Dennis Dixon MiLB Update: Final

With football practice starting Dixon has finished up his 2007 baseball season. It wasn't a complete success but it certainly wasn't a failure. Here are Dixon's stats at Rookie level in the Gulf Coast League and here are his stats from Rookie level in the Appalachian League. For having not played baseball in something like 4 years he held his own. Dixon's high number of walks suggests good plate discipline. There were a decent amount of strikeouts though too. Without seeing film and taking into account the bases on balls, I attribute that to simply not making contact as opposed to swinging at bad pitches. I'm not much of an expert on baseball but being selective at the plate seems like it would be pretty hard to do after a lengthy layoff. Over time I imagine Dixon would be able to hone his swing and make more solid contact. The question for the Braves becomes will Dixon have/make the time? He certainly won't this fall as quarterbacking the Ducks is his sporting priority.

Throughout the summer I believed that him playing baseball for a few weeks wasn't a terrible idea. Among die-hard Ducks fans I got the feeling I was in the minority. Who can fault a guy for taking a nice little 6-figure sum to play some baseball in Florida for a few weeks? According to Rob Moseley of the Register-Guard, teammates and coaches felt Dixon had a pretty good first day of practice. The article even mentions that Dixon thinks he learned a lot from baseball, primarily dealing with failure. Only time will tell how Dixon's season will go. With the article as evidence, I will have a hard time believing Dixon playing baseball for a few weeks will have a negative impact on the Ducks' season. Fans will want to blame baseball on any negatives that happen but as the first day of practice proved, baseball likely won't have a negative impact on his ability to quarterback.

(Photo from Brian Davies, Register-Guard.)

Dennis Dixon MILB Update #4

This is the next-to-last Dennis Dixon MILB Update. The talk in Eugene is starting to heat up around who is going to be the starting quarterback in a couple of weeks. Coming home from work today the Sports Idol (local radio guy) and Joe Giansante (local TV guy) were bantering about the topic. All of this talk centers around Dixon's decision to play baseball this summer. I have made my feelings known on his decision (it really doesn't bother me at all). Personally, I can't believe Dixon going to play baseball is what makes people question who the starting quarterback is. As far as I can tell the Ducks haven't played a game since the late season swoon when Dixon was not very good. It is my belief that last season's finish should weigh more on people's minds than a couple of weeks in the summer. Before I get myself into trouble let's move on.

Dixon has finally been given some respect from the GCL Braves website. In the stats area he is listed as an OF, not a P. That is a good thing I suppose. Dixon has played in 24 games and has 12 hits in 64 ABs for a .188 BA. That still is not that spectacular but Dixon continues to show patience at the plate. He is the runaway team leader in BB with 14. His strikeouts are fairly high (18) given his limited number of ABs but check out the rest of that roster. I doubt Dixon is playing with a single guy that is going to play in the big leagues one day. Dixon is tied for the team lead in steals (5) and has one fielding error. All in all, given the talent the Braves have drafted I would think they are happy with Dixon's summer.

Fellow UO and Clark Hall alum, Dadroza, was correct some writers more famous than I have picked up on my story. Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com and Brian Meehan of The Oregonian have written articles in the last couple of weeks. Read them if you just want to learn about things I have been telling you about all summer.

Dennis Dixon MiLB Update #3

Special thanks to Andy Mac at work for asking me a simple question. "How is the Dennis Dixon update going?" He could have been a lot meaner and said, "The information in your blog is terribly inaccurate. He has been playing." So yes, Dixon has been getting some time in the GCL Braves outfield. I warned everyone to take the information on the team website with a grain of salt. I should have been more careful about it myself, but wasn't. Dennis Dixon, who is still shown as a pitcher on the team roster has had 25 ABs and 0 IP in 8 games. That is quite odd and the primary reason why I didn't see he had been playing.

Dixon has been playing the outfield. Last night he was in right field batting 9th. After going 1 for 3 he managed to raise his batting average 29 points to .120. He also stole his 2nd base in 2 attempts. Though batting only .120, Dixon has an OBP of .313. Considering his low number of hits (3) and high number of strikeouts (10) that isn't too bad. Dixon has twice as many walks (6) as anyone else on the team. His play in the field seems to be fine since he has yet to record an error. All in all, Dixon is getting off to a slow start but there appear to be signs that he could be a serviceable player. At this point, that is all the Braves could hope for.

I am not an expert on Rookie League ball clubs but the GCL Braves seem like they absolutely suck (2-11). Let's hope for the sake of the guys on the team that Dixon is not the only one that hasn't played ball in 4 years. For having not played for that long, Dixon is holding his own. I'm not sure what excuses the other guys on the team have. Seeing that the team plays at Disney's Wide World of Sports a reasonable excuse may be that they are living at Walt Disney World for the summer. After spending time at Blizzard Beach I would be in no mood or condition to play baseball.

(Photo from Zane Pitt/The Daily Emerald.)

Dennis Dixon MiLB Update #2

Well, not much to report here. Duck fans who have their panties in a bunch may be able to relax a little bit. Through 9 team games Dennis Dixon has yet to register a single statistic. Any reasonable person would assume that means he has not played yet. That may change though as the team is a sterling 1-8. I'm thinking they need to put some new blood in the lineup. Perhaps that record is a reflection of the Braves drafting strategy of selecting Pac-10 quarterbacks that have not played baseball since high school. In related news the Dodgers Rookie League team is still undefeated after 7 games. Further proving the point that they know how to draft, just like the Blazers of the NBA.

(Photo from AP.)

Dennis Dixon MiLB Update #1

Oregon's starting quarterback did decide to lace up the baseball cleats this summer. Some people can't figure out why but I say, "Why not?" If you really want to play baseball why not do it. I have no idea what kind of bonus Dixon got but it is bound to be better than the scholarship check he would have received by going to summer school. He has graduated but my understanding is that an athlete needs to be enrolled in classes in the summer to receive the check. Check the NCAA Rules out if you would like to make sure, I have no desire. Perhaps his break from Eugene, school and football will be a good thing and allow him to come back refreshed.

I checked out the Atlanta Braves Rookie League team roster and Dixon is present. He plays for the Gulf Coast League Braves. Interesting note is that every team in the league is called Gulf Coast League "parent club nickname". It fires me up to see the Dodgers rookie team undefeated with a 1-0 record. The GCL Braves are 0-3 after this afternoon's game against the GCL Blue Jays. The team website lists Dixon as a pitcher wearing #50. He has yet to get into a ballgame. The accuracy of the website does worry me though as it says Dixon's birthplace is Eugene, OR. I can almost guarantee that is not true. So take the information as truth at your own peril.

(Photo from Don Ryan/AP.)