 76 degrees at opening pitch and it was a fantastic night for a ballgame. Here is a shot of the scoreboard (yeah, I think that video screen could give the one at the Ted a serious run for it's money!) and the stadium, which was decent for an AFL and Spring Training facility.

     Now onto the players: Only 2 of the 7 Braves players on the Peoria roster played (Heyward and Minor), which was a huge bummer. I've seen Minor pitch before, but it was the first time I've ever seen Sir Jason Heyward live. Oh man, he was impressive. He hit third in the lineup and was roaming RF.

Here are a few shots:

And a video of the double he smashed down the 1st base line (Sorry about it being diagonal; no clue why it recorded like that):

The ball was absolutely smashed down the 1st base line. Jason probably could've legged it out for a triple (which i'll have more on in a minute),  but he lost his footing while rounding 1B and it slowed him down a bit.

Here's a summary of his ABs from the night:

1st inning: After working the count, he hit a soft chopper to the SS on Scottsdale. The SS, Hector Gomez from the Rockies organization, made a nice play on the ball but threw wide to the 1B, Brandon Allen of the DBacks, and Heyward just avoided the tag. He was really busting it down the line and made a nice manuver to sidestep the bag and then touch 1st.  Jason then stole 2nd base on a 1-1 count, and REALLY impressed me with his long strides and speed. He got a great jump off the pitcher and made a nice side-swipe tag to beat the throw from Buster Posey, who was the catcher for the Scorpions. The Jay Hey kid than came around easily after a rocket hit to LF by the cleanup hitter.

3rd inning: As seen in the video above, Jason absolutely crushed the ball. No need to say more.

5th inning: How the hell was this ruled a 2B? With a runnner on 3B, Jason grounded a ball right in-between the 1B and 2nd baseman. The ball went just past the diving 1B's glove and was deflected by the 2nd basemen and then rolled into shallow RF. Donald Brown, the RF for the Scorpions and Phillies, wasn't backing up the play which allowed Jason to get to 2nd without a throw. I'm not sure how you would score it, but I probably wouldn't give him a double. Oh well...

7th inning: The Saguaros were rallying in the 7th and guess who came to the plate with the bases loaded? Jason Heyward did. On a 1-1 pitch, he hit a dinky ground ball to the 2nd basemen and was out at 1st by a mile. Kind of a bummer. I was hoping for the first Braves grand slam of the 2009 season!

9th inning: Jason hit the ball well, but hit it right where the LF was standing. He didn't show too much patience, but to his credit, was running down the line hard even though it was bound to be caught. Yunel Escobar should take notice!

Okay, so that was Heyward's night. Here are a few (not so great) pics of Mike Minor, followed by some video shot by yours truly:

I posted this picture for a reason: I noticed that Mike stepped off and took quite a few walks around the mound in his 2 innings of work tonight. I'm not sure if he was having problems getting together with his catcher, having problems with the mound, or if that's just how he pitches, but I found it interesting. And here's some video.

From the windup:

And from the stretch:

Here was his line:  2IP 1H 1R 2BB 0K

     Overall, I don't think this was Mike's finest start in his short career with the Braves. He was having problems locating his pitches besides his fastball and struggled to put hitters away. It seemed like he would get 2 strikes on almost every hitter, but would then surrender a hit or fall apart and walk the guy. One good thing was his pickoff move. In the 2 moves he made, they were both very quick and nearly had the runner both times. I wish I could've gotten it on video, but he was done by the 3rd inning.

     Here are a few other pics from the trip. Just a few of the guys in the dugout:

One of the 2 pitching coaches for the Saguaros: Jim Czajkowski

Jeff Lyman

Freddie Freeman and (the not so tall) Brandon Hicks

     3 other things about my trip: As I was walking into the stadium, reliever Lee Hyde was signing some last minute atuographs. I had him sign my scorecard and was a really nice and cool guy. I wonder if he has a future in Atlanta.  Craig Kimbrel is tiny. He might be 5'8'', but that's probably being generous. I'll probably go again in the next month or so, and I definately wanna see him pitch. Finally, Freddie Freeman is without a doubt the team clown and will be for years to come. He was all over the dugout tonight and seemed to be cracking up or was playing a joke on someone every time I looked up.

     So there it was. Outside of some moron that sat next to me who kept screaming, "All the players do is sign for the f*cking kids! I stood there for 5 minutes and Jason Heyward ignored me and just signed for the f*cking kids!", it was a great trip. Sorry if the pictures weren't that great, but hopefully they're good enough. Go Braves and go Peoria Saguaros!