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		<title>The Unusual Journey of Blue Jays Prospect Chris Rowley</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/06/23/the-unusual-journey-of-blue-jays-prospect-chris-rowley/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 23 Jun 2017 11:04:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tammy Rainey]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chris Rowley]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[milb]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=12024</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sports are in a sense a collection of narratives. Some more pedestrian and typical, some more unusual and compelling. The are often narratives attached to the results on the field—Bautista&#8217;s bat flip homer being an obvious example—but as often they are born in the synergy between the players life off the field and their sports [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Sports are in a sense a collection of narratives. Some more pedestrian and typical, some more unusual and compelling. The are often narratives attached to the results on the field—Bautista&#8217;s bat flip homer being an obvious example—but as often they are born in the synergy between the players life off the field and their sports accomplishments.</p>
<p>The athlete that overcomes an impoverished background, or comes back from a bout of serious illness often becomes the center of emotional attachment for fans that goes beyond actual on-field accomplishments, but it&#8217;s natural that when the backstory and the accomplishment are both impressive, the power of the story can be magnified. Whether the story has a tragic element, or a triumphant one, we want our sports heroes to be real people with real stories and not just the pawns on a board, as if playing out the results of a statistical simulation.</p>
<p>The Toronto Blue Jays, like most teams, have their share of such stories. I&#8217;m here to tell you about a Blue Jays story that you may not have heard.</p>
<p>I had an opportunity to speak with unlikely Jays prospect RHP Chris Rowley recently about how he has arrived at the point of being taken seriously as a future major leaguer. Rowley was a big deal pitcher for the U.S. Army Academy at West Point but his story doesn&#8217;t begin there. He tells me:</p>
<p><em>&#8220;When I was in high school, I was a good arm. A low ERA, a ton of wins, and a bunch of strikeouts (I think I led the state of Georgia in strikeouts my senior year), but I was 85-88. So I was not only far from a draft prospect, but largely unwanted by major college programs. At the time I committed to Army, I only had two scholarship offers. One of those was to Mercer College in Georgia, where I&#8217;m from, and that was with the caveat that I would be a bottom bullpen guy, most likely in long relief. The other was to Army, who offered me the opportunity to compete for a weekend rotation spot immediately.&#8221; </em></p>
<p>Rowley, who models his game after Greg Maddux (because why wouldn&#8217;t you?) blossomed into a quality college pitcher and started showing up on various leader boards as a junior. He eventually projected in the middle rounds, but on top of his pedestrian 89-91 MPH fastball he had another strike against him: a five year obligation to serve as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. To be sure, some well regarded athletes manage to apply for and obtain waivers, typically after two years of service (one recent high draft pick was waived before he ever had to serve at all) but there&#8217;s no guarantee. In fact, there are three other players who are military academy graduates still listed on Blue Jays minor league rosters who have not been released to play: LHP Luke Gilligan who was drafted last year out of Navy,  CF Alex Azor taken in 2012, and catcher Garrett Custons taken in 2013, the same year Rowley graduated.</p>
<p>Draft day came and went and no one called Rowley&#8217;s name, but almost immediately the Blue Jays called and ask whether he&#8217;d be willing to sign and head out to the Gulf Coast league during the leave time he had before his first Army assignment. After the initial hesitation that was born out of not having been drafted,  he jumped at the opportunity. The team, of course, saw a chance to add a quality organization arm to eat innings in the Florida heat while the real prospects were nurtured. But Rowley went out and put on a show anyway. In nine appearances covering 32.1 innings pitched, he struck out 39 and walked three, overpowering the usually much younger hitters. Had he been a typical prospect, he would likely have visited Vancouver before the summer was out. In mid-August a trainer drove him to the airport in Tampa and his baseball career was on hold indefinitely.</p>
<p>Flash forward a bit over two years to the fall of 2015 and Chris Rowley, who&#8217;s application for waiver had been approved and was soon to be out of the Army, was granted permission to return to Dunedin for instructs. Rowley reconnected with some coaches, made fresh connections with new staff and gained an invaluable bit of coaching to refine his techniques after he&#8217;d basically self-coached himself through the previous two years. The velocity, however, was still there and he was confident he had plenty left to offer.</p>
<p>Confidence is, in a sense, Rowley&#8217;s carrying tool. All athletes have to have a full measure of confidence to succeed, but Rowley was one of those for whom it seemed to be the force which animated him. At every level he was told directly or by implication, &#8220;you&#8217;re not good enough to play here.&#8221; But he dominated in high school, dealt with the lack of recruiters upon graduation, and became an All-American. During that turn in the GCL, Jays&#8217; scout Paul Quantrill described him as &#8220;100% bullpen, no pro value.&#8221; Perhaps no one at all beside Rowley was looking ahead at 2016 and thinking of him as anything but an organizational filler.</p>
<p>He broke camp in 2016 in the Dunedin Blue Jays bullpen. He enjoyed moderate success pitching almost exclusively out of the bullpen at the beginning of the year, notably sporting a 25:3 K:BB ratio when he was pressed into service in the rotation. By July 7 he&#8217;d had nine consecutive turns and was sporting a 2.89 ERA in 84 total IP when he hit a mini-wall. I asked him about fatigue playing a role:</p>
<p><em>&#8220;You hit it right on the money about my first full year last year, I had it a little rough last year in mid-season. I learned a lot about managing workload, the severity of 140-162 games on your body, etc. It was definitely attributed to fatigue in my opinion. I was working myself to death. Obviously so far this year it has been better. A lot of that is due to mentoring by people who have been in the game a lot longer than I have: other players and staff included. It boded well for me to listen to them.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>He got knocked around in three of his next four starts and moved back to the bullpen where he finished strong giving up three earned runs in 18+ IP. This year, in New Hampshire, he&#8217;s stepped up his game again. Pitching in the shadow of the Blue Jays two highest ranked pitching prospects, and a former first round choice, all he did was dominate. Among Eastern League pitchers with at least 50 IP he . . .</p>
<ul>
<li>Leads all pitchers in BB/9</li>
<li>Leads all pitchers in K:BB</li>
<li>Has the lowest WHIP</li>
<li>Has the second lowest BABiP</li>
<li>Has the highest LOB% (a ridiculous 88.8%)</li>
<li>Has the highest swinging strike % (a laughable 4.1% higher than his closest competitor)</li>
<li>Has the second lowest in BAA (that first round pick is highest in the league)</li>
<li>Has the second lowest ERA (first rounder is highest in the league)</li>
<li>Has the second lowest in walk % (those two highly ranked guys are 2nd and 3rd for highest walk %)</li>
</ul>
<p>Yes, he&#8217;s a 26 year old racking up those stats at AA, but he&#8217;s also a guy who has just over 200 professional IP, for contrast that&#8217;s less than half the amount logged by teammate Conner Greene who&#8217;s only 22. According to the scouting report published by Doug Fox on his blog at <a href="https://clutchlings.blogspot.com/2017/05/a-look-at-chris-rowley.html">Clutchlings</a>, he is a three pitch guy: a sinker with good natural sink sitting in the low 90&#8217;s to go with a slider and change-up. Based on this I asked Rowley about his approach and how he used his repertoire:</p>
<p><em>&#8220;I pitch with 3 pitches, and my game plan revolves around being able to throw all 3 in any count and having them move different ways, with the hitter ideally not knowing what pitch I threw until the ball is about 3/4 of the way to the plate, at which point it&#8217;s too late. As a starter I obviously try to throw more sinkers because I&#8217;m working in a different role, but I found success as well with a lower FB rate. So I think it&#8217;s all game dependent. As a bullpen guy, I come into the game ready to throw all three, again game situation depending. &#8220;</em></p>
<p>In five starts for NH, filling in for the injured Francisco Rios, Rowley posted a 0.92 ERA in 29.1 IP, walking only four against 24 strikeouts, which fueled my imagination about the team committed to him as a staring pitcher until he showed at any point he was overmatched in the role. Alas, when Rios returned he was shifted back to the &#8216;pen (despite rotation mate Shane Dawson logging his second consecutive sucky season on the circuit) and so I asked Rowley about how he saw his role going forward:</p>
<p><em>&#8220;I think in an ideal world, I&#8217;m a starter. I think my stuff fits that role more. That being said, I don&#8217;t really care what I do. I&#8217;m here to get better, help the team win and make it to Toronto, where I&#8217;d like to help them win as well. I truthfully don&#8217;t care. They are both fun, each in their own separate ways, and I like to show versatility and hopefully bring value that way. </em></p>
<p><em>I throw pretty consistently whether in relief or starting, in terms of velocity. I am definitely working to get that up, and am seeing baby steps there. I have been up to 93 this year, which was a first, but I still feel comfortable pitching at 88-90 if my velo is down any particular day. </em></p>
<p><em>As far as promotions or roles going forward, I truthfully don&#8217;t know . . . I have always been a guy that will have to pitch his way to the big leagues, so I just try to control what I do on the mound and in the clubhouse, and trust the people making the decisions know what they&#8217;re doing, because I really think they do.  . . I would love to compete for a spot in the rotation. I&#8217;d also love to pitch in the big leagues out of the pen. I don&#8217;t know what they see for me going forward, but I know that I have shown some versatility and I hope that plays in the long run.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>Days after this exchange, word came down that Rowley had been promoted—hopefully for good—to AAA Buffalo. His first appearance there, in relief after the night&#8217;s starter was driven from the game after only 2.1 IP, resulted in one earned run over 4.2 IP. The Jays have had recent success with internally developed relief pitchers like hard-throwing Ryan Tepera and control artist Danny Barnes. Do not be even a little shocked if Rowley achieves at least that sort of success, if not more so. I&#8217;m not a scout, or a team coach or exec (obviously) but from my desk chair hundreds of miles away, I can see Rowley at least getting the respect that Casey Lawrence got this past spring, and with much better results. Remember his name.</p>
<p><em>Special thanks to Doug Fox for his input on Rowley, to Fisher-Cats broadcaster Tyler Zickel for arranging my exchange with Chris Rowley and of course to the man himself for taking time to answer my questions</em></p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>How MiLB Teams Deal With Public Relations Disasters</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/06/07/how-milb-teams-deal-with-public-relations-disasters/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/06/07/how-milb-teams-deal-with-public-relations-disasters/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Jun 2017 10:08:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jason Takefman]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[milb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ogden Raptors]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=11461</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By now, you&#8217;ve probably heard of the Ogden Raptors&#8217; recent PR disaster, in which they attempted to host an Hourglass Appreciation Night. The tagline for the event guaranteed, &#8220;gorgeous women whose curves rival those of any stud pitching prospect!&#8221; They wanted to push the envelope and appear edgy, but went about it in the wrong way and got [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>By now, you&#8217;ve probably heard of the Ogden Raptors&#8217; recent <a href="http://www.news.com.au/sport/american-sports/ogden-raptors-criticised-for-sexist-promotion/news-story/16555cad3dcf0d838bb8e62ec59365e6">PR disaster</a>, in which they attempted to host an Hourglass Appreciation Night. The tagline for the event guaranteed, &#8220;gorgeous women whose curves rival those of any stud pitching prospect!&#8221; They wanted to push the envelope and appear edgy, but went about it in the wrong way and got burned. Big time.</p>
<p>As I&#8217;ve said before, in general, it&#8217;s tough to discredit other teams’ efforts because we don’t know their market demands, intricacies, trends, and demographics. That said, there are certain guidelines teams should have. Think of it as a microcosm to the Ten Commandments being applicable to everybody, no matter your background. With social media, mistakes spread like wild fire, so getting in front of a situation as early as possible makes it that much easier to correct.</p>
<p>The Raptor&#8217;s particular PR disaster is easy to have foreseen and could have been avoided with some decent sensibility. That&#8217;s not always the case, however, as many PR disasters don&#8217;t seem like disasters at all the information goes public. That&#8217;s also why it&#8217;s important to get out ahead of the issue. These are the stakeholders involved and how they react to these situations.</p>
<h3></h3>
<h3>The Stakeholders</h3>
<h4></h4>
<h4>Team Management</h4>
<p>When any PR issue happens, sponsors and season ticket holders – people and companies who invest time and money into the team – are usually disappointed and question their commitment. This is human nature.</p>
<p>The team&#8217;s staff will ultimately suffer because they will look silly in the community, and take away reasons for people to believe in them. Think of it as a relationship. If one person in the relationship does something uncalled for, it is bound to cause some links in the chain to unravel.</p>
<p>As well, those involved in with marketing, operations, or general management may forever be associated with this disaster, and it could follow them around the community.</p>
<h4>The MLB Affiliate</h4>
<p>While this wasn’t their idea, nor did they probably know about it, their name will still be mentioned alongside the disaster. In the case of the Ogden Raptors, it was the Dodgers, one of MLB&#8217;s tent pole franchises, who got pulled in to the mud.</p>
<p>We once had a situation like this in my intern year. The GM wanted to do a fundraiser for Breast Cancer on a Friday and Prostate Cancer on a Sunday, and call it <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=TNA&amp;page=2" target="_blank">TNA weekend</a>.</p>
<p>Upon hearing this idea and name, the MLB GM promptly told his owner, who then called the MiLB owner, and said if this promotion happens with that name, he would permanently take his players out of the city.</p>
<p>Verbatim. That’s what he said. Needless to say, that plan was cancelled.</p>
<h4>MiLB Ownership</h4>
<p>They have to hear it from their friends and suffer the community embarrassment. For all the good owners have done in the community, people they have employed, charitable funds they have raised, this is the lead story.</p>
<p>While they may not have had anything to do with it, they will bear the financial brunt should people not want to support them anymore.</p>
<p>Fans are rightfully sensitive around these things, and they might not want to bring their family and kids to the game anymore if it isn’t the right environment.</p>
<h4>Sponsors and Season Ticket Holders</h4>
<p>These investors put their time, money, and brand with the team. They literally say, &#8220;you make us look good, so we will spend money and time with you.&#8221; They have a lot to lose because they will look silly giving tickets away to valued clients, staff and people close to their business, and have their name on billboards.</p>
<p>While this is in no way a comparison, a strong example of sponsor reaction can be seen during the Penn State scandal in 2011. Brands couldn’t have their name associated with the school anymore, so many <a href="http://adage.com/article/news/penn-state-sponsors-back-wake-scandal/230967/">immediately removed their affiliation.</a> This dispersion literally happened in one day. Compare the two pictures below and think of the last time you saw a team backdrop without a corporate logo.</p>
<div id="attachment_11462" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/Graham_Spanier_wide-fc14c4c3c35e5afbce784ad2016f7db6b316a551-s400-c85.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-11462" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/Graham_Spanier_wide-fc14c4c3c35e5afbce784ad2016f7db6b316a551-s400-c85-300x168.jpg" alt="Pre-2011 Scandal. Notice the Sherwin-Williams logo." width="300" height="168" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Pre-2011 Scandal. Notice the Sherwin-Williams logo.</p></div>
<div id="attachment_11463" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/10paterno4-jumbo.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-11463" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/10paterno4-jumbo-300x186.jpg" alt="Post 2011 Scandal. Zero 3rd party logo or affiliation." width="300" height="186" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Post 2011 Scandal. Zero 3rd party logo or affiliation.</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>How Disasters Happen</h3>
<h4>New, Aggressive Agency</h4>
<p>This happens all the time with businesses. They hire a new agency to help them with marketing and their image. This agency likes to push the envelope, make a splash, and rationalize their existence. It’s the white-collar version of an MLB GM coming in and ‘putting his stamp on the team’ with a big trade or firing.</p>
<p>The major disconnect here is that the the agency won’t suffer the same PR shame as the team; their name isn’t as prominent. This agency might have run successful campaigns before in different industries and be emboldened to be edgy.</p>
<p>A few years ago, a friend’s team hired a new agency to spruce up their messaging. He stressed to the agency that he wanted a family friendly message, highlighting kids giveaways and special kids pricing.</p>
<p>The agency came back with messaging that had sexual connotation, focused on beer, and the ballpark being a ‘night out for the boys’. I&#8217;d never heard him this mad. When he told the agency twice (!) that this wasn’t the proper messaging, the agency replied and said that, &#8220;contrary to what you think, we know what we are doing.&#8221;</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, the agency was promptly fired.</p>
<h4>Bad Advice</h4>
<p>My favourite gate giveaway was recommended from a season ticket holder, who pulled me aside during a game to tell me. There are no shortages of ideas, mostly good ones, that come from fans. They are heart of the team, feel like they own a piece of it, and genuinely want to help. While the following expression is in a totally different context, it&#8217;s highly applicable. An NFL coach once said that, &#8220;<a href="http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/a_coach_who_listens_to_fans">a coach who listens to fans ends up sitting with them</a>.&#8221;</p>
<p>Not all ideas make holistic business sense. Fans don’t know all sides of the industry and don’t think about all the various touch points of an organization. So while the idea might make sense in theory and discussion, the negatives might vastly outweigh the positives and <a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/28266/best-and-worst-minor-league-stadium-promotions">cause more harm overall than good</a></p>
<h4>Tyrannical Management</h4>
<p>Scandals happen when decisions are unilaterally made without consulting other departments. This can occur when the GM or President simply dictates what the team is to do.</p>
<p>As Bill Simmons says, teams need a VP of Common Sense. Any millennial with their ear to the ground on social media or an experienced employee who&#8217;s seen edgy campaigns blow up in their face knows the end result of risky messaging. We saw this recently with the controversial and ultimately <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/apr/05/pepsi-kendall-jenner-pepsi-apology-ad-protest" target="_blank">embarrassing Pepsi commercial</a>. Outsiders could have told you what would happen once it was launched, yet it was still produced.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong>How to Follow Up the Disaster</strong></h3>
<p>The Raptors did a great job of <a href="https://www.milb.com/raptors/news/statement-from-ogden-raptors-president-dave-baggott/c-234715076/t-196096844">diffusing their disaster</a>, and articulated their recovery steps very well. They know they messed up, made it seem like the idea wasn’t supposed to go public, and their President let it be known that they were sorry.</p>
<p>Obviously, they had creative and a logo done, so their story might not add up entirely, but in any event, their alibi is rational, and when told many times over in the next few days, will make the story fizzle out (whether or it should or not).</p>
<p>In these situations, there are two options: fall on your sword and admit your mistake or double down and put up excuses. The former is predominantly the way to go, because admitting a mistake deflates most animosity. This goes for internal and external discussions.</p>
<p>The staff needs to see genuine remorse from their leader for putting them in a bad situation. Doubling down prolongs the situation and allows media and fans to continue the conversation with second and third follow-up questions. It also makes the team look stubborn, tone deaf, and makes it seem like they&#8217;re not remorseful, giving sponsors and fans reason to think they will embarrass them again.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s no perfect handbook that will tell you how to avoid these inevitable challenges, but with the right steps and infrastructure, PR disasters can be marginalized and diffused in timely fashion.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Where Do MiLB Players Live During The Season?</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/05/17/where-do-milb-players-live-during-the-season/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/05/17/where-do-milb-players-live-during-the-season/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 May 2017 11:11:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jason Takefman]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[milb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Minor League Baseball]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=10519</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Player housing is an important part of a minor league team’s operation, but it doesn’t affect fans, it’s not a direct team revenue generator, and it doesn’t get much publicity. As such, it’s an under appreciated aspect of the minor league General Manager’s job to the public. However, when assessing MiLB affiliate relationships, MLB clubs [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Player housing is an important part of a minor league team’s operation, but it doesn’t affect fans, it’s not a direct team revenue generator, and it doesn’t get much publicity. As such, it’s an under appreciated aspect of the minor league General Manager’s job to the public.</p>
<p>However, when assessing MiLB affiliate relationships, MLB clubs actually prioritize player living conditions right alongside the gym, clubhouse, field conditions, and in some cases proximity to the parent club.</p>
<p>Logically, an MLB team benefits on the field and financially with affordable, team-controlled players. Thus, it makes sense to ensure those potential players live in good conditions, are well rested, fed, and comfortable. Combine that with the current information surge on how nutrition and rest adds or detracts from athletic performance, and those aspects matter now more then ever.</p>
<h2>Types of Housing</h2>
<h3>The Apartment Complex</h3>
<p>The majority of long season teams have a deal with a local affordable apartment complex. Players rent out space for their entire season (six months) and live four players to a large unit. When a player gets promoted or demoted, his replacement moves right in and begins paying rent. In return for this cost control and simplicity, the complex gets tickets and some sponsorship to promote itself as ‘the place where the players live’. This is the easier of the two types of housing.</p>
<h3>The Housing Family</h3>
<p>A housing family is one that invites a player into their home to live with them during the season. Most often, these families love baseball, have kids in Little League, and have close friends who host players and have heard them raving about the experience for years.</p>
<p>The house needs to have a spare room, be close to the ballpark, have a ton of food at all times, and be a household conducive to a minor league player’s inconsistent schedule. The latter is key because home games end late and the team bus arrives home from road trips in the middle of the night. Also, the player might like going out at night.</p>
<p>That lifestyle isn’t for all families.</p>
<p>The family receives season tickets and a few hundred dollars per month to cover player food costs (turns out young athletes eat a lot). This isn’t something people do for the money, to meet a professional athlete, or to fill a spare bedroom in the summer. There has to be an emotional buy-in, commitment, and understanding of the players’ needs and schedule.</p>
<p>With that said, the family can set house rules that the player needs to abide by, like calling if they aren’t coming home, or being quiet when the family is sleeping. Sometimes these agreements go awry as families treat the minor leaguer like a traditional tenant who’s always around, and count on them to buy groceries, do laundry and other household chores.</p>
<p>This never works as the players are rarely home. Those who take in a player are signing up to young athletes who don’t have the time, money, or maturity to live on their own without some help.</p>
<h4>The Support System</h4>
<p>A few days before the season, when the roster is released, the team has to decide which players are to stay with which families. It’s crucial to gather as much information as possible about both parties; a bad match doesn’t help anybody. A few things to consider are whether or not the player likes to go out at night, whether they like kids or pets, and whether they’re ok being alone versus with a roommate.</p>
<p>From the side of the families, it’s crucial that they understand how the process will work and determine whether or not a player fits in with their family dynamic. Usually the best housing families come from friends of existing ones, so they are familiar with the program and have someone to turn to for questions. This aspect is important; the initial family housing experience is often nerve wracking. Remember, they’re letting a complete stranger live in their house!</p>
<p>When I used to interview a prospective housing family in the offseason, I’d connect with an experience housing family both to vet the new prospect and act as a mentor. This peer mentorship is vital to the program and gives the new families a lifeline to ease a lot of their anxiety.</p>
<h4>The Emotional Connection</h4>
<p>Being a housing family is thankless, yet rewarding. They feed young athletes who are always hungry, pick them up at odd hours, deal with their highs and lows, and say goodbye if they get promoted, cut or demoted.</p>
<p>They cheer them on at every game.</p>
<p>They are effectively adding a family member.</p>
<p>For many of the players living with a housing family represents the first time they’ve lived away from home. So, as they’re learning about what it’s like to survive out in the world, their new family is the go to source for support.</p>
<p>A very emotional moment during the season is when the player&#8217;s actual family visits. They are so grateful and indebted to the housing family looking after their child.</p>
<p>This creates a life long friendship and many families still keep in touch with their players years after they’ve lived together.</p>
<p>I know of one family whose son was named the godfather of a player’s child, six years after their season together.</p>
<h4>The Potential Issues</h4>
<p>Susan Sarandon from Bull Durham is in the back of a lot of housing families&#8217; minds. It&#8217;s a sensitive topic, when a player gets into a &#8216;relationship&#8217; with someone in the family.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a difficult situation to monitor, but there&#8217;s generally no issues; neither the player nor the family wants a bad reputation or wants to cause problems. However, they do arise. I once encountered a situation where a housing family with young kids clearly laid out the house rules to the player, which included no girls in the house. When the player broke that rule, he was promptly kicked out.</p>
<p>We had to find a new house for the player, which was difficult because nobody wanted to take him afterwards and justifiably so. This ties into to the aforementioned pressure on the team to find the right match between family and player. It&#8217;s an inexact science that the general manager has to make the best of.</p>
<h4>Good Housing is Important to Everyone</h4>
<p>Player safety is paramount. Knowing your players are with great families makes a team’s GM sleep well at night.</p>
<p>With that said, I mentioned above that there are no direct sales benefits to running a housing program. There is, however, an indirect sales benefit as housing families serve as ambassadors for a team, and hosting a professional baseball player is an incredible and unique conversation starter.</p>
<p>Stories are shared at work, amongst friends, and at the little league field, subtly creating a secondary sales team depicting its fun memories and involvement. To honour the families, teams will often host them in a suite a few times a year and hold a pre-game on-field ceremony. This word of mouth marketing further shapes its community brand.</p>
<p>When a housing program is done properly with the right families and team support, it could have a tremendous impact on the players, organization and community. That’s why great housing families are worth their weight in gold for both the players and team.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: © Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Why Smart Teams&#8217; Stadiums are Never Empty</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/04/20/why-smart-teams-stadiums-are-never-empty/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/04/20/why-smart-teams-stadiums-are-never-empty/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 Apr 2017 11:06:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jason Takefman]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[milb]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=10226</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For teams, Game 1 of the season sells itself. What keeps an MiLB GM awake at night is selling tickets to Every. Other. Game. Of. The. Year. As we discussed last time, smart minor league teams have fun and family friendly ways to sell tickets for the entire season. Sometimes, however, teams run into problems [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For teams, Game 1 of the season sells itself. What keeps an MiLB GM awake at night is selling tickets to Every. Other. Game. Of. The. Year.</p>
<p>As we discussed last time, <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/04/05/how-your-favourite-minor-league-team-is-preparing-for-2017-giveaways/">smart minor league teams have fun and family friendly ways to sell tickets for the entire season</a>. Sometimes, however, teams run into problems trying to execute those plans, with the usual reasons being lack of promotions, bad weather, poor sales staff, and an absence of media attention.</p>
<p>When that happens, the team has a lot to lose. They need to hit totals in tickets, merchandise, concessions, and parking, and appease sponsors who&#8217;ve been promised, &#8220;another big year.&#8221; To top it off, ownership is likely breathing down the GM’s neck because they&#8217;re losing money and their empty stadium is making them look bad in front of their friends and community.</p>
<p>The team needs to hit that revenue quota and get people to attend their games. Somehow.</p>
<p>In order to do that, they begin what is referred to as Papering The House. Plainly, this means giving away tickets for free to get fans in the stands.</p>
<h4>Pros &amp; Cons</h4>
<p>Papering is risky: giving away tickets is counterintuitive to creating a sustainable business model of building demand, product integrity, and value. Also, teams work hard during the winter to sell tickets and sponsorship. Giving away tickets discredits that.</p>
<p>However, empty seats happen. Sometimes it&#8217;s nobody’s fault. If a team is smart enough to properly sell tickets, they are smart enough to plan for those few unpopular games.</p>
<p>Sadly, the inverse is also true. Giving away tickets in hopes people will show up could lead to a devastating circle that further deteriorates their business and market credibility.</p>
<p>There are three very short-term, positive impacts that occur when the house is papered.</p>
<p>1) Fans tend to buy merchandise, parking, and food, leading to revenue for the team that otherwise wouldn&#8217;t exist. There&#8217;s even an industry expression for it: an empty seat never bought a hot dog and a soda.</p>
<p>2) Those fans in attendance notice the stands are full, falsely assuring themselves that their ticket is more valuable then it’s actually worth.</p>
<p>3) The team can publicly inflate attendance for slower nights. If a stadium has a capacity of 8,500 seats, the team will announce the crowd as 9,500. This is so that when attendance is 2,500, they could announce a crowd of 4,000 so the stadium looks half full. A team will take any edge to publicly increase attendance over the course of 75 games.</p>
<p>While short term, shortsighted gains might be the Band-Aid a team needs to fix an immediate problem, those gains pale in comparison to the long-term damage they usually have on the business.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>How Smart Teams Paper The House</h4>
<p>As mentioned above, smart teams are very strategic and deliberate on how they distribute free tickets: they get ahead of the situation and plan well in advance.</p>
<p>In my experience, the very best way to do this is to involve the team’s large sponsors and donate tickets to local charities.</p>
<p>For example, in their contract, a car sponsor will pay for 250 tickets and hot dogs to donate to the Children’s Hospital for their staff, families, and volunteers.</p>
<p>This can be set up for a few games a season, months in advance, strategically on games that have a hard time drawing well. Families are home during the week, and traditionally weeknights at the ballpark are the toughest to sell. Perfect match.</p>
<p>Multiply that strategy by a few sponsors and a team could move a few thousand tickets per year. The company makes a donation and strengthens its community ties while the team insulates itself by pre-selling to large groups. Win-Win.</p>
<p>Another way is to identify local charities that aren’t as popular as the mainstream ones. Since they fly a little under the radar, they are often forgotten.</p>
<p>Bringing the mascot to surprise an underprivileged school or summer camp is always fun. Once the kids realize they are going to a game that summer, they literally cry tears of joy. A lot of those kids have it hard at home, so enjoying a baseball game with their friends will create memories they will cherish for the rest of their lives.</p>
<p>Sure, it&#8217;s tough when the place isn’t sold out every night, but with a little planning, a team could easily turn a negative situation into a positive one.</p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: © Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>The Power of Promotional Giveaways</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/04/05/how-your-favourite-minor-league-team-is-preparing-for-2017-giveaways/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/04/05/how-your-favourite-minor-league-team-is-preparing-for-2017-giveaways/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 05 Apr 2017 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jason Takefman]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Giveaways]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[milb]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=10045</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Opening Day is upon us! That means it&#8217;s time to sell tickets. As we uncovered last time, this can&#8217;t be accomplished simply through fan loyalty to the club; people need a reason to come to the park. The easiest way: promotions. The best promotion in the history of the world is Fireworks. Everybody loves them. Whether it’s [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Opening Day is upon us! That means it&#8217;s time to sell tickets. As we uncovered <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/03/20/the-panic-going-on-in-your-favourite-minor-league-stadium-right-now/">last time</a>, this can&#8217;t be accomplished simply through <strong><span style="font-weight: 400">fan loyalty to the club; people need a reason to come to the park. The easiest way: promotions.</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">The best promotion in the history of the world is Fireworks. Everybody loves them. Whether it’s at the lake, Fair, Halloween in a shady part of town, or on the driveway after a few drinks, no matter where they are, people stop and stare at Fireworks. It’s a team&#8217;s fastball, bread and butter, one-timer, and every other similar form of wordplay.</span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-weight: 400">Unfortunately, you can’t do fireworks every game. Obviously there is risk of overkill, but they’re expensive, and there are risks like fire/burn issues, bad fireworks companies (nobody goes home happy with a bad light show), games going late and passing curfews, or game ending too quickly while it&#8217;s still sunny. </span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-weight: 400">So traditionally, teams only do Fireworks on Opening Night, Memorial Day (or Victoria Day), July 4th (or Canada Day) and a few Fridays or Saturdays. That means we still need to sell tickets to another 70 (or 35 if you’re short season) games. This is where giveaways come in. </span></strong></p>
<p>There are three reasons for this:</p>
<ol>
<li>Giveaways encourage fans to buy tickets when they otherwise wouldn’t. It increases ticket sales. It’s literally science, <a href="http://thesportjournal.org/article/the-effects-of-promotions-on-attendance-in-professional-baseball/">proven over time</a>. Even other industries have begun doing <a href="http://business.time.com/2013/06/24/5-ways-companies-win-by-giving-stuff-away/">this</a>. Selling tickets is the primary reason for doing a gate giveaway. There are many other good reasons to do a giveaway, but they are all distantly behind this one, and they also stem from it. For example, if the item isn’t cool, why would anybody put their name on it?<img class=" size-medium wp-image-10053 alignright" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/Peedybhead-141x300.jpg" alt="Peedybhead" width="141" height="300" /></li>
<li>Hopefully, the team has the giveaway sponsored. Simply put, that means a sponsor pays to have their logo on the giveaway. If so, the team gains revenue, or at least covers the cost of the giveaway, and has a partner to help promote it. That sponsor is probably part of a larger season long package, meaning more revenue for the team. The sponsor will also want to keep about 30 of these to give to staff, clients and anybody and everybody to show it off. “Look how fun we are, look what we do in the community.&#8221; Companies that have a bobblehead as a talking point and a gift just <em>look </em>cool and seem to <em>get it</em>. I know many companies who do these and love to tell the world. It’s the business version of your friend who does Crossfit and shows off their forearms, except much less annoying, and bobbleheads are cooler than awkwardly veiny arms.</li>
<li>The team goes around to radio and TV hosts giving them the item in exchange for free publicity. This gives them content for their shows and social media, which puts the team in their good books.</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>What to Give Away</h3>
<p>Most good teams have three to four large, multi-year partners that do two to three giveaways a year. If those companies are smart, they’ll do a giveaway specifically for kids 10 and under. Giveaways for kids are the gold standard; even better than bobbleheads. While bobbleheads are sexier, have resale value, appeal to all ages, can be part of a collection, and can be amplified on social media, giveaways for kids are the gift that keeps on giving.</p>
<p>Fr<img class=" size-medium wp-image-10057 alignright" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/Back_to_School_Night_Lunch_Box_Giveaway_n4wlkgei-300x169.jpg" alt="Back_to_School_Night_Lunch_Box_Giveaway_n4wlkgei" width="300" height="169" />om the team side, you get kids wearing your hat or using your lunch box for years, providing built in, passive advertising. That game also creates a fun memory and a keepsake fans take into adulthood. The team then gets families buying tickets (kids can’t come to the game alone, right?) they&#8217;ll probably return for other giveaways. This makes the ballpark a ‘family activity’. Companies kill for that legitimate warmth and fuzziness.</p>
<p>Perhaps most importantly, that item will be in the kid’s room for years, maybe generations. Don’t believe me? Look around your family/sports room right now. Look at how many mementos and memories you have from your childhood. It could be t-shirts, hats, baseball cards, tickets, or simply a picture. Those memories are cherished, and form a solid foundation for how young fans and families become lifelong fans of that team.</p>
<h3><strong>The Giveaway Timeline</strong></h3>
<p>There’s a lot behind the curtain when planning a giveaway, but these are the three most important factors that need to be balanced.</p>
<h4>The Idea</h4>
<p>Just like Jerry Seinfeld says, &#8220;anyone can take a reservation.&#8221; Well anyone can also have an idea. Saw something at another park? Awesome! You know a guy who makes shirts cheap from China? S<span style="text-decoration: line-through">o does everybody</span> Terrific!</p>
<p>It&#8217;s important that the idea for a giveaway is capable of selling tickets: fans need to want it. Once you&#8217;ve got that, you need to balance finding a sponsor for the giveaway item, ordering it, and getting it shipped and delivered on time.</p>
<p>There will always be something new and cool (remember <a href="https://lyss412.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/beaniebabies.gif">Beanie Babies</a>?!), but most teams all do the same giveaway items with little variation. If it ain’t broke don&#8217;t fix it.</p>
<h4>The Sponsor</h4>
<p>Well run teams have multi-year deals, so once the game schedule comes out in the Fall, they present their ideas to sponsors with plenty of time to spare.</p>
<p>If not, teams would need to find a sponsor to agree to do it in time. This is where teams run into trouble. They will internally commit to doing a backpack giveaway, as an example, but then may be unable to find a sponsor by March. They&#8217;ll have to ditch the backup and turn to Plan B. Plan B is never as cool and sometimes ends up being nothing at all.</p>
<p>This is why teams wait as long as possible to release their promotional schedule. A lot could can change from the original idea. Now, being able to go to a prospective sponsor and say, &#8220;this is what we’re doing this year,&#8221; is a fun call to make. But you can’t waste time; there has to be genuine interest with a legitimate item.</p>
<h4>The Promotional Company</h4>
<p>Ok, this is the fun part. Firstly, there are tons of companies that do this. If you&#8217;re a minor league GM, you probably know about five people off the top of your head that make this stuff. That isn’t the difficult part. The difficult part is finding a reputable company who makes a high quality item and <em><strong>delivers it on time</strong></em><span style="text-decoration: underline">.</span> Shirts are easy, but complicated items like backpacks and bobbleheads take time, weigh a lot, and come in a lot of boxes. And even when you think you get it all correct, you <a href="http://brobible.com/sports/article/pittsburgh-penguins-sindey-crosby-program-error/" target="_blank">can</a> <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/miguel-cabrera-bobblehead-botched/story?id=25004697" target="_blank">run</a> in to <a href="http://media.weei.com/a/116284534/did-the-red-sox-botch-the-botched-ortiz-bobblehead.htm" target="_blank">a lot</a> of <a href="http://www.12up.com/posts/3113986-the-wizards-brutally-botched-this-john-wall-bobblehead" target="_blank">issues</a>.</p>
<p>You could find that reputable promotion company at the Winter Meetings in early December. While the MLB GMs and free agents rightly garner all the attention, the Winter Meetings also hosts one of the country’s largest trade shows, where companies set up booths with their samples and capabilities on full display.</p>
<p>Now, these companies send out an email the week of the Winter Meetings, telling all teams that if you sign with them you&#8217;ll get 10% off, or 2000 items for the price of 1600.</p>
<p>Those companies want guaranteed business because competition is stiff, it is in the team’s best interest to be organized by early December. However, it&#8217;s also tough for a team to commit to a giveaway without a sponsor because they will need one when the item is created, which is latest early March. Balance.</p>
<p>One time a team that a friend of mine ran ordered all their giveaways from a small, local company who promised great prices. The team wanted to support a season ticket holder. That company couldn’t handle the quantities and timelines. Two of the giveaways never showed up, another had the logo messed up.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s why the right promotional company is worth its weight in gold. No surprises.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em> Lead Photo: © Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Blue Jays Sign Brett Oberholtzer for Depth</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/12/07/blue-jays-sign-brett-oberholtzer-for-depth/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/12/07/blue-jays-sign-brett-oberholtzer-for-depth/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Dec 2016 00:24:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Greg Wisniewski]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bjue Jays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Depth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[milb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[winter meetings]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=8269</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Blue Jays have added a depth arm. Per John Heyman: Jays sign rhp brett oberholtzer &#8212; Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 7, 2016 How important is this move? Well, Heyman is notorious for his dislike of the &#8216;shift&#8217; key, making him the ee cummings of twitter. He normally makes an exception for player names though. [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Blue Jays have added a depth arm. Per John Heyman:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jays sign rhp brett oberholtzer</p>
<p>&mdash; Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/806603992692379649">December 7, 2016</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>How important is this move? Well, Heyman is notorious for his dislike of the &#8216;shift&#8217; key, making him the ee cummings of twitter. He normally makes an exception for player names though. Our man Brett doesn&#8217;t even get that consideration. He also has to change which arm he throws with.</p>
<p>He&#8217;s been brought on board via a minor league deal. It&#8217;s clear the Jays aren&#8217;t looking for Brett Oberholzter to make any great impact in the MLB bullpen, but the AAA team needs arms too. He has a WHIP of 1.50 over the last two seasons in he majors, and an ERA of 5.89. However, he&#8217;s 27 and left handed, so he&#8217;ll be able to find a job somewhere until just prior to the heat death of the universe.</p>
<p>Welcome to the roster Mr. Oberholtzer, we&#8217;ll certainly see you in a Bisons&#8217; cap and maybe in a Jays one.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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