The latest interview brought to you by the Greedy Pinstripes as a part of Prospects Month is with Yankees prospect Charley Short. Charley is a member of the Charleston Riverdogs organization in the Yankees farm system in A ball. Check out the interview where we talk video games, soccer, substitute teachers, and this great game of baseball, enjoy!
The Greedy Pinstripes: Hello Charley, how are you? Are you having a good offseason so far?
Charley Short: The off-season is going well. Did a little bit of traveling, mostly worked, and even found some time to stay in shape and get physically stronger for the upcoming season.
TGP: What kind of work do you do working with the kids at a High School?
CS: I am a substitute teacher at my alma mater in Homestead, Fl. I also go around the baseball field when I can find the time and talk with the baseball players and help the coaching staff out.
TGP: I see your a big soccer fan, what would you say to sell the game for someone who has never watched like myself?
CS: Yeah, I'm a huge soccer fan. I get made fun of a bit about that from some friends and teammates, but I'm okay with it. I think, what's so great about soccer is the passion surrounding the game and the passion involved in the game. It's more of a finesse sport and I am impressed with the technical abilities that these players possess. I think it is a game that requires patience, so if you need to see action all the time, then soccer will be tough to watch.
TGP: Do you have a girlfriend/wife waiting for you at home while you are on the road so much?
CS: I do have a girlfriend, we recently started dating a couple months ago.
TGP: What are you doing this offseason to improve on your 2013 season?
CS: The 2013 season was a good one for me, and I’m looking for 2014 to be better. I haven’t done anything crazy or different from last off-season. Get in the gym and work hard 4 or 5 times a week and keep my arm in shape for spring training.
TGP: What do you do during the offseason to keep yourself occupied?
CS: As I said earlier, I am a substitute teacher at the high-school from which I graduated, so that keeps me busy 3 or 4 times a week. Other than that, I took a few vacations and actually bought a kayak. So, a couple buddies and I do a little fishing on the water.
TGP: Are you a big gamer? Those Battlefield 4 servers are really annoying right now, pushing me back to Call of Duty Ghosts.
CS: I am a bit of gamer. Not really big on it tho. I do play a lot of FIFA 14 tho, and occasionally I’ll get brave enough to play a little Call of Duty: Ghosts.
TGP: Favorite restaurant to eat at?
CS: I love to eat, so this question is tough for me. I’m not a huge fan of the giant chain restaurants, I’ll eat there if I have to, but I generally stay away. In Homestead, where I live, there is a little cuban restaurant called Mario’s, everything on the menu is really good!
TGP: What's the best part about living in Miami?
CS: Miami is a great city, it’s where everyone vacations. Miami has a little bit of everything. There is so much culture down here it is unbelievable. The nightlife is very fun, the beaches are amazing, the people are great. It is 70 degrees right now, doesn’t get better than that!
TGP: Who would you say is your craziest teammate you have every played with and why?
CS: Craziest teammate? I have had some teammates that were out there, but I don’t know that I would classify them as crazy. Every team has their clown, who cracks jokes and goes the extra mile to make everyone laugh.
TGP: I think this answer may be obvious but in my time around social media I have noticed there are two kinds of fans when it comes to prospects. You have the "prospect humpers" (myself being a self professed prospect humper) and a name yet to be determined (due to my lack of creativity) describing those who want to sell all the prospects off for the 37 year old "sure thing." Which category do you think yourself as a fan falls into?
CS: I like to think of myself as a well informed fan and someone who doesn’t get emotional over their teams (that is a lie). I like to see prospects play, sure, I want to play and prove myself, but at the end of the day as long as my team is winning, I’m happy as a fan.
TGP: What current Major League player do you think you compare to the most?
CS: I’ve been asked this before, and I am no good at comparing myself to a MLB’er. The only person that jumps to mind is Brian Sanches, and that’s really only because I saw him pitch for a few years in Miami.
TGP: I know you probably don't think of things like this but how long before you think we could see you in the Major Leagues? I have your ETA down as late 2016, is that accurate?
CS: You are 100% right I don’t think of it like that. My main focus is to pitch well enough to get a chance, whenever that may be, and help the organization win. We all are working hard to get an opportunity to play in the Show, and then stay there and win.
TGP: If you could be the Yankees GM for a day what would you do? Don't have to really be realistic here.
CS: Yankees GM for a day? Giving me the keys to kingdom. I don’t know, I would have a day where the Big League team come and play some of the minor league squads.
TGP: Were you a Yankees fan growing up? If not what team did you root for?
CS: I am an absolute homer, in all sports. So I grew up with the Marlins, but my mother is a huge Yankees fan, so I grew up knowing all about the Yankees. I can tell you one thing now, I for sure am a Yankees fan now.
TGP: Do you have any nicknames we don't know about?
CS: Charles is my given name, so I guess Charley is a nickname. The two most prominent other names are, Chuck and Shorty.
TGP: Most famous person in your cell phone?
CS: The most famous person on my phone is…….I don’t have any famous people on my phone. I guess you could take your pick of some of my teammates from the Yankees organization.
TGP: Most embarrassing song in your iPod?
CS: I don’t have a lot of music on my iPod(which really is just my iPhone), but I don’t think any of my songs are embarrassing. I do have a good amount of classical music on there, though. So, that could maybe be embarrassing.
TGP: We'll finish with this one, where do you see yourself in life and your career in five years?
CS: In 5 years, I see myself playing in Yankee Stadium, for the New York Yankees. Now, lets hope that also happens sooner than in 5 years as well. Thank you very much .
Thank you so much Charley for doing this interview for us, we appreciate it and so do our readers. If you want to follow Charley you can follow him on Twitter by following @Charleyy29. Good luck Charley this season!
