From the Ashes

This is where to post any MLB or other baseball franchises.
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Caesar
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From the Ashes

Post by Caesar » 23 Aug 2021, 16:18

Commencer
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Caesar
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From the Ashes

Post by Caesar » 23 Aug 2021, 16:19

Enregistré
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Caesar
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From the Ashes

Post by Caesar » 23 Aug 2021, 16:20

Troubled Waters

Julien Augustin stared at the TV hung on the wall above the fireplace in a quaint home on the edge of East Baton Rouge Parish. Images of the night’s game between the Chicago White Sox and the Minnesota Twins flittered across the screen. The Southsiders were up a couple runs heading into the sixth inning and Julien was sure that they would be able to close out the game without too much trouble. The Twins’ bats were quiet – to say the least.

He held a baseball while he watched. A habit he’d developed as a youngster realizing that the sport of the land – football – might not be for him. Something in his mind wouldn’t allow him to run into other people.

And he wasn’t exactly fast.

So, baseball was as good a fit as any.

For years now, he’d done the same thing. He’d sit down to watch the White Sox and attempt to copy all of the different grips required to throw whatever pitch it was that the big leaguers were throwing on the TV.

It’d helped him become a decent pitcher in his own right. A decent one. With a few lucky breaks, he might get a scholarship to a small college that was in need of bodies more so than talented ones.

His twin brother Romain on the other hand was destined for the big leagues. An outfielder who had all the tools needed to be successful, Romain had already started to turn down scholarship offers from the big boys like LSU, Vanderbilt, Florida, Oregon State and South Carolina. They were a few months from graduating and many of them were resigning themselves to the fact that Romain Augustin would not be appearing in their baseball stadiums anytime soon.

And Julien didn’t blame him.

Why waste time in college when you could get drafted in the first or second round and start working your way up to the Show? Their parents probably weren’t too happy about it, but at the end of the day, it was Romain’s life and college wasn’t going anywhere.

A crack of thunder shook the house and flickered the lights. Almost causing Julien to jump up from the sofa. He picked up his phone from the coffee table to check the time just as a weather alert came across an app from the local TV station. Flooding was being reported across the city after it’d been raining since noon that day.

Julien and Romain were supposed to watch the game together as they’d done numerous times over the last eighteen years, but Romain got a text from his girlfriend Yanet and he was out of the door before anyone could say otherwise.

Again, Julien wouldn’t blame him for that either. He’d seen Yanet. And he wasn’t stupid. But being a ladies’ man wasn’t his calling any more than football was.

On the screen, Eloy Jimenez ripped one into left field to drive in another couple of runs and Julien gave a small fist pump as the Sox extended their lead.

Rising from the sofa, he headed into the kitchen to grab an Arnold Palmer out of the fridge before the next batter stepped up to the plate. While staring aimlessly into the fridge, he debated whether he was going to finish his night playing some Diamond Dynasty on the Show or a bit of Park on 2K. His Diamond Dynasty team was getting sick, so that would probably be the call.

Another boom of thunder was followed by five loud bangs at the door. Julien glanced over at the microwave and saw it was a little after 9:30. Deciding he must be hearing things, he ignored it at first but soon another set of loud bangs echoed through the house.

His mother all but jogged down the stairs, throwing a robe over her pajamas as she went. His father followed close behind, muttering in French about the cops being rude enough to beat down the door in the middle of the night.

Neither of them had noticed Julien standing in the kitchen so he decided that it would be a good time to eavesdrop on the conversation that was about to be had.

Two sheriff’s deputies stood at the door. They were lucky that their front step was raised from the sidewalk or the water would likely be lapping under the officers’ feet and into the house once the door was opened.

“Mister and Mrs. Augustin?” one of the two deputies asked. He adjusted his hat, knocking water droplets off as he did and apologizing if any had gotten on Julien’s parents.

“Yes, we can help you with?” Julien’s mom asked.

“Is Romain Augustin your son?”

“Yes. What do you want?” his father asked. You could hear the irritation creeping into his voice after the short back and forth, but he was always a man with a fairly short fuse.

Julien couldn’t hear what the officers said next as a car passed through the flooded street outside of their house.

But he didn’t need to to know that something bad was said as his mother let out a wail that he’d only heard on movies before collapsing into his father’s arms.

And that was the night that his life changed forever.
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djp73
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From the Ashes

Post by djp73 » 24 Aug 2021, 11:38

Woah
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James
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From the Ashes

Post by James » 24 Aug 2021, 12:58

Turn around, don’t drown.
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mvp
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From the Ashes

Post by mvp » 25 Aug 2021, 11:03

:bowdown:
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Captain Canada
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From the Ashes

Post by Captain Canada » 26 Aug 2021, 12:26

Oh we UP!
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Caesar
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From the Ashes

Post by Caesar » 26 Aug 2021, 15:27

One Year Later

Julien adjusted the medical mask on his face as he trekked across Baton Rouge Community College’s Mid-City campus. It was the dead of summer and the dead of a pandemic so not many other students were milling about. Julien wished that virtual instruction would’ve been an option for summer courses but with so few students, they just figured that spacing them out would be good enough.

The end of his senior year in high school had been strange. He was looking forward to finishing out his baseball career at that level and coming to BRCC for a couple years in the JuCo ranks in hopes that he could get on at a four-year.

Not only did he not get to finish his high school career on the field, but he wasn’t quite sure if there would be a baseball season for the Bears either. The coaching staff told him they were optimistic that a vaccine come the end of the year would have everyone running to take it and get back to normal, but it didn’t seem like the government was too interested in doing much about the pandemic. They were too busy trying to do damage control for the president’s ignorant statements about the protests against police brutality.

He sat down in a desk toward the back of the room, taking the six foot requirement to the extreme as his closest classmate was probably a good twenty feet away.

The instructor walked in, mask just under his nose and sweating from the Louisiana heat beating down on the concrete jungle that was that part of Baton Rouge. Trees were at a premium around that particular BRCC campus.

Julien took out his laptop and pulled up ESPN and Microsoft Word. He figured he’d at least make an effort at taking notes. But his mind was elsewhere.

The MLB Draft finished yesterday. A strange one because of the pandemic. There were only a handful of rounds to compensate for the seasons that were cut short in the spring. He personally didn’t understand why it couldn’t have been held with the normal length.

If it had been the normal length, Romain probably would’ve been drafted.

If he was still around.

Sighing to himself, Julien closed the browser window and listened as the instructor droned on about rhythmic pentameter.

He felt as if he was almost instantly falling asleep before his phone vibrated in his pocket.

Image



Stepping out of the building where the classroom was, Julien ripped the paper mask off his face and threw it into a nearby garbage can. He was done with class for the day and if he caught the virus walking back across the campus to the parking garage then it was just meant to be.

He flipped his phone over in his hand and looked at the number that Reg had sent him for his cousin Jerome. As far as Julien knew, Jerome was actually older than Reg so he wasn’t quite sure why Reg referred to him as his “little” cousin.

Julien also doubted that this guy actually had connections. He’d only met Jerome a few times around the way and nothing about him screamed “connected.”

A part of him told him to just ignore it and go about his day. He could go about his day and continue his watch through of Breaking Bad for the fifteenth – or fiftieth – time.

But another part of him said that he should call. He didn’t have anything to lose. Worst case scenario, the guy wasn’t actually in the know with anyone. Best case scenario … He didn’t know what the best case scenario was.

Hedging his bets, he tapped the contact card and call Jerome. The phone rang a couple times before he picked up.

“Hello?” It sounded like he was just waking up. Julien wasn’t sure whether that was a good sign or not.

“Yeah, this is Julien? Julien Augustin? Reg told me to call you?”

There was shuffling on the other end of the phone before Jerome spoke again. “Yeah, man. I know. I remember you from back in the day. You and your brother always trying to find somewhere to play baseball when everyone else playing football. Sorry about your brother by the way.”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know what Reg told you, but I know some people who know some people in the minors and shit. You know that team in Baton Rouge? The Rougarou?”

“The new college summer team? Yeah, I know them.”

“I did a little bit with the cat who owns them and met some scouts and what not who’d come around to try to get an extra look at the college guys. So, this pandemic gave everyone a little advantage with the draft because they can sign as many undrafted guys as they want. Right? It’s a lot more organizations out here willing to take flyers on guys because it’s not hurting them.”

“I’m not following.”

“I was talking to this guy about your brother, because you know they were looking at him and shit. Brought your name up and they’re willing to take a look at you in their farm system. You ain’t going to be making shit, probably going to have to live with a host family, but it’s a chance right? You ain’t got nothing to lose.”

“Who is ‘they’?”

“You ever been to Pearl, Mississippi?”
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James
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From the Ashes

Post by James » 26 Aug 2021, 17:16

Road to Atlanta. Count will be happy to see this.
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mvp
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From the Ashes

Post by mvp » 26 Aug 2021, 17:54

:popcorn:
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