(Portland ME) Brainer Bonaci is the new guy in Portland.
No name on the back of his uniform but the 20-year-old played his second game with the Sea Dogs on Thursday afternoon.
Brainer’s presence wasn’t enough to help the team on this gorgeous afternoon but there’s always a bigger picture when it comes to the minor leagues.
Everyone is auditioning.
Trying to convince someone that AA Portland is below their skill level.
Brainer will get his chance to prove himself.
He is an infielder. You have to wonder how he fits in at the next two levels.
In this game, Portland was down 3-0 before even batting! Hartford’s leadoff batter Niko Decolati took starter Hunter Dobbins deep on the second pitch he saw.
The Sea Dogs got two back quickly but could never get even.
The celebrated prospects on both teams were missing.
#2 Zac Veen (injured), #3 Yanquiel Fernandez (inactive), #5 Drew Romo (inactive), and #7 Gabriel Hughes (inactive) were missing for the Yard Goats.
#1 Marcelo Mayer (injured), #6 Nick Yorke (inactive) were missing for the Sea Dogs.
However, I’ve done enough of the Portland games to know Marcelo and Nick by sight so that I could find them away from the playing field.
Today was a bright noonday game. I brought my Sigma 200m/F2.8. I could have brought the Sigma 600m/F5.6 but that F-Stop denies me the chance to shoot fast.
The sun was minimized by the hood on the camera. However, the sun was in the faces of the players coming my way so their visors shaded them. Nothing I could do about that position wise.
I experimented with some very high speeds to see if I could get the baseball in focus in pictures. I tried 1/4000 and got a blurry baseball. I’ll try even faster another time.
Despite some players being missing, I did get quite a few shots of #11 Brainer Bonaci and #12 Blaze Jordan. Both are twenty and very young to be at the AA level. The Red Sox bosses are obviously optimistic about the two of them to have them where they are so early.
Blaze is a 1B/3B with power.
Today was the day the area recreation departments came to Hadlock. There were sections of similar jerseys throughout the park. Might have been the highlight of the summer for some of the rec departments.
Slugger got in with a speedster today. The Big Guy appeared to be really trying to keep up but the kid, who may have a high school track career in his future, never slowed up. In fact, he never looked to see where Slugger was. The kid wasn’t going to be denied. But he was classy afterwards giving Slugger a high-five for his effort.
Continued thanks to Chris Cameron for arranging my visits. Being in the midst of a buzzing park with a chance to take pictures from a great vantage point is greatly appreciated.
McClelland Miscellanea 