The Nicky Delmonico saga - We finally learn more

[Mass Haas]

The Brewers could have placed Delmonico on the restricted list and retained his rights. Instead they gave up. Maybe there's even more to the story.

 

And now we learn more...

 

Before linking to the new article below, here is Nicky Delmonico's current statistical status, as he was raking in AA before a bump to the White Sox' AAA club (Delmonico turns 24 in July) --

 

MiLB.com Player Page

 

Baseball Reference Page

 

Tom Haudricourt's February 13, 2015 report --

 

The Brewers have released third base prospect Nick Delmonico, ending his short but troubled time with the organization.

 

Delmonico, 22, is still under a 50-game suspension for testing positive for an amphetamine late last July. Baseball America reported he has been signed by the Chicago White Sox.

 

Delmonico was acquired from Baltimore in exchange for reliever Francisco Rodriguez in late July 2013 and immediately was listed among the Brewers' top prospects. The organization had a void at that position and it was hoped he would rise through the system and fulfill his potential.

 

But Delmonico missed minor-league camp last spring for what the Brewers termed "personal reasons." He later reported to Class A Brevard County but played in only 37 games before being suspended. Delmonico was batting .262 with four homers, 15 RBI and a .300 OBP but hadn't played since July 7 when his suspension was announced on July 28.

 

Brewers farm director Reid Nichols said Delmonico was released because the organization had lost contact with him.

 

"We couldn't contact him," said Nichols. "He wouldn't return calls. We couldn't find him.

 

"With all the maintenance, we didn't feel like he was a major-league prospect. So, the work wasn't worth it. It was too much to deal with. There was a lot going on there."

 

As for Delmonico signing with the White Sox, Nichols said, "I hope it works out for him. Maybe this woke him up."

 

Originally selected in the sixth round of the 2012 draft by the Orioles, Delmonico has a .245 batting average with 28 home runs, 108 RBI and a .340 OBP in 214 games over three years in the minors spanning both levels of Class A ball.

 

***

 

Charlotte Knights’ Nicky Delmonico holding onto big-league dreams

By Brendan Marks, Charlotte Observer

 

Read the full article, but here's one snippet --

 

In 2013, he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers. There he struggled with personal issues and the drug Adderall, which he’d taken since high school for attention deficit disorder (ADD).

 

“I wasn’t able to sleep very well and I just kind of wanted to get off of it,” he said. “I didn’t know once you come off it, you go through mood swings.”

 

Delmonico stopped using the drug but not for good. He ended up taking Adderall again, this time without the permission of Major League Baseball. A random drug test came the next day. He knew he would fail.

 

He did, and was suspended 50 games.

 

The Brewers were unhappy, but wanted to keep Delmonico on their High Class A team. The feeling was not mutual.

 

“I don’t know if it was just the medicine that made me feel down,” he said, “but I kinda didn’t want to come back and play at that time. And so I kept asking for my release.

 

“I was like, ‘I’m not gonna play anymore.’ I changed my phone number. I called my mom and was like, ‘I guess this is it.’ And I get the call they finally released me.”

 

***

 

So, at this point, it's like, whatever -- it was Melvin/Ash/Nichols on the call, not the current regime. Happy for Delmonico? Sure, actually, OK, I guess

[young guns]

Seems like he bullied his way out of the organization. He tells the front office he isnt going to play anymore then after his release he gets the call hes been waiting for to play again?

[stalton]

I know the conditions/pay/etc are meager for minor leaguers but I can't help but wonder what if any help there is for mental health.

[jerichoholicninja]

Seems like he bullied his way out of the organization. He tells the front office he isnt going to play anymore then after his release he gets the call hes been waiting for to play again?

 

That's pretty much what happened. The question is why the Brewers just flat out released him instead of putting him on the restricted list or suspended him since he just abandoned his team and the organization.

[adambr2]

I'm also not a fan of the precedent it sets. If you don't want to be here, just don't show up? No, we gave up a good player for you and we expect you to honor your comittment to the organization. If you don't want to play baseball, retire. If you just don't want to play HERE, go about it the right way, come to work and do your job, and we'll see what we can work out with another organization down the road. But the way he went about it is crap.

[Austin Tatious]

Thanks for the additional information. It was enlightening. It's a very disappointing situation. Delmonico let down a club who put their faith in him. I doubt he has any conscience in that. That tells you all you need to know about his character. I can do without low character guys. They infect others.

[jerichoholicninja]

Thanks for the additional information. It was enlightening. It's a very disappointing situation. Delmonico let down a club who put their faith in him. I doubt he has any conscience in that. That tells you all you need to know about his character. I can do without low character guys. They infect others.

 

I don't know how you can call a guy low character based off of one issue and one that quite possibly had something to do with his medication.

 

The whole thing stinks for the Brewers though and pretty much sums up the overall luck this franchise has had.

[TheCrew07]

Thanks for the additional information. It was enlightening. It's a very disappointing situation. Delmonico let down a club who put their faith in him. I doubt he has any conscience in that. That tells you all you need to know about his character. I can do without low character guys. They infect others.

 

I don't know how you can call a guy low character based off of one issue and one that quite possibly had something to do with his medication.

 

The whole thing stinks for the Brewers though and pretty much sums up the overall luck this franchise has had.

 

Why is it that good organizations are "lucky" and bad organizations are "unlucky"?

[homer]

Thanks for the additional information. It was enlightening. It's a very disappointing situation. Delmonico let down a club who put their faith in him. I doubt he has any conscience in that. That tells you all you need to know about his character. I can do without low character guys. They infect others.

 

I don't know how you can call a guy low character based off of one issue and one that quite possibly had something to do with his medication.

 

The whole thing stinks for the Brewers though and pretty much sums up the overall luck this franchise has had.

 

Why is it that good organizations are "lucky" and bad organizations are "unlucky"?

 

 

Good organizations have bad luck too.

[TheCrew07]

Good organizations have bad luck too.

 

How much good luck do bad organizations have? The point is that throwing out luck as a reason, or the catalyst of an event, as often as happens in baseball circles (especially sabermetrics) is disservice to truth and often is the result of glossing over the deeper underlying issues. For example hitting a line drive directly at an outfielder isn't unlucky, it's the end result of fairly simple physics and geometry. The Brewers haven't been unlucky, they've just been directed by people who are averagish compared to their immediate peers, and historically the Brewers have struggled with player's who've been difficult to deal with, there's a long history going back to Wilhemsen. While I'd agree that fault probably lies mostly with Delmonico in this particular case, the overall picture hasn't been good. Certainly people can argue that few teams would have success with those players but the flip side is what was known prior to bringing those players into the organization in the first place and more importantly what was done to help?

 

I never thought Delmonico was any of kind of answer in the first place so I"m more surprised by his success this season than I am the full story behind his release, but then I never thought much of K-Rod and wasn't counting on getting any kind of meaningful piece back for him.

[homer]

I'm not going to get into the whole "luck" aspect of baseball as that would derail the thread. All I'll say is that people tend to get hung up on the term "luck" when it's really regression to the mean they are talking about. But you are correct that good organizations can overcome bad luck in player development by having deeper roster of prospects to choose from. I'm not disputing that. Cardinals have had plenty of bad luck (Taveras tragedy for one) but are able to overcome it because they have a deeper player pool.

[jerichoholicninja]

I'm not going to get into the whole "luck" aspect of baseball as that would derail the thread. All I'll say is that people tend to get hung up on the term "luck" when it's really regression to the mean they are talking about. But you are correct that good organizations can overcome bad luck in player development by having deeper roster of prospects to choose from. I'm not disputing that. Cardinals have had plenty of bad luck (Taveras tragedy for one) but are able to overcome it because they have a deeper player pool.

 

Ya, this isn't luck in terms of stats but luck in terms of bad things beyond your control. If Ben Sheets doesn't turn into glass by the end of his career the Brewers possibly ride him and CC to at least an NLCS, if Mat Gamel doesn't have back to back freak knee injuries the Brewers aren't constantly looking for a 3B or 1B (same with Corey Hart), top prospect Angel Salome has anxiety and retires, Ryan Braun has Hall of Fame talent and puts up Hall of Fame numbers but a random thumb injury makes him more human, Weeks and Jenkins are great players but constantly get hurt by playing hard or through no fault of their own. Obviously having depth makes those things hurt less but you can't deny that Milwaukee hasn't had the greatest luck.

[1992casey]

I know the conditions/pay/etc are meager for minor leaguers but I can't help but wonder what if any help there is for mental health.

I'm sure there's excellent psychological and psychiatric help available to minor league players. It sounds like Nicky decided to stop the ADD medication on his own, which isn't all that uncommon. When patients operate on their own, there's little that doctors or anyone else can do.

 

The unfortunate part is that Nicky decided to restart the medication without going through the channels necessary for using a substance that would normally be banned.

 

As jerichoholicninja said, I don't think we can chalk this up as a character issue. Some of his actions were pretty bad, but partly due to his ADD and the medication (or lack thereof), Nicky's sense of judgement was likely somewhat out of his control.