Tom Veryzer, Leo, Mystifying Biscuits

THE MYSTIFYING BISCUITS

The Montgomery Biscuits continue to mystify, fighting hard for close victories one day, stampeding the opposition easily the next and yet on day three, four and five falling flat and appearing overmatched afield.

 So it goes with .500 teams, they can be among the toughest to predict or analyze. Not to mention to coach, to play for and to watch!

Add to it a parent club obviously reluctant to send players and it becomes a very clouded vision in even the most experienced crystal ball.

Now the biggest problem with being a .500 club is that there is only one other team in the division that is below us.



BISCUITS DROP

Yes, the Jacksonville Suns moved past Mobile into first place, courtesy of a series win at Montgomery. The Miss Braves also got by us in the standings, dropping the Biscuits into fourth place just ahead of the anemic Blue Wahooies.
It doesn't take a slide rule to figure out the Skitz are swimming upstream to get to the postseason - and they will need alot of help from other teams to get there. With just three home series left, time is quickly running out.


NEW BISCUIT
LEONARDO REGINATTO

I had a couple folks at the park quiz me about Leo, so I will pass along what I know.
And what I can look up quickly.
In no particular order, which is my favorite order.

Leo is Brazilian, one of only a handful of professional players from that country. He was tearing up the Floriday State League, see previous blog post below where I was told he wasn't coming less than 24 hrs before he got here. He says he was introduced to baseball at age 7 by Japanese neighbors who invited him to play.

He played for team Brazil in the 2013 WBC...

Team Brazil was managed by Barry Larkin, who worked with Leo on his infield defense. In another WBC game vs Japan, Reginatto singled off of Masahiro Tanaka, now of the NY Yankees.

47? They gave him a temp # the first day!

Reginatto is a guitar player as well as an infielder.

He seems to be a contact hitter, not a home run guy. Four homers career so far, but he hits line drives at a high rate.
He can run but picks his spots to do so, a dozen bags is a possibility but not a likelihood.

Speculation would be that he is still learning aspects of the game - his strike zone awareness has markedly improved each year since 2010 when he debuted. Noone knows what his long term ceiling is, as he is still developing his skill set by leaps and bounds.
He is naturally athletic and showed great range at second base in his first two games in Montgomery. He is listed as a shortstop and third baseman, his versatility will offer more opportunities to get into the lineup.

For the Biscuits, Leonardo Reginatto is a much needed Super-Utility man who can hit.

REBEL PASSES

RIP Tom Veryzer, former Montgomery Rebel, who passed away at the start of July.

Tom was with Montgomery in 1972, playing 111 games at shortstop for the Champion Rebs. The 19 year old Veryzer may have been overmatched by Southern League pitching, batting just .220 but he did slug 8 homers and steal 9 bases in 109 games to help Montgomery.

SS Tom Veryzer, '72 Rebels

A first round pick in 1971, Tom was thought to be a can't miss prospect, but hit just .241 in his MLB career. He played for Detroit, Cleveland and the Cubs - with a single season as a Met. Three times he was in the top ten for Hit By Pitch.

Veryzer had a single post-season at bat with the Chicago Cubs in 1984, a game four loss to the Padres. After an 8th inning double-switch brought him into the game, Craig Lefferts got him to popup in foul territory to start the ninth inning.

Breitenstein 1909

AUGUST 3 1906 
Montgomery Pitcher Breitenstein shuts out the Atlanta Crackers on two hits.

AUGUST 4 1906 

The Montgomery celebration is short lived, as the next day Atlanta pitcher Pete Zeller returns the favor, and shuts out MGM on two hits.