Florida Fishing 2012

The nice thing about having spring training, extended spring training, and high-A, in Florida is that there are fish here.  And although most of the fish that I really want to catch, Snook and Tarpon, have only just arrived here in the Tampa Bay Area, my teammates and I have had some fun catching some fun and interesting fish. I was able to help two of my teammates learn how to fish and I got to take pictures of their first fish.  Now that's fun!

My teammate Wes caught this puffer fish along Gulf to Bay

Just practicing for Emily.

This was one of my favorites from a couple years ago.

http://exposfan.mlblogs.com/2012/05/29/q-and-a-with-trystan-magnuson/

Q and A With Trystan Magnuson

Trystan Magnuson is a relief pitcher in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. He is born on June 6, 1985 in Vancouver, Canada. He weighs 220 lbs and he is 6′ 7″. He was recently traded to the Jays last year from the Oakland Athletics. He made his major league day view last year for the Athletics and had a 6.14 ERA in a mere 14.2 innings pitched. Before getting called up, he played for the Sacramento River Cats in AAA and he was 4-2 with a 2.98 ERA in 45 innings pitched. He is rehabbing from an injury so he is in High-A this year with the Dunedin Blue Jays. He is 0-4 with a 5.25 ERA. He will keep going up the minor leagues once he is 100% healed from his injury.  He took the time to do a Q and A for my blog. Here it is:

1. At what age did you get interested in baseball? At what age did it become serious for you?

I always enjoyed playing baseball. When I was young, my family lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba,Canada. We played hockey in the winter and baseball in the summer.  My dad always loved baseball.  We listened to the Blue Jays on the radio and really enjoyed watching them win the 1992-1993 World Series.  When we moved to Louisville, I was in middle school.  There is not much ice hockey in Louisville, but they did have fall baseball, which we thought was great.

2. Who had the biggest influence on you in baseball?

My dad has had the biggest influence on my baseball career.  A close second is my brother.  Even now we enjoy talking baseball and the things I am working on. Every once in a while, I talk to my dad on the phone and we talk about how to improve my pitches.

3. Who was your favorite player growing and why?

My favorite player growing up was John Olerud.  That guy was an incredible hitter.  He never got intimidated or influenced by what was going on around him.  Steady as a rock.  When I decided to really focus on pitching I really paid a lot of attention to Nolan Ryan, naturally.

4. You were drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1st round (56th pick) of the 2007 amateur draft. Where were you when you got drafted and what was the moment like when you heard you were drafted?

I knew from all of the scouts and the interest, that my advisor was saying that there were many teams really interested in drafting me.  To get drafted by the Blue Jays was a dream.  I grew up watching them in Winnipeg.  To hear that they had drafted me with the 56th pick made me wonder if it could all be real. I was thrilled.

5. This is your 6th big league season. Do you have any goals by the end of the year?

I was injured at the end of the last year and I’m still coming back from that.  I am really close.  That is my goal, to be 100% healthy by the end of the year and make myself valuable to this organization whether it be in the big leagues or elsewhere this year.  I want to do my job and do it well.

6. What is the feeling like getting promoted to the next minor league level?

I remember thinking, as I was struggling in Low-A my first year, it’s going to be tough to get promoted to High-A.  I thought AA was out of the question.  So, when I got promoted to AA at the end of 2009 I was thinking, “Yeah! I made it!”

7. What did it feel like when you got traded from the Oakland Athletics to the Toronto Blue Jays?

My experience with Oakland was a very positive one.  I made some great adjustments that allowed me to have some good outings and experience in the big leagues.  Getting traded back was nice because I know the Blue Jays know what they are getting and that they want me. It’s nice to know that they value me.

8. What is your favorite movie?

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

9. What is your favorite TV show?

Star Trek, the Original Series.

10. What is the most memorable moment in your baseball career so far?

Some of the most memorable times for me have been conversations with fans who ask me for my autograph.  I ask them how they are doing and if they are enjoying the day or ballpark.  One of the most important times to me is when I have someone come up to me that I have signed for before and they tell me how much they appreciated the time I spent with them and the things I signed.  Every year I sign a different verse of the bible with my autograph, that way anyone can tell what year I signed the card or ball.  This year I am signing Hebrews 13:5 “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you, Never will I forsake you.’”

11. Finally, what advice would you give to kids that are just starting out the dream of playing professional baseball one day?

I would tell them to have fun, work hard, and enjoy every minute of it.  It’s really important for every kid to know that baseball is about having fun.  I would tell them that if they don’t make it to a certain level or on a certain team, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t any less valuable or important than anyone else.  Talent doesn’t define significance.  The important thing is to be significant wherever God has placed you.  Even God himself took the role of a servant and washed his disciples feet.

 Follow him on Twitter @TrystanMagnuson

The Boxscore - 5/16/12

The Boxscore – 5/16/12

A few days ago, I was told that the Blue Jays were taking me off the 40-man roster.  This is a significant happening in my baseball career.  If you remember last November, the A’s took me off their 40-man roster and the Blue Jays picked me up and placed me on their 40-man roster.  Being on the 40-man is significant because a major league team can only use players that are on their 40-man roster.  Within the 40-man, there is the 25-man active roster, which is the roster of available players that the team can use that day.  The 40-man is a selection of players that the big league team has protected and who are available to then be selected for the 25-man active roster.  The 15 players who are not on the 40-man roster are in the minor leagues, but can be called up to the big leagues or sent back to the minors with relative ease.  To sum this up, if you want to make it to the big leagues you want to be on the 40-man roster.  If you are not on the 40-man and the team wants to call you up, they have to make room on their 40-man for you, which allows whoever they are taking off the 40-man to be eligible for another team to claim them.  A team protects its most important players and prospects from other teams by placing them on the 40-man roster.  I had a great outing a few days ago. I threw 2 innings, giving up 1 hit, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts.  But, my last few outings have not been good.  I haven’t had much “life” on the ball.  I have given up a bunch of runs.  In my two previous outings, I entered the game with the lead or with a tie and I gave it up, thereby getting the loss for both games.  One outing wasn’t as bad as it sounded in the box score, but I’ll tell you more about that in the next paragraph.

In this outing, my box score (my statistics for the outing) read 0-1, 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K.  This all means that I got the loss, throwing 1 2/3 innings while giving up 1 run on 1 hit with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts.  Now to a reliever and to my team, this says that I gave up the lead by giving up a run when we were tied and I was the one who gave up the run, thereby earning the loss for the team.  What the box score doesn’t tell you is that the one hit I gave up came in the 1^st inning and the walk wasn’t the guy who scored, but actually an intentional walk.  What really happened was I threw my first inning well and only gave up one hit.  The 2^nd inning started and I threw well getting the 1^st out easily.  The next batter I struck out, but the ball took a funny bounce and got by my catcher, so even though I struck the batter out, he got to 1^st base.  He then stole 2^nd base (barely).  There was a fly ball to center field and the runner tagged up and got to third.  So, now it was runner on 3^rd and 2 outs.  We then intentionally walked the next guy (my walk) and they brought in a new reliever.  The runner then scored on a bloop hit off the new pitcher.  My runner, my fault, my loss.  But isn’t it funny that the one walk I have on my record this year is an intentional walk and that the loss and earned run for that game came from a guy I struck out on a good slider?  The box score doesn’t tell the story.  The way things look doesn’t tell the whole story, whether that’s the way someone else appears to us or the way God is working in our lives.  Everyone has a story that is so much deeper than what appears on the outside.  Likewise, God has a story for each one of us that is so much deeper than what we are experiencing on the outside.  Our box score might not look too bright, but God’s writing the story for His purpose and there are some good things going on in the real story.  What’s His purpose? I think it’s probably exactly what His purpose was for the Israelites: “For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.” Psalm 78:5-7  “That they may set their hope in God.”

I Know That Guy - 4/24/12

I Know That Guy – 4/24/12

I am still here in Dunedin.  I am getting really close to leaving, though.  My arm is bouncing back quicker each time I throw.  I am pitching more often and for longer.  On Thursday, I threw 2 innings for the first time this year. I am finishing up my rehab throwing program before heading out to a full-season team.  This is the wonderful world of Extended Spring Training.  It is a place where you forget about a baseball season because all of us are stuck in an unending Spring Training.  Our days look just like Spring Training, practice in the morning and games in the afternoon.  Although, now we have Sundays off, which is looked forward to with much anticipation.  The soreness that I have been describing is fading with every day even as I increase my workload.  The thing that hasn’t been so great is my consistency in my pitching.  I haven’t been throwing many strikes.  I haven’t been consistent with my cutter or my changeup.  This is rather frustrating and not much fun.  It is a bummer when I have to compete against myself, just trying to throw the ball close to where I want it with the type of movement I want.  I think this will come, though.  As with any rehab and throwing program, progress is made through practice and patience.  I can’t throw with a full-season throwing program because my arm cannot take it yet (I’m close though). As I get stronger, I am throwing more in between my outings and I’m getting the chance to work on my pitches again.  I’m reestablishing the feel.  I remember watching some of the great relievers in the game when I was up with the A’s and they threw a flatground everyday to establish that feel.  A flatground is a short time of pitching right at the end of your throwing program.  Your throwing partner, or if you’re lucky a catcher, will crouch down as a catcher and you will practice your pitches.  I really enjoy throwing flatgrounds and finding the feel of my pitches.  I am looking forward to joining a full-season team soon and I look forward to getting that feel of my pitches that comes with repetition and practice.

It’s amazing how many guys I know are now in the big leagues.  A few of my former teammates have made it to the big leagues recently.  And you know what, I have had short periods of envy, jealousy.  It’s amazing how we can see someone’s good fortune and immediately we are tempted to be bitter about our situation.  We can stew about things that have gone wrong, how things aren’t quite coming together, dwell upon the things that are holding us back.  In my heart I’m thinking, “How cool is this, I’m so happy for these guys that they get to experience the thrill of playing the best baseball in the world and are getting paid.” But in my mind, I think, “This isn’t fair, I should be there,” and I am tempted to be bitter and mad.  We can always find ways in which our lives are not matching up to what we want or have imagined.  Where does my bitterness come from?  It comes from wanting something that someone else has. It comes from striving for something.  When the thing we want doesn’t happen, we become disappointed, frustrated, sad, or mad.  God’s goals for us are that we Love God with all our heart, mind, strength and that we love our neighbor as ourselves.  We get distracted from His goals by things like jobs, success, athletics, looks, illness, relationships, etc.  The damage done is not through the success or failure in these areas, but by how they affect our relationship with God and with other people.  The struggle we should be undertaking is not for our health and wealth, but can we demonstrate God’s love towards others through our lives in every circumstance.  I have had parents and kids who come up to me after hearing my story about being cut in high school and tell me that I am an inspiration.  They have always dreamed of playing College baseball or playing Professional baseball or playing in the Major leagues.  To them I reply, “Playing high level baseball is fun, but sometimes the best thing ever is to get exactly what you have always dreamed of because you will still be unsatisfied.”  The gifts and pleasures we have here on earth are a dim sample of the treasure God is.  He created all of the good things we have here on earth so that we can have a glimpse of our great Father and know that one day we will get to be in His presence.  That is our treasure.  That is our dream.  That makes me forget my bitterness.  That makes me happy for the enjoyment that my friends and teammates are getting by playing the best baseball in the world. That makes me pray that my friends and teammates enjoy baseball and recognize the One who gave us all our good gifts.  He is our good gift.  I am so thankful for Him. “Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does not satisfy? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good, You will enjoy the finest food. Come to me with your ears wide open, Listen, and you will find life, I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.” (Isaiah 55:2-3 NLT)