On Twitter this morning, Oakland pitcher and former CMWS (2005 and 2006) and Area Code Games (2004) participant, Brett Anderson, asked ESPN’s Keith Law if he’d ever been to Farmington in August for the Connie Mack World Series.  Law said that he had not due to the simultaneous annual scheduling of the CMWS and Area Code Games.  This is an issue for top underclassmen each summer whose club organizations happen to still be alive after Connie Mack state and regional play concludes.  Fortunately for both events only 10 teams can make it to Farmington each year, and only two are there the entire week, so often players find little conflict in terms of attending both events if only for a portion of each.  For instance, in 2009 Farmington’s own Jake McCasland was the scheduled starter in the opening round of the CMWS as well as a participant in the tourney’s homerun derby.  He obviously was obligated and thrilled to participate in the CMWS as long as his club had not been eliminated.

Once, however, they were knocked out, Jake boarded a plane to California to pitch at Area Code.  This is common for players with invitations to Area Code who do not wish to abandon their club and/or miss the annual CMWS festivities.  Additionally, players who elect to play for organizations like the Midland Redskins, South Troy Dodgers, Florida Legends, East Cobb Yankees, Arizona Firebirds, or Strike Zone Cardinals do so understanding that the clubs’ expectations are to play into the middle of August ever single season.  While these clubs are without question among the finest in the country, playing for them can mean less time to spend on the ever-developing national showcase circuit.

Showcases are designed to present recruitable players to recruiters, be it professional scouts or collegiate coaches.  A great deal of what amateur club coaches and financiers as well as prep coaches are trying to accomplish is “helping kids reach the next level.”  It is next to impossible to walk into any indoor facility or read any amateur club’s website “about us” page without hearing something about the “next level” and how their club is second to none with regards to helping kids reach whatever that is.  And those are the good guys.  The bad guys are the people suggesting to kids that playing club baseball is no longer necessary or beneficial.

That is how we arrived at the national showcase circuit, a circuit that Bryce Harper made famous during his amateur ascension.  Players in this circuit have allegiance to no one and have practically no concept of what “team” constitutes.  They immediately hit the road following the end of the school season in pursuit of BP rounds and 60-yard dashes.  The showcase circuit is a joke to fans of baseball because it effectively strips the game of any intrinsic meaning or value in favor of dollars and exposure.

The CMWS is somewhat of a throwback relative to the national showcase circuit in that it actually fields teams of players who have spent a minimum of a couple of months together, and in some cases years to a decade together.  This in many ways is analogous to school ball except for that the talent level tends to be considerably higher.  The thought of a school team succeeding in an event like the CMWS is laughable, but the idea that “team” matters is certainly a reflection of the school baseball concept.  This isn’t to discredit players who outside of school baseball have no means of exposure during the non-spring months other than showcases.  This is common in rural areas, inner cities, and areas like Wyoming and Iowa where club baseball options are limited or nonexistent because the school season takes place during the summer months.  Brandon Nimmo is a product of that sort of environment, and he landed in the first round and now has a chance to really learn what team baseball means within the professional ranks.

The Area Code Games have much more in common with a basic showcase than they do with something like the CMWS.  Teams are assembled in glorified random fashion based loosely on geography.  Yes, the talent level is through the roof.  A great deal of the top NCAA recruits as well as the early portion of any draft will have experience in Area Code, but the same can be said for many events including the CMWS.  The PG All-American game (formerly Aflac) is held the Sunday after Area Codes and the CMWS and has many players from both rostered.  It’s always sort of an end-of-the-summer shindig bringing together the best players from the CMWS and Area Codes into one facility for a handful of high profile innings.  Aside from a select few Midland and 18U Team USA rosters, the PG/Aflac rosters are the best assembled annually.  This year is no different, but once again, there is zero team concept involved and the sample size tends to be so small and meaningless that talent evaluators have less to go by than what they would find at an event like the CMWS where players actually give a shit what the score is.

The difference between events like Area Code and the CMWS as well as the PG/Aflac All-American Game is that the fans in the CMWS root for the players, but they also root for the teams.  At events like Area Codes and other showcase-style recruiting events, the name on the front of any player’s jersey is of little concern to anyone either on the field or in the stands, and the score on the scoreboard is worth far less than each player’s box score line.  Perhaps the perfect example is Strike Zone Cardinal Damion Lovato’s final at-bat in the CMWS, which took place in the 8^th inning Monday night against the South Troy Dodgers.   Damion hit a triple after breaking his hamate bone on a foul ball earlier in the game.  Something tells me that any player at Area Codes would have probably sat the at-bat out, but the Cards needed him to contribute, and so he gave his team the best he had.  I, as a baseball fan, greatly prefer the Connie Mack World Series and selfless performances like Lovato’s to any showcase-style event like the Area Code Games.

With the Connie Mack World Series slated to begin Friday night at Ricketts Park, the city of Farmington is once again beginning to stir with baseball anticipation.  The tournament is again loaded with a collection of national powerhouse clubs including the Legends from Miami, the Midland Redskins, South Troy Dodgers, and Arizona Firebirds.  The Series is also welcoming several newcomers like the Murfreesboro Diamondbacks, who accomplished the near impossible last week in the Southeast regional when they knocked off both the East Cobb Yankees and Florida Bombers.

The East Cobb Yankees organization has a tremendous following in Farmington, a product of the tourney’s host family tradition, and the fact that they have been here practically every August since the mid-90’s.  They surely will be missed, but Farmington always welcomes talent regardless of what uniform it is wearing, and the town is very excited to watch the group of 17-year olds from Tennessee that were able to win one of the toughest regionals in the country.  Also headed to the Series for the first time are the Arecibo Lobos from Puerto Rico, who open up Friday in the nightcap against the host Strike Zone Cardinals from Farmington and Farmington’s own Dominic Moreno, who will be on the mound for the home squad.

Moreno is no stranger to the World Series spotlight as he took the ball last year for the Cards against the Firebirds in an elimination game.  Moreno, signed at 2009 JUCO national champion Howard College, features a fastball that reaches the low-90s and two quality secondary pitches in the form of a breaker and changeup – the latter of which is the pitch to get excited about.  While the Legends take on South Troy in the early game Friday, there is a realistic chance that the best arm of Friday night will belong to Moreno.  Saturday’s match ups include Midland vs. the Danville Hoots, Murfreesboro against Sam Carpenter’s D-BAT Mustangs, and the Firebirds taking on the Ann Arbor Travelers, a newcomer but with a coaching staff that is no stranger to Farmington.

Travelers’ coach Jordan Banfield was a member of the Ann Arbor Braves, the last group from Ann Arbor to make it to Farmington, in 2005.  That squad featured 2005 Gatorade Player of the Year Zach Putnam, currently a reliever in Triple-A for Cleveland.  This Ann Arbor bunch features similar talent and several major conference signees, including three early commits in Daniel McKinney, Travis Maezes, and Jason Gamble.  Of these three, Maezes has the highest ceiling featuring at least three average or better tools in the form of his bat, feet, and arm as a position player, and a low-90s fastball on the bump.

Sam Carpenter is once again on his way to Farmington for his zillionth CMWS appearance despite missing last year’s event.  Instead the top 17-year old DBAT squad was able to win the tough 2010 South Plains regional.  That group featured Dylan Bundy and Archie Bradley, the 4^th and 7^th players selected in June’s MLB draft.  Neither has signed yet, but they will both make well over $5 million.  This year’s DBAT Mustangs are essentially last year’s team minus those two arms.  They still feature premier talent like CF Adam Toth, who is signed at Baylor.  They will not, however, be featuring last year’s SS, Mike Bernal.  Bernal of El Paso instead is the SS for the host Cardinals.  Bernal (signed at OK State) hits third for the Cards in front of CF Shilo McCall, who could very well also commit to a major conference university in the next couple of months.

The Redskins again feature a tremendous pitching staff of nothing but flamethrowers; three pitchers 6’8” or over (Chase Mullins, Matt Smoral, Taylore Cherry), who feature fastballs that reach the mid-90s, as well as Dillon Howard, Cleveland’s 2^nd round pick.  Danville is making its second trip in three years after qualifying in 2009, the first time a team from northern California had done so in decades at the time.  Since winning the West in 2009, Danville has emerged as a premier national organization with appearances in many of the top club events.  Their lineup features lefty and University of San Diego commit Robert Martinez, who got the win in the regional final against the 2001 West regional champs, the Orange County Renegades.  Martinez features excellent command of a high-80s fastball with decent arm-side action as well as a tight bender, which also can command well to both sides of the plate.  His changeup lacks fade, but he maintains arm speed with it, and a commandable changeup is a must to win in the high elevation in northern New Mexico.  He very well could take the ball against Midland at noon on Saturday.

The Dodgers from South Troy have become the premier organization in the northeastern United States, as have the Arizona Firebirds in the desert southwest.  The Dodgers won a nail-biter in the regional finals against last year’s CMWS representatives, the Ontario Blue Jays, 5-4.  The Firebirds won one of two national qualifier events in Phoenix, thereby bypassing the formidable West regional.  The other national qualifier took place in New Jersey and was won by the Florida Legends, who bypassed the Southeast Regional in the process.  The Dodgers, Legends, and Firebirds all know what it takes to play deep into the week here in Farmington as Arizona won the CMWS in 2006, South Troy played for the title in 2000, and the Legends have played into the semifinals three times.  This year’s Legends group is under new management and has a new financial situation, but the talent is still there.  The 2011 Legends feature 3B David Thompson, who is headed to Miami, and CF Albert Almora, who has a chance at the 2012 first-round and is also headed to Miami.

This is going to be a tremendously exciting week of baseball as it always is.  I can’t wait.  We here at the Sombrero will certainly miss Griffin Phelps managing the host squad.  He led last year’s Cardinals to the finest showing a host team had produced in a decade, but hopefully the Cardinals can continue to succeed in the way they did under Griff.  With players like Bernal, Moreno, and Shilo McCall, they certainly have the talent.  Best of luck to all of the tournament’s participants!

Go Cards!

It seems every small town holds its own annual festival of some sort, a social happening to bring the community together and give the few people there a reason to get out and celebrate collectively. For many places this event is the local fair, a chance for folks to show off their best quilting and sheep-raising among various other pastoral proficiencies, while grubbing down on corn dogs, cotton candy and more deliciously life-shortening treats. Others get a little more creative; Spivey’s Corner, North Carolina hosts the National Hollerin’ Contest, where competitors are judged on their redneck greeting skills, while Clinton, Montana honors the time-honored rancher’s delicacy of battered cow balls at its yearly Testicle Festival.

These events are designed to provide an entertaining distraction for people who generally don’t have a whole lot to get excited about. Here in Farmington, New Mexico, our distraction is baseball and our festival is the Connie Mack World Series, the best amateur tournament in the game.

(more…)