Comfort Not an Option in MiLB

Photo courtesy of Matthew Christensen - www.photo918.com

​25. That’s how many players can be active on the Tulsa Drillers roster throughout the season based on minor league baseball regulations.
 
If you check the Drillers website right now, there are 39 players on the roster which means several are on the DL (disabled list) and a few of the players listed are not even on the team at the moment. (some in Arizona for injury rehab)
 
After checking some rosters in the system and recalling several from memory, I came up with 17 additional players that have been on the Drillers roster at some point in the season. (And I could have missed someone.) That makes 56 different players on the Drillers so far this season. With about a month left in the regular season plus playoffs (if they make the playoffs.)
 
I couldn’t find a very good number of how many players a minor league team averages a season, but I would be comfortable in saying 56 is probably way over the average.
 
What is even crazier is Matt is the only one out of the 56 who has been active on the Drillers roster since the first game of the season. Moves up, down, rehab assignments, inactive, DLs, trades and even retirement have been the stories throughout the Drillers roster changes.

Photo courtesy of Jeremy Davis - The Truth Photography

The Drillers recently got a new manager because the previous manager took a college head coaching position.

​Even the original Hornsby (the mascot) was on the DL because he sprained his knee when he fell off the dugout.

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Photo courtesy of Matthew Christensen - www.photo918.com

 ​There have been several guys who have been moved up or down several times...one as quick as one day in Tulsa and the next day back to Rancho (High-A)

(I’ll let you know when I figure out why certain moves are made…because still a head scratcher to me…I did have a scout tell me moves perplex him too most times so that makes me feel a little better.) The thing is with the Dodgers they have so much money they can just go out and buy a player they need instead of using guys in their system, which causes a jam throughout the entire system. (That’s another blog for another time.)
 
I started noticing all the changes when I was literally having to check the roster on the First Pitch app multiple times a game because I didn’t know who the guy coming in to pitch was or who was playing second base or right field.
 
I would have at least Ashley to sit with during the games. There were even stretches where there were six significant others at the games. The past few games I’ve been sitting by myself until the last few innings when pitchers/inactive players’ wives come to the game. I feel like I’ve been constantly meeting a new wife or girlfriend this season (which isn’t a bad thing!)
 
Bless the person who is putting the programs together for ONEOK Field because no way they can be accurate with all the moves.
 
In our apartment, we’ve had a player who was in Tulsa for eight days stay with us. Now, we have another guy staying in Mike and Ashley’s room since they are in Arizona for  rehab.  

I was talking with a season ticket holder and someone who has been coming to ONEOK Field since existence (2010), and he said he has never seen anything like what is happening with the Drillers this season. “It’s been so crazy,” he said. “I check the app everyday to see the moves, and I still can’t keep up once I’m at the games.”
 
Matt even mentioned a player for the other team a few games ago asked if the Drillers line-up has ever been the same at any point this season.
 
The process of minor league baseball is something so unique (crazy, weird, unpredictable, sometimes unfair) in the sports world. There is really nothing else like it across the board in any sport. So think about that the next time you’re talking trash at your Friday Fireworks minor league game. These guys just try to play their best to put themselves in a position. Everything else is 100% out of their control.
 
And I didn’t even get into what it is like for their families...
 
For Matt, he has said it’s been a little weird (but not much else honestly because what can you do). Several of the guys that came in were signed from outside the Dodgers system so basically playing with strangers. But he said it best, “Nothing in minor league baseball is comfortable, and we’re used to that. We all just want to play our best, and that’s all the matters.”

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