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Jim Benedict
James Scott Benedict (born February 1, 1961) is an American professional baseball pitcher, coach, scout, and front office executive. He works for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has also worked in MLB for the Texas Rangers, Montreal Expos, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Miami Marlins. Playing career Benedict attended Chatsworth High School in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, and played for the school's baseball team as a center fielder. Benedict attended Los Angeles Valley College, where he began his college baseball career. Coach Dave Snow cut him from the team, but kept him as a batting practice pitcher. Benedict learned to pitch sidearm focusing on throwing off-speed pitches from Snow, and made the team as a pitcher the next year. He transferred to Arizona State University to play for the Arizona State Sun Devils, but the team’s coach preferred a fastball-heavy style and rarely used Benedict. After the seas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Professional Baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional leagues Americas United States and Canada Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada (founded in 1869) consists of the National League (founded in 1876) and the American League (founded in 1901). Historically, teams in one league never played teams in the other until the World Series, in which the champions of the two leagues played against each other. This changed in 1997 with the advent of interleague play. As of 2022, the Philadelphia Phillies, founded in 1883, are the oldest continuous same-name, same-city franchise in both Major League Baseball and all of American professional sports. In addition to the major leagues, many North American cities and towns feature minor league teams. An organization offic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles Valley College
Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC) is a public community college in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the Los Angeles Community College District. The college is adjacent to Grant High School in the neighborhood of Valley Glen. Often called "Valley College" or simply "Valley" by those who frequent the campus, it opened its doors to the public on September 12, 1949, at which time the campus was located on the site of Van Nuys High School. The college moved to its current location in 1951, a site bounded by Fulton Avenue on the west, Ethel Avenue/Coldwater Canyon Boulevard on the east, Burbank Boulevard on the south, and Oxnard Street on the north. Los Angeles Valley College is one of nine colleges in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) and is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. The sports teams are the Monarchs and the school colors are green and yellow. History Los Angeles Valley College was founded on September 12 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Line Drive
In the sports of baseball and softball, a batted ball is a pitch that has been contacted by the batter's bat. Batted balls are either fair or foul, and can be characterized as a fly ball, pop-up, line drive, or ground ball. In baseball, a foul ball counts as a strike against the batter, unless there are already two strikes on the batter, with special rules applying to foul tips and foul bunts. Fly balls are those hit in an arcing manner, with pop-ups being a subset of foul balls that do not travel far. Line drives are batted balls hit on a straight line trajectory, while ground balls are hit at a low trajectory, contact the ground shortly after being hit, and then either roll or bounce. Batted balls, especially line drives, can present a hazard to players, umpires, and spectators, as people have been seriously injured or killed after being struck by battle balls. Fair or foul upright=.8, A view along a first base foul line, looking from the outfield wall back towards home ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spring Training
Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spots, and gives established players practice time prior to competitive play. Spring training has always attracted fan attention, drawing crowds who travel to the warm climates of Arizona and Florida to enjoy the weather and watch their favorite teams play, and spring training usually coincides with spring break for many US students. Regardless of regular-season league affiliation, teams generally play their exhibition games against other clubs training in the same state. Teams that train in Arizona form the ''Cactus League'' and Florida-training clubs form the ''Grapefruit League''. Spring training typically starts in mid-February and continues until just before Opening Day of the regular season, which falls in the last week of March. In so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expansion franchise in 1969, and has played in four World Series, winning in 1985 and 2015, and losing in 1980 and 2014. Outside of a dominant 10 year stretch between 1976 to 1985, and a brief, albeit dominant resurgence from 2014 to 2015, the Royals have been one of the worst franchises in baseball, missing the playoffs 34 of the previous 36 years. The name "Royals" pays homage to the American Royal, a livestock show, horse show, rodeo, and championship barbecue competition held annually in Kansas City since 1899, as well as the identical names of two former Negro league baseball teams that played in the first half of the 20th century. (One a semi-pro team based in Kansas City in the 1910s and 1920s that toured the Midwest and a California ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scout (baseball)
In professional sports, scouts are experienced talent evaluators who travel extensively for the purposes of watching athletes play their chosen sports and determining whether their set of skills and talents represent what is needed by the scout's organization. Some scouts are interested primarily in the selection of ''prospects'', younger players who may require further development by the acquiring team but who are judged to be worthy of that effort and expense for the potential future payoff that it could bring, while others concentrate on players who are already polished professionals whose rights may be available soon, either through free agency or trading, and who are seen as filling a team's specific need at a certain position. ''Advance scouts'' watch the teams that their teams are going to play in order to help determine strategy. Many scouts are former coaches or retired players, while others have made a career just of being scouts. Skilled scouts who help to determine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collegiate Summer Baseball
Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operate from early June to early August. In contrast to college baseball, which allow aluminum or other composite baseball bats, players in these leagues use only wooden bats, hence the common nickname of these leagues as "wood-bat leagues". Collegiate summer leagues allow college baseball players the ability to compete using professional rules and equipment, giving them experience and allowing professional scouts the opportunity to observe players under such conditions. To find a collegiate summer team, players work with their college coaches and prospective teams' general managers. They report to summer leagues after completing their spring collegiate season with their NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA, CCCAA, and NWAC teams. Some players arrive late due to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fastball
The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. "Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thrown fastballs at speeds of (officially) and up to (unofficially). Pitchers who throw more slowly can put movement on the ball, or throw it on the outside of home plate where batters can't easily reach it. Fastballs are usually thrown with backspin, so that the Magnus effect creates an upward force on the ball. This causes it to fall less rapidly than expected, and sometimes causes an optical illusion often called a rising fastball. Although it is impossible for a human to throw a baseball fast enough and with enough backspin for the ball to actually rise, to the batter the pitch seems to rise due to the unexpected lack of natural drop on the pitch. A straight pitch is achieved by gripping the ball with the fingers across the wide part o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arizona State Sun Devils Baseball
The Arizona State Sun Devils baseball program at the Arizona State University (ASU) is part of the Pac-12 Conference. Since it became a member of the Pac-12, it had the highest winning percentage, at .681, of all schools that participate in Division I baseball within the conference. ASU's NCAA leading 54 consecutive 30 win seasons was the longest streak in the nation. The Sun Devils have had just four losing seasons in program history (1963, 2017, 2018, and 2022). The Sun Devils had been nationally ranked during at least a part of every season of their 58-year history until 2017. The Sun Devils have finished 27 times in the Top 10, 22 times in the Top 5, and 5 times as the No. 1 team in the nation. ASU is one of the most successful college baseball programs in the country. The Sun Devils have won five national championships, the fourth-most by any school, and are 1st in total number of alumni to ever play in Major League Baseball. Notable Sun Devil baseball alumni include Barry B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the U.S. One of three universities governed by the Arizona Board of Regents, ASU is a member of the Universities Research Association and classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity". ASU has nearly 150,000 students attending classes, with more than 38,000 students attending online, and 90,000 undergraduates and nearly 20,000 postgraduates across its five campuses and four regional learning centers throughout Arizona. ASU offers 350 degree options from its 17 colleges and more than 170 cross-discipline centers and institutes for undergraduates students, as well as more than 400 graduate degree and certificate programs. The Arizona State Sun Devils compete in 26 varsity-level sports in the NCAA Division I Pac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Off-speed Pitch
In baseball, an off-speed pitch is a pitch thrown at a slower speed than a fastball. Breaking balls and changeups are the two most common types of off-speed pitches. Very slow pitches which require the batter to provide most of the power on contact through bat speed are known as "junk" and include the knuckleball and the Eephus pitch, a sort of extreme changeup. The specific goals of off-speed pitches may vary, but in general they are used to disrupt the batter's timing, thereby lessening his chances of hitting the ball solidly or at all. Virtually all professional pitchers have at least one off-speed pitch in their repertoire. Despite the fact that most of these pitches break in some way (for instance, horizontally, vertically, gradually, or late in their trajectory), batters are sometimes able to anticipate them due to hints that the pitcher gives, such as changes in arm angle, arm speed, or placement of fingers. Types of off-speed pitches Different off-speed pitches are thr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sidearm (baseball)
In baseball, sidearm is a motion for throwing a ball along a low, approximately horizontal plane rather than a high, mostly vertical plane ( overhand). Sidearm is a common way of throwing the ball in the infield, because many throws must be made hurriedly from the glove after fielding ground balls. An infielder's quickest throw to the bases is often from just above ground level, necessitating a horizontal release of the ball. Sidearm pitchers, also known as sidewinders, are uncommon at all levels of baseball except in Japan, where sidearm pitchers are widely popular. Few find sidearm a natural delivery, and those who do are often discouraged by coaches who know little about sidearm mechanics, and who believe that overhand pitching affords greater velocity. This is generally true, since overhand pitching provides better mechanical leverage with which the body can use to accelerate the ball. But what the sidearm pitcher loses in velocity, they gain in ball movement and unusual rel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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