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| The Parker Family |
Over the past 15 years, the Royals organization hasn’t used Omaha as a proving ground for prospects, opting instead to use it as a graveyard where 30-something-year-old players’ careers come to die – a fact that Parker, who blogs about the Royals at Royally Speaking, is well aware of.
“I was just talking to my wife and she said, ‘How come we’ve never done this before?’” Parker said. “I said, ‘Well, coming to Omaha to watch guys who play in the minors their entire careers – it didn’t really interest me.’ Now it does and we’ll probably make this a yearly thing.”
Hardcore Royals fans have been interested in Mike Moustakas ever since he was selected in the first round of the 2007 draft. He tore up minor league pitching at Double-A NW Arkansas this season (.347 AVG, 21 HR, 76 RBI in 66 games) and that earned him a promotion to Omaha recently. But Moustakas isn’t the only exciting prospect Omaha has to offer. Jordan Parraz, David Lough, Jarrod Dyson, Lucas May, Federico Castaneda, Louis Coleman, Tim Collins and others are also giving fans of the organization something to cheer about.
Of course fans are hoping that the core group of players in Omaha and the lower levels of the organization will be reminiscent of the prospects that game up together through that same system in the mid-70s and early 80s that eventually lead to winning baseball in Kansas City.
Parker grew up watching Kansas City play during their glory days. He became a fan while watching Royals games with his father during the mid-70s. Early on, Parker was drawn to a shortstop named Freddie Patek.
“I was really small as a kid, so watching him – here he is playing at an All-Star level – I just related. When I played little league, I played shortstop and so I just kind of related to him.”
Last night, it was Parker’s turn to watch some baseball with his own kids – Ari, 14, Jeff, 11, and Zak, 8. And it was a good night to bring kids to the ballpark because it was Star Wars night in addition to being Fireworks Friday.
Unfortunately, the Royals ended up being blown out by the Portland Beavers, 13-6. But, blowouts happen.
Today, the Parkers plan to spend some time at the zoo before heading back to St. Joseph. Next season, they will have even more to look forward when they make their annual visit because they’ll have a chance to see the team play in the new ballpark in Sarpy County.
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A few notes about the game last night:
Relief pitcher Tim Collins, who the Royals recently acquired in a trade with Atlanta, was outstanding in his Rosenblatt Stadium debut, tossing two innings, giving up just one hit and no runs. He has a unique delivery style – one that Minda Haas aptly described as a “half-tornado delivery” and an explosive curve ball. You can view him in action in one of the videos below against Portland slugger Wily Mo Pena.
The game got so out of hand last night that Omaha manager Mike Jirschele brought in first basemen/designated hitter Scott Thorman to pitch the ninth inning. This was Thorman’s second appearance on the mound this season. He fared much better this time. Using his knuckeball, he struck out Portland shortstop Sean Kazmar and he got Pena to ground into a double play (see the video of that play as well).
