Season 5 Rookies: The Kids are OK (August 10, 2020)

Season 5 is inching closer to the All Star Break, and so it’s time to get thoughts from some ‘Rona Rookies on how their first year playing Redditball has gone, so far. I sat down with Hunter Scott (a Louisville Cardinals alum and current Detroit pitcher), Monica Clinton (Wichita State University Shockers alum, currently an outfielder with the Expos), Brusdar Gatorade (Nebraska Huskers alum currently pitching for Miami), Brian Taylor (Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket and current Braves pitcher) and Truck Month (Coastal Carolina Chanticleer alum and current Mariners outfielder) to pick their brains about their nascent MLR careers, both between the chalk lines and a bit from in the locker rooms.

College Ball vs The Show
When asked how well they felt FCB prepared them for MLR, Truck Month admitted that learning the Mariners’ scouting system was a bit confusing at first, because that was not much of an emphasis at CC. Monica echoed that sentiment to a certain extent: “I think [FCB] more just told me what to do and then booted me out, like a fledgling bird.” He added, though, “It was, however, the most fun I’ve had in fake baseball so far.”

In contrast, Hunter felt FCB prepared him “very well” for MLR. Brian Taylor, who was a late-season walk-on to the Yellow Jackets, also felt FCB gave him a good foundation for success in MLR, and he credits his college coach Matt Hyminamis as being “really great for learning the ropes.”

One common theme among many Season 5 rookies relates to learning just how much bigger the MLR is, when compared to FCB (which is broadly regarded as a far more intimate setting for gameplay). Brusdar summarized it nicely: “I remember first joining the MLR Discord on day one and being shocked by how many channels there were. FCB felt like a smaller, more tight knit version of that, and really allowed me to get to know some of the people more before diving into the larger community that is the main MLR Discord.”

As with most groups of travelling athletes, individual locker rooms tend to take on rather distinct sub-cultures. Taylor notes that the Georgia Tech clubhouse, compared to Atlanta, is quite a bit more social and active, adding though that both environments have been supportive of their young players. Truck Month found that the Mariners and CC clubhouses are fairly similar, with both being somewhat subdued, but he did point out that he enjoys playing video games with his teammates quite a bit. Brusdar also came from a less active college locker room, but has found that the Marlins encourage more off-topic discussions through multiple available channels, which has helped teammates get to know each other better.

Over in Detroit, Hunter feels the locker room there is quite a bit different from Louisville’s, but that there is some carryover from college as one of his fellow rookies there was also a Cardinal teammate. Monica came from what he describes as a very active Shockers clubhouse, and has been traded once already within the season, noting that with the White Sox activity levels were fairly normal, and that the Expos are fairly active as well, though he isn’t sure they were as much fun as he’s been around previously.

Draft Day
Each FCB player’s goal is to be drafted following the season. But what approach and expectations do players have? Well, as with everything… it varies! While all the rookies interviewed did listen to the draft podcast to a certain extent, not all had the same goals going into the draft.

Monica: “From just a couple weeks in I was already set on going to the White Sox, and I really hoped I was picked up, going as far as tanking my MEE6 leaderboard position from 5th to 30th so it'd looked like I had lost interest. It worked, and I was their first round pick at 18th. Big thanks go out to the Reds GM though, who wanted to draft me but ended up passing on me and letting me go to the White Sox. I listened to the live podcast, and spoke on it briefly too. It was pretty mediocre though.”

Hunter: “I was hoping to go to a few teams but I was fine with most of them. I didn't really care about position, later rounds means less pressure and better teammates with those earlier round picks. I didn't listen to the whole podcast, most of the first round and I rewatched the moment when I was drafted.”

Truck Month: “I initially was told I'd probably get picked up by the Braves quite early, like top 10 or so and many mock drafts had me super high. I wanted to go to the Mariners initially and fell all the way to #47 and told Cal to just draft me as a joke. That joke turned out pretty well I'd say. I did listen to the pod cast a little bit and went on it when I got drafted as well, that was kinda fun.”

Brusdar: “I’d say there were a few teams that I particularly was hoping for, although I genuinely just wanted to get drafted anywhere. I was really hoping to go somewhere in the first round and believed I had the draft stock to go in that range. I listened to the draft podcast up until I got selected, after that I tuned out. I also spoke on Jayy’s Drafthouse podcast a few days before the draft, so that might have helped impact my draft stock.”

Brian: “Going into the draft, I was happy with going in the first two rounds, mainly because I had no idea what I needed to be a successful prospect. I had no real connections with any MLR clubs, so I had no expectations when it came to getting selected by any specific team. I watched the draft podcast through the first round and I even made an appearance during the 2nd round. It was a pretty good time overall.”

Playing in and contributing to MLR
And so, with the season past the halfway mark, I asked each of these rookies how they feel about their playing time and performance so far. Hunter felt fine with the amount of playing time he’s received in Detroit, though he feels he could improve on his performance, thus far. Brian also expressed dissatisfaction with his pitching stats (over 1ER/inning, as of the time of interview), adding that while he’d like more chances to pitch, the Atlanta rotation is unique in that there’s one starting pitcher and everyone else comes in out of the bullpen. He also recognized that ultimately, individual playing time is secondary to winning.

Truck Month believes he’s performed quite well personally (.308/.400/.846), and he’s happy with his playing time. He feels that the Mariners (5-5) have been unlucky but are close to being competitive again. Brusdar and Monica also expressed that they are very happy with playing time on their respective clubs, and think that their performances have been respectable. Brusdar feels he has not been “exceptional”, however, and he would “like to change that.” MiLR has a reputation of being a goof for many players, and interestingly enough, Monica felt that some advice received in the minors may not have been the most helpful. “If I had stopped taking so much advice in MiLR I would've had a much better[slash] line.”

Not all activity within Redditball is related to throwing, hitting and catching the ball. There are plenty of opportunities to be involved in the community in other capacities, and the ‘Rona Rookies have definitely made an impact in Season 5 already by participating in MLR extra-curriculars. Two rookies have even gone so far as to develop two popular pickup games with their own (eponymous) servers: the speed-pitching Alexball and the HRD-driven BrianBall (which will be hosting an FCB Alumni Tournament, during the All Star Break after Session 13). Among the 5 interviewed are umpires, minor league captains, developers of player name contests, and members of several MLR committees. Nobody can claim the Season 5 Draft Class is short on leadership!

Surprises and Storylines
Given time, both personalities and storylines tend to emerge within a community like Redditball, and there’s been no shortage of interesting characters and events in the past 6 months. When asked which player (college or established) has surprised them since the draft, and what their most/least favorite storyline of the season has been so far, there were some surprise responses, and a couple mentions that were to be expected.

Monica came out strong saying he’s surprised that as many people like Guido Ligiorno (CC alum and current Brewers outfielder) as they do, because he was “a dick to me in FCB.” He was quick to add though that he’s happy Guido is enjoying time with the Brew Crew. As for his most/least favorite storyline for the season, Monica looked inward and answered deadpan, “my career so far […] active, drama, shock trades. Interesting enough.” For sure he’s been a headliner in a few different scenarios this season.

Hunter also pointed to “himself” as a surprising story – surprised both at being drafted by Detroit, and also going there with his college batterymate. His college pitching stats and pre-ping persona probably should have warranted a higher draft position, but for whatever reason, teams took a pass for longer than expected.

Brusdar named Cap as the biggest surprise coming out of the draft. “He went from being a name we kinda knew to a guy that pretty much everyone in the MLR community knows very well. He’s the most active rookie on the MLR Mee6 leaderboard, and he’s honestly a great guy as well.”

Relatedly, Brian mentioned both Trevor Rose, and Brusdar as his biggest surprises coming out of the draft. For all the buzz created by Trevor’s surprising #2 overall draft, Rose has not made much of a splash since then. Conversely, Brian has been surprised at how well Brusdar has done, and is looking forward to what he does in the remainder of the season.

Truck Month did not have any specific players or storylines around others in main which were startling, as he reminded me he tends to stick to the Mariners’ server. He did indicate that within the M’s circle, teammate “Alaina Mclean is a very surprising player and has been fun to watch play.”

When it comes to story arcs within the greater community, two stand out strongly within MLR and one came up from FCB days. No-one should be shocked to hear that Pittsburgh’s so-far undefeated (10-0) season is on everyone’s radar, but it’s split opinions among our interviewees. Brian listed it as his favorite story of the year, which makes complete sense coming from him, given all the GT alumni on the roster, and Matt’s success there as GM. Hunter, however, indicated that is his least favorite storyline of the year. Haters gonna hate.

The other big story which resonated with the ‘Rona Rookies has come to be known as The Experiment. Highly touted prospect Cali Guerensk (pronounced “lamp”) found himself drafted #9 overall by the Angels, and parked firmly in the minors for 5 sessions. Cries to “free Cali” gained momentum around the 4th session, and he eventually was traded up the coast to Oakland. Brusdar and Hunter cited The Experiment as simultaneously the least favorite (pre-trade) storyline, and most favorite (post-trade) storyline of the year.

From the annals of Fake College Ball Session 5, the Louisville Cardinals made a name for themselves more off the field than on, by changing their player names font to Wingdings, and by the Nic Fouss-lead movement of posting an Egg emoji response on every comment in the general chat on the FCB server for one full session each. These shenanigans landed them on Brian’s least-favorite storyline list.

And on the “odd” side of things, Truck Month let me know that his favorite storyline was the head-scratching Bluellama/Scheff incident of mid-May. “That made my week in MLR”, he said.

Looking ahead
So what does the future hold for our rookies? Hopefully continued success, memorable games and intensely-fun number guessing. As for predictions on Season 5, Brusdar took a pass on any predictions, but everyone else had at least Pittsburgh and/or Houston in the title game. Monica chose the Pirates as victors over Houston, and Brian and Truck Month picked Houston to win out. Hunter only confirmed his bias in predicting Detroit and Pittsburgh will meet, but he declined to name his winner.

Beyond S5, Monica, Brusdar and Brian hope to return to FCB as a GM at some point. Brusdar would “be beyond ecstatic if FCB returns for Season 6. I loved my experience in Nebraska, and would love to help the next generation of MLR out as the next manager for the Huskers or any college team. I think it would be my way of really paying back for how FCB helped me become the player that I am.” Brian would “love to GM a team in season 6 of FCB, whether that means coming back to Georgia Tech or if that means coaching an upstart squad in a northern Florida school with a reptilian mascot.”

Getting Personal
I asked each of the interviewees the same set of questions above, and also gave them one unique question to answer.

For Truck Month: “What's your baseball background (fan only or play/played some) and how did you come to redditball?”
Answer: “I have played baseball on varsity throughout high school and am a huge Mariners fan. I stumbled into fake baseball from r/baseball.”

For Brian Taylor: “Do you think FCB or MiLR should change as far as size (expand/contract), and why?”
Answer: “I think that with the current system, expanding or contracting either FCB or MiLR doesn't make sense. We would have to shift towards a year-round advertising system and maintain a steady stream of new players to justify expanding either system. I personally prefer FCB as a training method for newer players and it currently works as it is. I do think that we should have designated MiLR players at some point, but they shouldn't be locked into a certain team. I would like to see new players that join in between FCB season be able to sign MiLR contracts with whichever team they choose and then have any MLR team be able to sign them from there. Kind of how the Lemons act like a FA team for the rest of the league can sign from, but every team. But, to actually answer your question, the current amount of players currently in the league presents no reason to expand or contract either league. If the league expands to the point where most to all teams have full rosters and we have an abundance of free agents looking for a team, then we can discuss changing the minor league system.”

For Brusdar Gatorade: “What do you "get out of" Redditball the most? (ie: what's your takeaway from this number guessing game)”
Answer: “I think what I get out the most is definitely the sense of community that Fake Baseball has built. Maybe the full on MLR community may be a bit more extreme of a community, but I think the thing I most enjoy, or get out of Redditball, is definitely the Marlins clubhouse. Granted, that’s my point of view. I know some players get more take away from the number guessing aspect of it, or the spirited debates in committee, and that’s perfectly fine. In fact, it’s also what makes MLR so compelling. There’s a little bit of everything here in MLR, and my biggest takeaway is how once you get people driven on something they’re passionate about, they can turn it into something bigger. Like, Fake Baseball really started out as an idea that Jayy had for a number guessing game with a baseball roleplaying element to it, and look at how it’s involved into this huge community of several hundred players in the span of only three years. I know this community isn’t always sunshine and rainbows, we have our arguments and drama, but at the end of the day, I feel like so long as this community remains interested in the idea of taking this number guessing game and elevating it into something else, then I think MLR will be just fine no matter the hardships it may face.”

For Hunter Scott: “How do you feel about your reputation within the community?”
Answer: “I'm fine with it. I know most people don't like me but I'm ok with it. It just happened organically. People didn't like the hellos and then they didn't like me so I wasn't really trying to be hated it just kind of happened as a mix of all the stuff I did.”

For Monica Clinton: “What have you enjoyed the most of in the community, which you think is underrated?”
Answer: “I think it would probably be individual clubhouses. They're often like really unique from one another, and although it's a bit hard to gauge what team would be best for a person I think Free Agents should be a bit happy that among the 30 teams, at least one probably suits their taste.”

Thank you
Many thanks to Monica, Brusdar, Brian, Truck Month and Hunter for taking the time to provide these candid answers, and to you the reader for taking the time to read their responses.

Ferret McGivins is an old-as-dirt S5 rookie, webmaster and co-captain for the Milwaukee Brewers, and an alumni of FCB’s Louisville Cardinals. She thinks the Pirates will win it all in Season 5, she was most surprised by Cap’s emergence as the most active ‘Rona Rookie on main, and she thinks this whole number-guessing game is a silly and awesome way to keep in touch with a wide variety of baseball nerds from around the globe.