So why don't you tell us something about Mr. Howley?

Dan Howey is one of my favorite all-time baseball characters.

He's a grandson of a Cape Breton fisherman, but he's born and raised in the Boston area.

He was a career minor leaguer, and at one of the stops while he was in the minor leagues, he befriended a very young baseball writer.

named Ring Lardner, who went on to become not only one of the greatest early baseball writers of all time, but also one of America's great short story writers.

And a couple of his stories featured Dan Howley as a character.

Dan wound up in Montreal.

So who were some of the key players on that team?

What have you seen from JoJo Parker here hitting 323 in his first 16 games with Vancouver?

There's no doubt about his ability to put balls in play, and he's hammering lots of pitches that, that he's seen.

Uh, the extra base hits, uh, have yet to come.

Um, I know, uh, the totals are a little bit different now, but I know the other day he has had something like 17 hits, uh, since joining the C, I think is a Thursdays, uh, Thursday joining the C's, and I think only four of them were for extra bases.

He had 10 hits, uh, in this past series, this past week with Spokane.

And, and I, I know most listeners, most, uh, most fans know that as you go up a level, the pitchers are that much better.

They can locate their stuff that much more.

What have you been able to put together about Will Brick a- and what the organization liked about the, the high school catcher? Normally, uh, a pretty risky demographic to be drafting in, but a guy I'd imagine we'll be talking a lot about next year.

Hmm.

Uh, we're talking about a, a 60%, um, or above chase rate.

So there's a lot of swing and miss to his game.

But what he did, I found really interesting going back to my conversation with Craig Perry, um, is they, they did some mechanical adjustments with him.

He was, uh, um, one of these guys who, this is Mark Shapiro's dream come true.

He's one of these guys who spent last, uh, last off season in Dunedin and trained at the minor league complex every day.

Um, uh, so he's, he's kind of the left-handed David Schneider, i- if you will.

Uh, but running a sub three ERA at high A as a 19-year-old, um, what have you heard o- on King and, and just how excited should we be, uh, even if the strikeout numbers aren't quite as crazy as they were at Dunedin last year?

Um, what is your understanding of how he was able to clear the Rule 5, and what's changed for him between then and now, where he looks like a, a fairly capable major leaguer?

leaguer?Um, I, I'm as, as surprised as anyone that, that, uh, he, uh, got off to such a good start.

Um, and he's in the big leagues and he's thriving.

Uh, I think the reason that he was left unprotected is because, um, let's face it, most organizations have a guy, uh, if not more than one, with his profile.

And so I think for a lot of teams it just wasn't worth the, the risk of having to carry him, uh, on, on the 26-man roster for the full season that, that dissuaded them from, from picking him.

And I, I'm sure it was a calculated move on the Blue Jays' part, probably with that, with that in mind.

Uh, but he hit the ground running himself this year.

Uh, but what can you tell us about where Johnny King, and especially Nolan Perry, are developmentally? Because I know you got the chance to talk to Nolan Perry this weekend.