Welcome to the semifinals of the Jason Romano Commemorative NLC’s hottest baller contest. 15 of the best-looking players on NLC (plus the newest ex-Mariner) face off in a single-elimination tournament.

Two rounds of fierce competition have made the players glisten with effort and anxious to take it all home. In my imagination anyway. In real life, they almost certainly don’t know they’re even in the NLC’s Hottest Baller tournament, but that’s OK. My imagination is very good.

Jason LaRue, backing up the plate in St. Louis, may not be the top catcher these days, but he’s still the hottest backstop in town. He took down Rick Ankiel in the second round to advance to the semifinals.

Brandon Phillips, enjoying a long-term contract in the Queen City has the moves to go with the smile. He’s already hot this spring, and not just on the field.

Jason LaRue
ht: 5-11 wt: 205 dob: 03/19/1974

Brandon Phillips
ht: 6-0 wt: 195 dob: 6/28/1981

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Welcome to round 2 of the Jason Romano Commemorative NLC’s hottest baller contest. 15 of the best-looking players on NLC (plus one fella in limbo) face off in a single-elimination tournament.

The first match in our second round features two players from the town of Budweiser. Recent Cardinal Jason LaRue took down Brewers prospect Manny Parra to make it to this second round. Always Cardinal Rick Ankiel survived Cubs prospect Sam Fuld and illegal substance allegations to make it to this round.

Jason LaRue
ht: 5-11 wt: 205 dob: 03/19/1974

Rick Ankiel
ht: 6-1 wt: 210 dob: 7/19/1979

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Welcome to round 1 of the Jason Romano Commemorative NLC’s hottest blogger contest. 15 of the best-looking players on NLC (plus one fella in limbo) face off in a single-elimination tournament.

Special thanks to the literally one of your who nominated players. Don’t see your favorite on the list? Well, I hope you’ve learned the benefits of nominating someone. The rest of the players were selected via a complex scientific process of looking at their profile photos on their teams’ MLB pages and, in some cases, me just adding them. They were then quasi-randomized and bracketed for this exciting, once-in-a-lifetime contest opportunity!

You’ll have 1 week to place your vote in each contest. New contests will be available as I get around to them. Feel free to pimp for your favorite in the comments. Results are final and cheating is OK as the contest doesn’t really mean anything.

Our first pairing pits a longtime Red Hot Mama favorite, the Cardinals’ Jason LaRue, against an unknown in the Brewers’ Manny Parra.

Jason LaRue
ht: 5-11 wt: 205 dob: 03/19/1974

LaRue boasts the square jaw, rugged features, and constant damp skin of the hometown boy all the country girls swoon over.

Manny Parra
ht: 6-3 wt: 200 dob: 10/30/1982

Parra brings a subtle sweet smile and boyish charm. And though you’ve never heard of him, that’s only because he just debuted in July. In his 26.1 innings pitched, though, he brought a 3.76 ERA and 26 Ks.

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On Monday, November 20, 2006, Marc Lancaster reported on his blog (and a Royals press release confirmed) that the Reds traded Jason LaRue to Kansas City for a player to be named later:

According to a baseball source, the Reds are on the verge of trading catcher Jason LaRue to the Kansas City Royals. The Reds will receive a player to be named later. No cash involved in the deal.

Later, we found out that the Reds did actually send a mystery amount of cash along with LaRue.

Even though he fell out of favor with some of the more fickle fan base, a whole lot of people always liked him. We at RHM wish LaRue the best of luck and will be watching his progress with the Royals with much interest.

Player Profile on Reds.com

LaRue’s Season Over on Marc Lancaster’s Blog

Michael Jason LaRue was born in Houston, Texas on March 19, 1974. He graduated from Smithson Velly High School in Spring Branch, Texas. He attended Dallas Baptist Univeristy and Northeast Texas Community College.

Jason is married to Heather and they live in Bulverde, Texas. Jason missed the final two games of the 2005 season to attend to Heather in the birth of their son Brayden. I thought I read something official at the time making reference to other children, but I’ll be darned if I can find it now.

When you choose a player’s jersey to wear, you’re stating your respect for that player, but you’re also saying something about yourself. You’re saying that you identify with some of the characteristics of that person, so if you choose to wear LaRue’s number, you’re probably telling the world that you’re a no-nonsense person who prefers to go about your business without drawing a lot of attention to yourself. You’re saying that you appreciate the simple pleasures of life: a realiable pick-up truck, swimming in the ol’ mudhole, an ice-cold beer on a hot summer night in Indiana, and little pink houses for you and me.

LaRue embodies all things good and wholesome about rural middle America. He is moral, honest, hard-working, responsible, never complains, and looks just a little bit like John Mellancamp. He’s quiet and cool-headed, even though he must be the single Red who sees more bad calls and hears more heckling than all the others. There isn’t a thing about LaRue that I could like more.

LaRue occasionally strikes me as being a little too grateful for the success he’s enjoyed, which makes him a little too cautious. Is he lucky to get to paid millions to play a child’s game all summer? Sure. But he’s also entitled to it. LaRue has earned what he has, and if he doesn’t realize that, someone ought to tell him.

Jason LaRue is the starting catcher for the Reds. Over the years I’ve watched, LaRue has provided many a thrilling moment by throwing out runners stealing second, though I hear his percentages in that area aren’t what they used to be. LaRue does a better-than-adequate job of calling games, and he can be counted on to manage the pitching staff.

The time he spent under the tutelage of Bob Boone seemed to have shaken his confidence in himself, but now I believe that he is bouncing back, stronger for the experience. If I were to choose a captain for this team, LaRue would be at the top of my list, because though he’s not as popular with the fans as Sean Casey, he is more even-tempered and baseball-focused, and I suspect that he has the deep and abiding respect of his teammates.

On the down-side, he lets more than the average number of pitches go past him. In his defense, however, LaRue has not exactly had the benefit of catching the most skilled pitchers in the league.

At the plate, LaRue is hit by pitches a lot, which can only help his on-base percentage, since, like most catchers, he’s only an average hitter.