We just got back from this which was fun (and it worked out so both girls could come):

https://www.mlb.com/news/jacks...ood-visit-petco-park

So far the adjustment is going well. He's very mature about the baseball part and still an 18 year old with everything else. Examples: 1. He asked us to buy him a pan for their residential hotel room (dude, you have your own money...go to Home Goods and drop $19 on a pan); 2. he met Blake Snell this weekend and talked to him for 20 minutes...75% of which was about whatever video game they both play; and 3. He "forgot" to tell us his hand x-rays came back clean for almost a day...but he did tell his sister who also didn't think it was worth mentioning. 

He's missed 5 games after taking two 95 mph fastballs (the one to the hand is the one that had him out). He came back for one game on Monday and aggravated it throwing someone out trying to leg a single into a double so he didn't play on Tuesday. So far, after 21 games, his BA is .318 with an OBPS of .825. He's playing all his innings at center which he loves. He wants to cut down on strike outs and increase multi-base hits but otherwise he's doing well. They have two more weeks and then they have a week off before fall instructs start.

Sweet! Holy God Paula, He is bigger than ken now.

And I do understand the 18 deal. Oblivious doesn't begin to describe it.

He should be buying u pans.

@Good Knight also made no attempt to grab the bill at dinner. LOL

Kenny, at 6'5", is definitely the little Dad now. James's base seems to be getting stronger too (I posted a link with pix below). I'm really interested to see what/how they work on him in instructs. He's also stolen 8 bases so it is going to be interesting to see if they work on strength to increase power or balance it with speed.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTK93UZBsyw/

The rookie league is over and James is headed home for a few days before fall instructs. His final weekend: Turned 19. Hit another HR, grabbed a few more RBIs and got his OPS to 1.000. Not bad!

Impressive stuff.

@PTWood posted:

The rookie league is over and James is headed home for a few days before fall instructs. His final weekend is summarized . Turned 19. Hit another HR, grabbed a few more RBIs and got his OPS to 1.000. Not bad!

Nice, congrats. My guy is 1 day older, but a soph in college ;-).

This is a fantastic thread!  It is so nice to see good things happening to good people!

@nycdad posted:

Nice, congrats. My guy is 1 day older, but a soph in college ;-).

My guy is also 1 day older and a soph in college...... small world.  Sept 16th is the most common birthday in the US.

* oh and James numbers are sick

@Gunner Mack Jr. posted:

My guy is also 1 day older and a soph in college...... small world.  Sept 16th is the most common birthday in the US.

* oh and James numbers are sick

Is it? I know this changes, but for a while me and my ex-wife had the most and least common bdays.

Makes sense. He shares a birthday with my Mom. 😂

@Gunner Mack Jr. and @nycdad it’s crazy how each state has different age cut offs. For Maryland you have to be 5 by Sept 1 so the kid missed it by 16 days. We thought about petitioning him to start early but sitting still was not a thing in Sept of 2007! 😂

On September 26, I'll be ... older.  On September 27, my brother will ... be older.  One year and one day apart.  My parents were consistent.  LOL

Lots of holiday conceptions here. 

More conceiving holidays in the near future are certainly conceivable.

@smokeminside posted:

More conceiving holidays in the near future are certainly conceivable.

For some reason I am re-living this great movie in my head.

If he is home for a week, I hope you stocked the fridge. He is getting huge and still fast. Nice combo!

This just happened. Nice finish to the season. He got home yesterday. Went hitting with Dad today. Already destroyed his room. Also, love you guys but I have no desire to discuss conception in any way shape or form with you.

https://www.mlb.com/news/prosp...lb-pipeline-coverage

Here's the final Prospect Team of the Week

Wow! Just wow.

Thought I’d send a MiLB update. I just got back from picking the baby up at the airport. He was out in AZ for the first round of winter conditioning which was, in his words, surprisingly really good. They lifted/conditioned from 8-10 or 11 and then did baseball workouts (hitting, fielding,etc.). He said all of the international guys went home (except the Cubans who can’t go home) so it was Primarily US players as opposed to his Arizona League experience where at least half his teammates were native Spanish speakers. There were about 30 of them from all levels of the Padres minor league organization at the work outs.  There will most likely be another round in January. Over the three weeks out there, he put on 10 pounds, shaved off a body fat percentage and plans to get the percentage even lower now that he’s home with access to a full kitchen and can eat better. Not off to a good start as he ate all the leftovers in the fridge plus a smoothie when we got to the house from the airport (at 12:30am).

He asked to go to Dicks tomorrow to buy a football. His arm is one of his plus tools but they want him to throw a football to work on his release.

In talking to his friends with the Cubs, Angles and Mariners, each team does the winter very differently so his experience is not necessarily the standard as there is no standard.