Brett's FSL Report #1

Editor's note: Baseball Mondays is pleased to announce that Brett, a Fort Myers, Fla.-based autograph hound, is its Florida State League correspondent.

It was a great week when two Florida State League teams -- the St. Lucie Mets and Sarasota Reds -- visited Fort Myers, allowing me to score autographs from many of the top prospects in baseball and a Hall of Famer as well.

First up was St. Lucie, who have the New York Mets' three first-round picks from last year: Ike Davis (18th overall), Reese Havens (22nd overall), and Brad Holt (33rd overall). All three were great signers; each doing nine cards each. Davis also signed two Brooklyn Cyclones programs after the cards.

Also signing cards were Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Francisco Pena (former major leaguer Tony Pena’s son), Greg Veloz, manager Tim Teufel (who signed nine cards), Brant Rustich and Stephen Clyne.

Overall, the Mets, for being one of the FSL's most prospect-laden teams, are great signers. Not one player refused to sign, or didn’t sign what was handed to them.

Also in town watching the hometown Fort Myers Miracle was Hall of Famer Paul Molitor, a roving instructor for Minnesota. Luckily, I had this game-used ball in the car, which Molitor signed as he left the field. Molitor travels to the Twins' affiliates during the regular season, taking notes on players for the big league club.

The next team in town was Sarasota. The Reds have Cincinnati's two most recent first-round draft picks: catcher Devin Mesoraco, in 2007, and first baseman Yonder Alonso, in 2008, who's rated the Reds' No. 1 prospect as well.

Alonso, drafted seventh overall from the University of Miami, is a tough autograph for FSL standards. While most players are happy to sign and will come over asking if you need anything, Alonso will go out of his way to avoid graphers. He'll limit you to a strict one-per when he signs.

A couple of graphers from Fort Myers told me a story about Alonso from a recent road trip to Sarasota. They were waiting by the dugout, and when Alonso comes out, they ask, “Can you sign an autograph for us?” Alonso walks over and signs for one of them and walks away. The other asks him to sign, and he responds, “I signed an autograph for you, and you both are together, so share it.”

Not knowing what to expect, and seeing recent autographs from him varying from his full-name signature to an Y and a line, I asked him to personalize to get the best possible signature. It worked out as planned, with Alonso being very friendly and signing the bat beautifully with: To Brett, Best of Luck! God Bless!

The next day I asked him to sign a card and got a much different signature, and he was not as friendly as the first encounter.

The rest of team were pretty good signers. Among the players signing cards were Mesoraco, Justin Reed, Denis Phipps, Zach Stewart, Alex Buchholz, former major leaguer and current hitting coach Jorge Orta, Ben Davis (a former major league catcher who is converting to a pitcher), Jerry Gil and Neftali Soto (another one-per signer).