By Andy Loigu

Former Warren Hills standout baseball pitcher and basketball forward Anthony Veneziano has moved up a level, to Double-A, in the Kansas City Royals farm system this season.

The 24-year old lefty flamethrower was honored as the Double-A Texas League Pitcher of the Week for June 6 to 12, an indication that he’s making the transition to a higher level of competition quite nicely. So far, he has pitched 85 innings in 19 Double-A games as of Thursday.

Kansas City drafted him in the 10th round in 2019 after Veneziano had struck out 187 batters in over 176 innings at Coastal Carolina in college baseball. At Double A the focus is on adding to his repertoire of pitches, because major league hitters look for the fastball and it takes an effective second or third pitch with good location to get them off balance.

Statistics do not determine when a pitcher advances, because baseball evaluators understand that in the course of trying out a new pitch a guy may get knocked around a few times before mastering the pitch. Player development is the big thing.

It’s too bad that Kansas City’s Double-A affiliate plays in the Texas League. Were he in the Eastern League, we could go see him when his team visits the Yankees’ affiliate Somerset Patriots.

Well, if all goes as hoped, we may see him at Yankee Stadium in a summer soon to come.

*****

At my advanced age, I appreciate minor league baseball more than ever these days.

For a reasonable ticket price and a shorter walk to the stadium from my car, I can see good baseball played by guys who had to be special talents just to get that far. It’s always fun to play GM and try to spot which ones will be the future major league household names.

A few years ago, at a game in Trenton, Aaron Judge wasn’t hard to spot. He towered over everybody, but did not get a hit in that day’s game. Not even Joe DiMaggio got a hit in EVERY game. Now Judge is having the kind of season we haven’t seen since Maris and Mantle in 1961.

Food prices at minor league games are about the same as you would find at the eating places along Route 46 or 57 locally.

The batters stay in the box, ready to hit. The pitcher gets the ball back from the catcher and is ready to pitch. The game moves at a faster pace in the minors.

And the national anthem gets sung by boy scouts, girl scouts, or a chorus from a local school.

You’ve just got to love that!

*****

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.