It's a great city, a great stadium, great facility and great park, so it's been fun. – Alex Yarbrough
SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake Bees are heading into the final stretch of the 2015 baseball season. While September is approaching, the team is falling into the swing of things, and some team members are able to reflect on their playing experience.
Jared Mitchell, Kaleb Cowart and Alex Yarbrough are all in their first season playing for the Salt Lake Bees. They share different experiences as they each came to the team at different times during the season.
Mitchell most recently came from playing in Little Rock, Arkansas, then moved to the the Bees in July. He played a year of Triple-A baseball with the White Socks, went to Little Rock for a little over a month, and then made it to Salt Lake City.
He said that he enjoys the weather here and that he believes the air quality in Utah makes for a little bit better game.
"It plays a lot better than the ballpark in Little Rock. So that was kinda cool to come here and actually see the ball fly a little more because the air is a little thinner. Which means more runs, more hits, better offense for each team," said Mitchell. "For me it makes for a better product. It's fun to see runs. Fans come here to see runs, not 2-1 games every time."
Mitchell has also seen success among his team as they continue to develop on and off the field.
"We've played some pretty clean games since I've been here, and put together a couple good wins. Everyone's pretty cool with each other and we joke around a lot," said Mitchell. "One of my college teammates is probably one of my closest friends on the team — Ryan Verdugo. We hang out a lot together in the offseason, and know each other very well."
As Mitchell closes out this season, he hopes to finish strong and focus on helping the team win. He would like to see himself progress and continue becoming a better person.
Cowart has played for the Salt Lake Bees for two months and has also enjoyed his time in Utah thus far.
"It's been a good experience. I had a tough time in Double-A — it was a tough place to hit in Little Rock, but it's been good to come here. The first day I got here, I got a stomach virus and was on the training table the entire day. I didn't even come out for the game. I got sick on my flight, it was terrible," said Cowart. "I was weak for a few days, but then it got better."
Cowart's most memorable game so far was when the Bees played Vegas for the first time after he joined the team.
"When we beat Vegas the first time I was here, CJ Cron hit a three-run bomb in the bottom of the eighth and that was a really clutch hit — that's probably been the best one so far," said Cowart.
Cowart's desire to win continues to keep him motivated throughout the season to move forward and progress toward playing in Major League Baseball.
Out of the three, Yarbrough has played with the Bees the longest — from the beginning of the 2015 baseball season. Throughout his time here, Yarbrough has made himself at home in Salt Lake City.
"It's a great city, a great stadium, great facility and great park, so it's been fun," said Yarbrough.
Yarbrough played with Cowart in Little Rock, and they both ended up in Utah for the 2015 season.
"There's a lot of new faces for me at least. I think at the start of the season opening we had two-three guys that were drafted by the Angels. We've had a lot of new guys from different organizations. I think we've come together nicely."
Yarbrough said that the view from Smith's Ballpark was the first thing that struck him in his first week of training with the Bees.
"The first thing I saw when we got here for our first practice was the mountains, they still had snow on them. It's hard to find a better backdrop for a stadium really anywhere in the big leagues or minor leagues. That's the first thing that stood out to me," said Yarbrough.
While Yarbrough hopes to enjoy the mountains in Utah sometime, he would also like to focus in this last month of the season to continue improving and keep progressing towards the major leagues.
"I think everyone here in Double-A and Triple A, I think the goal is to get to the major leagues at some point this year. We still have a month left to do as much as possible to do whatever it is we need improving on. So that's the main goal."
Contact Lauren Rose Spencer at laurenrose324@gmail.com., http://twitter.com/laurenrose324