An Update

When the Rivercats had their luncheon with the players, we sat next to a young man named Lloyd Turner. I made a comment that he was a reason for hope in baseball. He was well spoken and had a lot of desire. The night before that event (May 18) he made a superb catch in the outfield - a diving effort where he landed on his catching arm but still kept control of the ball. When we had lunch with him he still had a bit of numbness in his hand. For the last month we have not seen much of him except as a pinch runner (he has great base speed) and as a first base line coach.

Yesterday he got sent back down to the Stockton Ports (the A's Single A franchise). That is one of the realities of minor league baseball - at the same time several Rivercats have been moved up to the bigs. There are now 5 players on the Cats roster who were there on opening day. Since the start of the season there have been 94 moves on the roster. Let's hope we see this young man back and then that he achieves his dream of getting to the majors.

Ron Flores, by the way, who seems to have earned a spot on the A's roster continues to do well with a 1.29 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 14 innings since he was called up. (The photo of Flores is from two seasons ago when he was literally giving me the shirt off his back for a charity fundraiser.)