#TholeWatch2010

In 2009 I became rather fond of Josh Thole and his game.  He used to be a first baseman and switched to catcher a year before I moved from first base to catcher in softball.  He also choked up on the bat, a practice I had recently picked up to help my hitting.  Our games were as similar as they can get (for a professional baseball player and high school softball player).  And there was the added bonus of Josh being cute. 

I watched every Mets game when he was called up in September 2009.  Of course, I would have watched every game no matter who was on the team, but now I would watch games and look for any camera shots of Thole.  I enjoyed seeing him in the bullpen getting to know the pitchers (something Mike Nickeas spent time doing last season).  When he played I didn't miss an at-bat.

Thole Watch 2010 started early in the season while Josh Thole was in the minor leagues.  Everybody knew he would be in the majors at some point during the season but it was also known that he still needed work on his defense.  So, while Rod Barajas and Henry Blanco were catching for the MLB Mets, Josh Thole was catching for the AAA Buffalo Bisons.

I decided to post random twitter updates of how Josh was doing in AAA.  I would tag each tweet with #TholeWatch2010.  When he was called up the statistic and game result tweets were fewer but the general amound of tweeting about him increased.  It became my way to simply tweet "basehit!" but let people know I was talking about Josh.  I actually grew rather fond of the tag.  I probably won't think of anything like it anytime soon.

Now that 2010 is over, #TholeWatch2010 is also over.  I should probably put his final stats in here to put some real closure to #TholeWatch2010.

His first game in the majors last season was June 25:

espn.com

Let's Go Mets!