Jonathan Lucroy

[USLJim]

_ Jonathan has been asked by Minor League Baseball to write a weekly journal about his experiences in the Hawaii Winter Baseball league. He has to submit a new entry every Sunday and they post it here on Mondays.


Click here to see it:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/n...milb&fext=.jsp

It will be updated each Monday.

Oh yeah, that is not a picture of Jonathan. They made a mistake. But, the rest is Jonathan. _

You sure that's not Jonathan, sure looks like him and that profile fits him to a tee.

[SunGrasses]

The profile is his, but the picture isn't. That picture was on his Helena Brewers Rookie baseball card. It's a picture of Eric Fryer, another catcher that was in Helena. The card company is in the process of getting it corrected and possibly re-printed. Don't know if MLB or MiLB will change it online or not.

[ulforlife]

_ You sure that's not Jonathan, sure looks like him and that profile fits him to a tee. _

It looks just like him!

[SunGrasses]

Oh, come on...

You know he's cuter than that!!!

[Zeebart21]

Awesome read! If everyone in every sport at UL had his work ethic and played with his intensity, we'd be bowl bound, sweet 16, and world series bound, every year.
Congrats JL, and nice job propping the University of Louisiana in your article.

Z

[SunGrasses]

They changed the picture and got it right!!!!

[srevere51]

_ They changed the picture and got it right!!!! _

I talked to Jonathon Via e-mail, just so you all know, he will be in for fan day.

[Turbine]

_ They changed the picture and got it right!!!! _

You sure?

Unless he is wearing Vermilion and White, i can't be sure

[CajunCharlie]

_ They changed the picture and got it right!!!! _

You had me going there for a moment when you originally said that the photo was not of Jonathan. When I went to the site the photo looked like Jonathon to me, but I thought, my memory retention of names is no longer good but the photo sure looks like him. So, in celebration of my recogniton ability I went to the medicine chest and took a big slug of Geritol.

[SunGrasses]

_ You had me going there for a moment when you originally said that the photo was not of Jonathan. When I went to the site the photo looked like Jonathon to me, but I thought, my memory retention of names is no longer good but the photo sure looks like him. So, in celebration of my recogniton ability I went to the medicine chest and took a big slug of Geritol. _

Hey, easy on the Geritol. It clearly states on the bottle that if taken in large doses, it can cause vision loss. Then you would be in a mess of trouble!

[DaddyCajun]

Thought you might like this reading:

Journal: Jonathan vs. the volcano
Brewers catching prospect tours his new surroundings in Hawaii
By Jonathan Lucroy / Special to MLB.com

Jonathan Lucroy, a third-round pick in 2007, hit .342 in 61 games with Helena of the Pioneer League.

Catcher Jonathan Lucroy was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the third round of the 2007 draft. Assigned to Helena of the Rookie-level Pioneer League, the University of Louisiana product immediately impressed by hitting .342 in 61 games. The Brewers have sent him to Hawaii Winter Baseball this year to further his professional education. He'll be periodically posting his thoughts on playing baseball in paradise for the North Shore Honu.
Send Jonathan an email

Hi everybody, my name is Jonathan Lucroy. I'm a catcher and I am here in Hawaii playing for the North Shore Honu. The Milwaukee Brewers were kind enough to send me out here for the winter ball season to allow me work on some things and hopefully get better. I'm actually one of the few rookies in the entire league. At the beginning of this year, I was playing college baseball at the University of Louisiana. So as you can tell, I am fairly new to the whole professional baseball experience. I'm only 21 years old -- a lot of the guys here are two to three years older then me and have much more experience.


After being drafted I was sent to Helena, Montana to play for the Helena Brewers in the Class A Short-Season Pioneer League. It was a wonderful experience, and I learned a lot of things about professional baseball and how it's different from the college game. Montana was very different from my hometown in central Florida -- I'm from a small town called Umatilla. If anybody has heard of this town, please email me and let me know! Not too many people have.

Back to paradise. Hawaii is a wonderful place to play winter ball. There are so many things to do here! Renting scooters, surfboards and bikes are a common activity. A few days ago I rented a bike and went for about a five-mile ride around Honolulu and Waikiki. Many of the other guys do that as well. We have all been pretty busy though. For our first trip we went to Maui, which is only about a 20-minute plane ride. We played three games before taking a bus up into the rain forest, which was absolutely unbelievable. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Waterfalls on the sides of the mountains, crystal clear streams and lush tropical forest all made for a truly rewarding sightseeing trip. We also went snorkeling over an extinct volcano -- actually half of an extinct volcano. It was a half-moon shape and consisted of aged volcanic magma. It was really beautiful and unique to see and experience; the fish were as colorful and diverse as I've ever seen as well. I've never been snorkeling in the ocean before, so it was a completely new experience. Later, we drove up to the very top of a dormant volcano and got to take a peek in the crater. There were several cones in the crater itself that looked still active but thankfully were not. Later on in the season we will be going to the big island, Hawaii, to play at Hilo. I will write about that later.

Our baseball team here is unique as well. We have players from the Astros, Phillies, Reds, Brewers, Marlins, Pirates and Tigers. We also have several guys from Japan. These players all have big-league experience in Japan, so they are all pretty solid. All in all, our team is very good. Our record is one of the best in the league and we are getting better. All the guys here are great -- like me they're here to get better and have fun in paradise. Not having fun here would be a really tough thing to do, considering the circumstances. Playing baseball in paradise, go figure.

If anybody has any questions, feel free to email me at lucroyhwb@gmail.com and I'll do my best to answer a couple of them in my next posting. Mahalo (thank you) and Aloha!


Jonathan Lucroy is an catching prospect in the Milwaukee Brewers organization and a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.

[NewsCopy]

Hello, everybody. This week, I'll be answering some of your questions and sharing some of my experiences of the past week with you. First, I'll answer some of your questions. One general question a lot of people have asked me is about the difference between college ball and pro ball. First and foremost, of course, is the caliber of play. The skill level is so much more refined here. Pitchers are able to hit spots more consistently, with movement and velocity. Hitters don't miss pitches they swing at, and there aren't many errors. Some differences, though, have nothing to do with playing. As a Minor Leaguer, you have to be worried about two things -- baseball and your social life. School isn't even a factor; no tests, studying or homework are included in professional baseball. Your social life can become a factor, if you let it. You have to be mature and professional enough to know the right thing to do. I know of guys who have let their social life become a factor, and it's affected their performance. The focus it takes to play this game professionally comes day to day because you may have one day off in a month. Every day, you play, and unlike college you don't practice. In college, you play four games a week, and the games are very different from pro ballgames. The rest of the story Jonathan Lucroy Special to MLB.com