C.J. Beatty, an outfielder drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals last year (26th round; 789th overall), has been playing well with the
Quad Cities team and was recently promoted to the club's full-season roster, AND HE'LL TELL YOU ALL ABOUT IT ON TWITTER.
Kidding aside, this minor-league prospect is all over the web in a major way.
Let's take stock of his social-media presence, shall we?
Twitter? Check.
Facebook? Check.
Myspace? Check.
Eponymous website? Check.
Handlers of athletic prospects hyping their players is nothing new, but in recent years agents, fathers, fans and obsessive stalkers have increasingly taken their efforts online.
With all this hype around a player who's so new to the organization, the question just hangs: Is Beatty's promotional push putting the cart before the horse? Shouldn't his numbers speak for themselves? Some say yes, others retort: hellfuckingno. It's the job of sports agents to endear their players to the public and promote them.
A number of his social networks plainly state he's an "outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals"when clearly he's not. He's playing low-A ball. Big difference.
That said, the interviews with Beatty, the ALL CAPS UPDATES to this Twitter feed, even the local-news segments about the player indicate that he's an incredibly positive person who absolutely loves baseball.
Take this excerpt from a Scout.com interview that took place shortly after Beatty, who'll turn 22 in September, was drafted:
You may want to check for cavities.
And then there's his Twitter account:
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| C.J. Beatty: What's not to love? |
Judging from how past Cardinals players -- regardless of their ability to consistently deliver on the field -- have endeared themselves to fans, if Beatty does get up here for a cup of coffee or more, he's likely to receive a heaping helping of worship (cf. Bo Hart, John Rodriguez, Rex Hudler, Felix José, Milt Thompson....)
But heck, according to folks in Beatty's hometown, he's a gosh-darned good person:
On a related note, colbyrasmus.com has apparently been taken down, perhaps after its namesake, Cards center fielder Colby Rasmus, made the jump the big leagues. That site proclaimed Rasmus as the "future of the St. Louis Cardinals" or the "Cardinals Top Prospect," if memory serves. (Anyone have a screen cap?)
From what we can tell online, since September Beatty has been represented by Greensboro, North Carolina-based MBI Sports Management (he's a former player for North Carolina A&T State University), a fact that may be related to his social-media consciousness -- MBI news is easier to find on his Facebook, Myspace and website pages than are his actual statistics.
(Hat tip to Post-Dispatch Cards beat writer Derrick Goold, who mentioned Beatty's Twittering today in his "10 @ 10" column [you'll have to scroll down to number 10], dubbing him the "Twitter Hitter."
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