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07/17/2008 10:02 AM ET
Journal: Doolittle movin' on up
First baseman ready to make waves in the Texas League
By Sean Doolittle / Special to MLB.com
Sean Doolittle has reached base safely in his first seven games with Double-A Midland. (Shawn E. Davis/MLB.com)

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Sean Doolittle was Oakland's second Draft pick in 2007 (No. 41 overall) after a stellar career as a two-way standout at the University of Virginia. The slick-fielding first baseman split his rookie campaign between Vancouver in the Northwest League and Kane County in the Midwest League. He hit a combined .243 with four homers and 33 RBIs in 68 games.

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Ladies and gentlemen, sports fans of all ages, welcome to another MiLB journal. I'm Sean Doolittle coming to you by way of the World Wide Web all the way from Midland, Texas. Now before we go any further I know what you're thinking -- Midland, Texas is not in the California League. That's right folks, after a promotion last week I am now a member of the Double-A Midland RockHounds of the Texas League.

It's been a crazy week so I hope you'll excuse the brevity of this week's journal -- I'll try to keep it fun nonetheless. I was called up while I was on the road with Stockton and after a 4:30 a.m. wake up and two flights later I arrived to meet up with the 'Hounds on the road to start a four-game set in San Antonio.

I quickly saw a number of differences between Class A Advanced and Double-A in my first game, and it's been a bit of an adjustment process ever since.

For starters I went from arguably the best hitters' league in Minor League Baseball to one of the better pitchers' leagues down here in Texas. The wind blows in in most of the parks and the fences aren't really far away so I'm sure I'll be posting monster power numbers in no time.

On a serious note, the pitching is definitely a step up and if you tuned into the Futures Game you would have seen about half of the Texas League toe it up for one side or the other. The way they attack the strike zone and use their off-speed pitches has definitely been a big difference thus far. And the overall speed of the game almost caught me off guard in my first game. But once the first pitch is thrown it's all gravy.

The bottom line, however, is that it's the same game as it was in the Cal League -- just a little faster and with a little more wind and less homers. ... And longer bus rides. As I find my place on the team you'll start hearing some of the names from here -- most of them are older than me and bigger than me and would probably pull a sweet prank on me if I dropped their names in here already.

In the meantime I'll try to get used to all of this space out here, the spiders, and coyotes -- aren't there coyotes out here in Texas? This is only my second time in the Lone Star State so I'm still figuring it out. But don't expect to see this Jersey boy wearing any snake-skin boots or cowboy hats anytime soon. Thanks for stopping by. ... but mainly, stay classy.

P.S. Oh and congratulations to our phenoms -- Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson -- who will be representing our country in the Olympics in Beijing later this summer.

Sean Doolittle is a first-base prospect in the Oakland A's organization and a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.