I don't have Insider Access, but if anyone does, here is what Keith Law just tweeted:
QuoteNew draft blog post for Insiders - Valparaiso RF Kyle Gaedele, the grand-nephew of the famous PH Eddie Gaedel: http://klaw.me/eoWQ6D (http://klaw.me/eoWQ6D)
Here is the excerpt that is free:
QuoteMost fans of baseball history are aware of the story of Eddie Gaedel, the only little person to appear in a major league game. At 3-foot-7, Gaedel was the subject of a publicity stunt by baseball's master of publicity stunts, Bill Veeck, who was then the owner of the sad-sack St. Louis Browns. Gaedel pinch-hit in the first inning of the back end of a doubleheader, drew a walk on four pitches -- the pitcher, Bob Cain, apparently laughing too hard to throw a strike -- and was removed for a pinch-runner. The next day, American League president Will Harridge voided Gaedel's contract, although by that point Veeck had already achieved his objective.
I do know the story.
Can I assume that the grand-nephew is not, himself, a little person?
no, he isn't little at all. I don't know his exact size but his interview on the Valpo sports site (lower area with video) indicates that his coach expects him to be a first or second round draft pick. Don't know if Valpo has ever had a first or second round pick, certainly not in many years.
It's a wonder that St. Paul Saints owner Mike Veeck hasn't asked the Gaedeles to make an appearance in Minnesota yet.
Story about Mike Veeck in Inc. Magazine
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20050401/how-i-did-it.html (http://www.inc.com/magazine/20050401/how-i-did-it.html)
This nut didn't fall far from the tree. Veeck's father, Bill, spent about 40 years tweaking Major League Baseball's stuffed shirts with his legendary promotions -- including sending a midget up to bat -- and bequeathed to Mike an appreciation for the absurd.
Quote from: bbtds on March 14, 2011, 11:58:43 PM
It's a wonder that St. Paul Saints owner Mike Veeck hasn't asked the Gaedeles to make an appearance in Minnesota yet.
Story about Mike Veeck in Inc. Magazine
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20050401/how-i-did-it.html (http://www.inc.com/magazine/20050401/how-i-did-it.html)
This nut didn't fall far from the tree. Veeck's father, Bill, spent about 40 years tweaking Major League Baseball's stuffed shirts with his legendary promotions -- including sending a midget up to bat -- and bequeathed to Mike an appreciation for the absurd.
I'll never forgive Veeck Sr for polluting Comiskey Park with a promotion by a puny man named Steve Dahl (and I detest disco with every fiber of my being).
He is a very good player, but I doubt that he would go in the first or second rounds. I would say that a good bet would be at most in the 'teen rounds, which is still very very good! As a coach, he is always going to say something higher than expected.
I've seen him listed in Top 150 draft prospects for this year. I'm guessing he goes somewhere in the first 10 rounds.
Gaedele has dropped a bit in batting average this year but all his other stats have been great so far, though he may not reach the same numbers as last year (he'll need a strong final stretch). He has a good K:BB ratio going and has continued with the speed already notching more steals this year. Hopefully he is drafted somewhere he can get a good opportunity to prove himself.
He is definitely impressing me more and more with each game, though his avg is not as high as last year. I look forward to good things from him over the next few weeks and in his pro career
Gaedele story makes Chicago Tribune.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/cbsports-valpos-gaedele-hoping-baseball-career-no-short-stint-20110605,0,3337770.story (http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/cbsports-valpos-gaedele-hoping-baseball-career-no-short-stint-20110605,0,3337770.story)
It is going to be a great day for Kyle. Congratulations to him!
Also makes the Indianapolis Star
http://www.indystar.com/article/20110606/SPORTS/106060342/Valpo-s-Gaedele-should-go-high?odyssey=mod (http://www.indystar.com/article/20110606/SPORTS/106060342/Valpo-s-Gaedele-should-go-high?odyssey=mod)|newswell|text|IndyStar.com|s
Congrats to Kyle, and best wishes in his future.
Is there a list of former Valpo players that have made the big leagues? Was McClendon (senior) the last Valpo player in the bigs?
Quote from: covufan on June 06, 2011, 02:53:29 PM
Congrats to Kyle, and best wishes in his future.
Is there a list of former Valpo players that have made the big leagues? Was McClendon (senior) the last Valpo player in the bigs?
Ask and you shall receive, http://www.thebaseballnexus.com/college/valpo (http://www.thebaseballnexus.com/college/valpo) Sadly, it is not a very impressive list....yet.
Kyle didn't go one the first day - no surprise, just 60 names in the first and "supplemental first" rounds. He should go today, with rounds 2-30. Things wrap up Wednesday - there are apparently 60 rounds to this business!
The MLB Draft basically goes on forever until all of the clubs pass on making a selection.
I imagine you are being facetious :-), but the draft has 50 rounds each year. It used to be where it went 60-70+ rounds, but they changed that several years back. Mike Piazza was one of the more well-known really late picks in the 62nd round, basically as a favor too.
Kyle was just selected in the 6th round by San Diego, with pick number 203.
A bit of a snub? No chance he stays at Valpo though, I guess.
It sounded like San Diego pronounced Valparaiso correctly, while the MLB guy pronounced it Valpa-rye-so.
Best of luck to him!
Any idea what sort of contract a guy in the 6th round is likely to take home?
Baseball America tweet:
#Padres 6th rd: Valparaiso OF Kyle Gaedele. Big lg body & plenty of tools, some ? on bat so slid a little. Related to Eddie.
Last year MLB recommended a bonus of no higher than $150K for picks after the 5th round. Of course teams can go above that if they want.
The good news is that Fort Wayne is the Padres low A affiliate. So he might be starting his career close to home.
I'm not sure about the contract, but based on the round he was drafted into, he could immediately start his career in Fort Wayne with the TinCaps, or Lake Elsinore, so mid-to-upper level A ball for Kyle.
Congrats to Kyle, and I hope that he makes it to the bigs someday! I am sure that the tweet on his bat being a ? is due to his high strikeout percentage, but I am sure he will work through that.
My HS teammate that was drafted in the 13th round out of UT received a $70k bonus back in 2002 after their championship season. Anyone else that I played with or against was usually taken before the 5th round ($100k's), or after the 15th ($30k-$40k), so I can't give more specific to 6th round unfortunately.
Good luck to Kyle, wherever he lands. My guess would be Rookie league, or the short season A Ball league in Eugene.
On another note, Shafer, who was drafted by the Cubs last year, is playing at Peoria, and doing well ERA-wise.
Quote from: covufan on June 07, 2011, 05:46:48 PM
Good luck to Kyle, wherever he lands. My guess would be Rookie league, or the short season A Ball league in Eugene.
On another note, Shafer, who was drafted by the Cubs last year, is playing at Peoria, and doing well ERA-wise.
get him to the majors, asap! maybe he can give the cubs a boost... j/k - i don't know if that's possible. :)
The Yahoo Sports crew, usually a crew of stupid puff piece writers, have published a story about Kyle's being related to Eddie. They mentioned that he was drafted by the Padres, and had a couple of quotes from the Indy Star, but they didn't really do more than say, "Hey! You remember when Bill Veeck played that little guy, Eddie Gaedel? Well, the Padres just drafted his great-nephew. The real story is about Eddie, not his great-nephew, Kyle Gaedele."
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Not-a-gimmick-Padres-draft-great-nephew-of-Eddi?urn=mlb-wp8821 (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Not-a-gimmick-Padres-draft-great-nephew-of-Eddi?urn=mlb-wp8821)
Quote from: valpotx on June 07, 2011, 03:22:16 PM
My HS teammate that was drafted in the 13th round out of UT received a $70k bonus back in 2002 after their championship season. Anyone else that I played with or against was usually taken before the 5th round ($100k's), or after the 15th ($30k-$40k), so I can't give more specific to 6th round unfortunately.
Interesting! Do I remember well that the salary is pretty low in A ball? (I have vague memories of stories about PB&J on the bus?) So, if he pulls in a $100k signing bonus, he might be well advised to hang on to it.
Best of luck to him! The sky's the limit.
Yes, salaries are very low until you get to AAA I believe. I guess it gets somewhat decent in AA, so someone should definitely save their signing bonus if at all possible. A lot of people usually have side jobs in the offseason due to the low pay. For all the millionaires in the pros, there are so many baseball players that are struggling away in the lower levels.
Quote from: valpotx on June 08, 2011, 11:45:41 PM
Yes, salaries are very low until you get to AAA I believe. I guess it gets somewhat decent in AA, so someone should definitely save their signing bonus if at all possible. A lot of people usually have side jobs in the offseason due to the low pay. For all the millionaires in the pros, there are so many baseball players that are struggling away in the lower levels.
You find a lot of them working as janitors, security, substitute teachers, all kinds of various side jobs that help them to save up some possible cash, and afford to continue playing baseball until they just can't play anymore, whether injuries, lost interest, family life, teams that don't show interest in them because they can't hit, glove, or get the outs needed.
Quote from: valporun on June 09, 2011, 12:38:52 PM
Quote from: valpotx on June 08, 2011, 11:45:41 PM
Yes, salaries are very low until you get to AAA I believe. I guess it gets somewhat decent in AA, so someone should definitely save their signing bonus if at all possible. A lot of people usually have side jobs in the offseason due to the low pay. For all the millionaires in the pros, there are so many baseball players that are struggling away in the lower levels.
You find a lot of them working as janitors, security, substitute teachers, all kinds of various side jobs that help them to save up some possible cash, and afford to continue playing baseball until they just can't play anymore, whether injuries, lost interest, family life, teams that don't show interest in them because they can't hit, glove, or get the outs needed.
Whatever happened to the billionaire minor league baseball player? As I recall, he had bought some property from his grandmother in MA and they found some special rock used in landscaping, I believe. The total amount was worth more than a billion, but it would of course cost a lot of money (and time) to get equipment into the property and mine the rock. By no means was he cash rich, yet.
Quote from: covufan on June 09, 2011, 01:50:17 PM
Quote from: valporun on June 09, 2011, 12:38:52 PM
Quote from: valpotx on June 08, 2011, 11:45:41 PM
Yes, salaries are very low until you get to AAA I believe. I guess it gets somewhat decent in AA, so someone should definitely save their signing bonus if at all possible. A lot of people usually have side jobs in the offseason due to the low pay. For all the millionaires in the pros, there are so many baseball players that are struggling away in the lower levels.
You find a lot of them working as janitors, security, substitute teachers, all kinds of various side jobs that help them to save up some possible cash, and afford to continue playing baseball until they just can't play anymore, whether injuries, lost interest, family life, teams that don't show interest in them because they can't hit, glove, or get the outs needed.
Whatever happened to the billionaire minor league baseball player? As I recall, he had bought some property from his grandmother in MA and they found some special rock used in landscaping, I believe. The total amount was worth more than a billion, but it would of course cost a lot of money (and time) to get equipment into the property and mine the rock. By no means was he cash rich, yet.
OK, here is the article I read a few years ago:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2007/news/story?id=2783310 (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2007/news/story?id=2783310)
I could not find him on www.minorleaguebaseball.com (http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com) I wonder what he is doing these days.
Whatever happened to the billionaire minor league baseball player? As I recall, he had bought some property from his grandmother in MA and they found some special rock used in landscaping, I believe. The total amount was worth more than a billion, but it would of course cost a lot of money (and time) to get equipment into the property and mine the rock. By no means was he cash rich, yet.
[/quote]
OK, here is the article I read a few years ago:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2007/news/story?id=2783310 (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2007/news/story?id=2783310)
I could not find him on www.minorleaguebaseball.com (http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com) I wonder what he is doing these days.
[/quote]
I guess he tried to play in Japan up until last year. The property was for sale at one time:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_White_(baseball) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_White_(baseball))
I'm just listening to the podcast version of Carmen, Jurko, and Harry (formerly The Afternoon Saloon) on ESPN 1000 in Chicago, and they were talking about Kyle being drafted, more because of his great-uncle Eddie, but they were very good natured about it. I'm not sure if Waddle and Silvy mentioned it, but they would have probably made more of a spectacle/debacle out of the story because it didn't involve Chicago sports.
Quote from: covufan on June 09, 2011, 02:47:38 PM
OK, here is the article I read a few years ago:
Sounds more like a "tens of millions"-aire baseball player. Unusual for a minor leaguer, and probably a nice stroke of luck, but maybe not singularly wealthy by baseball standards.
Surprised now one mentioned it, but Gaedele signed with the Padres Saturday.
I keep looking to see where Kyle will go to start his career, but many of the short-season teams are slow in updating their rosters. I'll try to keep looking and will post where he ends up, unless someone knows already?
No surprise, he's starting with their Northwest League team (short-season A), the Eugene Emeralds. Their roster is updated.
Any recent news on KG?
He is struggling around .200 unfortunately. The only Crusader doing well is Bryce Shafer based on numbers. It may take a season or two for Kyle to get up to speed on professional pitching. He struckout a lot in college, and is seeing much better pitching now.