Daily Log:
Day 6
LVBA has had more or less what can be described as an amateur adult-league "affiliate team" in 2008 and 2009 and that team has been the Limeport Bulls of the Tri-County League...
Many top-flyte players in college or just out of college in the area have played for the Bulls the past 2 seasons, hoping to land a spot in professional baseball somewhere thanks in part to the dozens of Independent League coaching contacts that Jeff Bittiger and Dylan Dando of LVBA have made over the years...
So today, at LVBA, Oakland A's scout Jeff Bittiger mentioned that he was looking for a slick-fielding shortstop who can throw about 90 mph off the mound and Los Angeles Dodgers scout and former manager of the Limeport Bulls, Dylan Dando mentioned that Chris Tonte fits that bill...
Tonte, who played at Pitt, has dazzled the Tri-County League and Limeport Stadium crowds with some of the most incredible defensive plays imaginable the past two summers...Last summer, Bulls' manager Steve Smull was looking for a closer and put Tonte (who has a cannon at SS) on the mound, and Tonte was throwing bullets...
So today, another Tri-County League player gets a shot at Pro baseball thanks in part to the Limeport Bulls affiliation with LVBA the past 2 years, as Tonte will sign a contract to go to spring training in North Dakota with the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks of the Northern League, one of the best Independent Leagues in the country...
There is no guarantee that Tonte will even make the squad, as the level of baseball in the Northern League has been compared to AA baseball in affiliated leagues...
But the bottom line is, Tonte will get a chance to play professional baseball because of the professional contacts that LVBA has all over the country...
Are there any high school coaches or even college coaches in the Lehigh Valley who can make one phone call and get a player a shot to play professional baseball overnight?...
The answer is, "No"...
Are there any travels teams in the Lehigh Valley area who has coaches who are professional scouts with the professional contacts that Bittiger and Dando have?...
The answer is "No"...
Is your kid interested in having a shot to play baseball at a college that is the best fit for him?...
Is your college-age kid good enough to have a shot at playing professional baseball?...
You may want to play at LVBA and find out...
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Daily Log, Day 5
Daily Log:
Day 5
Something must be going right at LVBA, when players from Texas and Florida are looking to play for our 18u-Elite team here in the Lehigh Valley...
The LVBA 18u Elite-team was created this past Fall and the team was an instant hit, competing well against the top travel teams on the East Coast...Coached by Los Angeles Dodgers scout Dylan Dando, full-time Oakland Athletic scout Jeff Bittiger and Mike McDaniel, this team finished with a winning percentage over .800 last fall...
And yes, LVBA is getting phone calls from players in Texas and Florida because these players want to play in front of major league scouts on a daily basis...
Day 5
Something must be going right at LVBA, when players from Texas and Florida are looking to play for our 18u-Elite team here in the Lehigh Valley...
The LVBA 18u Elite-team was created this past Fall and the team was an instant hit, competing well against the top travel teams on the East Coast...Coached by Los Angeles Dodgers scout Dylan Dando, full-time Oakland Athletic scout Jeff Bittiger and Mike McDaniel, this team finished with a winning percentage over .800 last fall...
And yes, LVBA is getting phone calls from players in Texas and Florida because these players want to play in front of major league scouts on a daily basis...
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Daily Log, Day 4
Daily Log:
Day 4
Eight more hours of the winter workout today. Really amazing to see this program take off. But what is even more amazing is what happened 2 weeks ago on SuperBowl Sunday.
The winter workout runs for 2 hours and there are 4 sessions on Sundays that go from 1 to 9 p.m. Well,, very few kids skipped the workout on SuperBowl Sunday. And the biggest shock of the day was the 7 to 9 p.m. session with the 14 and 15 year-old kids. At most, 1 or 2 kids skipped this session, which is amazing considering this entire session took place while the SuperBowl was being played.
What more proof does anyone need to know that the kids are enjoying the quality instruction they are getting at LVBA?
Day 4
Eight more hours of the winter workout today. Really amazing to see this program take off. But what is even more amazing is what happened 2 weeks ago on SuperBowl Sunday.
The winter workout runs for 2 hours and there are 4 sessions on Sundays that go from 1 to 9 p.m. Well,, very few kids skipped the workout on SuperBowl Sunday. And the biggest shock of the day was the 7 to 9 p.m. session with the 14 and 15 year-old kids. At most, 1 or 2 kids skipped this session, which is amazing considering this entire session took place while the SuperBowl was being played.
What more proof does anyone need to know that the kids are enjoying the quality instruction they are getting at LVBA?
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Daily Log, Day 3:
Daily Log:
Day 3
The Founder of the Stealth baseball team, Jason Mengel, has brought the Stealth Winter Workout to LVBA and it has taken off. Almost 200 kids participating in 2010, up from about 50 or 60 last year. And it is no surprise why the participation has skyrocketed since the merger between the Stealth program and LVBA.
With two sessions of the winter workout running today (and four more sessions tomorrow), I just took one look around and can see why it took off: The instructors LVBA was able to add to this workout has taken this to a new level.
Mengel himself and former Mets' farmhand Josh Perich do a fantastic job instructing the kids, but as I walk around, I also see Sam Walls, who pitched for the Reading Phillies in 2009 and Fuhrman (formerly with the Detroit Tigers) doing the pitching instruction and Mark Angelo (currently with the Seattle Mariners) doing the fielding drills. Josh Baltz (Muhlenburg assistant coach) also does a great job with hitting drills.
The goal of the winter workout is to prepare kids (ages 7 through 15) for their spring/summer seasons that start in April. The workout starts the first weekend of December and runs through the last weekend of March and many parents mentioned last year that the kids who participated in the workout stood out over everyone else in their local town leagues because the kids had a huge head start and got professional instruction for months leading up to the start of their season.
Just another success story at LVBA as I wouldn't be surprised to see over 300 kids doing the winter workout in 2011.
Day 3
The Founder of the Stealth baseball team, Jason Mengel, has brought the Stealth Winter Workout to LVBA and it has taken off. Almost 200 kids participating in 2010, up from about 50 or 60 last year. And it is no surprise why the participation has skyrocketed since the merger between the Stealth program and LVBA.
With two sessions of the winter workout running today (and four more sessions tomorrow), I just took one look around and can see why it took off: The instructors LVBA was able to add to this workout has taken this to a new level.
Mengel himself and former Mets' farmhand Josh Perich do a fantastic job instructing the kids, but as I walk around, I also see Sam Walls, who pitched for the Reading Phillies in 2009 and Fuhrman (formerly with the Detroit Tigers) doing the pitching instruction and Mark Angelo (currently with the Seattle Mariners) doing the fielding drills. Josh Baltz (Muhlenburg assistant coach) also does a great job with hitting drills.
The goal of the winter workout is to prepare kids (ages 7 through 15) for their spring/summer seasons that start in April. The workout starts the first weekend of December and runs through the last weekend of March and many parents mentioned last year that the kids who participated in the workout stood out over everyone else in their local town leagues because the kids had a huge head start and got professional instruction for months leading up to the start of their season.
Just another success story at LVBA as I wouldn't be surprised to see over 300 kids doing the winter workout in 2011.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Daily Log, Day 2:
Daily Log:
Day 2
LVBA has been making some nice pick-ups for their travel/tournament teams for the 2010 spring/summer season. After picking up one of the best 13u players in the Lehigh Valley a few weeks ago, Dylan Dando has added another stud pitcher from Bangor for the 18u Elite team.
With the exposure that travel teams are getting now, the importance of high school baseball is quickly disappearing. In fact, there will be a day some time very soon where high school baseball will be virtually obsolete in terms of importance compared to tournament baseball at the elite level. We are already at the point n the Northeast where high school baseball is the equivalent to club teams when compared to the elite tournament teams that are now playing tournament baseball. Elite travel teams are going up against some the best competition in the country, while high school teams in this area are, well, going up against other high school teams in this area.
And where are the college and pro scouts?
Not at high school games. They are at tournaments where elite travel teams are playing. By the dozens or more in some instances. And people are already realizing this. As LVBA now has enough talent to put 4 of its teams on the National stage in 2010 as LVBA will have a team at the 9u, 12u, 13u and 18u level participating at the National level, going up against the best competition in the country.
Day 2
LVBA has been making some nice pick-ups for their travel/tournament teams for the 2010 spring/summer season. After picking up one of the best 13u players in the Lehigh Valley a few weeks ago, Dylan Dando has added another stud pitcher from Bangor for the 18u Elite team.
With the exposure that travel teams are getting now, the importance of high school baseball is quickly disappearing. In fact, there will be a day some time very soon where high school baseball will be virtually obsolete in terms of importance compared to tournament baseball at the elite level. We are already at the point n the Northeast where high school baseball is the equivalent to club teams when compared to the elite tournament teams that are now playing tournament baseball. Elite travel teams are going up against some the best competition in the country, while high school teams in this area are, well, going up against other high school teams in this area.
And where are the college and pro scouts?
Not at high school games. They are at tournaments where elite travel teams are playing. By the dozens or more in some instances. And people are already realizing this. As LVBA now has enough talent to put 4 of its teams on the National stage in 2010 as LVBA will have a team at the 9u, 12u, 13u and 18u level participating at the National level, going up against the best competition in the country.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Daily Log
Daily Log:
Day 1
There is a stigma in the Lehigh Valley and the Northeast in general when it comes to the lack of quality baseball at the amateur level. That lack of quality baseball in the Lehigh Valley is further exacerbated by the lack of quality coaching going on at every level. EVERY level. From little league right through high school and even the collegiate level in some instances.
Baseball just isn't taught the same in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas as it is down south or in Texas, Arizona and Southern California.
And this is why it was incredibly refreshing when I looked around Lehigh Valley Baseball Academy today and was amazed at what I saw. I saw Mark Angelo (currently in the Seattle Mariners organization and head coach of our 10u team last fall) giving a hitting lesson in Cage 4. Next to him in Cage 3 was Craig Muschko (currently in the Chicago Cubs organization) giving a pitching lesson. In Cage 2, Mike McDaniel (who was the full-time hitting coach at Arkansas Fort-Smith last year and long-time hitting coach at DeSales University) was in the middle of a hitting lesson.
I start to walk down the hall and see Matt McBride (currently in the Cleveland Indians organization) working out at FASST, and adjacent to the FASST portion of the facility was Aaron Fuhrman (formerly with the Detroit Tigers' organization) doing a pitching lesson in the tunnel. I walk further down the hall and see Jeff Bittiger (Oakland A's scout and former major league pitcher) and Dylan Dando (Los Angeles Dodgers' scout) working out a pitcher on the LVBA 18u Elite team, a team that had an outstanding fall season in 2009.
All I could think of was, "Wow, where else can you find this many professional instructors under one roof in the Lehigh Valley?"
Answer: Nowhere.
And the amazing part is: From December through February and part of March, this kind of scene happens almost every day at LVBA.
Day 1
There is a stigma in the Lehigh Valley and the Northeast in general when it comes to the lack of quality baseball at the amateur level. That lack of quality baseball in the Lehigh Valley is further exacerbated by the lack of quality coaching going on at every level. EVERY level. From little league right through high school and even the collegiate level in some instances.
Baseball just isn't taught the same in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas as it is down south or in Texas, Arizona and Southern California.
And this is why it was incredibly refreshing when I looked around Lehigh Valley Baseball Academy today and was amazed at what I saw. I saw Mark Angelo (currently in the Seattle Mariners organization and head coach of our 10u team last fall) giving a hitting lesson in Cage 4. Next to him in Cage 3 was Craig Muschko (currently in the Chicago Cubs organization) giving a pitching lesson. In Cage 2, Mike McDaniel (who was the full-time hitting coach at Arkansas Fort-Smith last year and long-time hitting coach at DeSales University) was in the middle of a hitting lesson.
I start to walk down the hall and see Matt McBride (currently in the Cleveland Indians organization) working out at FASST, and adjacent to the FASST portion of the facility was Aaron Fuhrman (formerly with the Detroit Tigers' organization) doing a pitching lesson in the tunnel. I walk further down the hall and see Jeff Bittiger (Oakland A's scout and former major league pitcher) and Dylan Dando (Los Angeles Dodgers' scout) working out a pitcher on the LVBA 18u Elite team, a team that had an outstanding fall season in 2009.
All I could think of was, "Wow, where else can you find this many professional instructors under one roof in the Lehigh Valley?"
Answer: Nowhere.
And the amazing part is: From December through February and part of March, this kind of scene happens almost every day at LVBA.
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