This blog entry comes from Comstock Park, Michigan, where the Midwest League’s West Michigan Whitecaps (Tigers) are hosting the Ft. Wayne Wizards (Padres). Yesterday found me a few hours north in Midland, where I had an opportunity to talk to Brad Golder, the radio play-by-play voice of the Great Lakes Loons (Dodgers). Golder, who previously worked as a producer for the Atlanta Braves radio network and as the play-by-play voice of the Nashville Sounds, shared his thoughts on Loons baseball and some of the best players in the Midwest League.
David Laurila: Before we talk about some of the best of the Midwest League, what is the history of the Great Lakes Loons?
Brad Golder: We’re affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers and are a non-profit organization. We’re in Midland, Michigan, which is the home of the Dow Chemical Company and also Dow-Corning – two Fortune 500 companies. This team, in 2006, operated as the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays, in Battle Creek, Michigan. A group of regional community leaders here, led by Bill Stavropoulos, who was the former CEO of Dow, decided they wanted to bring minor league baseball to the area. He led a group of investors that were predominantly non-profit groups and foundations in the area, and he donated a million dollars of his own from his William Stavropoulos Foundation. That was in addition to the Dow Chemical Foundation, Dow-Corning Foundation, and several others in the area to buy the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays. Ground was broken on April 13, 2006, and on April 13, 2007 we were playing baseball here at Dow Diamond. The stadium was built for 33 million dollars, zero of which was passed on to the taxpayers; it was completely privately funded.
DL: Who is the best player wearing a Great Lakes Loons uniform right now?
BG: I think that Andrew Lambo, hands down, is the best prospect, and the best player, on this team. He’s a hitter who can go to all fields with power, especially gap-doubles type power. He’s also a real competitor. For some players there’s an intangible you see when you’re with them on a day-to-day basis, and with Andrew that’s a swagger and confidence. He’s an above-average defender in left; he gets good jumps on the ball, despite the fact that this is his first full year playing left field. He’s probably a better defensive first baseman, but we have hardly seen him there, because with James Loney at first for the Dodgers, I think they see the future for Lambo as a left fielder. And I think he’ll be well above adequate there, but his strength is hitting. He’s a left-handed hitter who hits lefties better than righties, and he can go to all fields. He’s the guy you want at the plate late, when the game is on the line, because he’s far and away this team’s best hitter.
DL: Who else stands out?
BG: The first name that comes to mind is Bryan Morris, who was a supplemental first rounder in 2006, which was the draft that got the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw. Morris is coming off of Tommy John, and at one point this year he suffered some shoulder inflammation, but when he’s on he throws hard and really gets a lot of movement on the ball. He’s also a smart pitcher on the mound, a guy who really thinks out there and has a good approach. He’s both competitive and a bright guy. Justin Miller is another. At the start of the year he was kind of this team’s ace. He has good sinking action to his fastball, but he has to control himself a little bit because he’s kind of wild – at this point he might be a bit more of a thrower than a pitcher, in part because he was predominantly a position player in college.
DL: Who are the best players you’ve seen in the Midwest League this season?
BG: We had the All-Star Game here, so we saw all of the best players gathered, but a lot of the guys who have dominated the Midwest League this year aren’t necessarily prospects. The guy who is the top hitter in the league, Ian Gac, who just got promoted from Clinton, is 23 years old and has spent parts of three or four years in the league. He’s been good, but it’s probably more of him being a man among boys. Craig Italiano, a pitcher, has pretty much dominated the league, but he’s an older guy who is coming off getting hit in the head last year on a come-backer. I think it was a fractured skull he suffered, and he missed all of last year. Alfredo Figaro of West Michigan has also dominated the league, but I think he’s 23. As far as younger players go, everybody on Lansing is pretty solid, including their whole infield. They can throw eight different guys in their starting lineup who are 19 years old and under. Defensively, Justin Jackson, their shortstop, is really solid. Kevin Ahrens, their third baseman, is a top prospect. John Tolisano is a pretty solid hitter as well. A lot of guys in the league this year who are upper prospects, and are having good seasons, kind of fall in the lead-off hitter category: they’re kind of pests. Evan Frey is one – he can get on and steal bases, and he has tough at-bats where he can foul off a ton of pitches. Mike Moustakas is with Burlington, but he hurt himself the first time we played them, and we didn’t see him in the rest of the series, and he wasn’t in the All-Star Game, so I can’t give a very accurate report on him. There’s also Ben Revere, with Beloit in the Twins organization. I haven’t seen him a lot either, but seeing him in the All-Star game, he kind of falls in the same category as Frey–a pesky lead-off type hitter who is going to steal some bases. He’s also hitting about .410 right now and is about as solid as they get. I don’t know if there is, hands down, a prospect of the year in the Midwest League, but if there is, it’s probably Ben Revere.
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