Walk-Up Tunes and is Josh Redd-hot or Redd-iculous?
When the PawSox played in Rochester a few days ago, legendary Frontier Field organist Fred Costello played “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before” every time that Jose Iglesias stepped to the plate.
In other words, a Julio Iglesias tune for a Jose Iglesias at-bat. Pretty clever.
(Although I did point out to Fred that the PawSox shortstop is actually friends with Enrique Iglesias and was backstage at his concert in Miami. I guess Fred hasn’t learned how to play “Bailamos” on his organ yet.)
Have you ever wondered how the PawSox choose what music to play at McCoy Stadium when hitters step to the plate or pitchers take the mound? They let the players choose as long as the song is appropriate for a family environment.
Here are the walk-up tunes (and/or artists) that the players have requested so far this season at McCoy — organized alphabetically by the player’s last name. Keep in mind that the songs change frequently (usually because of how the player is performing more than how he feels about the song).
Lars Anderson — A song by Kid Cudi
Scott Atchison — Blue Clear Sky by George Strait
Michael Bowden — Audio from the movie The Warriors
Luis Exposito — Hustle Hard by Ace Hood
Jose Iglesias — In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins (beginning where Mike Tyson plays “air drums” in The Hangover)
Ryan Kalish — Songs by Busta Rhymes and Q-Tip
J.C. Linares — Yomo by Bella Calla
Michael McKenry — I’m a Believer by Tedashii
Andrew Miller — Better Than I Ought To Be — Randy Rogers Band
Daniel Nava — Dream by Lecrae
Yamaico Navarro — Various songs by Piddy Pablo
Josh Reddick — A song by Bullet For My Valentine
Jason Rice — Teach Me How To Dougie— Cali Swag District
Clevelan Santeliz — Ella Tiene el Pelo Largo by Gente de Zona
Drew Sutton — Wherever I May Roam by Metallica
Tony Thomas — A song by T-Pain
If you were a pro baseball player, what would your walk-up song be?
I think I would go with “Tick Tick Boom” by The Hives (starting at the 1:08 mark).
Then again, as the self-proclaimed “World’s Best Whistler” and the clear-cut cut favorite when they come out with the TV show Whistling Idol (the whistling version of American Idol), I probably should go with “Young Folks” by Peter, Bjorn & John.
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Lehigh Valley beat the PawSox 8-2 on Wednesday, despite Josh Reddick’s 6th home run of the year.
(Photo courtesy of Kelly O’Connor)
Reddick has homered in three straight games (and 4 of his last 5), but his power surge dates back to August 2nd of last year.
Josh hit 10 HR in the PawSox last 33 games last season (144 at-bats) and now has 16 HR in his last 52 Triple-A games (220 at-bats). That’s a home run every 13.75 at-bats.
To put that into perspective, here are baseball’s all-time career leaders in HR frequency:
1. Mark McGwire: HR every 10.61 at-bats
2. Babe Ruth: HR every 11.76 at-bats
3. Barry Bonds: HR every 12.92 at-bats
4. Ryan Howard: HR every 12.95 at-bats
5. Jim Thome: HR every 13.60 at-bats
6. Albert Pujols: HR every 14.04 at-bats
In other words, Reddick’s HR rate over his last 52 games with Pawtucket would rank 6th in major league history.
The last Pawtucket player to hit home runs in four straight games was Chris “The Animal” Carter in 2008. We’ll see if Reddick can match that streak tonight when the PawSox face Lehigh Valley at 7:05.
I hope you’ll join us for radio coverage beginning with the pre-game show at 6:50 on the PawSox radio network and pawsox.com.
I’d love to hear from you. The address is dhoard@pawsox.com
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Dan Hoard