Brewers and any other MLB players on Twitter?

[RobDeer 45]

I've found Axford, are there any other? Any MLB guys worth following?

[sveumrules]

I'm not a twitterer but the few tweeters I've read from Adam Jones on the Orioles were certainly classics of the genre.

[brewtank34]

Go to Brewers.com as they should have a link to all of theri "confirmed" twitter accounts. Should be listed under social media.

[crewcrazy]

He's not a Brewer, but Logan Morrison of the Marlins is an absolute must-follow - http://www.twitter.com/LoMoMarlins

 

Very funny guy. One of my favorites -- back in September, someone complained that he tweets too much and threatened to send Nyjer Morgan after him (this was after Morgan started that brawl with the Marlins). Morrison's response? "That's ok, I've got Gaby."

[patrickgpe]

Axford is the only confirmed account.

[Mass Haas]

Congratulations to John Axford, who will be honored at an awards banquet Saturday night by Baseball Canada in Toronto.

[Mass Haas]

Canuck closer Axford has right stuff

By BOB ELLIOTT, Toronto Sun

He’s a fan favourite in Milwaukee even though he out-pitched a possible Hall of Famer.

He’s as popular with the beer drinkers at Miller Park for his moustache as he is for his 97 m.p.h. fastball.

So, John Axford, Milwaukee Brewers closer, where is the handlebar moustache?

“Hibernating, it will be back for opening day,” Axford said before he was presented with a special achievement award at the annual Baseball Canada banquet at the Renaissance Hotel on Saturday night.

Besides bumping Trevor Hoffman to the side in a bloodless takeover, besides going 24-for-27 (89%) converting saves, Axford dominated Canada’s best hitters.

Axford, who hails from Port Dover, Ont., and lives in the Hamilton area, faced Justin Morneau, former American League MVP winner, and Joey Votto, NL MVP winner, four times in 2010.

Votto was named to Baseball Canada’s wall of excellence although was too ill in Sarasota, Fla., to attend.

Axford recorded four strikeouts against Morneau and Votto.

“Trevor blew a save the one day, we get to Minnesota and Carlos Villanueva, the guy the Jays got from us, blew one,” Axford said. “So the next day, we have a two-run lead in the ninth, the bullpen phone rings and they tell me to warm up.”

Orlando Hudson led off the ninth with a double but Axford fanned Morneau and Michael Cuddyer. After singles to Jason Kubel and Delmon Young and a walk to Jim Thome, the bases were loaded. Axford fanned Trevor Plouffe for his first save of 2010 that May day in Minneapolis.

A month later in Milwaukee he fanned Morneau in a 7-5 win over the Twins and the next day struck out Morneau looking in a 5-3 Brewers win.

“I don’t really know Justin. I met him at the banquet here last year, that’s about it,” Axford said. “What would I say if I saw him? Probably I’d say ‘sorry.’ The called strike three was a pitcher’s pitch, it wasn’t what a hitter would call a strike. Justin was pretty upset at the call.”

Axford is expected to get more chances this season after the Brewers beefed up their rotation adding opening day starters from both the Kansas City Royals (Zack Greinke) and the Jays (Shaun Marcum).

When they make the next baseball movie, Axford would be a good topic.

Drafted in the seventh round in 2001 from Team Ontario, he chose to attend Notre Dame, where he went 14-5 his first two seasons before undergoing Tommy John surgery. He then transferred to Canisius College, pitched for the Brantford Red Sox of the Intercounty Baseball League; was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 42nd round in 2005, pitched for the Melville (Sask.) Millionaires in 2006, signed with the New York Yankees in 2007 and was released.

Then he was signed by Brewers scout Jay Lapp who drove from London, Ontario through a snow storm to an indoor workout at The Baseball Zone in Mississauga.

Top that Hollywood.

“In the spring we saw him as a set-up guy in triple-A,” Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said Saturday. “We did not want him pitching one-inning stints.

“When we brought him up we did expect him to close. He earned it and capitalized on the opportunity when that door opened. He showed great poise and the ability to not give in to hitters.”

Brucey Froemming, former umpire, presented Baseball Canada with a cheque for $50,000, which he said was not collected from fines George Bell paid over the years.

The Jays donated $25,000 to Baseball Canada.

 

***

 

Axford tweeted thrice while at the event.

[pretendastronaut]

McCalvy helped confirm Axford's account when he created it, and had a tweet that he was the only Brewer on twitter. Axford has been very engaging with it so far. He also tends to promo Hunter Pence a lot.

[Mass Haas]

Another nice Axford feature from north of the border.

 

Don't think folks realize just how close Axford was to being out of baseball (again) --

 

The Brewers put him in high Class-A ball in 2008 with familiar results: many strikeouts, too many walks.

By the time he finished spring training in 2009, Axford wondered if he would need to seek other employment. "I just knew that this was kind of it for me," he recalled. "I was 26 years old. I didn't want to go back to A-ball. And I had a terrible spring."

But Milwaukee stuck with him. In April, roving pitching instructor Lee Tunnell saw him in the Florida State League and tweaked his delivery. His arm angle dropped and his velocity went up. Most important, he suddenly had control of his pitches.

The change, he said, "was almost immediate" and led to a September call-up.

[Mass Haas]

from his awards banquet recently, discussing Trevor Hoffman

[pretendastronaut]

For anyone not currently following Axford on twitter, he's about 160 followers away from 5,000. When he gets to 5,000 he's going to ask some trivia questions and give away game worn items and autographs.

[Mass Haas]

Detailed Axford interview with Baseball Prospectus -- quite the good read.

 

As always, thanks to BrewCrewBall and others who linked to it, always appreciate all the Brewer-related sites, especially when one takes a rare breather and is out of the loop a bit for a few days...

[pretendastronaut]

Axford and McCalvy letting everyone know tonight that @Adidas219 is LaTroy Hawkins.

[Schlitz001]

Detailed Axford interview with Baseball Prospectus -- quite the good read.

 

As always, thanks to BrewCrewBall and others who linked to it, always appreciate all the Brewer-related sites, especially when one takes a rare breather and is out of the loop a bit for a few days...

Wow, that's a fantastic interview. It really puts Axford in a new light for me.