OMAHA -- Sitting here in the press box, watching the Omaha Royals, and you're going to think this is a lie but it's as true as your mother's love:
The web filter here blocks Royals.com.
Seriously.
Promise.
I tried to access the official website of the parent club from the press box of its top minor league affiliate, and kept being told it was blocked.
UPDATE: Maybe it was just a temporary thing. An hour or so after my first round of attempts, I was getting through to the official site.
Anyway, my friend and O-Royals broadcaster Mark Nasser pointed out the ridiculous numbers being put up by Nelson Cruz of Oklahoma, the Rangers' Class AAA affiliate playing in the same league as Omaha.
The guy's not on the Rangers' 40-man, and never had much big league success, but shouldn't he get another shot? He's 28, maybe he's just a 4-A player, but those numbers are absurd.
Other observations from a day in Omaha:
* Mark Redman is pitching against the O-Royals tonight. He's 6-3 with a 5.04 ERA at Class AAA, which is actually better than when he was selected for the All-Star Game two years ago, and was that a cheap shot?
* The Royals' system has a pretty good supply of right-handed pitching prospects, particularly starters. Other than that? Not so much.
Ryan Shealy is probably the most big league ready hitter in the system. Kila Kaaihue is having a breakout season, but there is still some skepticism about how real this all is. Mike Moustakas is very highly regarded by teams around baseball.
Past that, and you see why Dayton Moore is so obsessed with improving the farm system. He just wasn't given much when he took over two years ago.
Angel Sanchez is the starting shortstop here and not impressing. Chris Lubanski was the No. 5 overall pick in 2003 but doesn't seem to have a big league future. Mike Stodolka was the fourth overall pick in 2000 as a pitcher. He's now a first baseman, turns 27 next month, hitting .284/.365/.405 this year and mostly regarded as organizational depth at this point.
* Mike Aviles is viewed as something less than a God but more than a man here. This is a far cry from when he was called up and Trey Hillman called him "an extra body," and after an 0-for-3 debut said "the Aviles thing didn't really work out" and then sat him for a week.
I hadn't heard this before, but Omaha manager Mike Jirschele said there was a chance Aviles was going to be promoted last year but he got a stress fracture at the wrong time and missed out, left to wonder if his one chance had passed him by.
Now all of a sudden he's batting .340, though he wasn't called up in time to accumulate enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title even if he kept this up.
I know the fine commenter skipperr did something similar, but going into Monday's games, only Jerry Hairston's .344 average was higher than Mike Aviles' among big league shortstops with at least 150 at bats.
Aviles' .550 was the highest slugging percentage (even better than Hanley Ramirez) and his on-base percentage ranked fifth (though all three percentage stats are behind Royals probable offseason target Rafael Furcal's stunted season).
If you double Aviles' counting stats to give him the equivalent of a full season, he'd rank fourth in homers, first in RBIs, fourth in runs, first in doubles, and, just to show he's already a true Royal, 28th in walks.
There's a theory I've heard that the Royals knew Aviles was a player, but were confident enough that nobody else did, so that's why they left him unprotected for the Rule 5 draft, knowing he'd go unselected.
I don't buy it, you shouldn't either. Aviles' ascension is just one more in a long, long line of proof that baseball is the hardest, goofiest, most maddening, and exciting sport to scout.
* Haven't followed the stadium issue here as close as maybe I should, but word is there's a 50-50 chance the Royals are still here in a few years. They're building a 25,000-or-so seat stadium downtown, the zoo is taking over the Rosenblatt location, and the O-Royals are likely either moving to the suburbs (two new stadiums in Omaha?) or out of the area.
For what it's worth, not much, the O-Royals are averaging about 5,400 fans a game this year, up about 700 (15 percent) from last year at the same time.
* John Bale started and pitched two innings on Monday. The biggest thing keeping him from rejoining KC right now is velocity. According to the stadium radar gun, his fastball was mostly mid-80s, touching 88, though there were several pitches not picked up and you never know how accurate those things are anyway.
He got three quick outs in the first, then lost it a bit in the second: infield single (off Bale's glove), two walks, an RBI sac fly, an RBI single, and a crushed RBI double off the top of the wall. He was supposed to go two full innings, but only lasted 1 2/3. He gave up three hits and five runs, the last two scoring after Bale had left the game.
If I had known you were here, I might have tried to find you and say hi (big fan and all)...heck, I was even upstairs for an inning of last night's game. Will you be there tonight?