Blog Kiosk: 3/12/2016 - Dodgers Links - Kiké, Hyers and Brandon McCarthy

Spring training is for practice, and featured above is an Dodger great doing just that.  Sprawling on the sand in this vintage "International News" press photo is Jim Gilliam with a picture perfect slide, dated March 1, 1954.  Via a descriptor attached to the reverse:

SLIDE, JUNIOR, SLIDE--Vero Beach, Florida.....Second baseman Junior Gilliam slides in under the watchful eye of Field Director Al Campanis at the Dodgers training quarters as pitchers Don Newcombe and Joe Black watch.

Below are more links to check out:

• This is all kinds of fun.  Via Alysha Tsuji at USA Today, "Kiké Hernandez and the Dodgers mastered filters on MLB Snapchat Day."
• Chris Mitchell at FanGraphs shares their KATOH Projection of Dodgers Prospects (Link Here).
• Via Cary Osborne at Dodger Insider, "Hyers education: Hitting 101."

“I would say all hitters all have their own unique style,” Hyers said. “It’s my job to understand their swing. And it’s not my swing, it’s their swing. You want to get to know them as a person and a player. Be the eyes for them. That’s what I try to do — get to know them, understand and work within the framework of their swing. Stay within the framework of their swing. When they start struggling, remind them of who they are as a player, how they got there and the things they do to be successful. Hitting, a lot of it is mental. It’s negative, because of so many times we fail. There’s the physical part, but the mental part is there also.”

• Via Clinton Riddle at Baseball Magazine, "Walter O’Malley and The Dome That Could Have Been."

• What the heck are these?  I think I just went blind.  Check out Lids newest Baseball cap creation in honor of Spring Training in the above photo.  They are only available from the Lids website (Link Here).  (Hat Tip: Chris Cwik at Big League Stew)
• Via JP Hoornstra at the Daily News, "The Dodgers and Cuba: past, present and future."  JP takes a look at the Dodgers success and failures on the international market, and tells us of what's expected in the future.
• Guess who had a baby?  Congrats, Brandon!

We made a thing and named her Cassidy pic.twitter.com/t0lSnblp9R

— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) March 11, 2016

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *

* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *

* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *