Gotta share this story with you.
Two summers ago, I was working out at my neighborhood gym, Valley Fitness Center in Unionville. It was pointed out to me that two members of the Torrington Twisters baseball team were working out regularly there.
The Twisters were members of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a wooden-bat summer league for college players to keep playing after their college season ended. The NECBL is equivalent to the more famous Cape Cod League, which generally gets the best college players in the country.
One of these Torrington Twisters was a tall, well-built pitcher. We talked for a while. He was staying with a host family in Avon while on the East Coast. He was playing his college ball at the University of San Diego, where he had just completed a solid freshman season. I talked with him several times over the course of the 8 weeks or so that the NECBL is active.
Well, like all devoted baseball fans, I was following the June draft and how the big league clubs were pursuing their first-round picks. Naturally, at the top of the list was the Washington Nationals' pursuit of pitcher Stephen Strasburg, whose agent Scott Boras was seeking unprecedented dollars.
When Strasburg signed for $15 million last week, I got a good look at his photo. I'm sure I don't have to tell you the rest.
Strasburg left the Twisters, had an exceptional sophomore year and exploded to the top of the draft class as a junior. He is labeled by some to be the most accomplished player to ever come out of the amateur ranks.
Here's hoping that destiny deals Strasburg a great hand. I can tell you first-hand that he is a very nice, hard-working kid who is very deserving of the fame and fortune that he has attained.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment