From Nothing to Something: Eben Simon's RTTS [MLB 11]

[NeverEnough]

Before today the thought of playing professional baseball had never crossed my mind. Sure I loved the sport and enjoyed playing it, but I don't think I was ever confident enough in my abilities to think I could take it to the next level. I had never really been an electrifying pitcher, sure I have a pretty wicked fastball, but my secondary pitches aren't really that great.

My journey started way back in the day when my father signed me up for tee ball and I had been playing ever since. I only made 1 all-star team growing up and that wasn't even for the position I play now. During practice one day, my high school coach noticed that I had a lively fastball and wanted me to give pitching a try, and since that day I had loved it.

Of course I was the closer for my high school team freshman through junior year, but come senior year we didn't have depth in our rotation so I was moved to starting pitcher. Being a started posed some challenges as even today I don't have the stamina that a lot of starters have. I ended up having a mediocre season as a starter, but liked it even more than closing. After graduation, I had no college scholarships offered to me and ended up just going to school at my local community college, where I made the team.

This brings us to present day as I have been playing for my CC team and received some news that would change things forever. My college coach called me into his office and had me take a seat. This was pretty unusual and I wasn't sure what to expect. He started

"You know in recent years we have had two guys drafted from our teams, Brett Richardson in '08 and Kris Carlson last year....both by the Kansas City Royals. You know what you have in common with these guys? You're also a right handed pitcher on this team.........but now you also have been drafted. "

At this point I was in shock. In fact I was speechless. I was drafted?!? But by who?



Oh SERIOUSLY?!!!? When I had found out I was drafted by the team I grew up watching, loving, rooting for, and what have you I was so ecstatic. Now I really didn't know what I was going to do. There was only one thing now that I could do, report to the Mariners!

[NeverEnough]

Season Recaps

[NeverEnough]

Awards, All-Stars, etc.

[NeverEnough]

First Baseball Card

So today was a day I will remember for the rest of my life. I went off and signed my contract for $30,000. At the age of 18, getting signed by your favorite team and signing a contract to play baseball for money is one of the greatest things of my life so far. Not only that, but Topps was there at the practice field where I was just throwing off the mound to my catcher, having a little bit of fun. That's right, I now have been put onto my very first baseball card

[NeverEnough]

Not all Fun and Games

So even though today was a lot of fun, there was a lot of business that needed to be discussed as well. After throwing off the mound and goofing around a bit, all the fun and games were over as coach Pankovits called me into his office. He just wanted to get me adjusted and let me know where I stand.

"We're real excited to have you here in our organization as a home prospect, and I'm definitely excited to see what you can do for us here in Jackson. I hear you have a really good fastball, but if you're going to be great one day you're going to have to develop some secondary pitches. Do you have any?"

"Well I have a sinker that decent, and my college coach had tried getting me to add a change up, but I haven't really worked on it a whole lot"

"At least you have some groundwork for us to work with. We'll definitely get you in with Lance and have him work with you. Now as for your spot on the team, we know you've been a starter for the past couple of years, but our rotation is pretty much set right now. We're going to start you off in the bullpen as our long reliever and mop up guy. Basically you'll be an innings eater for now. If you can prove to us that you're more valuable to us in the rotation we'll definitely give you a shot, but for now you'll be coming out of the pen. Alright, so go get acquainted with your new teammates and we look forward to getting you out on the field"

[dragosteelers]

Re: From Nothing to Something: Eben Simon's RTTS [MLB 11]

Nice!

Good luck from here on out! And good job getting in-game pics! I plan to do the same once I find my usb cord to set up the proper equipment this weekend!

I'll be following.

[Pete_Dogg_18]

Re: From Nothing to Something: Eben Simon's RTTS [MLB 11]

I'll follow this for sure, great start like the way your writing it...

[NeverEnough]

Re: From Nothing to Something: Eben Simon's RTTS [MLB 11]

No Time For Nerves

Today I finally got my professional debut. I've been sitting out there in the bullpen and after a week I was starting to wonder when I would finally get my chance to go out there. The time finally came in the top of the 13th inning.

We were tied going into the 13th, but we ended up giving up two runs. When the gate opened and I jogged out to the mound. Now there were two outs, but also runners on first and second. Basically I needed to come out and stop the bleeding so that our offense could try and make back the runs in the bottom half.

The stage was starting to get to me as during my warm up pitches I was kind of getting wild, but when it was actually game time I was ready to go. I started things off with a nice fastball coming in at 95, and my sinker on the next pitch was a sinker on the outside half and the hitter popped it up in foul territory to our first baseman and the inning was over. Our offense was able to pick up a run in the bottom of the 13th, but failed to tied the game and that is how my debut would end.

It was definitely fun to get out there into a game, but I wish it would have lasted a bit longer than that.

[ntobsa]

Re: From Nothing to Something: Eben Simon's RTTS [MLB 11]

cool layout - following this

[NeverEnough]

Sunk!!!

SUNK!!

Simon's Sinker Was in Full Force Today

After my brief debut, I had been sitting in the bullpen for almost a week without any action. I was starting to wonder if they forgot about me, that was until today when I got my second piece of action on the season. This time I new I was going to get a little bit more work as they were asking me to come into the game in the bottom of the 5th inning with runners on first and second with 2 outs. We were behind 5-3 at this point so they were asking me to come in and shut things down.

This was a real pressure situation for me as I didn't want to let my team down and wanted to show my coaches I was ready for this type of situation. Being my first pressure situation I was facing, my adrenaline was really pumping. Fortunately for me we have a great catcher in Steve Baron who was able to help me out. The first pitch I threw was my sinker and the hitter put it on the ground to our second baseman, Kyle Seager, who was able to easily throw him out to get out of that jam.

When I came back out on my own dime I was now calm once again and was ready to work. I continued to work my sinker and was able to get a lot of ground outs. We worked that strategy the rest of the game and I easily cruised through three more innings giving up only 1 hit in each of those innings and also striking out 1 hitter in each of those innings.

Despite not winning the game, I was glad I got to get out there and pitch as well as I did. Hopefully our offense will be able to get on track and score some runs

[NeverEnough]

Cool As Can Be

Cool As Can Be

Nothing Ever Seems to Get to Simon

So yesterday I was able to come out of the pen and pitch pretty well for my team and I figured I would most likely not be called on for a little while again, but the next day I end up getting called on yet again. It's awesome to get to come out of the bullpen and pitch, but at the same time I know that that usually means that I will be put into some kind of crazy situation early in the game or a game in which we're getting blown out or blowing someone out. Either way it is always most likely not a great situation

Today's situation was no different as I got called on in the bottom of the 4th inning with a guy on first and only one out. Not only that, but we were also already losing 6-0. I knew my job coming out was to get the final two outs without giving up the run, and also to eat up a couple innings.

Things started out a little rocky as I immediately gave up a single and put myself into a bad place. Fortunately on the next hitter I got him to drive my sinker to second base and was able to turn the double play to get out of the inning. After that things were easy I got hot and struck out a batter in the 5th inning, and then came back out in the 6th inning and struck out 2 more.

I was taken out after the sixth inning, but I am really starting to get into a nice groove and have started to pitch real well. Also the work I've put in on my sinker has really seemed to be taken affect as it has been my go to pitch in so many situations. With it I have been able to not only get people to ground out a lot, but the hitters seem to be missing it a lot and it has become my strikeout pitch

[NeverEnough]

Nothing but a Fly

Nothing but a Fly

Groundouts are usually the theme when Simon enters, but today it was flyouts that were king

Today the team called on me in a pretty tough spot. It was the eighth inning and I was starting to pack my things up as I figured I wouldn't be getting into the game as we were down 4 to 1, but all of a sudden the phone rang and my bullpen coach told me to start getting loose. I was a bit confused but starting throwing the ball. Then in between innings I was called out to the mound.

As the game was only 4-1 and we were in the top half of the ninth inning, it was my duty to not let any runs come across and give our offense a chance at winning or at least making it a tie in the bottom half of the ninth. This is where things started to get a little weird for me.

I ended up giving up a hit to the first batter I faced. "Great" is what I thought to myself. I had one thing to do out on the mound and I already started in the wrong direction. The next hitter would fly out to Halman in center. "Alright I guess this isn't so bad". Then I was able to force another flyout to Greg. "Flyouts? Uhmmm ok". And finally the fourth hitter of the inning would flyout to Gimenez in left. "This is crazy".

Unfortunately our offense was unable to do anything against Bryan Shaw and that's how the game would end.

[NeverEnough]

A Time of Change?

A Time of Change?

For a second straight outing Simon would get his outs via popups

Today I was back in my normal cleanup role as I got called out to the mound. This was going to be some more tedious work for me as we were down 11-0 in the ninth inning and all I could hope for was to not get rocked and prove my stuff.

I went out there and started throwing my warm up pitches, getting loose. I had a quick conversation with Steve as he told me we were going to stick to our normal routine and work low in the zone to produce some grounders and get out of this thing.

So the first hitter came up to the plate and I made quick work of him as he quickly popped out to Dennis Raben at first base. Then the next hitter would work me a little bit causing a six pitch at bad that would end with a hot line out to Liddi at third. Then on the third hitter I got a quick 0-2 count on him and was gunning for a strikeout, but somehow he got under my pitch and lifted it out to left field for the last out.

I am really not used to all of the fly balls that hitters are starting to get on me and this is a little bit a cause for concern, because sooner or later if they keep doing this, one of those fly balls will leave the yard and that would suck.

[NeverEnough]

Re: From Nothing to Something: Eben Simon's RTTS [MLB 11]

Less than Ideal

Gonzalez gets around on a pitch that doesn't come down

When it is the fourth inning and your bullpen coach tells you to start getting loose, it is a bad thing. This usually means that a- your team is losing big time, and that b- you're going to be pitching a few innings. This wasn't that bad of a situation for me though because this will allow me to show the team I'm ready for the next big step and maybe step into the rotation.

I went out and was excited to be pitching. I was coming into the game today in the fourth inning with a guy on first base and only one out. The team was also down 5 to 0. I was able to get the first guy to hit an easy grounder to Triunfel as shortstop on four pitches and got the double play we needed.

The fifth was a somewhat different story as Mike Gonzalez rocked my world and not in a good way. He took a first pitch circle change on the inside corner and lifted it deep over the left field wall. I was a little upset now as I not put my team in a deeper hole letting the Barons increase their lead to 6. Luckily for me I was able to bounce back after that and didn't allow anymore hits and even struck out a batter.

The sixth would prove to be just as easy as the fourth. I did give up a hit to the first batter again, this one just a single, but there seems to be something about that leadoff hitter that gives me a little bit of a problem. Again I was able to get the second hitter to bounce into a double play. I then jumped out to another 0-2 count and this time I actually struck out the hitter, raising my total to 8 on the season.

Overall a decent outing, but hopefully I continue to pitch strong to try and get into the rotation

[NeverEnough]

Re: From Nothing to Something: Eben Simon's RTTS [MLB 11]

Passed Up On Again

Some strong outings, but staying put for now

Today wasn't that great of day. I was called into coaches office, which is either a good thing or a bad thing. Today it was a bad thing.....of sorts.

My current advancement period ended and I had hoped that I had pitched enough to maybe get into the rotation. However, this was not the case. I was told for the second straight time that I had pitched good enough to possibly move up, but yet again the team doesn't have a roster spot for me.

I was crushed, but understood because our rotation right now is doing pretty well and all are having decent seasons. On top of that it is our bullpen that needs the most help, so hopefully I'll be able to provide good support out of the pen for now I suppose.