Back in my hometown of Baldwinsville, New York I look back on a full season of baseball and reflect. Being traded to the Chillicothe Paints was a great experience for me. I started off hitting very well at a consistent .290 and then started to fall off but I learned a lot about myself as a hitter. After the all-star break the Paints were going through a bad funk and we couldn’t buy a win. Terrible hitting is a like cancer. Great hitters were making small mistakes and we just couldn’t scrap together a couple runs. Personally, I felt there wasn’t a time were I needed to panic, a lot of my at bats I felt were quality, unfortunately I wasn’t getting the right result. My swing felt excellent and I felt comfortable having a patiently aggressive approach (don’t swing at a bad pitch, if I feel I can’t produce a good swing on a pitch then take, even if its a strike, get deep into a count, focus on the job). “It’s better to be 0-1 then 0 for 1.” -Zak Farkes. At the end of it all I think I finished hitting .243, 56 runs, 13 doubles, 8 triples, 4 home runs, 33 RBI’s and 25 stolen bases. I had the opportunity to meet many good people and players. Doc Hanners, the owner of the Paints, is a great man with a big heart and it was good to have a really genuine owner to look up to and have around for advise on life and baseball. He had to make a big move this year in what he wanted to do with the organization and his final option was to sell the team. There was a lot of different things that could have happened; the team could go in a dispersal draft and managers around the Frontier League can pick a couple players if need be, or we go to a brand new team in the Frontier League, or they could release us all and we do what we want. What they ended up doing was selling our rights to a new team. This new team is located in Avon Lake, Ohio right outside of Cleveland. They are building a brand new stadium and there will be all new ownership. I now have to make a decision where to play next year.

My main goal this off-season is to work toward getting a spring training invite to an affiliated organization. (more…)

Its been a rough start to this road trip, we haven’t been playing well, we are 1-5 and have three games left against the Windy City Thunderbolts which is located right outside of Chicago. The air conditioner on the bus broke again and everyone has there shirts off sweating on our day off. I sit in the back of the bus where my good friends on the bus sit, Montana Dye, Andy Polk, Travis Storre, and Taylor Camon. We play cards most of the time, we play a game called Pluck, its just like Spades. We try to play that as much as we can to pass the time. Sometimes we put in a movie but the screens are to small and blurry, instead of enjoying a movie it just gets you car sick.

We just got done playing 3 games against Windy City and after the first game got postponed due to rain we had a double header. We finished the first game with a lost and then lost the second game. Things are starting to fall apart but we are a good team and we can over come this losing streak, every team is going to have rough times but we just need win a couple hear and there, we will be ok. (more…)

It’s June 22nd and we’re about to leave for a three game road trip in Traverse City, Michigan. The Traverse City Beach Bums were the first team I played for in the Frontier League in 2007. It was good to be back there, I got to see many people that I haven’t seen in awhile and it’s a great atmosphere to play baseball, selling out almost every night, 3 to 4,000 people. Jeff Brown is one of my good friends from the other team; I stayed at his home in Indianapolis on the way to St. Louis before the season started. We got to hang out for a couple days we were in town and got to catch up on what we have been up to on and off the field. Everyone on the team stayed in suites at the hotel, so there were three to a room. My two roommates were our third baseman Adrian Canto and right fielder Travis Storrer. Those to guys are something else, probably the two funniest guys on the team, it was very interesting staying with them for 3 days. It was fun to play at Traverse City but we struggled hitting, we couldn’t hit a lefty who threw 80 and a righty who threw about 84, as a team we struggle when we face pitchers who don’t throw hard and throw a lot of change ups and sliders. I did alright, I got hit three times, walked a couple times and I hit a line drive up the middle, hitting the pitchers ankle, knocking him out of the game. I felt bad when I did it but its part of the game, you never want to injure another player but when you can get into the bullpen of another team that’s a good thing. The bus ride back was terrible, we ride in a very old bus so there’s not a lot of room and we just got the air fixed so it was really cold, normally its really hot and everyone is moody. We arrived back to Chillicothe at 6am and I got about an hour of sleep. I can never get any rest on buses so I had to sleep all day so I can be ready to play that day. We are home for the next six games and play Kalamazoo Kings for the first three, they are in first in our division so it’s a big week.

It’s June 26th and we just took the first two games from the Kings and have one more tomorrow for the sweep. The first game I got the day off, the three games in Traverse really took a toll on my body and I needed a day of rest. I did get to play however later on in the game. I was coaching first the whole game and we were playing really well but it came down to the bottom of the ninth and we were tired 10-10. (more…)

Hello Everyone, It’s about a month into the season now and things are going well, a few changes have occurred since opening day. I have had a pretty good start playing with the Gateway Grizzlies but have been moved around in the field and the lineup not knowing my role on the team. Manager Phil Warren and I thought that it would be best for my career to fine a place where I can be in the outfield everyday. They needed a catcher and the Chillicothe Paints needed a centerfielder. So about two weeks in I got traded to the Paints where I am enjoying my new team and role as an everyday centerfielder and am now hitting in the two spot. At first it was hard for me to get comfortable but I am excited to be with these group of guys. They were happy to find out I was coming and took me in like I have been playing with them from the beginning. Our record is about 500 but we are defiantly a better team then we have shown. I have been playing well putting the ball into play and not striking out as much but not getting the results Id like. Baseball is all about ups and downs and I am player who doesn’t let the downs get to me and know that things will go my way, all I have to do is to keep working hard and doing the things I know I can do.

This past week Gateway came to our park and it was good to see my old teammates. I did very well against them, going about 6-13 with about 10 runs scored. Then we came to there place and I struggled a bit but still hitting the ball hard, just right at people. It was good to see my old host family and a lot of the friends I made at Gateway. It’s great playing all over because the more places you play the more good people you meet and relationships you develop will stay with you for the rest of your life. (more…)