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| Johnny Giavotella (File photo: Minda Haas / Royal Blues) |
Johnny Giavotella was seated at a table in the clubhouse, trying to eat a late dinner, but his phone wouldn’t stop buzzing. And he still had a goodbye or two he wanted to say.
The craziness started when manager Mike Jirschele called Giavotella into his office after the game.
“He called me in there and I kind of had some chills at first, I didn’t know what to expect,” Giavotella said. “He asked me if I wanted to work on some double plays tomorrow here at the field. And I was like, ‘Yeah, you know, whatever you want.’ And he said, ‘Or would you like to go to the big leagues?’
“I was taken aback by it. You know, it was a dream come true. I had to sit down just to gather it all in.”
Speaking of dreams, Giavotella, 24, was having a dream-like season in Omaha. He hit .338 in 110 games for the Chasers this season, amassing a league-leading 153 hits and collecting 34 doubles, nine home runs, 72 runs batted in and 67 runs scored. The 2011 Pacific Coast League All-Star starter was one of the hottest hitters in baseball over the months of June and July, batting .391 with 31 extra-base hits during the two-month stretch. He was honored as the PCL’s Player of the Month for June.
The franchise record for doubles in a season is 37, set by Steve Hammond in 1983, and Giavotella certainly would have broken that if he weren’t headed to Kansas City.
After telling me about how emotional his parents were after hearing the news, Jirschele and Giavotella spotted each other in the hallway just outside the players’ locker room.
“Hey, let me go tell Jirsch goodbye real quick,” Giavotella said.
“Sure.”
Giavotella thanked him for everything he’s done and Jirschele, ever the manager, told Giavotella to keep working hard and to stay within himself up there. Then they embraced. You got the feeling that they both knew Giavotella wouldn’t be coming back to Omaha again any time soon.
He still needed to pack up his locker and, undoubtedly, return a few phone calls and texts, but he made time to answer a few more questions as Thursday night turned into Friday morning.
“Fans have been wanting to see called up for quite some time now,” I said. “How great is it to know that you already have a fanbase in the big leagues?”
“Any time fans want you up there, you know, it’s definitely a good feeling and I hope they welcome me with open arms,” Giavotella said. “I’m going to do my best to get some wins in Kansas City.”
If there is knock against Giavotella’s game, it is his defense. It’s not that he commits a lot of errors. Instead, he’ll bobble the occasional double play ball, or fail to field a ball cleanly on his backhand side up the middle. He said Jirschele and his staff have been working with him to help him improve.
“They’ve been meeting me out there every day, working on things I need to work on, whether it’s double plays or backhands – little nuances of the game that can only make me better. They’ve definitely helped me out along the way and I think I’m ready to go.”
“I was taken aback by it. You know, it was a dream come true. I had to sit down just to gather it all in.”
Speaking of dreams, Giavotella, 24, was having a dream-like season in Omaha. He hit .338 in 110 games for the Chasers this season, amassing a league-leading 153 hits and collecting 34 doubles, nine home runs, 72 runs batted in and 67 runs scored. The 2011 Pacific Coast League All-Star starter was one of the hottest hitters in baseball over the months of June and July, batting .391 with 31 extra-base hits during the two-month stretch. He was honored as the PCL’s Player of the Month for June.
The franchise record for doubles in a season is 37, set by Steve Hammond in 1983, and Giavotella certainly would have broken that if he weren’t headed to Kansas City.
After telling me about how emotional his parents were after hearing the news, Jirschele and Giavotella spotted each other in the hallway just outside the players’ locker room.
“Hey, let me go tell Jirsch goodbye real quick,” Giavotella said.
“Sure.”
Giavotella thanked him for everything he’s done and Jirschele, ever the manager, told Giavotella to keep working hard and to stay within himself up there. Then they embraced. You got the feeling that they both knew Giavotella wouldn’t be coming back to Omaha again any time soon.
He still needed to pack up his locker and, undoubtedly, return a few phone calls and texts, but he made time to answer a few more questions as Thursday night turned into Friday morning.
“Fans have been wanting to see called up for quite some time now,” I said. “How great is it to know that you already have a fanbase in the big leagues?”
“Any time fans want you up there, you know, it’s definitely a good feeling and I hope they welcome me with open arms,” Giavotella said. “I’m going to do my best to get some wins in Kansas City.”
If there is knock against Giavotella’s game, it is his defense. It’s not that he commits a lot of errors. Instead, he’ll bobble the occasional double play ball, or fail to field a ball cleanly on his backhand side up the middle. He said Jirschele and his staff have been working with him to help him improve.
“They’ve been meeting me out there every day, working on things I need to work on, whether it’s double plays or backhands – little nuances of the game that can only make me better. They’ve definitely helped me out along the way and I think I’m ready to go.”
