Post by rog on Dec 16, 2018 13:26:09 GMT -5
Fan Graphs wrote a little on Mike Gerber today:
The San Francisco Giants claiming Mike Gerber off waivers from the Detroit Tigers didn’t exactly cause a big ripple when the news broke on Monday. It was, as stated by a San Jose Mercury News subheadline, “the first addition of the Farhan Zaidi era,” but again, barely a ripple for Bay Area baseball fans.
Who is Mike Gerber? When I wrote about him in a June 2015 Notes column, he was an unheralded, senior-sign 15th-round pick tearing up the Midwest League. This past season he was a 26-year-old rookie outfielder getting his feet wet with an uninspiring 18-game big-league cameo. In between, he took baby steps toward the big time, inching up the minor-league ladder until until the call-up finally came.
Mechanically, Gerber is much the same as when we spoke three years ago. This past August he told me that his “front foot is more open,” but for the most part his adjustments have been small enough that “fans probably wouldn’t notice on TV.” (If you happened to watch the Miss USA pageant in 2015, you saw his then-fiancee, and now wife, compete as Miss Wyoming.)
As for his own aspirations, Gerber has already beaten the odds by simply making it to the big leagues. Sticking will be the next challenge — his profile is that of a AAAA player — but he fully intends to do his best. Moreover, he’ll do so with the right attitude.
“You work your entire life to get here, and when you finally do, you need to enjoy it,” Gerber told me. “You need to play hard and have fun. As long as you do that, whatever happens happens, and you’re fine with it.”
The San Francisco Giants claiming Mike Gerber off waivers from the Detroit Tigers didn’t exactly cause a big ripple when the news broke on Monday. It was, as stated by a San Jose Mercury News subheadline, “the first addition of the Farhan Zaidi era,” but again, barely a ripple for Bay Area baseball fans.
Who is Mike Gerber? When I wrote about him in a June 2015 Notes column, he was an unheralded, senior-sign 15th-round pick tearing up the Midwest League. This past season he was a 26-year-old rookie outfielder getting his feet wet with an uninspiring 18-game big-league cameo. In between, he took baby steps toward the big time, inching up the minor-league ladder until until the call-up finally came.
Mechanically, Gerber is much the same as when we spoke three years ago. This past August he told me that his “front foot is more open,” but for the most part his adjustments have been small enough that “fans probably wouldn’t notice on TV.” (If you happened to watch the Miss USA pageant in 2015, you saw his then-fiancee, and now wife, compete as Miss Wyoming.)
As for his own aspirations, Gerber has already beaten the odds by simply making it to the big leagues. Sticking will be the next challenge — his profile is that of a AAAA player — but he fully intends to do his best. Moreover, he’ll do so with the right attitude.
“You work your entire life to get here, and when you finally do, you need to enjoy it,” Gerber told me. “You need to play hard and have fun. As long as you do that, whatever happens happens, and you’re fine with it.”