SUMMER LEAGUE NOTEBOOK

BY ALLAN SIMPSON

 

July 14, 2006

Team USA Staff Already Takes Shape

The World University Championship, the keynote event on Team USA’s summer schedule, isn’t scheduled to begin until Aug. 6 in Havana, Cuba, but the team’s pitching staff already appears to be in tournament-ready form.

USA Baseball’s college national team, in the midst of a pre-tournament schedule that has it playing a mix of top domestic summer league clubs along with a variety of international teams, completed a seven-game sweep of Taiwan’s national college squad on Wednesday night. It allowed just five earned runs in all.

“It’s an impressive group,” said Jim Schlossnagle, the team’s pitching coach who doubles as the head coach at Texas Christian. “We had many good arms to pick from at the trials, and it was a challenge to select the right guys. We settled on the pitchers that were the best strike throwers. When you combine the ability to do that with the stuff these pitchers have, you’re going to end up with a lot of strikeouts and a lot of low-hit games, and that’s what we’ve gotten so far.”

Led by ace lefthander David Price (Vanderbilt), the Team USA staff allowed just 30 hits in the sweep of Taiwan while striking out 85 in 63 innings. Price worked the first seven innings of 1-0 and 5-0 shutout wins, allowing just four hits and two walks, while striking out 21.

Schlossnagle and head coach Tim Corbin (Vanderbilt) have already established a five-man starting rotation of Price, Cal State Fullerton righthander Wes Roemer, Arkansas lefthander Nick Schmidt, TCU righthander Jake Arrieta and Missouri State lefthander Ross Detwiler, with Florida righthander Bryan Augenstein designated as a swingman. All are rising juniors and potential first-round picks in the 2007 draft.

“We’ll keep that rotation for another couple of weeks, until we get a feel for the schedule,” Schlossnagle said. “We’ve set it up that way to give teams like Taiwan and Japan , who we’re playing in a longer series of games, a different look every night.”

Team USA plays Japan in a five-game set from July 25-29 in a renewal of their annual intercollegiate series. It also plays two games against Germany on July 18-19 and three against Korea on July 21-23.

The hard-throwing Price, the lone member of the staff in his second year with Team USA , sets the tone for the rotation.

“He’s the ace of the staff, no question,” Schlossnagle said, “both because of his ability and his experience. The other guys tend to be drawn to him because of that. He also sets a great example for everyone because he works exceptionally hard, especially between starts.”

Price’s fastball has topped out at 94-95 mph, and gives Team USA the power arm Schlossnagle was looking for to head up his five-man rotation.

After Price, he has interspersed Roemer, a sinker/slider specialist and a master at throwing strikes; Schmidt, who mixes in a heavy, deceiving 86-90 mph fastball with a hard slider and a changeup; Arrieta, who consistently throws his fastball at 90-92 mph; and Detwiler, whose fastball ranges from 90-94 mph. Schlossnagle thinks the 6-foot-4, 180-pound Detwiler could become the hardest thrower of the bunch in time.

“Obviously, we’ll juggle the rotation a bit in Cuba , depending on who we match up with,” Schlossnagle said, “but this is how we’ve set it up for now.”

Schlossnagle and Corbin have limited their starters to 75-80 pitches—or about six or seven innings.

The 10-man staff includes six lefthanders—actually seven if you count first baseman Sean Doolittle, Virginia ’s ace pitcher who will be used on the mound this summer only in a pinch. It wasn’t necessarily by design that the scales tipped towards a sophomore-dominated staff, but Detwiler made the team with a strong showing in his final outing at the trials. Wichita State freshman righthander Aaron Shafer had looked like a good bet to make the team but he had a reoccurrence of the back problems that hurt him in NCAA regional play and it was decided to shut him down.

While the Team USA starters are an impressive bunch, the best arm on the staff may belong to closer Daniel Moskos, a Clemson product whose fastball has ranged from 91-95 mph.

Moskos, another lefthander, ranks right behind Price as a prospect for next year’s draft that already shapes up as another that will be rich in college pitching. First things first, though, and that is the World University Championship in Cuba . The U.S. is the event’s defending champion.

BOMAN ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL

The Los Angeles Angels drafted Yarmouth-Dennis lefthander Nate Boman in the ninth round of this year’s draft, even though he had not thrown a pitch since March 19, 2005. It goes without saying that the Angels took a significant gamble on the University of San Diego pitcher and that they’ll be following his progress closely this summer in the Cape Cod League.

Boman tore the labrum in his pitching shoulder in a game against Texas A&M, causing him to miss the rest of the 2005 season and all of 2006. He was a projected first-round pick for this year’s draft prior to his injury, and still ranks as the highest selection to play in the Cape this summer.

He’s been brought along slowly. In his first four starts, Boman was 1-1, 0.64 with 13 strikeouts in 14 innings. He’s been on a strict pitch count, ranging from 30 in his first start to 65 in his most recent, trying to rebuild his arm strength after previously being clocked at 95 mph.

“For a guy who hasn’t been pitching (in more than a year), he looks pretty good,” Y-D manager Scott Pickler told the Cape Cod Times. “We’ll see how he throws this summer. If he stays healthy, it’s a pretty good gamble for the Angels.”

Boman, who was 5-1, 2.28 for USD in 2005 prior to his injury, had planned to return to the Toreros rotation this spring but elected to take a red-shirt when he didn’t have the stamina or velocity he had prior to his surgery.

“I was thinking I’d be able to (miss the college season) and still come to the Cape , play and get drafted,” Boman said. “A couple of times my coach (Rich Hill) at San Diego wanted to activate me, but I held strong. I thought the best thing for my career was to sit it out. I had the feeling the Angels might draft me.”

Boman believes that if he can show the Angels he’s healthy this summer and his velocity returns to its old level that he might be offered a contract by the end of the summer. His fastball has already touched 90 again.

“The way I’m looking at it,” he said, “is this is my college season. I didn’t pitch in the spring. Hopefully, that’s the way the Angels are looking at it. Each time out, I’m feeling stronger.”

SUMMER NOTEBOOK

--For the second straight year, a middle infielder from Duluth with connections to the University if Missouri played an instrumental role as the North Division beat the South to win the Northwoods League All-Star Game. Second baseman Brock Bond went 2-for-4, started two of his team’s three double plays and drove in the winning run in the 11^th inning as the North won 3-2. A year ago, Duluth shortstop Gary Arndt, Bond’s double play partner at Missouri , was named the All-Star Game MVP. This year’s game, played in La Crosse, Wis. , drew 3,413, the second largest crowd in the 12-year history of the event.

--Outfielder Kellen Kulbacki had the best college season of any player in the country this spring, leading the nation with 24 home runs and a .934 slugging average, while hitting .464 with 75 RBIs. His summer season at Cotuit (Cape Cod) has been another story, as he was hitting just .210 with no home runs in his first 62 at-bats. He has become the weak link offensively on a team that led the Cape with a .274 team average. “I’ve struggled adjusting thus far and I know this is a pitcher’s league,” he said, “but I have enough confidence in myself that I will break out of it and have a good summer.”

--The Newport Gulls, champions of the New England Collegiate League in 2001, 2002 and 2005, took control of the league this year by running off 10 straight wins to improve to 22-6. The Gulls have gotten key contributions from a contingent of players from Washington—four from the University of Washington a big one from Washington State first baseman Jim Miller, who led the league with five homers and 24 RBIs, while hitting .316.

--Virginia may have designs on the College World Series in 2007 as it will return its two best pitchers from this year’s 47-15 NCAA regional team: sophomore lefthander Sean Doolittle (11-2, 2.38) and freshman righthander Jacob Thompson (10-4, 2.60). The Cavaliers should get a considerable boost next year as well from freshman lefthander Shooter Hunt (0-0, 4.72) and sophomore lefthander Pat McAnaney (5-1, 2.79), based on their performances this summer. Hunt has excelled this summer in the Cape Cod League, going 2-0, 1.48 with 32 strikeouts in 24 innings for Falmouth , while McAnaney has gone 4-0, 2.10 with four walks and 40 strikeouts in 34 innings for Newport in the New England Collegiate League.

--First baseman C.J. Ziegler led the Coastal Plain League with 12 home runs at the midpoint of the season, tying him for second place on the league’s all-time single season list. Ziegler, a sophomore at Pima (Ariz. ) CC, had set his sights on the league record of 17 held by former big league outfielder Jason DuBois, set in 1998.

--Another power-hitting junior college first baseman, Haymarket’s Mike Tollison, from Florence-Darlington (S.C.) Junior College, has torn up the Valley League. He was leading the league in batting average (.391), runs, hits, total bases, home runs, on-base average and slugging percentage. He was also among the league leaders in RBIs—despite hitting in the leadoff position, a new position for the 6-foot-2, 205-pound slugger. “All two years in college,” he said, “I was a 4-hole hitter. I’ve been hitting the ball good, getting on base. The coach put me in the leadoff spot, and I’ve been getting on, scoring runs. You might see a few more fastballs than if you were in the 4-hole.”