Chris

On the night of September 9th, the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx defeated the Carolina Mudcats 11-2 to sweep the Southern League Northern Division Playoff Series and advance to the Southern League Championship Series. In that game, Brandon Sing went 3-4, scoring 3 Runs, 5 RBI, and 2 HR (solo and Grand Slam). After the celebration on the field I had an opportunity to catch up with Brandon and ask him about his night at the plate. Below is the link to hear what he had to say. Thank you to Brandon for taking time to talk about his night and thank you to Jon for hosting the audio! http://www.jonmdavis.net/sing090905.mp3

First, huge props to Aramis Fan for lining this up! Aramis Fan took the initiative to line this session up for us here at NSBB! An official announcement will be posted soon. Start posting your questions and comments to Len! Thanks again Aramis Fan!

On the afternoon of September 2nd, the day that NSBB sat in the broadcast booth with Ron Potesta, I had the great pleasure and honor of interviewing Brandon Sing in the Diamond Jaxx dugout. A special thank you to Brandon for taking time out of his afternoon to answer questions! Feel free to discuss the interview and send your notes of appreciation to Brandon in this thread! Enjoy! Interview with Brandon Sing September 2, 2005 After putting up such huge numbers at Daytona last year, how important was it for you to have a solid follow up season with the Jaxx? I had to. I did really well last year and I just had to come back and show that it wasn’t a fluke. Even though I hit homeruns, I had never hit over 18 and I hit 32 last year. To come back this year and hit 26 right now is pretty much everything what I wanted to do. I wanted to come here and show that I could hit the HR’s against the pitching. The SL has been known for quality pitching and there have been several guys get called up to the Majors directly from the SL. Pringles Park is known as a pitcher’s park. With that being said, was there any apprehension before the season knowing that you would be in a pitcher’s park? Not really. I was here a couple of years ago and I knew how the park played. I really wasn’t worried about it. If I hit one good, I think it can go out anywhere. That’s what my mindset is. If I can hit one on the screws it’s going to go out anywhere and that’s the way I’ve looked at it this year. I try to not worry about the dimensions, knowing that if I hit the ball on the screws I’m going to hit a HR. Has this season solidified Brandon Sing as a top prospect in the Cubs organization? That’s not up to me, it’s up to the Cubs. Wherever they want to put me is where they’ll put me. I’m not really worried about that. All I’m worried about is getting to the big leagues. I’m just trying to help myself out, trying to take every day trying to get better. You hold two all-time Diamond Jaxx records. You hold the HR record and the walks record. As of right now you’re chasing after the OBP record. As a player, what is it like knowing that you are putting up these numbers? It’s always important to know that your name could stand up for awhile. One day in 10 or 20 years from now or farther than that knowing they could look down and see my name is a bright spot. To do what I’ve done in walks, setting a career high in walks, that’s what I wanted to do, to keep getting better, being more patient at the plate. The numbers will come, that’s one thing I learned last year. This year I put a little more pressure on myself being in AA, knowing what I had to do after last year. If my name is there then that’s an accomplishment. The SL Playoffs begin next week. We don’t know what will happen, but if the season ended today, what is your favorite accomplishment? Winning a championship last year, my first one ever. To be a part of that team last year was great. I couldn’t ask for anything else. I was a little skeptical of going back to Daytona again but to go back with that core group that won every year just put everything in perspective. I just went out there and did what I had to do and try to help my teammates, being in the Florida State Leagues. You have lots of fans at NSBB that are pulling for you and the rest of the Minor League system. Knowing that there are fans following you every night, what message would you like to send to the fans that are taking such an interest in the Minor League organization? Stick by everybody. Whoever you are looking at, whoever you are pulling for, stick by them. It’s a tough road. I had a great July and I started August really slow. It’s just a part of baseball that you’re going to go through and you can’t really look too much at numbers. It’s just like last year when I was pulling for Illinois. You just see them playing the game, you don’t see what’s going on behind closed doors and how much work they’re putting in. Just go ahead and keep rooting for that guy. Hopefully one day that guy will make it and you’ll be loving it, just like that guy that made it will be loving it. I told you that one of our users from NSBB purchased your camo jersey. What type of flattery comes when you hear that someone from out of state wired money for your jersey? It’s unbelievable. It’s kind of funny because you told me about that and it’s kind of weird because every year I do a Wish Upon a Star back in my hometown. They had jerseys for all of the big leaguers. The guy running it, a guy that I know, told me that they were going to get me a big league jersey and put my name and number on it. It was funny because I was there with Ron Coomer, Scott Spezio and Mark Grant. They had their jerseys selling for a good amount and it was kind of funny that my jersey sold for more than theirs. It was nice to see their response from my hometown. I’d like to thank her for buying my jersey. It’s going to a good cause and I’m glad for that. You’ve been selected to the AFL. How do you take that in? Is it a big honor? What are your goals as you go to the AFL? It’s definitely a big honor. The AFL is one of the top things that you want to go to. You can go to Venezuela, the Dominican, but to get invited to the AFL means that you’re doing something right. I’m going to go in and keep working, trying to get better every day. Von Joshua is going to be there with me as my hitting coach and I’m going to pick his brain more than I’ve picked before. I really don’t have so much of a goal other than keep swinging and every day getting better. Tell us about HR #26. Birmingham is a park that’s harder to hit a ball out of than this park. Matt Craig was on and I was trying to get a pitch to hit, I wasn’t trying to hit it out. He threw me three straight changeups, and I got the count to 3-1 and I had a feeling it was going to be a fastball. He threw me a fastball and left it over the middle of the plate. I put some good wood on it and crushed it. As soon as I hit it I had a feeling that it was going out but I was trying to tell it to grow some legs and get out. It was a good feeling to get a monkey off my back. I was worrying it about it a little bit and everyone else thought I was worrying about it. It was good to finally get that off my back and also getting a walk last week, getting over the hump with the walk record. You are a postseason all star. After what I will call being “snubbed” as a midseason all star, did not getting selected put a chip on your shoulder or was that your mentality at all? When I looked in there at the point that the all stars were announced and I wasn’t on there I was a little upset but I told myself I couldn’t worry about it because I still had the rest of the season to go and I had to help my teammates. We still had the second half to play and I had to help in whatever way I could. I couldn’t take that announcement as a negative. I told myself that if I keep putting up numbers like I am doing right now that it would take care of itself and at the end of the year I could make the all star team and I wouldn’t have to worry about it. If the season ended today, regardless of what happens in the SL playoffs, and you had to write a review of your season, what would it be? Definitely not as consistent as I was last year. I definitely know that I could’ve done a lot better this year. I was getting out of my league and trying to do too much. Now I’m trying to settle down, relax, and go into the playoffs doing what I’m supposed to do. Hopefully we’ll win the whole thing and take care of myself in the Arizona Fall League and head in to next year.

Len Kasper is our newest Broadcaster in the organization to be a registered user here at NSBB! Len's ID is lenkaspercubstv As a fan of all things Chicago Cubs, thank you to all of you guys for the great job that you do! If there is ever anything that we can do as a site, please do not hesitate to ask!

Fixed. :D Both of them? :lol: Yikes! There were lots of empty seats, but the people there (other than those affiliated with the Mudcats) had a great time! If any of you want to hear Sing's recap of his ABs, drop me a PM. The zen garden is something else, it really is. The story about it doesn't do it justice! I'll try to post pictures tomorrow.

Man I hope the hope they sweep the championship series too so we can convince Ron to stick with the shaved look for next season!! I took my wife up to the booth to introduce her to Ron after the first inning. I mentioned to him the fact that the Jaxx are 2-0 since he shaved his head. He made it known that he is letting it grow back! :lol:

Many thanks Aramis Fan! Thank you for contributing to the cause! BTW, the Jaxx are 3-0 since Ron shaved his head...

Great night in Jackson tonight! The players were pumped and the fans that were there were pumped. As soon as the last out was made I was on the field taking pictures of the celebration! Great stuff! In addition, I caught up with Brandon Sing after the celebration on the field and asked him to give us a recap of his ABs through the night. His recap was great! I'll try to get it posted ASAP!

You guys are missing a great one! The Jaxx had a stretch of a bunch of batters retired in a row but fortunately they racked up 8 in the first 2 innings! I went to the doc and he gave me some medicine but I didn't want to miss all three home games. I have several pictures, including the zen garden and Sing tagging home after the grand slam! Great night for the Jaxx, let's hope they hold on and finish the sweep!

not as exciting as the Jaxx game, but an enjoyable game

Good to see Steve at the game...

Ok, it really wasn't great, but I laughed

ha ha

ha ha, that would be great if Corey got picked off as a pinch runner

Murton with 2 walks too many

actually I thought that was Clines talking to Murton. Was it? My bad.

Dusty talking with Murton about the play.

JVB getting ready

ugh, tie game

I didn't look it up, but I'm pretty sure it's wgncubstvbooth@aol.com

Come on Matt, don't give Dusty a reason to bench you more than he already is

Brandon Sing is from Joliet, give him love!

Come on Len, give love to Nolasco!

<-----------------would appreciate a shout out for Nolasco on the Cub broadcast

I just e-mailed Len letting him know that the Jaxx won tonight as well!