Jeff Samardzija made his last appearance of Spring Training for the Cubs on Monday after they cut 14 players from their spring roster. Before being sent down to the miniors, Samardzija did get to face Barry Bonds with the much maligned slugger getting a single off of the Cubs Rookie. Here are some quotes from mlb.com.
“It was cool,” Samardzija said about facing Bonds. “I tried to keep cool and just make some pitches. I kept the sinker up a little bit, and he put the bat on it.”
It was cool to face Bonds? Not many big-league pitchers feel that way.
“I got to face a lot of guys since I’ve been up here, a lot of guys I’ve watched for a long time,” Samardzija said. “It’s all thrilling. My job as a pitcher is to keep my emotions together on the mound. I’m a pretty emotional guy. I just took some deep breaths, made my pitches and what happens, happens.”
Despite being sent down to the minors, Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry and manager Lou Pinella had nothing but high praise for their rookie hurler.
“It was very entertaining,” Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said, “but I’ve been excited about this kid since the day we got him. He handled himself like a pro with a lot of poise. He’s a big-time guy.”
“He’s pitched like a veteran really,” Piniella said. “You could see that he’s had big-time exposure playing football at Notre Dame. This hasn’t fazed him too much. I think he’s looked at some of our veteran pitchers and how they go about their business, what it takes to be a big leaguer, and he’ll take that with him. I wouldn’t be surprised that he’ll have good, steady progress in the Minor League system.”
Samardzija will move down to Single A Dayton where he will gain experience and work on becoming a full time baseball player.
Unless he got traded to the reds he will not be going to Dayton anytime soon. I belive Peoria is the Cubs A ball team