Victory Field, Indianapolis

Tomorrow night, I will be lucky enough to take in a ball game at Victory Field in Indianapolis.  Located in downtown Indy, Victory Field is home to the Indianapolis Indians, the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates (does that make the Indians more like a Double-A team?).  Opened in 1996, Victory Field is considered one of the nicest parks in the minors and continues a great tradition of what is now 125 consecutive years of pro baseball in Indy.  With great views of the Indy skyline, the park can comfortably accommodate over 14,000 fans.  In 2001, Sports Illustrated ranked Victory Field as the best minor league ballpark in America.

Tomorrow night's game will feature the Indians and the Pawtucket Red Sox (Boston's Triple-A team, obviously).  The weather is looking good and I'm excited to see some of each teams' top prospects.  Here is the profile of Victory Field on ballparkreviews.com: Victory Field profile

Moneyball Trailer Released

The trailer for Moneyball was recently released and the film is scheduled to be released on September 23rd of this year.  The film, which stars Brad Pitt as Oakland A's GM Billy Beane, is based on Michael Lewis' bestseller Moneyball, which was published in 2003 and looks at Beane's attempt to put a competitive team on the field for the small-market A's.  Jonah Hill will play Beane's assistant GM Peter Brand (in real life the character is based on Paul DePodesta), Philip Seymour Hoffman will play A's manager Art Howe, and former big leaguer Royce Clayton will play Miguel Tejada.

Hopefully, the film will be close to as good as the book.  Moneyball was a great look at how Beane ran the A's in the early 2000s and it was hard to put down once I started.  It definitely is close to the top of my list of favorite books on the national pastime.  Some people are wondering how a book about running a baseball team could be made into a popular drama, but if anyone can pull it off it is the film's writers, Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network and A Few Good Men) and Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List).  Here is a look at the film's trailer...

MLB Draft First Round Picks

1. Pittsburgh Pirates: Gerrit Cole, RHP, UCLA

2. Seattle Mariners: Danny Hultzen, LHP, Virginia

3. Arizona Diamondbacks: Trevor Bauer, RHP, UCLA

4. Baltimore Orioles: Dylan Bundy. RHP, Owasso (Okla.) High

5. Kansas City Royals: Bubba Starling, OF, Gardner (Kan.) Gardner-Edgerton

6. Washington Nationals: Anthony Rendon, 3B, Rice

7. Arizona Diamondbacks: Archie Bradley, RHP, Broken Arrow (Okla.) High

8. Cleveland Indians: Francisco Lindor, SS, Montverde (Fla.) Montverde Academy

9. Chicago Cubs: Javier Baez, SS, Jacksonville (Fla.) Arlington Country Day

10. San Diego Padres: Cory Spangenberg, 2B/3B, Indian Rivers Junior College

11. Houston Astros: George Springer, OF, Connecticut

12. Milwaukee Brewers: Taylor Jungmann, RHP, Texas

13. New York Mets: Brandon Nimmo, OF, Cheyenne (Wyo.) East

14. Florida Marlins: Jose Fernandez, RHP, Tampa (Fla.) Alonso

15. Milwaukee Brewers: Jed Bradley, LHP, Georgia Tech

16. Los Angeles Dodgers: Chris Reed, LHP, Stanford

17. LA Angels of Anaheim: CJ Cron, 1B/DH, Utah

18. Oakland Athletics: Sonny Gray, RHP, Vanderbilt

19. Boston Red Sox: Matt Barnes, RHP, Connecticut

20. Colorado Rockies: Tyler Anderson, LHP, Oregon

21. Toronto Blue Jays: Tyler Beede, RHP, Auburn (Mass.) Lawrence Academy

22. St. Louis Cardinals: Kolten Wong, 2B, Hawaii

23. Washington Nationals: Alex Meyer, RHP, Kentucky

24. Tampa Bay Rays: Taylor Guerrieri, RHP, North Augusta (S.C.) Spring Valley

25. San Diego Padres: Joe Ross, RHP, Oakland (Calif.) Bishop O'Dowd

26. Boston Red Sox: Blake Swihart, C, Rio Rancho (N.M.) Cleveland

27. Cincinnati Reds: Robert Stephenson, RHP, Martinez (Calif.) Alhambra

28. Atlanta Braves: Sean Gilmartin, LHP, Florida State

29. San Francisco Giants: Joe Panik, SS, St. John's

30. Minnesota Twins: Levi Michael, SS, North Carolina

31. Tampa Bay: Mikie Mahtook, OF, LSU

32. Tampa Bay Rays: Jake Hager, SS, Las Vegas (Nev.) Sierra Vista

33. Texas Rangers: Kevin Matthews, LHP, Richmond Hill (Ga.) High

SUPPLIMENTAL FIRST ROUND PICKS

34. Washington Nationals: Brian Goodwin, OF, Miami Dade Junior College

35. Toronto Blue Jays: Jacob Anderson, OF, Chino (Calif.) High

36. Boston Red Sox: Henry Owens, LHP, Huntington Beach (calif.) Edison

37. Texas Rangers: Zach Cone, OF, [tm]Georgia[/tm]

38. Tampa Bay Rays: Brandon Martin, SS, Corona (Calif.) Santiago

39. Philadelphia: Larry Greene, OF, Nashville (Ga.) Berrien County

40. Boston Red Sox: Jackie Bradley, OF, South Carolina

41. Tampa Bay Rays: Tyler Goeddel, 3b, Mountain View (Calif.) St. Francis

42. Tampa Bay: Jeff Ames, RHP, Lower Columbia College

43. Arizona Diamondbacks: Andrew Chafin, LHP, Kent State

44. New York Mets: Mike Fulmer, RHP, Deer Creek (Okla.) High