he's chasing dreams hitting seams.
she's chasing dreams talking sports.
Danny Ash and Dustin Molleken grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The two went to different schools, knew each other growing up but their paths didn’t cross.
Dustin went on to be drafted out of high school. Danny went on to play college basketball for five years of eligibility and earn her teaching degree. After graduating, Danny landed her dream job teaching health and French at her high school which is how she and Dustin ended up being linked together. “I didn’t realize I was teaching Dustin’s cousins until one day he came up to me and told me he really needed to talk to me about something,” Danny said. “He found me at lunch and asked me if I was seeing anyone. I laughed in his face because I was like this 15-year-old boy is asking me out. He quickly said no, no, no, I have a cousin, and he thinks you’re really good looking, and he wants to asks you out. He told me it was Dustin, and I got Dustin’s number from him.” Dustin and Danny went on a couple of dates before Dustin went to Panama to play for the Canadian team during the off season. “When he left for Panama, I was thinking well that was fun,” Danny said. “While he was there, we talked every single day and hung out before the next season. Since we were older when we met, things got serious pretty quickly. We did distance the next (2011) season.” During the summer of the 2012 season, Dustin signed to play in Japan. Danny traveled to Japan for about a month before starting the school year. For the 2013 season, Dustin signed to play with Japan again. Danny had to make a decision. “I decided to resign from my teaching job and travel with Dustin to Japan,” Danny said. “We decided at that time our relationship was the most important thing, and we knew we couldn’t focus on that across the world from each other.”
0 Comments
Carolina Carmichael moved from Illinois to Tennessee for a track and field scholarship at the University of Memphis.
Memphis gave her two life changing things: a stellar pole vaulting career and her husband. Carolina was a freshman, and Memphis native Sam Moll was a junior pitcher for Memphis. The two first met in April 2013. “My best friend was dating a baseball player which is how I met Sam,” Carolina said. “She told me ‘yeah, Sam is stud’, but I knew nothing about baseball, so I really wasn’t impressed.” Carolina and Sam spent one week together getting to know each other before Carolina headed back to Illinois for summer break. “We had mentioned to people that we were just talking,” Carolina said. “So it got kind of awkward because a few days after I got home he texted me and told me he was just drafted in third round. I was like what, what does that even mean.” Carolina’s dad played college baseball and played a stint in the minor leagues. “I went to my dad and told him this guy I was talking to was just drafted in the third round and asked him if that was good,” Carolina said. “My dad thought I was crazy for being kind of clueless and explained the process to me a little bit then he told me I needed to keep talking to this guy and hang on to him.” Sam was sent to the Rockies short season team after being drafted, and Carolina quickly learned the minor league life. “We had a lot of Skype time,” Carolina said. “It was so weird because I wasn’t going to fly across the country to visit this guy I had barely met, but we talked every single day. I listened to all the games. I guess we used the distance to really get to know each other.” Sam is from Memphis. His family still lives there. So for the offseason, Sam was back in Memphis and Carolina was back too for the school year. “Luckily, his home was Memphis because I’m not sure how all of this would have worked if we both weren’t in Memphis during the offseason,” Carolina said. “The same night he got back from season he came over to my place, and we were like oh hey so good to see you...” That offseason Carolina and Sam spent every day together. “He was coming to all my indoor meets, and he met my parents,” Carolina said. “Before he left for the 2014 season, we finally had the like ok-we’re-doing-this-you’re-my-boyfriend conversation.” If you guys follow the blog on Instagram (@dreamsandseams_), you saw my first taste of big league camp fails on Feb. 20.
So those instances made me think I should just go ahead and start a running blog of my big league camp struggles and lessons. 1) On Feb. 20, the Dodgers did live batting practice for the first time. (Live batting practice is where the pitchers throw to hitters in a game like situation.) I decided I wanted to go see Matt at camp before the actual games start. He sends me the schedule to let me know what field he will be on. I get to Camelback. After walking around trying to figure out how to get to field three, I asked an usher how to get to field three. He tells me to keep walking around the path I get to the field. So I keep walking around — keep in mind I'm watching field three from a far and it is literally the only field in the complex you can't get to. I get around to the minor league side and ask that usher how I get to field three. He says I can't unless I have a wristband. I then proceed to ask what a wristband does. He says members of players family get wristbands that lets them go freely throughout the complex. The players have to get the wristbands each day for the member of the family. OHHH that's new to me and to Matt. Lesson number one, get a family wristband. Otherwise you'll be creep-ily watching from the space in the outfield fence...oh and you missed live batting practice. 2) Trying to pick Matt up is a struggle. This only happened once, and I haven't went to pick him up again. The entrance into the big league player parking lot is fenced from the top of the regular parking lot down to the gate that enters the player parking lot. The fence is there to keep the fans out and allow a clear path for the players, personnel, etc. to come in and out. Anyway, I go to pick up Matt, and the attendant at the start of the path wouldn't let me in because I wasn't on the list. And I even dropped him off that morning. Granted it was a new guy at the start, and we got it worked out but I was still just laughing at how different this process was than what I'm used to on the minor league side. *I should also say I am VERY thankful for the security and protocols because it keeps Matt safe. But I'm just out here learning.* From the Stands is a series where WAGS share their journeys in baseball.
Stephanie was a senior at the University of Miami, and Harold Martinez was a sophomore third baseman at UM when they met. Stephanie explains the two met through a group of friends after…a baseball game, of course. “We didn’t see each other for a little bit,” Stephanie said. “We reconnected through friends again, got to know each other and have been together ever since.” Harold was drafted by the Phillies in the second round of the 2011 draft after his junior season. “At the end of a dream season Harold’s sophomore year, he got hurt and never really felt the same during his junior season,” Stephanie said. “So, going into the draft we weren’t really sure what was going to happen. When the Phillies reached out in the second round, we were really surprised but excited and grateful. And then began the craziness of minor league baseball.” Following the 2011 season, Stephanie and Harold got engaged. The following offseason the two were married — Nov. 2012. In 2013, Harold started the season in High-A. “High-A was interesting. He could never seem to get out of there for different reasons,” Stephanie said. “I’ll never forget when I left a few days before spring training ended, and they still hadn’t posted the team assignments. Everyone had been talking to him like he was going to AA. We knew you couldn’t really plan on anything in this career, but then he called me and told me he was going back to Clearwater (High-A) for the third time. It was really frustrating.” Harold faced several injuries and other setbacks. Stephanie says they realize how those hard times really made them stronger in their relationship and in their relationship with God. “Without our relationship with God, it would have been impossible to make it through everything.” If you’re reading this, it means the Dodgers – finally – announced their 2018 Big League Camp (BLC) non-roster invites.
Anddd guess who is one of them? Yep, Matty B. We’ve known (unofficially) through Matt’s agent he was getting an invite since the winter meetings. He got a call from the Dodgers a couple of weeks ago, which made it official. And I’ve been waiting for the Dodgers and media to announce the invites to the public before sharing with you guys. I wanted to write this post and explain what exactly getting a BLC invite means. Just slow your roll before you start freaking out and telling everyone Matt is officially with the Dodgers. Because he isn’t. Every Spring Training each MLB team invites players to BLC who are not on their official 40-man roster. The number of invites varies each year and between each club. The Dodgers invited 22 players this spring training. Essentially the non-roster invites are competing for a spot on the 25-man/opening day roster. Matt and I know he isn’t really competing for a spot this ST but to earn an invite is a great accomplishment in and of itself. Also, having a strong ST at BLC will help him make a case to be put on the 40-man roster after next season to save him from the rule-5 draft. (Future blog for when that is happening.) |
Matt & Jesica BeatyWelcome in to dreams and seams! A tell-all blog about our career dreams and path to reaching those dreams with some commentary about sports and life plus some videos too. "Strive for the impossible because it makes the possible seem effortless." -Matt Beaty Categories
All
|