Last night I attended the Florida State League Hall of Fame inaugural induction ceremony dinner at the Plaza Resort and Spa in Daytona Beach, FL. As one of the photographers for the FSL I was asked by league President Chuck Murphy if I could document the evening. I was more than happy and honored to do it for Mr. Murphy. I also wanted to do it for the other league photographer Jerry Hale who has been shooting for the FSL for the past five seasons. So I asked him if he would like to take the evening off and enjoy the festivities.

May 31, 2009 is a day that Robinson Chirinos just might remember for the rest of his life. He accomplished a feat that has not happened in the Florida State league for 50 years. The Daytona Cubs catcher hit 2 Grand Slams in a game against the Sarasota Reds at Jackie Robinson Ballpark in Daytona Beach, FL.

In the 4th inning Robinson came up to bat with the bases loaded and I remember thinking to myself 2 things: (1) I better be ready because he just might hit it out (2) He always gives a nice look coming out of the box.  All I can say is that I was right this time on both accounts.

In the 7th inning Robinson came up to bat again with the bases loaded again and he had the same results. He finished the game with 3 hits and 8 RBI's.  It was a career game for him to say the least and in my mind it could not have happened to a nicer guy.

I have been asked a few times since the season finished what is my favorite photo that I took this season. Without a doubt this the one.


Scott

Here is the second half of my post featuring the top 20 prospects of the Florida State League picked by Baseball America. The above photo is Ike Davis of the St. Lucie Mets. This was the only game that I had the chance to see Davis before he was promoted to Double A.

I took this photo of Ben Revere in Daytona when the Miracle were in town to play the Cubs. I also had a chance to get some nice shots of Ben in the Florida State League All Star game in Fort Myers, Florida.

I had a chance to get plenty of a good photos of Starlin while he was with Daytona. I took this shot at the last game that I saw him play in Daytona with the Cubs.

This was the only time I had a chance to see Yonder Alonso. This shot was taken at a Sunday game in Daytona when the Reds were in town to face the Cubs.

  I had a few chances to see Dominic Brown this year and I am proud to say that this photo was used for his Florida State League Top Prospect Card.

I did not have a chance to see Mike when he was the Jupiter Hammerheads this season but I did catch a few games when he was with the Suns in Jacksonville.

Scott

Well it was just your typical bright and sunny day in Florida today... and oh yeah, Stephen Strasburg made his first start in the Florida Instructional League. I covered the game for MiLB.com and for the mere fact that I wanted to see this guy pitch and I can tell you I was not disappointed that I went. I thought he looked good in his first start maybe just a tad on the nervous side, but can you blame him.

I was covering the Brevard County Manatees and Palm Beach Cardinals game at Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Florida when I was able to catch this great play at the plate. Zelous Wheeler barreled into catcher Paul Vazquez at home plate. Vazquez lost his glasses but not the ball and wheeler was tagged out at home for the 2nd time in the game. Below is a few more photos of Wheeler and Vazquez in action from this year.

This the second part of my favorite photos from the Gulf Coast League from this year. I took the photo above of Spencer Hylander at the last GCL game I did this year covering the GCL Nationals and GCL Astros in Viera, Florida. I had a chance to meet Spencer's dad at the game that afternoon and it was a pleasure getting to know him. Thats one of the things I like about covering Minor League Baseball is the people you meet. Below is a few more of my favorites.

Keeping with the Gulf Coast League theme from my last post I thought I would put up some of my favorite GCL photos from this year. The photo above of Daniel Coury of the GCL Braves is my favorite photo from the GCL this year. I knew when I pressed the shutter this was going to be a good one, I really liked the way he made the throw to first. I took the photo at the Braves Spring Training complex at Disney's Wide World of Sports.  The photos below are the first half of my favorite GCL photos from this year.

Baseball America has picked their top 20 players from the Gulf Coast League from this season. From that list I had photos of 2 players in the Top 20, Carlos Perez of the Gulf Coast Blue Jays and Eury Perez of the Gulf Coast League Nationals. The Gulf Coast League is Rookie level baseball that is based in Florida. The Clubs that have Gulf Coast League teams are the Astros, Cardinals, Mets, Nationals, Blue Jays, Braves, Pirates, Phillies, Tigers, Yankees, Oriloes, Rays Red Sox and Twins. I covered some of the games for MiLB this season and was able get photos of players from the Marlins, Blue Jays, Braves, Astros, Yankees and Nationals.

The Gulf Coast League games are normally played on the back fields at the training facilities and you will hardly see any fans attending the games. Occasionally the teams will play on the Spring Training fields but to date I have not been to any of those games. You can see the rest of the top 20 from the Gulf Coast League here.