Time for more self-reflection on the mistreatment of Ryan Church. Check out this story by MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo.
Behind closed doors, far away from the ballpark, Ryan Church and his Nationals buddies would gather and wonder. They knew that Church had talent, that he had ability and promise — all those ingredients that a would-be slugger might need.
What he didn’t have was a forum to prove it. So day after day, Church would check out the lineup card to see if he might be on it. Sometimes — oftentimes — his name was not there, and, as teammate Brian Schneider said, “we were all wondering why.”
The article describes Church’s hot start this season, his friendship with Schneider, his frustration in Washington and how he’ll handle an inevitable slump down the road.
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May 19th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Wait, in what way was Church mistreated?
May 20th, 2008 at 8:09 am
It was obvious even when he was here that he thought he should have been an everyday starter; I don’t know if moving between CF and RF, and the bench and the starting lineup messed him up, but it’s hard to argue that he didn’t have an opportunity to prove himself.
I feel bad for Schneider though, as he was one of the few veteran leaders, and seemed like a real team-first guy. He may not have hit well, but if a team has to rely on it’s catcher for offense, then I think that says more about the team than the player.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:21 am
I just feel like he got jerked around here by the front office and never really did get a fair shot to prove himself. Everytime some new experiment in the outfield emerged (Snelling, Pena, Logan, Langerhans), it was always Church’s job on the line and often it seemed personal. I’d take last year’s Church over any of our outfielders right now. Here’s some good thoughts from Harper (http://mvn.com/mlb-nationals/2008/05/14/boo-bill/) and Mike Henderson’s recent take on the same topic. (http://www.nationalspride.com/columnists/post.cfm?blog=hendo&id=53&story=church+as+mirror).
May 20th, 2008 at 8:53 am
I think he was underutilized here, but I hope fans are patient with Milledge before judging this trade. We’re only two months into a trade that the payoff for the Nats happens down the road. I think it’s way too early to make any kind of judgment.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:01 am
In evaluating the trade as a whole, I’m still undecided and it will take awhile to know how it will pan out. I’m actually quite happy for Church to have the opportunity he has to play everyday, as well as the support and respect of his new organization. We do miss Schneider a lot, but I’ll complain about that a whole lot less when Flores and Nieves are catching instead of the 6.5 million off-season catcher pick-ups.