Hickory, NC

Right now I am sitting in my hotel room in Hickory, NC. I made this same trip last year for a few days. The athletic trainer here is taking a few days off so I get a break from Arizona to come up here and cover for him. I flew out of Phoenix yesterday morning into Charlotte. Hickory is about an hour drive from the airport there, so after I picked up my bags and a car I hit the road and arrived in Hickory about 5:00. I checked into the hotel and headed to the ballpark. It is always nice to walk into the clubhouse and see the guys I haven't seen since spring. A good chunk of the guys here played in Spokane at some point last year so I know a lot of them. Last year was my first year with the Rangers, so when I came to cover I only knew a couple of the guys that started in extended or that I got to know a bit from spring training. After saying hello to the staff and getting dressed, it was back to work. One of the good things here is that there is only about 25 guys compared to the over 50 in AZ. The injury report is not too big and there are only a handful of guys that need some maintenence work, so the workload is also getting a break for me. Unfortunately, the Crawdads 9 game win streak came to an end last night so I took plenty of heat for coming in and changing things. At least the outfield/baserunning coordinator also came in yesterday so it did not all get put on me.

The difference between extended spring and Hickory baseball-wise is not that big (tehy are basically just 1 level apart), but the atmosphere is worlds apart. The main difference is the fans. I think the most I have seen in AZ is probably about 10 people and that was a HUGE crowd. I think one of the Padres guys had his whole family at the game. The noise at the game is nice here also. There is the buzz in the stands, the announcer introducing the hitter, the music between pitches and batters, and all the usual dugout chatter. The guys that haven't played out at an affiliate definitely have a reason to get out of AZ once they experience this brand of minor league baseball. The Hickory Crawdads are also a class organization that treat the players and staff awesome along with L.P. Frans stadium being a great place to watch a game.

I will be here through Monday's 11 am game, so I will get some pictures and post at least one more time while I am up here. Here are a few Hickory guys you can follow to get their perspective this season.

Pitcher Josh Lueke - @josh_lueke on twitter
ATC Jeff Bodenhamer - @BODE_ATC on twitter, http://dadsdugout.mlblogs.com, 'Dads Dugout on Facebook