Q and A With Tyler Pike

Tyler Pike was drafted by the Mariners in the 3rd round of the 2012 draft. Since the draft, after forgoing a scholarship from Florida State University by signing out of high school, Pike has put together a couple of good years, going a combined 9-5 with a 2.18 ERA since making his professional debut.

In 2013, Pike went 7-4 with a 2.37 ERA over the course of 22 games started, holding the opposition’s batting average to a mere .194, and earning him a spot on the Midwest League All-Star Game Western Division roster.

Despite an average arsenal of pitches — fastball, curveball, changeup — Pike is able to use all three effectively, leading many to believe that Pike could be on a fairly quick path to the majors, should things continue to go smoothly for him.

At just 20 years old, Pike is still young and has plenty of time to develop into the major league quality starting pitcher many feel he can become. Even so, it’s likely that Pike will be making his debut up in Seattle sometime in the next year or two, if all goes well.

Tyler Pike — top 10 prospect in the Mariners’ organization — took the time recently to answer some of my questions:

1.) At what age did you first become interested in baseball? Who was your biggest baseball influence growing up?

Ever since I could walk my dad put a ball in my hand, and baseball has never left me since then. My dad was definitely my biggest influence growing up. He pretty much taught me the game and how to play it, and he also played pro ball for a little. So he’s always been my idol.

2.) Who was your favorite baseball player growing up? Why?

Even though I’m a pitcher now, I never had a favorite pitcher, but my favorite player was Ken Griffey Jr. I just was in awe of his athleticism and how hard he played the game. Without his injuries, he was the best player to ever play, in my opinion.

3.) You were drafted by the Mariners in the 3rd round of the 2012 draft. What was that process like for you? Where were you when you first found out? Initial thoughts?

It was a long process, stretching back to almost a year before I was drafted; playing in front of scouts in tournaments and showcases. I was at my house during the draft, with a couple of my friends, and the Mariners initially told me they were going to draft me in the 6th round. So in the 3rd round I was watching to see who they were going to draft, and my name popped up. I was very surprised, along with my friends. My parent weren’t even home. It was truly a great feeling, and a moment I’ll never forget. Then, later that night, I graduated high school. Great day in my book.

4.) You had originally planned on attending Florida State University before deciding to sign with the Mariners instead. What ultimately made you choose to go ahead and begin your baseball career?

It came down to wanting to start my career and dream job early, not having to wait, and with the money they offered me, I just couldn’t turn it down. I love FSU and all the baseball coaches, and still talk to them every once in awhile. It was definitely a difficult decision.

5.) It would seem that going from high school straight to professional baseball would be fairly challenging, but you have had a good deal of success so far. What has enabled you to make the easy transition? What’s the biggest difference you’ve noticed between professional baseball and the level of baseball you had played up until that point?

It was definitely hard at first, just being away from home and not being comfortable and things. But once you’re on the field none of that crosses my mind. You can’t let outside things bother you while you play. Just block it out and focus on the task at hand. The biggest difference was knowing that everyone can play at the pro level. They got drafted for a reason. You can’t take anyone lightly. Have to play hard every pitch.

6.) Talk a little bit about life on the road: What’s the most difficult aspect of it? What do you do to pass the time?

Life on the road isn’t all that bad. The long bus rides aren’t that fun, but you’re pretty much at the field all day, so it’s just baseball, baseball, baseball. We usually just watch TV or talk about baseball to pass the time. On off days we would sometimes go fishing or just hangout and cookout as a team.

7.) Is there any one stat that you pay attention to throughout the season? Or do you try to steer clear of them altogether?

I pretty much didn’t look at my stats at all. Stats are just a number, they don’t tell you a lot. You have to watch someone pitch to tell if they’re really good or not.

8.) What do you feel went well in 2013? What are your goals for 2014?

A lot went well in 2013. I worked hard on and off the field, pitched pretty well, and had a great time. 2014 brings another year and a lot of new challenges. I’ll be ready for whatever comes my way.

9.) Favorite TV show? Favorite food?

My favorite TV show is ‘The Walking Dead’, and my favorite food is a good plate of spaghetti.

10.) Lastly, what advice would you give to kids who are just starting out that dream of playing professional baseball one day?

Never give up, and trust that The Lord has a plan for you, whatever it may be.  Just work your hardest and everything will take care of itself. (“Jesus said to them, ‘If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.'” – Mark 9:23)

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Big thanks to Tyler Pike for taking the time to answer my questions.

You can follow him on Twitter: @tpike10

Three-Year Anniversary of ‘The Unbiased MLB Fan’

Today marks the three-year anniversary of the day I sat down to begin ‘The Unbiased MLB Fan’. Starting this blog was more of a spur of the moment thing than it was me looking to begin a long term blog. At the time, I never could’ve imagined that I would keep at it long enough to be typing up a three-year anniversary post; to his day, I’m still surprised that I kept with it. But I’ve come to love blogging, and interacting with fellow baseball fans; and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

To commemorate the occasion, I’ve decided to take a look back at the past three years, as I did last year on the two-year anniversary, using a timeline, of sorts, to tell the basic story of how my blog came to be where it is now. The first twelve recaps are the exact same ones I covered last year, in case you missed them, with the rest being since last year (click the headers to be taken to each post):

‘Explanation of Me’ – My first blog post

As the header would suggest, this was the first blog entry I ever published. It covered who I am and the fact that I have no favorite team that I root for more than another team. While it does a decent job at getting the general point across, looking back, I’m fairly appalled at how horribly written it is. The post doesn’t flow, the grammar is terrible, and my punctuation is sub par. Given, I’m by no means a professional writer now (I’m sure there are tons of issues with this post) compared to my writing style now, it’s almost as if it was a completely different person who wrote that first post. I suppose, in a way, it was.

‘MLB Logo and Its Designer’ – My first interview post

I didn’t start out with interview intentions. I merely emailed Jerry Dior (the designer of the MLB logo) to ask him questions I had about the design process and the story behind the logo. It wasn’t until a month later that I had the idea of putting the questions into an interview format for a post on my newly established blog. In the days after posting it, I noticed that people seemed to have a good reaction to the interview, so it was at that point that I decided to begin interviewing ballplayers. The interviews took off from there. I’ve now conducted over thirty interviews, and plan on continuing to do them in the future, as long as the players continue to be willing.

July 23, 2011 – Signed Up for Twitter

This has nothing to do with my blog, but it has everything to do with its success. Signing up for Twitter not only allowed for a way for me to get in contact with ballplayers for interviews, but it also served (and still serves) as a way of spreading the link to each new post around to baseball fans everywhere. If it wasn’t for Twitter it’s very possible that I would’ve discontinued my blog, as my reader base wouldn’t have been as fast to grow.

How Bernie Williams Became My Favorite Player Ever

This is more of a personal entry than it is an informative one. In this blog post, I detailed exactly how Bernie Williams came to be my favorite player to ever play the game of baseball. There’s a great story behind it, but I really don’t want to say much more than that. If you’re truly interested, feel free to click the header to be taken to the post I did on the subject.

Bernie Williams’ Reflects On 9/11/01 – Ten-Year Anniversary

Yet another Bernie Williams post, but this one is more somber than the first. With the ten-year anniversary of 9/11 approaching, I decided to contact Bernie Williams on Twitter to ask if he’d be willing to share his own personal experience and memories from that horrid day. He agreed to it, and after a bit of back and forth conversation, of me detailing exactly what I wanted him to talk about, I received an email from Williams, containing a fairly long response. If you don’t read another blog entry from this anniversary post, I suggest you read this one.

The Blog Post That Put My Blog On The Map

Ozzie Guillen and the Miami Marlins played a large part in making my blog as successful as it is today. The article I wrote on the “new look Marlins” caused my blog to absolutely explode in terms of views. In the months following when I first posted the entry, I received day after day of several hundred view days. In all, that one post racked me up over 11,000 views, all by itself. While things have backed off slightly since then, I still have a fairly large reader base, and it can all be traced back to that one post.

Ranking After the 2011 Year of Blogging

After a year’s worth of blogging, I was fairly anxious to see how I would stack up against all of the great blogs around the MLBlogs community. I was fairly stunned when the results came out, stating that my blog was the 35th most viewed blog of 2011. That alone gave me a reason to continue blogging.

The Blog Post That Got Me the Most Views For A Single Day

While my post on the Marlins netted me the most views for a single blog post, the entry I posted on the Cleveland Indians-Carolina Mudcats exhibition game, for some reason, led to the most views in the history of my blog on a single day. I’m still not all that sure as to why, but people came flocking to my blog on that particular day, netting me a total of 892 views. I haven’t had a day since that’s received more than 615 views.

First MLB Game Recap Entry

Living in North Carolina, I don’t get the chance to attend an MLB game all that often. As a matter of fact, this particular post recapped the first MLB game I attended since starting this blog. Therefore, it was the first MLB recap I’d ever done. I’ve since done numerous MiLB recaps, and will undoubtedly be doing several more this season.

Trip To the 2012 State Farm Home Run Derby

The all expense paid trip I received to the 2012 State Farm Home Run Derby, courtesy of State Farm, is by far the best thing to ever come out of this blog. While I’ve been fortunate enough to experience several blogging related benefits since then – which range from getting free stuff, to meeting ballplayers in person that I’ve interviewed – I feel confident in saying that nothing will ever top this.

Triple-A National Championship Game

As the MiLB equivalent of a World Series game 7, the 2012 Triple-A National Championship game is the most significant minor league baseball game I’ve ever attended, thus it’s the most significant MiLB blog posts I’ve done. Getting to see the Reno Aces win the National Championship, along with meeting 2011 American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, made this great game even better. (I plan on attending the 2014 Triple-A All-Star game in July, so that will probably top this.)

Ranking After the 2012 Year of Blogging

After coming in 35th at the end of the 2011 blogging year, I had no idea what to expect going into the 2012 results. While I received over five times the number of views this past year as I did in 2011, I was still eager to see where I would rank. When the rankings were posted, I was ecstatic to find my blog at the number 17 spot. I truly appreciate all of those who read my blog.

2013 Durham Bulls Fan Fest

I was really excited to attend this, as I had never been ON a professional baseball field. It was really cool to make my way, with my dad, out onto the field for a bit of catch. I didn’t take batting practice, though I could’ve, but if the Bulls have Fan Fest again anytime soon, I’ll be sure to take my shot at BP.

My Favorite Interview — Q and A With Negro Leagues’ President Bob Kendrick

Though not a baseball player, this was my favorite interview I’ve every conducted to this point in the history of my blog. Bob Kendrick is extremely knowledgeable of the history of the Negro Leagues, and he was very courteous throughout the process. I learned a lot about the Negro Leagues that I had no idea about. Take a look at it. You’ll probably learn something too.

Seeing Mariano Rivera for the Last Time

It wasn’t planned this way, but with Mariano Rivera announcing his retirement after the 2013 season, it happened to be that my dad and I were going to Baltimore for a game against the Yankees, and therefore he would be there. I was hoping to get an autograph, but even though that didn’t happen, seeing Rivera for probably the last time ever was memorable.

My Trip to Safeco Field In Seattle

Having only been west of the Mississippi River once (on my trip to the 2012 Home Run Derby), I was thrilled to visit this ballpark on my 24 day trip around the country. It is one of the best ballparks I’ve ever been to, located in one of the best cities I’ve ever been to. The Mariners lost, but all around it was a great time.

Chipper Jones’ Bulls Number Retirement Ceremony

As with Mariano Rivera, this was likely the last time I’ll ever see Chipper Jones, as he retired after the 2012 season. Coming back to Durham for the first time in twenty years, Jones had his number ten retired by the Bulls and gave a brief speech thanking the fans for everything. It was an incredible night out at the ballpark, and I doubt any night out at a minor league game will ever top this.

Recapping the 2013 Season Out At the Ballpark

This past season was the first full year that I have been into tracking the top major league baseball prospects and heading out to the ballpark to get an autograph from them. I plan on doing more of the same in 2014, and with the Triple-A All-Star game taking place in July, in addition to all of the top ranked talent that’s supposed to come, it’s sure to be an amazing year. (I’ll recap it all again after the season is over, as I did this past year.)

Ranking After the 2013 Year of Blogging

After my first year of blogging, I finished 35th on the top 100 list, in terms of views; after 2012, I finished 17th; and after this past year, I finished 8th. That’s truly amazing, in my mind, that I was able to do so, amassing over 75,000 views in 2013. I really had a fantastic time blogging in 2013, and with all of the great things that I foresee taking place in 2014, I think this is going to be the best blogging year yet.

Blogging Goals for 2014

This post wasn’t published all that long ago, but I wanted to include it nonetheless. Basically, this post covers my goals for the 2014 blogging year. I won’t waste time going over what each of my five goals are, for those of you who remember. (For those of you who’ve forgotten, and are curious, you can always click the header.) I plan on keeping to all of my blogging resolutions, which is better than I can say for my New Year’s Resolutions.

‘The Unbiased MLB Fan’ Fast Facts

• Total number of words written to this point: 193,824
• Total number of posts: 332
• Average number of words per post: 584
• Number of different country views: 124

As stated in previous posts, I hope to make 2014 the best blogging year yet; and that means posting content that you, the reader, enjoy reading about. So, if you have anything you’d like to see me do, or stop doing, please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you.

Robinson Cano Agrees to Mega-Deal With Mariners

Ten years, 240 million dollars.

That’s what it took to get Robinson Cano to the Pacific Northwest.

After a long period of guessing as to whether Cano going to Seattle was purely speculation, the baseball world found out on Friday that it was in fact a reality. The five time All-Star will certainly make an immediate impact for the Mariners, but how big of an overall impact is yet to be seen.

Even with the signing of Cano, who batted .317 with 25 home runs and 107 RBI’s in 2013, the Mariners are still a ways from becoming a competitive team in the talented American League West division, in the minds of many.

With the Rangers and Athletics turning their already good teams into even better teams this offseason (the Rangers trading for Prince Fielder and the A’s signing Jim Johnson, among others) it’s going to be interesting to see how the Mariners fare this coming season.

But locking up a player of Cano’s caliber for the next ten years is definitely a step in the right direction.

Cano has been a consistent player over the course of his career, hitting at least 25 home runs over the past five seasons, and racking up a minimum of 85 RBI’s over that same span. He’s also been able to stay healthy, playing in at least 159 games for the past seven seasons. Both combined make for a good signing, in my mind. The Mariners needed a player like Cano.

As far as the deal goes, I don’t really feel ten years is appropriate. Cano is 31 years old, meaning by the time all is said and done with his contract he’ll be 41. Who knows what type of player he’ll be by then? But if ten years and 240 million — the third largest contract in MLB history, and the largest ever for a second baseman — is what it took to get this deal done, then I guess the Mariners had to do what they had to do. We’ll see if it pays off.

But Cano isn’t the only 2013 Yankee who found a new home on Friday.

Curtis Granderson agreed to a four-year deal with the New York Mets worth a reported 60 million dollars.

I feel this is a great signing by the Mets, who have really struggled in recent history offensively. Granderson will provide some power to their lineup, in addition to being a great outfielder with great range. Though he was injured most of 2013, Granderson put together a couple of 40+ home run seasons the previous two years. It’s certainly possible that Granderson could do that for the Mets this coming season, but I see him as more of a 30 homer guy in that ballpark.

With or without the 40 bombs, Granderson will still be able serve as protection for David Wright in the lineup, who I could see having a career year in 2014. The Mets will be without Matt Harvey, who underwent Tommy John surgery in October, but they should still have a decent season, possibly finishing in third place, yet again, behind the Braves and Nationals.

As stated, while I still don’t think the Mets will have enough to beat out the Braves or the Nationals in their division, this move no doubt makes them an all around better team. A team that could surprise some people down the road, once they get all their pitching back together.

The good news of the day, if you’re a Yankees fan, is that Hiroki Kuroda agreed to a one-year, 16 million dollar contract to remain in New York for 2014.

Although this is little excitement after the loss of Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson, the Yankees need pitching, and were smart to let both of them, and the money that would’ve come along with them, go.

The Yankees just signed a good replacement for Granderson, in Jacoby Ellsbury, and while I think they overspent on Ellsbury, as I stated with the Mariners’ signing of Cano, I guess the Yankees “had to do what they had to do” to lock him up. As far as losing Cano goes, they can use that money for what they really need — pitching. (And now, a second baseman).

With it uncertain whether or not Japenese phenom, Masahiro Tanaka, who went 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA last season, will be available, the best starting pitcher still on the market, in my mind, is Ubaldo Jimenez.

Though Jimenez has had his share of ups and down over the course of his career, he had a decent season last year, going 13-9 with a 3.30 ERA, finishing out the season strong. Jimenez is ready for a breakout season, and would be a good fit for the Yankees, now that my original pick for Jimenez, the Twins, have signed former Yankee, Phil Hughes.

If you were a fan of the 2013 Yankees, this has been a bad week for you, as many of them have departed.

But as a baseball fan, this has been one of the most exciting weeks in Major League Baseball offseason history.

July 26th Mariners Vs. Twins Game

After not blogging for nearly a month, I needed a way to jump back into things, and I figured this was the best way to do so. I went back and forth on whether or not to do a recap of this game–after all, it was over two weeks ago–but I decided to, nonetheless.

If you remember back to my last blog post, I discussed the 24 day road trip I was going on around the country, and stated that I wouldn’t be blogging for awhile. It certainly has been awhile, but I’m finally back. I’ll resume blogging about the latest baseball news and such sometime in the next few days, but for now, here’s a recap of the Mariners game I attended during my recent trip:

My grandpa accompanied me to this game, and as has a tendency to happen before I visit a ballpark for the first time, we got all turned around, and ended up going by the ballpark, on the interstate, several times, before finally making it down onto the correct street. It took nearly an hour to go from our hotel, a mere 8 miles away, to Safeco Field–part of that was due to horrible traffic–so when we finally arrived, I made my way as fast as I could to the closest gate, and into the ballpark:

Our tickets for this game were on the first base side, but I didn’t head immediately to my seat. Instead, I darted for the front row just beyond the Twins’ dugout. Unlike the last MLB game I attended up in Baltimore, in June, I wasn’t as focused on getting autographs as I was on meeting up with Kyle Gibson, who I’ve gotten to know through fairly regular twitter conversations and emails, over the past couple of years.

While I was looking forward to meeting Gibson at the game, for the first time, it didn’t happen. The delay to the ballpark caused me to miss Gibson, and he didn’t return back out of the clubhouse until too late. (Maybe next time.)

But my temporary front row seat wasn’t all bad. I had a great view of the long haul bombers; a group of guys who tour around to different ballparks during the season, putting on spectacular softball home run derby-style shows for the fans:

They certainly didn’t disappoint, as two of their swings sent the ball sailing out of the entire ballpark. Truly an incredible thing to witness.

Shortly after they finished showing off for those in attendance, the Mariners’ starting pitcher for the game, Felix Hernandez, emerged from the dugout, and headed out towards the bullpen. I hadn’t known he was going to be pitching until a few days before, and I was thrilled to get to see a former Cy Young and perfect game pitcher in action.

I stuck around in the same spot until after the National Anthem, when I headed to my ticketed seat. But I didn’t stay there long. I had been wanting to take a self guided tour, of sorts, around the ballpark, so, after watching NBA Hall of Famer, Gary Payton, throw out the first pitch….:

….that’s exactly what I did. I began by heading all the way up to the last row in the upper level, behind the Mariners’ dugout:

It sure was a long way up there, but it was worth it.

I spent a bit of time there, admiring the view, before heading down to the next level and making my way over to left field. But I quickly found myself in some kind of club section, so I had to go all the way down to the lower level. I ended up, somehow, behind the King’s Court (a special cheering section for Felix Hernandez):

But that was okay. I wanted to get there eventually, anyway.

The atmosphere was incredible on this particular night, with Hernandez pitching. And being in the vicinity of the King’s Court–a section of fans that show up every time Hernandez is pitching, decked out in yellow shirts, carrying yellow ‘K’ signs–for an inning made it even better.

But even with the amazing buzz in the air, I got bored standing there (I get bored easily) and ended up moving to nearly straight away center for a few at-bats:

However, while there, I recalled one of my main goals of the night: to get some garlic fries. (I had heard they were fantastic, and I was looking forward to trying some.) So, after searching for a bit, I got a basket and headed back to my seat:

I can honestly say the fries were good, but not great; especially not six-dollar-great. But I got my money’s worth, at least. Can’t say that too often.

The view, from my seat, remained the same up until the ninth inning, when I moved to the third base side:

I expected the Mariners to hold their one run lead, with Hernandez still on the mound (he had eleven strikeouts on the night), but as my luck would have it, he gave up a run to the Twins to tie things up.

The Mariners proceeded to not do much of anything in the bottom half of the inning, so for the first time in my life I was able to witness an extra inning game. (Kind of surprising with all of the games I’ve gone to lately, I think.)

My grandpa and I stuck around for the tenth and eleventh innings, but left as the twelfth was starting. Who knew how long the game would go, and the next day was going to be a busy one, that started early, so it wasn’t practical to stick around.

The Twins ended up winning the game, 3-2, in thirteen innings. So Hernandez received a no decision, despite the gem of a game. But you know, that happens sometimes.

I had a great time at the ballgame, and an overall great time on the entire 24 day trip. I saw some amazing things, but it’s good to be back home where I can easily keep up with what’s going on around the baseball world, once again. Being away for so long truly makes you appreciate how great of a sport baseball is.

My Baseball Game Schedule for the Rest of June

So far this season I’ve attended seven minor league baseball games–three Carolina Mudcats games, and four Durham Bulls games. In that time, I’ve been able to collect fourteen autographs, two game used bats and three game home run balls. While that’s far more than I was able to get all of last year, I’m hoping to continue adding to those totals, as I’m planning to attend as many games as possible from now until September, when the minor league baseball season ends.

The next game I’m going to is this Saturday’s Bulls game versus the Indianapolis Indians. I had originally been planning on trying to get an autograph from Pirates’ number one prospect, Gerrit Cole, at this game, but he’s set to make his major league debut later tonight, and therefore won’t be there. Thus, I’ve decided to try for autos from the Bulls players instead, that I haven’t been able to get so far this season. This includes stand outs such as Alex Colome and Jake Odorizzi, however, David Price is supposed to begin a rehab assignment with the Bulls sometime this weekend, so I’m hoping I can get him while I’m there.

If Price doesn’t happen to be at the game on Saturday, he’s nearly guaranteed to be there when I go to one of the three Bulls games against the Louisville Bats early next week. I’m going for the sole purpose of getting an autograph from Reds’ number one prospect, Billy Hamilton–I was going for Tony Cingrani as well, but he was just called back up to the Reds–but if I don’t get an autograph from David Price on Saturday, I may end up rethinking my plans. (Though that’s a hard decision to make–a guy who stole 155 bases last year, or last year’s Cy Young award winner.)

My first major league baseball game of the season, and my first since June 23, 2012, is coming on June 29th, up in Baltimore. The Orioles are set to take on the Yankees, and with it being my first time at Camden Yards, I’m really looking forward to the game, though it’s sure to be packed. I hate that Derek Jeter won’t be there, but I’m going to be trying for autos from the Yankees nonetheless, including guys like Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira, with my main targets being Ichiro Suzuki and Mariano Rivera. I’m not too confident on getting Suzuki, but with it being Rivera’s last season, and his overall fan-friendly attitude, I’m hoping I get lucky and pick up a signature from ‘Mo’.

So that’s basically it for the remainder of the month. If I don’t get an autograph from David Price on Saturday or next week’s game, I may end up adding an extra Bulls game in, so I can get Price to sign. But I’m staying optimistic that I won’t have to do that.

Towards the end of July, I’m going to be attending a Mariners-Twins game up at Safeco Field, in Seattle. This game is part of a month long road trip that will have a major impact on this blog. But I’ll wait to discuss that at some point next month….