Minoring in Twitter: Players react to Will Ferrell’s adventure, Kate Upton also likes Ben Verlander
By dannywild2013
By Danny Wild / MiLB.com
By now you’ve heard and maybe seen Will Ferrell’s improbable journey to play 10 positions on 10 teams over five Spring Training games in Arizona on Thursday. First, to all the haters who are asking, “Why?” the answer is pretty good (and has been widely publicized, if you’ve bothered to look) — Ferrell’s antics are part of a new HBO special from Funny Or Die in partnership with Major League Baseball to support the fight against cancer. From MLB.com:
This whole Spring Training extravaganza is about raising money for charity — close to $1 million, according to the actor — but Ferrell also revealed a bit of personal motivation to the two hosts: “What if today I play out of my mind, and what if I make the regular roster? … That’s kind of what the goal of today is — I’m hoping to land with a club.”
And that, of course, is the goal of a lot of Minor Leaguers and prospects who’ve reported to camps in Florida and Arizona — making the Major League roster, or at least playing well enough to get a higher assignment. Those same players? They had opinions on Ferrell’s day, and perhaps no one summed it up better than Padres prospect Rico Noel, who bunted back to the mound in Ferrell’s lone pitching appearance — Ferrell threw a strike, fielded the bunt and calmly threw out Noel at first:
https://twitter.com/SuaveCF1/status/576243391295451136
https://twitter.com/missionsmilb/status/576223667966726145
https://twitter.com/SuaveCF1/status/576241005894078464
And then everyone else weighed in:
https://twitter.com/Dowdy413/status/576128643694346240
https://twitter.com/ArchieBradley7/status/576222137515536386
https://twitter.com/RyanYarbrough2/status/576220540425216001
https://twitter.com/Tucker_Barnhart/status/576180009406074880
https://twitter.com/Trevmay54/status/576148133429821441
https://twitter.com/teachmetodugi11/status/576143013480513536
https://twitter.com/Jamieblog/status/576171625889968129
https://twitter.com/braunerhulk/status/576177891588710400
https://twitter.com/JoseTrevino5/status/576176638901116928
https://twitter.com/TysonGillies21/status/576141761631793154
https://twitter.com/BarfontheField/status/576140153078464512
https://twitter.com/BarfontheField/status/576139938791497728
https://twitter.com/CaseyCrosby2/status/576139676307832833
https://twitter.com/D_Geiger/status/576138828269817856
Ferrell actually had some memorable moments in the Cubs-Angels game, as he was coaching third for homers by prospect Kris Bryant and Jorge Soler. He also pulled shortstop prospect Addison Russell aside during an at-bat for an emotional pep-talk.
https://twitter.com/BarfontheField/status/576138386362093568
https://twitter.com/SamDykstraMiLB/status/576136133265874944
https://twitter.com/danish_Tyler7/status/576138022304911361
https://twitter.com/NinjaPirtle13/status/576136801255063552
https://twitter.com/braunerhulk/status/576406664103915521
https://twitter.com/MLB/status/576233071076229121
https://twitter.com/AdamWilk58/status/576243056464109569
https://twitter.com/Xavier_Scruggs/status/576133547930599424
https://twitter.com/WadeWass_10/status/576128689454206976
https://twitter.com/JeffUrlaub/status/576233042030645248
https://twitter.com/JonnyMoscot/status/576184182843449344
https://twitter.com/tsmitty_1/status/576231386954096640
https://twitter.com/SeanNewk/status/576225156219023360
https://twitter.com/Bzimmer5/status/576223895646154752
Of course, Cody Decker was there, too:
https://twitter.com/Decker6/status/576238133630533633
Kate Upton loves baseball
Ever wonder what it would feel like to have Kate Upton in the stands cheering for you?
Ben also says he’s not too old to ride a horse:
https://twitter.com/Verly32/status/574350173125656576
He also had these gems:
https://twitter.com/Verly32/status/573967302984622081
https://twitter.com/Verly32/status/573640524621570049
Back to Kate, she also visited Nationals camp:
https://twitter.com/Nationals/status/575693931322572800
https://twitter.com/KateUpton/status/575754422199914496
And also, because this is Kate Upton we’re talking about:
https://twitter.com/KateUpton/status/576225800141213696
Moving on, Keon Broxton asks:
https://twitter.com/KeonDDBroxton/status/575426791852109824
https://twitter.com/KeonDDBroxton/status/576409944313978880
Consider Jameson Taillon the Man Card Police. The Pirates prospect, rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, has been out on patrol watching beach-goers toss footballs:
https://twitter.com/JTaillon19/status/575409288627228673
Oakland first baseman Ryan Mathews visited a zoo, although he didn’t quite go full Mark Appel with the photos:
https://twitter.com/RMath13/status/575420377892962304
Actually, I hadn’t scrolled down through Twitter far enough. He did exactly that:
https://twitter.com/RMath13/status/575390272047087616
What happens when you don’t get into a game:
https://twitter.com/JaxChillinONE/status/575418175631699968
And what happens when you sit in the crowd:
https://twitter.com/bari14/status/575381775146426371
Easier said than done (see: Game of Thrones):
https://twitter.com/NickyG_IV/status/575407097849872384
This sounds interesting:
https://twitter.com/CBerset10/status/575399462996082689
Old Man Bed Time:
https://twitter.com/deckmcguire/status/575772184297148416
Is this a thing? I don’t have any Google news alerts for “Dumbo”
https://twitter.com/Decker6/status/575375049407918081
In more Cody Decker movie news (you may recall his 2014 break-out film about Jeff Francoeur, which has more than 1.3 million views on YouTube), he released his trailer for what appears to be a terrifying film about Padres Minor Leaguer Tommy Medica:
https://twitter.com/Decker6/status/575371053716795392
Angels left-hander Adam Wilk is quite the chef:
https://twitter.com/AdamWilk58/status/575483327634743297
Here’s a photo of Rays prospect Riley Unroe taking a photo of Riley Unroe in a hotel room:
https://twitter.com/riley_unroe/status/575373009776680960
Speaking of selfies…
Nick Gordon, Selfie Champ
Nick Gordon, the Twins’ 2014 first-round pick, really likes photos of Nick Gordon. Enjoy:
https://twitter.com/NickyG_IV/status/575510923831545856
https://twitter.com/NickyG_IV/status/575446824850423808
https://twitter.com/NickyG_IV/status/575330546215186432
https://twitter.com/NickyG_IV/status/574358112280383488
https://twitter.com/NickyG_IV/status/572894212594798592
https://twitter.com/NickyG_IV/status/569992832766873600
That may be it for a while, though:
https://twitter.com/NickyG_IV/status/575515425137672194
We all watched with pride in the MiLB.com newsroom as Jeremy Barfield drew a well-earned walk against Clayton Kershaw on Tuesday:
https://twitter.com/BarfontheField/status/575359930145746944
https://twitter.com/BarfontheField/status/575435674960064513
TVS is back in the US, where they have XL:
https://twitter.com/toddvs35/status/574695614077739008
Last week I kind of called out Giants prospect Hunter Cole and his love of pizza rolls and cool pillows, among other stuff — truthfully, those are both really excellent things. Especially pizza rolls. And he was spot-on again this week:
https://twitter.com/hcole6/status/574714410180079616
I think the Manhattan equivalent of that is the kids who corner you on the subway with a box of M&Ms and tell you they need new football uniforms.
Here’s Phillies prospect Ben Lively and John Daly:
https://twitter.com/BenLively19/status/575726611074531330
Astros prospect Akeem Bostick got kind of nostalgic, among other feelings, when it came to praising a baseball:
https://twitter.com/AB10ThePhenom/status/575656635563118592
The Minors’ newest team, the West Virginia Black Bears, appear they’ll need every hour of the next 100 days to finish off this ballpark by June:
https://twitter.com/WVBlackBears/status/575646406251151360
Chipotle Tweets of the Week
A very strong week in Chipotle here in the Minors — in fact, even I took part in the cherished baseball tradition and got some for lunch Thursday (chicken burrito, brown rice, pinto beans, mild salsa, chips).
What a deal:
https://twitter.com/JaxChillinONE/status/575411542851719168
https://twitter.com/BammBoyy/status/575479318656086017
https://twitter.com/BrandonBrosher/status/575443592187146240
https://twitter.com/Jsanch21/status/575053816812429312
https://twitter.com/GianSanity/status/574662516082524160
https://twitter.com/EricSkoglund25/status/574403854667620352
https://twitter.com/teachmetodugi11/status/574395836899061760
TRIPLE chicken?
https://twitter.com/tmurphy20/status/574372055640047616
