Finish This...

Hi friends! Today I'm stepping away from baseball talk, but there is an update on Cy at the end ;) I have been following Ruthie's blog for a couple years now, and she has been participating in a link up series called "Finish This" with a few other ladies, so I figured I'd give it a try!
I have a quarter to use a pay phone, I call… Is one quarter even enough to make a phone call with? I don't even know. I guess I would call my dad or mom, since theirs are the ONLY phone numbers I have actually memorized… Oops. But let's be real, I don't think I've ever actually used a pay phone, so I'd probably borrow a strangers phone if I was without mine and needed to make a call.
I found $25 in my pocket, I buy…  A bracelet. I am addicted to bracelets. I have a running list of what I want to buy next! I had been wanting an Alex and Ani bracelet for months and waited until after the draft to finally buy this Brewers Logo Bracelet. 

{{Baseball lovers, you definitely want one of these "lacelets" made from glove laces!! They are made by a baseball wife, customizable, and pretty much the coolest thing ever. Check out the Etsy shop here.}}
I have 25 minutes to watch anything on TV, I watch… House, MD. My roommate started watching it on Netflix a couple months ago, and then Cy and I decided to start a few weeks before he left. It's fun to have something we are both watching while we are apart, and at this point we are basically addicted. Not only is the medical aspect fascinating, but the show has a GREAT backstory. Never boring!
A meal I can prepare, from start to finish, in 25 minutes… Pretty much anything, I love cooking! Cy's favorite meal is a chicken breast stuffed with asparagus and mozzarella, lightly breaded and baked, with a side of rice. It is super easy and he loooves it!
At the age of 25, I wish I would have known… Well, I'm currently 20 days short of turning 22, so I'll have to come back to this one in a couple years ;) 
If I drove 25 miles from my house, I'd be… About halfway to my grandparents house! I love spending time with them, they live out in the country and it is so relaxing to get out of the city and take a break from my fast paced life.
If you are a blog lover, go check out The Chronicles of Ruthie Hart!! She is a super cute, down to earth, Christian mama (to the CUTEST baby) in Austin, TX. 
In baseball news, Cy made his first start last night!! 3 innings, 4 K's, 2 hits, 0 earned runs. I am so proud of that guy! They are keeping him on a pretty limited pitch count due to the amount of innings he threw this spring, which is very good. Gotta take care of that arm!  It's tough not being there, but still super exciting. 
Until next time, Hannah

Minor League Baseball (aka why I'm probably not moving to Milwaukee anytime soon)

Hi friends! Apparently a lot of you have checked out this little space of mine, which is simultaneously very encouraging and very intimidating ;) But truly, thank you for taking time our of your day to read my words here. It means a lot!

The subject of today is the oh so interesting Minor League Baseball (MiLB) life. Unlike in the NFL, when a baseball player gets drafted he doesn't automatically play for the Major League team. Instead, he has to work his way up through the Minor Leagues (also commonly referred to as "Farm System".) There are 5 levels: Rookie, Low A, High A, AA, and AAA. The difficult part is, there is no set timeframe or checklist to complete in order to move up to the next level. It basically all depends on if a spot above you opens up.  Making it to the big leagues can take several years, if you make it at all. 

Currently, Cy is playing rookie ball in Helena Montana. SOOO he is employed by the Milwaukee Brewers Organization, playing professionally on one of their minor league teams. Here is a list of the Brewers MiLB affiliates, via wikipedia: 

*edit- as of the 2015 season, AA is now the Shuckers in Biloxi, Mississippi and AAA is the Sky Sox in Colorado Springs

One common misconception is that MiLB guys are professional ballplayers, therefore they are rolling in money and living the high life. As fun as that would be if it were true, it is quite the opposite. The monthly salary is very low and they only get paid in season. Those big signing bonuses you hear about are just a one time thing, if you get a signing bonus, and it's smart to save that money for the future because there are no guarantees in baseball. The guys also spend the majority of their time on the road and living in hotels because they play almost every single day all season long. It is a pretty crazy life. 

So what is MiLB life going look like for Cy and me after we get married, you ask? Well for now, the plan is that I will travel with him. We will go to spring training together, and then live where he plays for the season. This might mean living in a hotel, maybe with a host family, or maybe in an apartment (maybe with other baseball couples/players). In the off season we will live in Dallas, at least until Cy finishes school by taking classes each fall. I am currently in my senior year, so I will take a few classes this fall, take next spring off, and finish up my last few credits and graduate next fall. 

There are plenty of articles out there that go into much more detail about MiLB lifestyle and whatnot, but I just wanted to give you a brief overview of it. If you have any specific questions, feel free to post in the comments below and I will try to answer as best as I can :)

As crazy as this life is, we are really thankful for the opportunity to live it. Baseball gives us an opportunity to glorify God on a broader stage, and that is the ultimate goal. 

Until next time,

Hannah 

The draft, a week later.

A week ago, I was laying awake in my bed anxiously awaiting the monumental day ahead. The Major League 2014 First-Year Player Draft had started that evening, and my (super cute) boyfriend was expected to be drafted sometime on day 2. (If you don't know much about how baseball or the draft process works, hang with me- I'll get to that sometime soon!) It's crazy how excited, scared, impatient, overwhelmed, overjoyed, and giddy I felt all at once. I wasn't worried about the outcome, I just was ready to KNOW! Patience isn't really my thing… but I'm working on it ;) Finally I fell asleep.

A little background info. I'm now engaged to above mentioned boyfriend…. Yeah, busy week! We started "talking" in the fall of 2012 and started "officially" dating in January of 2013. I use quotations to remind him that he dragged that out longer than necessary. We knew we wanted to marry each other before we were even officially dating, but baseball has a way of determining the timing of your life events. Two seasons of D1 College baseball later, we are engaged, planning a wedding, and preparing for a lifelong marriage. We have grown and learned a lot together and I am really excited to continue to do so in this next phase of life.

Back to the draft. I woke up at like 5 the next morning because I kept having dreams that I slept through it. The draft coverage didn't even start until noon, and it's pretty much physically impossible for me to sleep in past 9:30, so I'm not sure why my subconscious was so concerned. Around 8, Cy came over and picked me up to go get donuts (It also happened to be National Donut Day) and we came back to my house and made a hearty breakfast and watched an episode of House, MD (we can't get enough of that show). Finally, it was time for the show to start. Cy was really anxious. He was fidgeting more than a kindergartener after drinking espresso. I'm not exaggerating. He got a few phone calls from his family and scouts, and we settled in for what we anticipated to be a long day.

10 minutes before the draft actually began, he got a phone call from the Milwaukee Brewers area scout asking if he would sign in the 3rd round for a certain signing bonus. We were absolutely blown away! Cy had anticipated being drafted in the 5th-7th round, but before the season started he had set a goal for himself to be a 3rd round pick. This was amazing! Cy's advisor called and said he thought it would be a good deal, so we said yes and waited for the Brewers turn to pick, knowing it was a done deal.

Those next 10 minutes were surreal. Hearing Cy's name called was seriously one of the greatest moments of my life. When you are in a relationship with a baseball player, your life becomes oriented toward the support of their dreams. Some of the sacrifices baseball causes us to make are really hard, but that moment made them worthwhile. The man I love was officially offered a job as a professional baseball player- his lifelong dream.

So here I am, a week later, thinking back to the moment our lives changed. I'm excited for the MiLB adventure we have ahead of us. The title "Professional Baseball Player" comes with some really cool things and also some not so cool things. I plan to share a little bit of that here.

Until next time,
Hannah