Chris Hayes -- Guest Blogger

Hello from the Arizona Fall League.  My name is Chris Hayes and I'm a relief pitcher with the Kansas City Royals.  I'm a fan favorite. I know you all have been waiting weeks on end for mlb.com to ask me to be a guest blogger on this site, so on their behalf, I would like to apologize for the delay.  My blog will be the best baseball blog ever...

...Because I will be interviewing Matt Wieters.  He is my teammate on the Surprise Rafters and is excessively good at baseball.  And let's be honest, who's heard of Chris Hayes? I would ask for a show of hands but I don't have a cricket sound maker or any tumbleweed, so we'll assume you are all looking up the Surprise Rafters blogs to hear about Wieters anyways. If you haven't heard of Matt and you are reading this, you must be a relative of mine, because anyone who invests the time to scour the depths of the Internet to find this blog is obviously one of my relatives or a baseball super-fan and any super-fan knows Matt Wieters.  For my relatives' sake, I'll introduce Matt before we get going with this interview.

Matt Wieters (left) walking back to home plate after a mound visit with Chris Hayes.  Matt stands 6'5" and scouts say has a big league body.  Chris is a pitcher.

Chris Hayes: "Matt sorry for the delay here, thanks for being with us, I'll begin the questions shortly.  Feel free in the meantime to sign some autographs."

Matt was the Orioles 1^st pick in the 2007 First Year Player Draft.  He struggled horribly this year only hitting .345 in Hi-A Frederick with 15 HRs and 40 RBI in just under 9 games.  Due to his struggles at the plate and lack of speed output (only 1 for 2 in Stolen Bases at Frederick), the Orioles sent him to AA Bowie to try to keep him out of the eyes of scouts.  Again, he struggled.  In 61 games in Bowie, Matt only had 1 stolen base, but did limit his caught stealing totals to 0.  He did not reach base safely almost 50% of the time while in Bowie and in his first season as a professional, we can all assume the Orioles were looking for more out of him.  They sent him here to the Arizona Fall League to try to jump-start his confidence by surrounding him with talented players like myself whose upsides cannot be described without using the phrases "sky high", "unlimited", and "existent".  The Orioles have made an effort to boost his self esteem by having hundreds of autograph seekers come to Arizona and treat Matt like the Beatles and swat guys like me away like a fly. Without further ado, please give your attention and your support to our catcher, Matt Wieters, as outlined above, he could really use both.

CH: "Matt, thanks for being with us today, thanks for taking time away from excelling at everything you do to be with me today."

Matt Wieters: "No problem, Chris.  I think I'm even contractually obligated to be here."

CH: "Well it means a lot.  The Fall League suggested I finally do something to 'make myself useful' and 'add value to the league' so I'm hoping this blog goes over really well.  Getting this interview is a big step for me in that direction."

MW: "Glad to help."

CH: "Alright, phew, deep breath. It's going awesome so far.  Let's get started... Can you sign this ball for me?"

MW: "Seriously?"

CH: "Maybe later, then.  Did you know that you are, like, my favorite player?  What's that like?"

MW: "Well, I'm flattered, Chris, but maybe we could stick to the questions you want to ask for the interview."

CH: "I'll be honest, I really didn't have a whole lot planned, I'm kinda new to this and just wanted an excuse to get to chat with you.  I figure that way I can tell my grandkids someday I interviewed Matt Wieters."

MW: ""

CH: "Also, during some games when you are catching and I am pitching and there's a base runner on second base and we need to agree on which finger signs you are going to give, I get to chat with you, but otherwise I haven't gotten to hang out that much."

MW: "That's true is that why you've let so many guys get to second base?"

CH: "I think that was a run-on sentence, Matt.  Just a tip.  Speaking of grammar, did you know that you are famous enough that 'Wieters' does not get underlined in red as a misspelling on most word processors.  Hayes doesn't either, but I think that has less to do with my fame than yours.  Your thoughts?"

MW: "There was that one president Hayes, right?"

CH: "Great point.  Let's go with it. In 1931, Babe Ruth was asked why he wanted a higher salary than president Herbert Hoover and his response was, 'I had a better year than he did.'  Would you say you had a better year this year than Babe Ruth?"

MW: "The Babe is such an icon.  He really revolutionized the game and made baseball what it is today."

CH: "Yeah, and unfortunately today he is dead.  Despite your struggles, I think your 2008 campaign might have the slight edge over the Sultan of Swat's 2008."

MW: "This year I did attend big league spring training for my first spring as a professional, was named the top prospect in the Carolina league and made the All star team, made it all the way to Double-A in my first full professional season, got named to Baseball America's Minor League Baseball All Star team, and capped it off by winning Baseball America's Minor League player of the year award.  I think that's a pretty decent year."

CH: "Gulp."

MW: "I'm sure you had a great year, though, too, right? I mean we're both here in the AFL."

CH: "I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night."

MW: "And..."

CH: "And... And.... I have a blog! Well, a guest blog, I'm not even a regular. But still, literally 7 to 6 people are waiting to read it because I am so famous."

MW: ""

CH: "I'm hoping Google Searches for your name direct people here. You know, get some more hits that way. I really need this thing to be a hit. I promised the AFL the best blog ever. How do you think it's gonna be?"

MW: "Pretty decent. May be the best of the year."

CH: "Really?! That's awesome! So glad you think that."

MW: "Well yeah, everything else I've been involved in this year has ranked me #1."

Note: This blog does not reflect the views, beliefs, or thoughts of Matt Wieters, the Orioles, the Royals, or really even Chris Hayes for that matter. Matt is not only the best baseball player ever, he's a pretty darn humble guy. Hope you all enjoyed the blog, I know I did. I figure it's more entertaining than hearing some guy you've never heard of ramble about how gorgeous Phoenix is in the fall and how the AIG retreats are really a blast this time of year. Hope wherever you are, you are having as much fun as we are playing ball.