Prior to Thursday's Double-A Reading Fightins game at Trenton, home of the Yankees' affiliate the Thunder, I noticed a youngster among a group of about a few dozen children from a local school singing the national anthem. Among the crowd, there was one kid who wasn't quite interested in singing at all. He caught my attention while he was glancing backward toward the stadium's video board and not participating with his classmates, who were positioned with him on the field. After a few lines, I picked up my camera to capture video of the boy who seemed considerably impressed with his status in the moment. Have a look at that fairly cute video clip below.
Jesmuel Valentin, image- Jay Floyd Switch-hitting infielder Jesmuel Valentin has been a bit of an underrated contributor with the Double-A Reading Fightins. Heading into action on Friday, Valentin was batting .339 over his last 14 games. Overall this season, the 22-year-old is batting .282 with four home runs and 35 RBI in 64 games. Valentin, who plays mostly second base, but dabbles at shortstop a bit also, is the son of former big leaguer Jose Valentin . The Puerto Rico native was a supplementary round pick (51st overall) of the Dodgers in 2012. He was acquired by the Phils as part of the Roberto Hernandez trade in 2014. Recently, I spoke with Jesmuel about his team's success, growing up around the game and more. Read ahead for that full interview. -The Reading team has been great and you've contributed very nicely to the club's success. What are your thoughts on competition in the Eastern League this year? I just came here with the mindset that...
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