@YouTheReader The Village Idiot writing about sports (the last time I’m using this for the time being) has a few Public Service Announcements for you on Week to Week Notes…
PSA #1
Where: Grisly Pear - Midtown, 243 W 54th St, New York, NY 10019
When: Tonight at 10 pm
Who: Sharief Johnson is a young and up-and-coming American stand-up comedian, writer, actor, and producer…
Sharief was born in Bayonne, NJ, on April 20, 1993. Sharief split his youth between Georgia and New Jersey. Growing up in unfortunate circumstances he found happiness in laughter! No matter when or where he was, he was always looking to make people laugh! With this mindset, destiny brought him to the stage where he could do just that and the start of his comedy career began! Sharief Johnson has performed at major clubs all over, such as The Stress Factory in New Brunswick, NJ, Gotham Comedy Club in New York City, and Carolines on Broadway just to name a few. This is where he developed his clever style of unique improv, theatrical, and storytelling comedy. Johnson’s most recent accomplishment is winning a comedy competition that was produced by Sirius XM Radio and the Sway in the morning show on SHADE 45. During the competition, the management at Caroline’s on Broadway took notice and Johnson actually will be headlining the prestigious comedy club on April 17th, 2018! Sharief can be seen working in comedy clubs and colleges across the country. He recently just came back from touring the comedy club scene in West Virginia and got right back to work as an actor shooting roles as a Kansas City Chief, New York Red Bull, and a nurse. The man has range @Ladies&Gentleman.
PSA #2
It is officially the official start of the MLB ‘23 season…
because Week to Week Notes says so I’ve decided for the next 6 weeks to dedicate a No Football Friday or Sports&Life to provide @YouTheReader a quick guide to 30 players on each of the Yankees and Mets this upcoming. Relax I’m not going to unveil all 30 players from each team today. I’ll do 5 of each and I’ll add to the living document as we go so for instance next week you’ll have to scroll through this week’s guide. The goal will be to have both teams’ rosters and then some prospects. New York is a baseball town.
New York Baseball 30&30
(The Positional order will be as sporadic as my Spotify Shuffle.)
Centerfield
Yankees: Harrison Bader
Bronxville born and raised, Harrison Bader attended college at the University of Flordia before being drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals. A fellow born in ‘94, he played for Horace Mann School in Riverdale before heading south. With the Cardinals, Bader was named to Baseball America and Topps All-Star Rookie Teams in ‘18, won a Gold Glove in Centerfield in ‘21, and was traded to the Yankees last year for Jordan Montogomery. Harrison Bader is a gamer. He’ll run down balls in the outfield that should drop for hits and hustle out of the box every time, with the exception when he absolutely cranks one to some Bronx cheers like the GIF above. Bader was only put on the Pinstripes for a few months, but his postseason play had him moving up in the batting order and the Bronx fans took notice, he’s already a fan favorite. He’s said his lifelong dream was to play CF for the New York Yankees and he’s living out his own Fairytale in NY. He’ll be playing this year on his contract year and is set to his free agency at the conclusion of the ‘23 season. One of the Yankee fan insiders said they should make him a Yankee for life and I concur.
Mets: Brandon Nimmo
Born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Brandon Nimmo grew up a Rockies fan. He went to Cheyenne East High School and became the highest-drafted Wyomingite in the history of the Major League Baseball Draft when the Mets selected him with the 13th overall pick in ‘11. Nimmo led the National League in triples in ‘22 with 7. He has a really good eye for the strike zone, will work counts, and draw walks. His patience at the plate and bat-to-ball skills make him a very solid lead-off hitter. A signature part of his game that is unique is that he will sprint to first base after walking at the dish. The Mets owner, Uncle Stevie, signed Nimmo to an 8-year $162 million dollar contract this offseason, so he’s set to be patrolling an outfield spot in Citi Field until ‘30.
Backup Catcher
Yankees: Kyle Higashioka
Born in Huntington Beach, California, Kyle Higashioka played for Edison High School in his hometown and was set to attend the University of California, Berkeley for college baseball before the Yankees drafted him in the 7th round of the ‘08 MLB Draft. He was a member of the NY Yankees organization from the time he was fresh out of high school but didn’t make his debut on the MLB level until ‘17 as a 27-year-old. His perseverance to stick with baseball even when he may have felt stuck in the minor leagues should be applauded. In the big leagues as a part-time player, Higashioka has done some cool feats like hitting 3 home runs in a game in ‘20 (becoming only the 24th Yankee to do so and was first to do so while batting 9th) and also caught Corey Kluber’s no-hitter in ‘21 (first Yankee no-hitter since David Cone’s perfect game in 1999). Like most backup catchers, Higashioka is known for his solid defensive work behind the plate he also adds above-average pop when he’s standing there with a bat too. This will be Higashioka’s first contract year as a member of the NY Yankees major league team, it would be nice to have him back.
Mets: Tomás Nido
Another fellow ‘94, Tomás Nido was born in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. At only the age of 11, his mother competed as a swimmer for the Puerto Rican team in the 1968 Olympics, and his father won a medal in tennis during the 1982 Central American and Caribbean Games. He played for Puerto Rico’s High School Baseball Academy before moving to Flordia and attending Flordia State University. The Mets drafted Tomás Nido in the 8th round of the ‘12 MLB Draft. Like the Yankees’ backup catcher, Nido did not make his MLB debut until the ‘17 season with the Mets and is known for his defense first&foremost. Nido is a below-average hitter with little pop, but he’s a team player who led the MLB in sacrifice bunts in ‘22 with 12 of them. It was very mean of the Mets players to not celebrate Nido’s first home run of the season as shown in the GIF above. Are there locker room issues heading into the season?
2nd Base
Yankees: Gleyber Torres
Born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, Gleyber Torres found baseball as an escape from civil unrest in Venezuela. His fellow countryman, Omar Vizquel, was his favorite player growing up so he played shortstop. (Source: NJ.com) He signed as an international free agent in ‘14 with the Chicago Cubs. He never made an MLB debut with Chicago because they traded him to the NY Yankees for Aroldis Chapman the year they snapped the Curse of the Billy Goat. At 21 years old, Gleyber Torres made his Bronx Pinstripes debut. He immediately provided the team with a jolt of youthful energy which included his walk-off home run in ‘18 shown in the GIF above. In ‘18 & ‘19, Torres was an MLB All-Star as a second baseman, turning double plays with Didi Gregorius at short while he hit 62 homers combined in those two All-Star seasons. By ‘20, the Yankees decided it was time to move Gleyber Torres back to his original position of SS and let Didi walk. Gleyber struggled with the transition back to his old position as he was just settling in at 2B. This may have had an effect on Gleyber’s hitting as his home run totals have significantly declined to only a combined 36 in the past 3 seasons. Last year he started to look like his old self for a bit as he was moved back to 2B full-time, but in my opinion, the home run totals for him should be thrown out the window. He is far too good of a natural hitter to be swinging for the fences, he should be spraying the ball all over the field like he was doing in ‘18 & ’19 and the home runs will come. ‘23 is a big year for Gleyber Torres as the Yankees still have another year of team control so he will enter arbitration in ‘24 before being set to become a free agent in ‘25. The Yankees also have a plethora of young kids who can play middle field, so Torres will have plenty of competition, but if he plays like he did when he was the kid on the team, he’ll have nothing to worry about.
Mets: Jeff McNeil
Born in Santa Barbara, California, Jeff “Flying Squirrel” McNeil, was a golfer growing up. He didn’t start playing baseball in high school until his senior year. After just one season of baseball in high school, Long Beach State offered him a scholarship before the Metds drafted McNeil in the 12th round of the MLB draft of ‘13. He made his MLB debut with the Mets in ‘18 but didn’t really break out on the NY scene until he made the NL All-Star team in ‘19 when he hit 23 home runs with a .318 batting average. A below-average fielder, McNeil didn’t really have much of a home in the field until settling into more full-time as 2B with Cano getting cut. In an era of baseball where everybody seems to be trying to hit home runs, Jeff McNeil is a bit of a joy to watch hit. He sprays the ball all over the field and hits for a high batting average. He even led the MLB in batting average last year (.326) and has hit over .300 in 4 of his 5 MLB seasons. McNeil has versatility on defense and can play the outfield in a pinch, but Buck would really only be deploying him in spots outside of 2B just because he wants his bat in the lineup. Uncle Stevie just gave Jeff McNeil 4 years and $50 million so, hopefully, he has tough enough skin for me to say the nickname is weird man.
#3 Starting Pitcher
Yankees: Luis Severino
Born in Sabana de la Mar, Dominican Republic, Luis Severino in another fellow ‘94. He signed with the Yankees as an international free agent while still in high school and made his debut as a 21-year-old in the Bronx. In ‘15 as a rookie, Sevy pitched to a 2.89 ERA (the average runs he would give up every 9 innings he pitched) and had 56 strikeouts in 62.1 innings pitched. Thus in ‘16, Severino had a ton of expectations put on a 22-year-old’s right shoulder and he struggled as a starter out of the gate. The Yankees moved him to the bullpen that year and he became an effective relief pitcher. In ‘17, Sevy was determined to become the Yankees ace and he did so by pitching to a 2.98 ERA with 19 wins. He made the All-Star team and came in 3rd place in the AL CY Young that year. In ‘18 he followed up with another great year on the mound before dealing with arm injuries in ‘19 that have lingered to today. That said, in ‘22, Sevy did make 19 starts, pitched to a 3.18 ERA, and averaged over a strikeout an inning. ‘23 will be a massive year for Luis Severino as this is his contract year with the team he signed with back in ‘11, hopefully, he can stay healthy and get a nice contract from the Steinbrenner family.
Mets: Kodai Senga
Born in Gamagōri, Aichi, Japan, Kodai Senga started playing baseball with a rubber ball in middle school (according to Wikipedia, hopefully, someone credible wrote that tidbit but we’re running with it on Week to Week Notes). He made his professional debut in ‘12 in the Nippon Professional Baseball league in Japan (the NPB is Japan’s equivalent to the MLB in the United States). Senga was a 3-time NPB All-Star, making the team in ‘13, ‘17, and ‘19. He also led the league in strikeouts in ‘19 & ‘20 and won the Japanese Series Championship 5 times in ‘15 & ‘17-’20 with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He is coming off a ‘22 season with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks where he pitched to a 1.89 ERA with 9.7 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched. Uncle Stevie gave Kodai Senga a 5-year $75 million contract to play in Queens. According to the Rising Apple, Senga has a 99mph fastball, a true 12-6 curveball, and has developed his own “ghost forkball.” A different baseball is used over in Japan, so there may be an adjustment period, but by all accounts, Kodai Senga is adjusting well to the United States. @kodai_senga_ if you want to try out some Guinness in the new city you call home, I’ve done over 60 reviews and counting!
Middle Reliever (Bullpen Pitcher)
Yankees: Wandy Peralta
Born in San Francisco de Macorís, Duarte, Dominican Republic, Wandy Peralta is a southpaw relief pitcher with moxie. He became a professional when he signed as an amateur free agent in May ‘10 with the Cincinnati Reds. He didn’t make his MLB debut with the Reds until ‘16 when he pitched to an 8.59 ERA in 10 appearances. From ‘17 to ‘19 with Cincinnati, Peralta continued to struggle as a Red (5.00 ERA) before being traded to the San Francisco Giants. As a Giant in ‘19 and ‘20, Peralta started to figure things out on the mound pitching to a 3.70 ERA. Then he was traded to the NY Yankees in exchange for Mike “The Sockman” Tauchman and he has thrived in NY ever since, pitching to a 2.82 ERA with the Yanks. I really Peralta out of the ‘pen because he pitches fearless despite not having overwhelming stuff. He uses his change-up (slow pitch) more often than most in the MLB and he combines that with a sinker with movement as you see in the GIF above. This is a huge year for the Peralta as he is set to become a free agent after the season and I would love for the Steinbrenner family to retain his services.
Mets: Brooks Raley
Born in San Antonio, Texas, Brooks Raley is a southpaw with a slider. Raley attended Uvalde High School in Uvalde, Texas, and then Texas A&M University. He was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the ‘09 MLB draft and made his debut with the Cubbies in ‘12 and then had trouble sticking with Chicago in ‘13. His baseball career has been all over the map since. From ‘14 to ‘19, he ended up playing overseas in the KBO League (South Korea’s MLB). He ended up back in the U.S. when he got an invitation to Cincinnati Reds’ spring training in ‘20. He made the Reds’ Opening Day roster before being traded to the Houston Astros that summer. After pitching with the Astros in middle relief for 2 years, he signed with the Tampa Bay Rays in ‘22 and had his best season in the MLB pitching to a 2.68 ERA. Uncle Stevie liked what he saw and traded for Raley this past off-season. The Mets have a club option on Brooks Raley’s contract in ‘24, meaning they can decide to part ways or exercise that he stays with the team at the $6.5 million that was negotiated when he signed a 2-year deal (with the club option for a 3rd year) with the Rays in ‘22.
PSA #3
Happy Belated 60th Birthday to Michael Jordan!
In honor of his 60th birthday, our Chief Wish Ambassador Michael Jordan makes the largest individual donation in Make-A-Wish history – $10M! A supporter since '89, his bday wish is to inspire others to help grant more wishes. Join MJ: wish.org/mj #MJWish