Thursday, July 09, 2009
No beaches, just baseball for Rockbridge Rapids players
Baseball players from around the country compete for the Rockbridge Rapids, and they're adjusting to everything from wood bats to black bears.
Photos by Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times
Rockbridge Rapids players Anthony Nalepa (left) and Graham Sullivan warm up before the first pitch against the Covington Lumberjacks on Tuesday night at Cap'n Dick Smith Field on the Washington and Lee campus in Lexington.
Cindy and Grigg Mullen serve as a host family for the Rockbridge Rapids. The Mullens have two of the Valley League players living with them this season.
Rockbridge Rapids player Anthony Melchionda (11), who plays at Boston College, celebrates a run scored during the second inning against the Covington Lumberjacks on Tuesday night at Cap'n Dick Smith Field. The team is made of college players from around the country.
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LEXINGTON -- Stanford outfielder Scott Colton has learned how to clean fish. He has been on a riding mower for the first time. He is also learning to shoot a 22-caliber rifle.
University of Miami pitcher Anthony Nalepa likes to go snorkeling or ride a jet ski in his free time. Not this summer.
"The first thing I asked ... when I got here, I said, 'Well, how far is the beach?' " said Nalepa, a Miami native. "I'm not used to being landlocked."
They are part of a new team in the Valley League, a summer circuit for college ballplayers where major leaguers David Eckstein and Mike Lowell once toiled.
The Rockbridge Rapids play their home games at Washington and Lee, but they don't bunk in dorms. They are living with host families in Lexington and Rockbridge County.
"We've got a city boy from Connecticut and a city boy from Chicago, and the black bear right next to the back porch was a surprise," said Grigg Mullen, a Rockbridge County resident who is housing two players.
The pace is slower than some of the players are used to, but they are enjoying their new surroundings.
"It's a big change. You're used to the fast pace, traffic everywhere," Nalepa said. "Coming here, it's kind of relaxing. It's peaceful, to get away from it all."
'He's one of us'
Rockbridge debuted in early June as the 12th team in the Valley League, which has doubled in size this decade. All of the squads are in Virginia, including teams in Covington, Harrisonburg, Staunton and Winchester. The league gets money from Major League Baseball, but teams are independently owned and operated.
The Rapids are averaging about 450 fans per home game, according to general manager Ken Newman, including an average of about 380 paying customers. Kids age 10 and younger are admitted free. The ballpark has only 425 seats, but fans also bring lawn chairs and sit on the hillside.
"People here, they like to talk to you," Nalepa said. "Everybody's real nice."
Tom and Drury Whitaker are the host family for Manhattan College pitcher Matthew Jordan of Kingston, N.Y. Like the other host families, they are regulars at the home games.
"It's like with my own kids -- I don't want anything to happen while I'm not here [at the ballpark]," Drury Whitaker said. "I want to be able to talk to his mom about how he's doing.
"He's one of us."
Players use wooden bats
Players -- who must be rising sophomores, juniors or seniors -- come to the Valley League to gain more experience and to play in front of major-league scouts. They are not paid.
The Cape Cod League is the most prestigious summer league, but the Valley League does draw good talent.
Thirteen current major leaguers have played in the Valley League, including Eckstein, Lowell, Brandon Inge and Aubrey Huff. Fifty Valley League alumni were chosen in the major-league amateur draft last month.
The Rockbridge roster features players from 19 colleges. Four players are from VMI, including Lord Botetourt graduate Alan Watts and Northside graduate Lefty Flora, and two are from Virginia Tech.
The Valley League is a wooden-bat league, so hitting can be a bit more challenging for players than it is when they use aluminum bats in the college season.
"With an aluminum bat, you can cheat a little -- pitchers, they're not going to come inside as much," said Boston College outfielder Robbie Anston, an All-ACC second-team pick from Odessa, Fla.
"Wood bat, you're going to have pitchers trying to beat you inside. It's definitely a little frustrating, not getting as many hits as you would have [with aluminum]."
The Rapids play their games at night, so the players have free time during the day. Anston and some of his teammates spend their mornings lifting weights at VMI.
"There's definitely not much to do," Anston said. "You can't get into any trouble around here. It gives you time to work out, focus on getting better."
Lafayette outfielder Robert Froio, who is from the Chicago suburb of Midlothian, is using his free time to earn some money. He helps with field maintenance at the ballpark and also splits firewood and does other chores for his host family, Grigg and Cindy Mullen.
When the family gathered for a Father's Day lunch, Froio and the other player staying with the Mullens -- St. John's catcher Joe Witkowski -- were included in the cookout.
Appreciating the quiet
Colton, the outfielder from Stanford, grew up in a house on Newport Beach in Southern California. He loves to go surfing. So the first thing he did after one of his Stanford coaches got him a spot on the Rapids was to check how close Lexington was to a beach.
"I was like, 'I'm going to have to figure out what else to do,' " he said.
He used to fish in the Pacific Ocean, so he has switched to fresh-water fishing this summer.
His host parents, Buck and Mary Adkins, have a pond on their Rockbridge County property, so he likes to fish there on their boat.
"It's real fun for me to experience Virginia," Colton said. "My host family is great.
"Where I'm from, there's a lot of stuff to do, lots of late-night activity. Here, I just focus on the baseball aspect of things, and [have] had a real good time adapting to life around here -- being able to go fishing whenever I want, and having it be real quiet when I go to sleep. At home, there's noise all the time."
Buck Adkins has not only introduced him to bass fishing, but he also has been teaching him to shoot a rifle.
"It's a step up from my BB gun back home," Colton said.
When he gets home after games, Colton has late-night chats with his host parents.
"He wants to tell us play-by-play," Buck Adkins said. "It lets him wind down."
Ohio State infielder Brian DeLucia lives with Alec and Linda Wilder of Lexington.
"They bought me so many groceries," he said. "They're spoiling me."
DeLucia, who grew up in Columbus, Ohio, was "a little nervous" about spending the summer in a small town. But he spends his days fishing or playing video games and has no complaints.
"Things are pretty slow and pretty quiet around this town, and I love it," he said.
"I love being in some solitude. The town's awesome and the people are awesome."
