Whats Castillo's situation? Is he going to transfer or is he going to call it quits and start collecting social security? He's old enough to qualify, correct? hahaha just kidding. I'm back Gilblair!!!

Also, take a look at what some of the TrinColl kids did in the NECBL, not too shabby. James Wood and Sean Killeen beat the ball up pretty well for Holyoke, Kent Graham contributed for North Shore but Ryan Piacentini struggled a bit for Manchester. Andrew Janiga signed late and did a very good job coming out of the pen for Manchester. He's gonna be a weekend sleeper for the first few weeks until the NESCAC finds out what hit 'em. I play in the Hartford Twilight League with CF Jack Abbott and I'll tell you what fellas, this kid is a player. He did some moonlighting with Holyoke against a few of the National teams and other exhibitions but mostly played for our Simbury team and was a catalyst all summer long. He's got great speed, gap power, gets fantastic jumps on the ball and has athletic ability that isn't very common in a D3 ball player.  Like his game a lot. If he adds 10-15lbs over the fall/winter and produces some power numbers, he's going to be a force. He's sitting around 180lbs at 6'1" right now so he's not small, but he has a frame to grow into.

Enough with those NESCAC bums though, whats the word on some LEC players this summer?

St Louis drafting Boras' son = Brownie points. They're not dumb in St Louis. I don't think they drafted any Boras clients this year but in the future, they will always have that little tie to Boras that no other team does. Something tells me they still won't be getting any deals!

You got me DGilblair.

I'm sure a there are a fair share of ball players who chose academics over a school like CCSU or Hartford, but those kids may also have the money to go to a school like Trinty or Johns Hopkins. Not all of them, but I think most would have to come from wealthy families in order to turn down money from a low D1, D2 in order to go with an academic point of view. Some players might recieve financial aid packages but I know for a fact that 85 percent or more of the Trinity players are paying full tuition. Baseball has become somewhat of an "upper class" sport anyhow.

The inner cities don't produce the same amount of players as they used to and it shows in the demographic that are playing in the majors, not counting latin american players. I think this is terrible for the game and there has to be more of an effort to revive baseball in the inner cities (RBI program tries but not enough people know about it). If you want to torture yourself go watch a high school baseball game in Hartford, New Haven or Bridgeport. Inner city Boston is horrendous as well. There are so many black athletes who don't even think about playing baseball, and they are leaving money on the table. It has to start earlier in little leagues and camps in these cities. Something has to give. I don't know how the hell I got off on that rant?
DGilblair got my original point.

Barnard actually went back to Texas for the fall semester this past year. He was at an NAIA school in Lubbock but decided to come back cause it wasn't a good fit for him. Turned out alright, I guess.

Some of these D-1 schools in NE are shaky at best. UHart is one that comes to mind as a school that recruits so much out of state that it hasn't been able to build a great reputation with local coaches. High school coaches in our area realize that a player has a better chance to develop and succeed if they go to Trinity, ECSU or UConn-Avery Point for that matter. We have a strong high school baseball conference in CT that has schools surrounding UHart, the northwest conference. The conference sends about 6-8 kids to D-1 programs each year with another 12-15 playing at other levels. (Berlin, Plainville, Northwest Catholic, East Catholic, have strong programs each year) Since I started playing in that conference in 98, I think UHart has only grabbed about 7 players from us and have never gone out of their way to build great relationships with the conference's best teams. The top level players go to UConn, CCSU, other NEC schools or down south, and it seems the next level end up at the D3 powers in NE. Players who can shake the stigma of playing at a non-scholarship school and focus strictly on their development often have as good of a chance as any to develop into good players. That, coupled with the NECBL being one of the best summer leagues that reaches out to all levels of college ball and you have a recipe for good D3 ball in the Northeast.

Couple interesting numbers behind Trinity's 45-1 championship season.

-Four pitchers (Kiely, Barnard, Regan, Bayer) combined to throw 81 percent of the team's innings. Thats 314 out of a possible 388 innings. That is unreal to me. After the first game in Harwich, these are the only four pitchers who threw an inning.

-The staff threw 9 shutouts and had a team ERA under 2.00

-Their K/BB ratio was around 4.5/1 as a team and opponents hit a little over .210 against them. Kiely's K/BB ratio? 107/3 or about 36/1. And one of those walks was intentional!!! He'll be getting a well deserved call next week from a major league organization.

-The Bantams out-homered their opposition 41-10, out-stole them 84-30 and outscored them 404-122.

-They committed 27 fewer errors than the other team, leading to about 40 more unearned runs than there opponents.

-They played in 7 one run games, including back-to-back 1-0 victories in late March.

The more you look into their stats, the more you appreciate what they did this year. The pitching staff was their calling card but they also hit over .330 and ran their opponents into submission. They had the perfect mix of team speed, power and timely hitting. They had 24 more sacrifice hits than the other team and got hit by 27 more pitches proving that they were a selfless machine.

And now that Trophy is back in New England where it belongs.

DGilblair, That wasn't him in 06. He's only a sophomore this year. You must have misremembered. hahaha Will Maloney is the kid you're thinking of. How bout them Bantams!

Talked to Holowaty in Arizona last year, during a UMB game and after ECSU had just played. He told me that he shouldn't have used Espo as much the prior year. He said he would always ask him if he was completely healthy and, being a competitor, the kid would always say he was fine. Athletes do that. Holowaty told me he knew something was wrong and wished he had put him on the shelf. HOLOWATY, himself, told me he kicked himself in the ass after the season. Its not a big deal. It probably wasn't the first and won't be the last.

I have a decent repoire with Coach Holowaty, having been recruited by him and having played against him. I talk to him casually when I see him, but he never came to visit me in Boston for a night of debachery, if thats what you're implying.

I thought it was a shoulder but the back sounds right. Nevertheless, he overused him considering the injury. It happens man. Sometimes a coaching staff listens to a kid when they should go on the information given to them by other sources (Trainers, catchers, pitching coaches, etc.). Every long time coach has done it. I know you realize that.

That was my point when I pointed out Castillo's age. I don't think he'll ever get drafted based on how old he is. Jeff Francoeur is 24.

I never realized that you could be drafted after you turn 21 regardless of your class in college. Good call.

I don't believe Melvin Castillo is even draft eligible. He's only a sophomore. He is also going to be 24 years old in June. 2 months older than BJ Upton.

If scouts had a chance to look at Joe Esposito at his very best, there is no doubt in my mind that someone would take a chance on him. After his freshman year, we all thought he would be the next Joey Serfass and would automatically get drafted or signed by a big league team. Unfortunately, Coach Holowaty self-admittingly overused him while he had shoulder soreness his sophomore year. That seemed to ruin his JR year a little bit and he finally came back around this year to be the pitcher everyone expected him to be. I faced Joe when he was a freshman in the 1st game of a doubleheader. He was lights out. Serfass threw the next game, and wasn't as impressive although he still shut us down.  Serfass was a SR that year. Joe Esposito was done wrong by his coaching staff, in my opinion. It happens sometimes. That being said, when he is at full health he's as good as anyone in NE. He deserves a shot but health concerns might spoil it for him.

I don't think I threw anyone's name out there lightly. MLB teams have definitely inquired about Nick Conway if that is your argument. DiBenedetto will get drafted or signed by the Red Sox, TRUST ME!

Anderson is a work in progress and scouts who were there to see Kiely in Harwich were extremely impressed with his size and presence. D'Alfonso would be a reach this year but I stated that. Have you seen Nate Nelson? He can mash and has the size (6'5" 290lbs...with some agility) that is intriguing to teams. We'll have to wait and see.

Kiely will go between the 30th and 50th round. I know thats a lot of room for error but that is directly from a scout's mouth in Harwich. His teammate SS Thomas DiBenedetto will get drafted because his father is a minority owner of the Red Sox and its been made clear that the plan is to draft him and give him a shot in the minors. RHP Chandler Bardnard might get a shot in the late rounds too. With the Red Sox ties with the Bantams, maybe they'll take a few Trinity players. Unlikely but possible.

LHP Chris Anderson, WNEC, has a shot to go in the late rounds. Scouts in Harwich were upset that the MLB scouting burrough hadn't found this kid until late in the season. He's 6'4" 215lbs with a 87-89mph fastball and good breaking stuff. Worth a late round pick.

OF Anthony D'Alfonso, Southern Maine, might get a sniff but he's only a JR and hitters in DIII won't go as JRs unless they are exceptional players. He's 6'5" 235lbs so he's got the size and power but another year will help his case. 1B Nate Nelson, Worcester State, is 6'5" 290lbs and can rip. It'll be interesting to see if he gets a shot.

I think RHP Nicky Conway, UMass Boston, has a shot to go in the late rounds too. I know the White Sox, Astros, and a few others have inquired. He can get outs and he's a ballsy competitor. He's a perfect middle reliever in the minors and could develop into a real tough pitcher out of the pen.

I'm sure there could be other surprises like Lavorgna was last year and Dzubia (Babson) was a few years back.

Wood and Graham undoubtedly deserved at least honorable mention accolades. Hopefully they see this and it motivates them to take the National Championship back to NE. Not that they need any more motivation. They really got hosed with that Cortland draw but I guess they are doing everything by region, so they knew what they were in for. A win in that first game and they should have the confidence to keep rolling through the weekend.

I am the first one to give credit to the players and not the coaches! Hell, I'm only three years removed from being a player myself and I hated when my coaches took credit for victories in which they never threw a single pitch or never swung a bat. But, when it comes to accolades I'll never be convinced that coaches don't have pull inside the conference or throughout the country. More so nationwide because a particular coach can be hated by his immediate peers. Even during their rare down years, ECSU and USM flooded the regional and all-american teams.

When I played 3B at UMB I did not have the best stats and we did not have the best record. I did however build good relationhips with most of the coaches by B-S-ing with them throughout the game and telling them I wasn't coming back for my SR year because I was taking a job as a fireman in CT (part of conversation between our multiple pitching changes). Low and behold, I was voted 2nd team LEC my JR year even though a couple 3B had stats that were far better than mine. That's politics. I definitely think the process extends to regional and all american voting. Coaches talk. Coaches patronize eachother. Do they order 1 milkshake with 2 straws? Of course not.

When you play at, or are a parent at, a program like ECSU, USM and now even Keene, sometimes you might be too close to the forest to see the trees. I've played in games in which the tempo was totally dictated by Coach Holowaty and umpires were completely manipulated by Coach Flaherty. (Coach Howe was an absolute gentleman and if I could have played for one other guy, that's who it would have been) Again, I see nothing wrong with this and relished the challenge of playing against them in these circumstances. Young coaches don't have the sack to stand up to these guys and rightfully so. Umpires give them more leeway because they have EARNED it.

I definitely think that some players in the MLB get the benefit of call, just like the NBA. It's not a conspiracy but throughout their career, they have EARNED the benefit of the doubt. If a great hitter lays off of a pitch I believe some umpires think "Hey, he's got a great eye. If he's not swinging at it, it probably aint a strike!" That's almost a given in some situations. Great pitchers are the same way.

As for the large quantity of females in the boston area, lets just say I did alright. I was known to show up to a saturday DH with a story or two from the night before. That might explain my career .250 BA. Lucky for me, I'm still young and being a fireman doesn't exactly hurt my situation these days. Thanks for asking.

OH BOY!!!
Your son is an excellent college ballplayer and deserves all of the accolades that he recieves. Happy?

I have no idea how you get me arguing for Nick Conway to be an All American in 2006 out of my last post. That is the farthest thing from my point. I'm from CT. I was recruited to play at ECSU and other LEC schools. I chose UMB so I could play right away and reep the benefits from the plethera of college girls in the Boston area. You are looking for things to piss and moan about. I was pointing out the differences in voting for each team, which was a subject a few days ago. I played in the LEC, I saw first hand the cloat that each of these coaches had. They deserve to have that cloat.

There are players who are drafted every year from smaller schools who don't recieve the accolades but are clearly head and shoulders better than some of the players that are named to All American teams from these schools. Their stats are similar but when one player is from ECSU and one player is from Calvin, you go with ECSU. Its human nature. The ECSU player is still a very good college player. Your son is a very good college player. Unfortunately, you miss points because you are entirely too caught up with defending this fact. You don't need to. His program needs no defending nor does his coach. ECSU shouldn't have an inferiority complex. Now UMB on the other hand, we should. But we're too dumb to even think about it and we walk out to the field like we should win regardless of who we're playing. Sometimes it happens and most times it doesn't.

Do you think Manny Ramirez has the same strike zone as Dan Uggla? That Greg Maddux and John Danks get the same strike calls? No! And those player sdeserve what they get from past performance.

MSG, you got my point when I was talking about the LEC 1st team and the All American teams. I was using Gilblair as an example because it seemed like the most glaring case in this region over the past few years. I wasn't comparing him with Conway that year.

DGilblair, I realize that you may have ties that might affect the way you react to some posts but if you look at the context in which my last post was written you could tell I was not trying to compare stats, I was just trying to make the point that All Conference, All Region and All American teams are chosen with different purposes, different views and sometimes different agendas. If you don't think long time, HOF coaches like Holowaty and Flaherty have more pull in terms of getting their players on these teams, you're simply naive. They have earned the right to do this and I don't have any problem with it, but it is what it is. They should, and do, have more pull than any other coaches in NE, but that is because of the way they have built their programs over the years. Its a token to their great coaching careers and I'm cool with it. Before you overreact I am not taking anything away from ESCU guys who have been named to these teams in the recent years.

It seems to me, the further you get outside of your conference (All-region, All-district, All-American) the more politics plays a role and the teams who have a deeper tradition always seem to be well represented. Piacentini should have been 1st team NESCAC, I have no idea what happened there. Sometimes when a team is so loaded an individual player takes a hit because it seems strange to have 7-8 guys out of a starting lineup representing your all-conference team. If you look at situations like Nick Conway and Joe Esposito being 1st team All Little East and not making any of the All New England Teams and the 2nd team All Little East P Jamie Morin was 2nd team all new england, things get lost somewhere and trying to make sense of it useless. A few years ago Nick Conway from UMB was the LEC pitcher of the Year and Shawn Gilblair was a 1st team All-American. Go figure.