Tremie, Clippers coaches don't mind extra work
With a break in what can be a very long season, Chris Tremie could have had a couple of days off.
Instead, the manager of the Clippers took a working vacation.
So, too, did the rest of his coaching and support staff.
The Triple-A AllStar Game was held at Huntington Park for the first time on Wednesday night, and the Clippers were well-represented on their home turf.
Not only was catcher Francisco Mejia and outfielder Brandon Barnes in the starting lineup as two of six Columbus players selected for the International League, but Tremie managed the IL with two of his coaches (Bobby Magallanes and Johnny Narron) manning the bases and pitching coach Steve Karsay working from the dugout.
“This is a great event to be a part of, a great experience,” said Tremie, who also managed the IL team at the 2016 All-Star Game in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“It’s nice to be home for this and not on the road.”
The All-Star Game festivities definitely had a Columbus feel, with players and league VIPs being treated to trips to the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium as well as a big party Tuesday night at COSI.
On the diamond, other Clippers on the IL roster were pitchers Mitch Clippers manager Chris Tremie waves to the crowd as the coaching staff for the International League is introduced at Huntington Park prior to the Triple-A All-Star Game.
Talbot and Adam Wilk, catcher Eric Haase and shortstop Yu Chang.
“It’s a neat event and one these guys are proud to be a part of,” Tremie said.
Drew Dosch of Canal Winchester played the role of tour guide for a number of players as they wanted to know cool places to go around
town.
“The events here are fun and you know how hard everyone worked to put it all together,” said Dosch, a third baseman with Norfolk Tides, Baltimore's top farm club. “We all came here to enjoy ourselves.”
Dosch played his final game before the break in Durham, North Carolina, and rented a car there so he could drive home to central Ohio as soon as he could.
On Monday, he and new wife Carly secured a new home in Canal Winchester.
“I signed my life away,” he said with a bit of exasperation.
On Wednesday, Dosch had a large cheering section as friends and family joined the announced crowd of 10,516 at Huntington Park who all got a chance to cheer when he came up in the seventh. Dosch popped out to end the inning.
While the Triple-A All-Star Game was broadcast on MLB Network as it has been since 2010, it wasn’t the only baseball going on Wednesday.
For the first time in recent memory, this All-Star Game had to compete with big-league games because it wasn’t held during the off day following the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
The MLB All-Star event is at Nationals Park in Washington next week.
Ken Schnacke, president and general manager of the Clippers, said there was a scheduling conflict in Washington which pushed things back a week.
Cleveland plays host to the MLB All-Star Game next summer, and it will return to a traditional (July 9) place on the schedule. The 2019 Triple-A game will be in El Paso, Texas.
“We booked all the hotel rooms, made all the plans and when we heard there was a change (in Washington), there was nothing we could do,” Schnacke said.
Because of the conflict, the IL lost starting pitcher Enyel De Los Santos to a big-league recall as he made his debut with the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday. Without the conflict, however, players set to compete in the MLB Futures Game — such as Pacific Coast League starter Dakota Hudson as well as Mejia (who scored the game’s first run) — could attend the triple-A event.
“Some of this works to our benefit,” Schnacke said. “We would have lost some Futures guys. There are pluses and minuses to everything, but this has worked out well. But even I forgot how much work this was.”