The Amazing Tommy Monza

Tucked away in the minors, Tommy Monza has been struggling. In 2006, he was on everyone’s ‘can’t miss’ list.

The hope and the dream was right there on the sandlot of Scottsdale’s Horizon High. Famed for developing players that reached ‘The Show’ including Brandon Wood and Tim Alderson, Tommy was cast into the limelight early. As is custom in Arizona, in a land where former ballplayers and scouts gather at the drop of a dime or where ever a free ticket into a game is available, opinions are as available as armpits. The “I remember when…” or the “He looks a lot like….” run rampant. The smell of the dirty uniform and the whiff of rosin is all it takes to make the gathering a daily ritual around the Valley. Armed with a cup of coffee from Frys up Greenway a bit, all eyes are on the kid in center field, loosening up.

“Not sure I’ve ever seen a kid with so much action on his 2-seamer at this age.”, said one. “Reminds me of Duren, back in the day.”, said another. “Duren? You think the kid has a problem with his eyes?”, questioned the old codger who once was a star with the Oakland Oaks of the old PCL. “I saw Duren and he really couldn’t see without those big specks.”, he continued. “This kid’s using big glasses to scare the opposing left handed hitters.” “I played against Duren and they said he just wore those glasses to scare the hitters,” said another.

True today as it was in a time long ago. Tommy wore big rimmed glasses simply to scare the hell out of the opposing hitters. He figured that with his velocity, he could occasionally throw one over their heads and have every one of the hitters drifting back a bit on their heels. But in all honesty, he threw flames. His 2-seamer danced. It was like watching Koufax at 17. Like Koufax, Monza was using high school to win a scholarship to a major baseball power in the collegiate ranks.

That was 2006. Things didn’t exactly work out as planned. He did earn his scholarship to the University of Miami but changed his mind because of his family and signed with USC. Once there in the land of Troy, he got hurt in his Freshman year and underwent Tommy John. To his good fortune, he had the best Tommy John surgeon in the world repair his arm, Dr. Frank. Monza’s ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, where his medial elbow was replaced with a tendon from his forearm, worked to perfection. In about a year, TM was throwing again, first tentatively, using his Sophomore season as a recovery year. Hitting the books gained him a new prospective on things and he found a fascination for medicine. This new attention to physical conditioning improved his overall outlook on life. Baseball suddenly became a ‘second most important thing’ in his new world of discovery.

By his Junior year, he was back on the mound. Everything felt just a bit different. The most noticeable difference was the connection between his ears and where the ball ended up. Before the surgery, he could work the ball at will to any point around the paint. Now his confidence level had taken a turn to the unknown. His target was as big as the backstop. In a word, he was ‘wild’. Remarkably, he could take a couple of steps back from behind the mound and zero a throw to a precise position. He found, after his operation, he couldn’t throw from the mound but any distance from more than 60’ 6”, he was devastating.

The experts most clubs carry try to ‘fix’ everyone for everything. Believe it or not, they have opinions on everything. I once knew a coach who actually gave advice on how to chew gum during a game. “You take a new square of Bazooka and begin on the right side of our mouth, if you are a right hander. If you are a lefty, then begin on the other side. Take twenty chews on one side before shifting to the other side. It’s all about symmetry. Can’t be out of balance to play baseball.”

Most of the time, the magic of baseball advice came in the form of remembrances. Sparky Anderson stated, “Casey (Stengel) knew his baseball. He only made it look like he was fooling around. He knew every move that was ever invented and some that we haven’t even caught on to yet.” Or listening to Willie over at Don & Charley’s after a spring game in Scottsdale Stadium, “Baseball is a game, yes. It is also a business. But what it most truly is…is disguised combat. For all its gentility, its almost leisurely pace, baseball is violence under wraps.”

For Tommy, it was the daily advise session from the latest coach or pitching expert. “Your right elbow has to be closer to the body as you begin your motion to the plate. That shorter distance allows for better control. Believe me!”, said one. “Your push off has to be stronger and you always have to remember, never over extend.”, prompted another. “It’s all about the release point. It has to be right here.”, a former Hall of Famer suggested. The problem was, Tommy lost his pinpoint control off the mound. That was the bad news. Tommy believed in Jon Lester’s advice, “We have two options, give up or fight.”

The good news was Tommy could throw out a runner at any base from the outfield. It was bringing a whole new dimension to playing the game. A runner simply could not advance without risking a cannon throw from center via the Tommy-gun.

This spring, he is hitting .426 with a 1.029 OPS, hammering 6 home runs and driving in 17 runs. As Mickey Mantle said, “Hit the ball over the fence and you can take your time going around the bases.”

With Adam Eaton out 6 to 8 weeks, the Diamondbacks may have found a spot in the lineup for Tommy the phenom. We all have to dream. It is a part of baseball that keeps us all with the game. If it were only that easy or true. April fool. Tommy doesn’t exist. We all hope that he, or someone like him, would be real and be able to give our team new hope. It’s the dream we all have as another season of baseball begins this week

Bob Feller noted, “Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.” Let’s all have a great season.

Play Ball!

This Is The Week

For a number of springs, the son of Jill and Kerry from Scottsdale, AZ, has attempted to make his dream come true. In 2003, he became the first round draft choice of the Angels. It was a golden future that laid ahead. While this trip is never easy, few have been more difficult. It takes a special person to continue to believe in ones self so strongly that after another strike out or another word from a manager that says, ‘Sorry. We’re going to make room for someone else on the roster.’ you continue to hold your head up, practice harder, turn down invitations to play in the World Baseball Classic for Australia and continue that dream of landing on a big league roster again and make the magic come alive.

Brandon Wood is a rarity in sports. A really good guy who can really hit the ball a mile if given the chance to be himself and not a version someone else sees in the former ‘5 tool guy that can’t miss’. He turned down a scholarship at the University of Texas to grab the chance within the Angels system to play shortstop. At Rancho Cucamonga in the California League he played in 130 games, hit .321, hammered 43 home runs with 51 doubles and 4 triples and smashing in 115 rbi. He was 20 and was the #3 major league prospect according to Baseball America. The next season, he hammered 25 home runs in Double A while generating a .907 OPS and then hit 23 dingers the following season in AAA at Salt Lake, again having an impressive .835 OPS. The following year, again in Salt Lake with the Bees, he smashed 31 home runs with a .970 OPS in only 103 games. He became the first known minor leaguer to have more than 100 extra base hits in one year. That was 2008. In 2009 he joined the Anaheim-Salt Lake City train, back and forth…forth and back. In 2010 the Angels finally gave him an opportunity to earn the starting job at third. Forgetting he was a shortstop that earned All-Star status on a number of occasions while in the minors, it was a new position. He struck out a lot. But that’s what power hitters do. In the infinite wisdom of management, they had everyone and their brother giving him advice on how to hit. HOW TO HIT? He was perfectly fine before all of the ‘pro’ advice from the ‘experts’ in Angel management. It didn’t work out well. He hit .146 and was sent down again. After a cup of coffee in early 2011, he was cut by the Angels. The golden boy of their organization, the bright new shining star, was cut loose. Baseball is a cold, heartless business.

But it is also a forgiving business. Second and third chances abound. The lowly Pittsburgh Pirates grabbed him. But in 99 games, he could not bring the Pirates from losing 90 games and hit only .220 with a .347 OPS in limited action. They released him after the season.

Third chance. In 2012, the Colorado Rockies  signed him to a minor league deal. Like the Angels in the past, they had their hitting coach tell him exactly what it was they saw to correct him. HE KNOWS HOW TO HIT. But experts are experts. In 16 at bats in spring training, he hit .438 and had an OPS of .813. As his manager, Jim Tracy said, “He’s a very intriguing guy. Rest assured what Brandon Wood has done: He’s played himself into the picture. He’s gone from below the radar to playing himself onto the radar.” Despite all of those nice words, Brandon never saw the light of day in The Show with the Rockies in the entire 2012 season. The radar Tracy was using must have broke. Tracy finally resigned.       In five previous seasons, Brandon had been at bat in the Major Leagues 700 times with 130 hits for a .186 batting average but with an OPS of .513. Most players would quit at this point. But not Brandon Wood.

This is the week to see if the dream will finally be realized whether he can make yet another Big League roster, this time for the talent loaded Kansas City Royals, and fulfill the promise those scouts raved about all those years. “Can’t miss.” “Great 5-tool player.” As of today, he has been to bat 31 times in this Spring Training in 17 games. He has 10 hits with 2 home runs and 9 rbi while putting together a most respectable .323 batting average and an amazing 1.021 OPS. Not many can do that. Not many have done that. But Brandon knows, life’s journey’s sometimes takes unexpected turns.

Will he make it? This is the week we will all find out.

Here’s to Brandon Wood. Baseball needs a great guy like this. Come on, Kansas City. Let’s see how ‘up to date’ you really are. All Brandon Wood needs is a chance to play regularly and the promise will show through. Ned. It’s up to you.

Play Ball!