Growing up just minutes away from Harbor Park, home of the Baltimore Orioles Triple-A affiliate Norfolk Tides, I’ve always been fascinated with minor league baseball. One of my favorite baseball memories is having my dad explain how the minor league system works and trying to explain to me why it was great that Jorge Toca was my favorite player to watch when went to Tides games (they were a New York Mets affiliate until I left town for college), but I shouldn’t have any hopes of him one day playing in the major leagues.
As I got older, it was fun to go into games blind, watch different players closely, and try to determine for myself whether or not a particular player could have a future in the big leagues or not.