I didn't know where to post this.
After deciding not to resign with the Tigers, due to an over abundance of arms, as many of you know son went to play winter ball in PR. It was an awesome experience, he did excellent, but also looking back I think it was a taxing one as well. When reading the ASMI report posted here regarding TJS, without a doubt pitchers need to rest in the off season. He went to two tryouts when he got back, two with the Red Sox, but I think that at that point the wind just went out of his sails. BTW, at those tryouts also attended by Jeff Kramer, they got to get in a quick hello, funny where the game takes you and the people you meet. Rob and I were hoping that JK could catch to DK!
Not going into detail, but it has taken all of this time to get back to what we shall say is normal. After a tweak throwing a pen, the 2 MRIs showed what might be a possible tumor in the ribcage, so that had to be looked into, and then it threw him off another 2 weeks. They will do a reevaluation in Oct, but he was cleared as far as that went. He was sort of lucky that he had some stuff on the table before this all happened, knows many players on just about any professional teams.
Sooo, we come to today, May 30, DK is on a plane and will be joining the Long Island Ducks in the Atlantic League.
I am not a big fan of indy ball, I think the leagues serve their purpose and that purpose is different for everyone. The pay is..well, there isn't much there, to be honest. Fortunately son has some money put away that helps to support him, he knows the odds are more against him than for him.
How the Atlantic League works may be a bit different than other leagues. This league is made up of all former milb and ML players. I hear its not as easy as one may think. FWIW, don't sign if you think that paid scouts are just sitting there waiting to find you. ML teams alert the league if they need someone who is putting up good numbers, lets say they need a first baseman who can hit the ball, the team is given names that fit that criteria and then they give permission for them to come speak/watch or have a tryout with them, as the League owns the player. The player is than sold to the ML team. Sons friend just was signed back to a team that released him, so anything is possible. In the next few weeks teams will be releasing players as new players drafted will sign, although this doesn't affect this league as much, in other leagues those guys will be out looking to get into the indy leagues.
Pitchers have to be careful, my son has a friend playing for one of the teams that says they do run relievers out there too often, this is not good. So a lot of thought was put into this and where to go and where not to go.
Thank you all who have asked about son, I was sending private pms but then I realized that I had more to write, so here ya go, thanks for being a fan!
