Mike Couzens has been named manager of broadcasting and media relations, the Fort Wayne TinCaps announced today.They’d won eight in row going into Tuesday. Jason Hagerty was batting .412 in his last 10 games, .438 in his last five, .309 for the season. Six players had at least 50 RBI; five pitchers had at least 50 strikeouts.
Why, it’s absolutely stunning what these Fort Wayne TinCaps are doing these days. Isn’t it, Randy Smith?
“When we sent this club here to start the year … this was a talented club, very young at the time, inexperienced,” said Smith, the director of player development and international scouting for the San Diego Padres, before the Fort Wayne TinCaps met Bowling Green on Tuesday.
But?
“But if you’d gone around the room and said, ‘Raise your hand if you think so-and-so is a prospect,’ someone probably would have raised his hand for just about every guy at the start of the year for each position,” Smith went on. “I think these guys have just jelled, they’ve gotten better, they’ve gotten experience, they’re getting good leadership from (Nate) Freiman and Hagerty, the college guys. Some of the Latin guys who’d gotten off to a slow start are picking up and doing what we thought they would.
“I think it’s a fun team. And even when they were scuffling at the beginning of the year, they never quit. They played nine innings every day. It’s fun to watch.”
Which might account for the “two or three” trips Smith has made to Fort Wayne this season, plus one side trip to see the TinCaps play at South Bend. Even new Padres general manager Jed Hoyer was in town Monday night to watch the TinCaps come within an out of no-hitting the Hot Rods. Hoyer had to leave early Tuesday to tend to an emergency.
The club he left behind is emblematic of what’s happening up and down the Padres organization, from the National League West-leading parent club to a TinCaps club that’s finding its stride exactly the way Smith and the organization hoped it would.
“To me, a lot of times, progress isn’t measured by results, but fortunately this year, some of it is obviously measured by the results,” Smith said. “You look at what Hags (Hagerty) has done the last five weeks or whatever it is. Freiman’s been consistent. The pitching staff … the development and maturity of the guys in the middle of the infield … (Edinson) Rincon’s been better.
“(Everett) Williams, we think, is a tremendous talent, and every time he seems to get going he’s had an injury that sets him back. I think Danny Payne coming back here, and the way he’s handled coming back and playing every day, the energy that he’s injected and experience he’s injected in the lineup, has helped as well. It’s just a good team to look at it.”
Looking especially good, Smith says, are Hagerty (.309, 13 home runs) and Freiman (.302, 12). Both were expected to produce, but both have perhaps exceeded expectations.
“We liked Hags, we had big expectations going into the year, but you look at his numbers, it’s pretty darn impressive,” Smith said. “And Nate gets a little overlooked because he’s been so consistent all year.
“He’s been right at .300, he drives in runs. He hasn’t had that huge 10-day, two-week stretch like some other guys have had. He just does it day in and day out.”
