Month End TTM Roundup: 1/1-2/3

Ariana Mart 22, 2022

The 2018 TTM season has begun.

Received On: 1/9/2018

My first return of the year came courtesy of A's prospect Logan Shore.

Logan Shore was drafted by the Oakland A's in the second round of the 2016 MLB Player Draft. Armed with a fastball, slider and changeup, Shore projects to be a back of the rotation starter who can eat up a lot of innings. He won't blow anyone away with his fastball but he makes up for it with a devastating changeup. His slider is still a work in progress but when it's on there's virtually little chance for the opposing hitters to do anything about it. He'll provide some much needed pitching depth for the A's as he gets closer to O.co. I'd put his ETA around 2019 but it wouldn't surprise me if the A's gave him in a shot this year too.

Received On: 01/10/2018

Next up is former big leaguer Rick Waits.
Rick Waits was originally drafted by the Washington Senators in the 5th round of the 1970 MLB Player Draft. Waits had a 12 year career as a soutpaw in the big leagues for the Senators/Rangers, Clevelands and Brewers. Waits made his MLB debut in 1973 but then spent most of his time in the minors in 1974. In 1975 he was traded to Cleveland as part of the trade for Gaylord Perry. Waits then had a nine year stint with Cleveland where he proved to be a very serviceable innings eater. One of Waits' more notable moments included the time he held the Yankees to two runs near the end of the 1978 season and allowed for the Yankees-Red Sox tiebreaker game to happen. We know what happened after that of course lol. Waits later pitched and managed in Italy for the Rimini Pirates after his career stateside was over. He led the team to two championships in the late 80's and a European Cup Championship. Sports Illustrated has a great piece on Waits' stint in Italy for the record, I'd recommend reading it if you have the time/are curious about Paisan baseball. Waits later returned stateside to work in baseball behind the scenes. Such as working as a bullpen coach for the Mets, a pitching coordinator for the Mariners, a pitching coach for the Mariners, and as recently as last year was hired to be a pitching coach for the ChinaTrust Brothers club in the Taiwanese CPBL.

Received On: 01/11/2018

Next up is an awesome return from New York Islanders goaltender Jaroslav Halak!
Halak was originally drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the ninth round of the 2003 NHL Player Draft. After a few years in the minors Halak eventually made his NHL debut in 2007 for the Canadiens. He stayed with the Canadiens as a very capable goaltender until he became a restricted free agent in 2010. Halak was traded to the St. Louis Blues for two players and signed a four year deal with St. Louis. He played well for the Blues and when the walk year for his contract came he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres and then to the Washington Capitals. In the 2014 off season he was traded to the New York Islanders who then signed him to another four year contract. With the Islanders Halak managed to make his first NHL All Star team in 2015 and even set a franchise record for goalie wins in a single season. Halak's 2016-17 season was derailed by injuries and a demotion to the minors but he's come back fairly strong here in the 2017-18 season.

Received On: 01/16/2018

Next up is New Jersey Devils left wing, Miles Wood.
Miles Wood was drafted by the Devils in the fourth round of the 2013 NHL Player Draft. Miles Wood is the son of former NHL Left Wing Randy Wood. After spending a few years in the minors Miles Wood finally made his NHL debut in the 2015-16 season, and has been an intriguing player for the Devils ever since. One interesting/cool story with Wood is that he was a huge fan of Alex Ovechkin growing up and even wrote him a TTM request when he was young. He never got a response but instead he got an autographed photograph of Wood and even got to meet him as an opposing player. Very cool.

Received On: 01/16/2018

Here is a return from Ottawa Senators goaltender, Craig Anderson.
Craig Anderson was originally drafted by the Calgary Flames in the third round of the 1999 NHL Player Draft. However he failed to sign a contract with them and ended up being drafted again by the Chicago Blackhawks in the third round of the 2001 NHL Player Draft. With the Blackhawks Anderson made his NHL debut in the 2002-03 season and spent a few years with the teal before being traded to the Florida Panthers. With Florida he eventually found his groove as a very serviceable backup goaltender, although he'd get more reps as the starting goaltender when he signed with the Colorado Avalanche as a free agent. Before the 2010-11 season he was traded to the Ottowa Senators and has been with the team since.

Received On: 01/20/2018

Next up is a return from Blue Jackets winger, Scott Hartnell.
Scott Hartnell was drafted in the first round (sixth overall) in the 2000 NHL Player Draft by the Nashville Predators. A top prospect during his time in the minors, he made his NHL debut in the 2000-01 season as one of the youngest players in the league and the youngest player in franchise history. Hartnell had some great years for Nashville but he was eventually traded to the Philadelphia Flyers. Where he had some of his best and worst years in his career to date. Before the 2014-15 season he was traded again to the Columbus Blue Jackets where he's been a solid left winger for them ever since.

Received On: 01/22/2018

Calling this a TTM return might be a bit of a stretch, but it did arrive through the mail so close enough. I think the term "50/50" might be more appropriate as I had a friend of mine who knows German get his autograph for me (in exchange I gave him extra copies for him and for Domingo himself).
Domingo German was originally signed out of the Dominican Republic by the Miami Marlins back in 2009. German's climb up the Marlins farmsystem was slow but very steady and eventually got the attention of several scouts in other baseball front offices. So much so that he was the top prospect the Yankees acquired in the trade that sent Martin Prado and David Phelps to Miami and also brought back Nathan Eovaldi and Garrett Jones. German's Yankees tenure has been slowed by injuries but here in early 2018 he's got the Tommy John surgery and 40 man roster crunch issues in his back mirror. German provides a lot of depth for the Yankees' pitching core and will most likely be used as both a starter and as a reliever this year. Long term a lot of scouts see him as a reliever, but he falls under the "start him until he can't anymore" category. This may be his year to prove himself as a bonafide big leaguer.

Received On: 01/26/2018

Here's a return from Dallas Stars prospect, Denis Gurianov.
Denis Gurianov was drafted by the Dallas Stars in the first round (12th overall) of the 2015 NHL Player Draft. Hailing from Russia, the right-wing for the Stars has steadily developed into a promising part of the Stars future. He has the speed and the tools to contribute while his defense has managed to come along since he's come stateside. That said some scouts still say he is widely inconsistent. Best of luck to him all the same though.

Received On: 01/29/2018

Here's a super cool return from top prospect, Royce Lewis.
Royce Lewis was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the first round (first overall) of the 2017 MLB Player Draft. An elite shortstop prospect out of high school, he has the arm and range to stay at shortstop but questions about him moving to another position will likely stay until he shows what he can really do during a full season of minor league ball. His bat has a ton of promise with power and contact ability. He's also a real threat on the base paths as his best tool right now may be his speed. Lewis did nothing but hit when he made his professional debut last year and there's a lot of hope that he can even improve this year as he likely repeats full season low-A ball next year in Cedar Rapids (with maybe a late season call up to Fort Myers). Expect to see him on tons of top prospect rankings going forward.
Quick sidenote, thanks to P-Town Tom and San Jose Fuji for the assists.

Received On: 01/29/2018

Next up is an awesome return from Nick Foligno.
Nick Foligno was originally drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the first round (28th overall) of the 2006 NHL Player Draft. The son of former NHL winger Mike Foligno, Nick made his NHL debut in the 2007-08 season and for the most part been up in the big leagues since. Foligno spent a few years with the Senators to varying degrees of success (as far as the team was concerned), before being traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2012. With the Blue Jackets he's had a fair bit of moments like being an All Star in 2014-15 as well as being named the sixth captain in the team's history after Rick Nash had left. He's still currently a big force behind the Blue Jackets' push towards a playoff spot in a really tough Metropolitan division this year. Best of luck to him I guess.

Received On: 01/31/2018

Here is Sharks Center Tomas Hertl.
Hertl was drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the first round (17th overall) of the 2012 NHL Player Draft. He made his NHL debut the next season and has been with the Sharks as a solid third/serviceable second line center since. The Czech native has played for his native country several times in various world hockey tournaments. He signed a bridge deal for two years back in 2016 and it'll be interesting to see if he remains with the Sharks following this season.

That wraps up the first month of the year. With 11 returns I think it's safe to say that this has been the most productive January I've had in my TTM career so far. The key is in hockey. Literally, check how it's spelled ;).

So big thanks to Mr. Shore, Waits, Halak, Wood, Anderson, Hartnell, German (and Peter), Gurianov, Lewis, Foligno and Hertl for the awesome autographs.

And as always thank you (the readers) for stopping by :).

Take care.

2018 TTM Count: 11

Sources:

*http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?player_id=624519#/career/R/pitching/2017/ALL