As part of our weekly spring training series, Phillies third base prospect Cody Asche is back once again to check in, directly from spring training in Clearwater, FL.
A 4th round draft selection in 2011 out of the University of Nebraska, Asche has been a fast rising prospect since joining the Phillies organization. Last year, the 22-year-old, in his first full professional season, tallied a .324 batting average with 12 home runs, 72 RBI and 11 stolen bases in 130 combined games with Class A Advanced Clearwater and Double-A Reading. Asche followed that up with a .281/.343/.438 line with Peoria in the Arizona Fall League, then went 5-for-14 (.357 average) with two doubles in eight big league spring games this year.
In the latest edition of The Cody Chronicles, Asche talks about the change in attendance going from big league camp back to the minors, bonding with people on Twitter, his ties with teammates from his draft class and plenty more.
On the topic of playing in front of minimal crowds with the minors in spring training, compared to the large crowds that the big league team has been drawing this spring…
It’s just not the same the first time going out there (after returning from big league camp). You kind of just know, that’s part of spring training, being on the minor league side. You know, you’re out there doing your thing. It’s really not something you worry about when you’re down there. Not me anyway. I never get caught up in that. I mean, I love playing in front of big crowds and what not, but, the first game I played back over there, I felt my mind wandering a little bit, but I snapped myself out of that real quick. You can’t sit there and sulk and keep dwelling on what it was like and stuff like that. You just have to go out there and stick to your work. That’s the tough part about the minor leagues, you gotta look beyond that kind of stuff and just keep working and find a way to do what you’ve got to do.
On how he views social networking site Twitter…
I think it’s for fun mostly. I like it. My teammates are on there and it kind of gives the fans an inside look at how we interact with our peers and different players. It’s also a way of connecting with the people who follow you and root for you every night. I think that’s pretty cool about it too. You realize that you have a lot of fans out there and they’re all pulling for you and they have a way to connect with you.
On Monday’s tweet from a fellow Phils prospect Brock Stassi, who asserted that if he obtained 200 retweets, Asche would give away his game used cleats…
I guess if he gets them, then I’ll have to follow through with it. That’s Brock. Me and him are good buddies. So, we’ve been good friends ever since Williamsport and the first year of instructs, so he’s a funny guy.
And maybe we’ll get Brock some more Twitter followers with the mention of this.
On if he feels the bus accident that the 2011 Williamsport team went through possibly helped to bond the players on that team more tightly…
That’ll bring you closer to guys, but it’s just something that we look back on it’s just something to reflect on and say, “Remember this, remember that?” I think we had a lot of guys on that team that were all really good friends. It was the first year in pro ball for a lot of us and we all migrated together and stuck together and I think that’s why we built so many close relationships on that team.
On if the team viewed the situation as a near-death experience…
I mean, it was a really scary situation, but I don’t think we realized how serious it was until we got out of the bus and saw how close we were to going over the edge. We were lucky that day, that’s for sure.
On if he owns any of his own baseball cards…
I have one of each of them…I think I only have a few out. I got one from each team I’ve played for and then I think I have two official ones. My mom usually does a good job of scouring the internet for them. She finds them and keeps them for me.
On other souvenirs he might have collected thus far in his career…
I think I have a couple of my hats (from the teams I’ve played for) left over. One thing I do have, we wore prostate cancer awareness jerseys in Clearwater and my mom bought that for me because we lost a good family friend, I want to say two or three years ago, to prostate cancer. He was one of my coaches coming up, from the time I was 11 till when I was 15. He was real close to our family, so my mom bought that jersey. Other than that, actually, a fan gave me a picture, like a collage book, kind of like a book of all the Phillies that he took in big league camp. It was like a professionally done book. It’s pretty cool.
On what signing autographs for fans means to him…
When I was at school, I mean, the following at Nebraska, there’s a huge following, so after our games at school, it was just like a minor league game. We’d walk down the left field line to go back to our club house and there’s kids lined up all on the grass, so we’d sign (autographs) for 20 minutes after each game. And that’s something that I try to do now, if there’s fans out there that want an autograph, I’ll try to sign them. They’re out there and you never know what it’ll mean to someone to stop for a minute and say a couple words. Doing that, you could make a fan for life. You don’t want to take any of those opportunities for granted because you never know if it’s your last day on the field, so that’s why I always try to stop and sign and have a couple conversations with fans.
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