Three baseball players sign professional contracts
Photo by Shane Tretheway
The percent of baseball players to take their athletic skills from high school to the NCAA is 6.8 percent. The percent of those baseball players to take their athletic skills from the NCAA to a professional level is 9.8 percent. Playing a sport at the professional level is the dream of many, the reality for few.
For three Lee University baseball players: right-handed pitcher Jeremy Bales, left-handed pitcher and right fielder Derek Pitts and shortstop Josh Silver, this dream is becoming a reality. Bales and Pitts signed Frontier League contracts with the Schaumburg Boomers in Schaumburg, Illinois, while Silver signed a Frontier League contract with the River City Rascals in O'Fallon, Missouri.
The Frontier League is an unaffiliated league of the MLB; but many players use this as a springboard to sign with minor league MLB teams and even springboard into the major leagues.
Head Baseball Coach Mark Brew believes that all three players have dreamed of playing in the big leagues and they now have the opportunity to make that dream come true.
'Growing up as a boy, it's a dream,' Brew said. 'Whether you're throwing in the backyard or watching TV, [with the hope] that someday you get that opportunity to go through that and that's where they are right now. They've got that opportunity and we'll see how they do with it.'
For Bales, he knows that it is a great opportunity and he knows what it takes to go from unaffiliated baseball to affiliated baseball.
'It's definitely an opportunity and a step in the right direction to get to the next level,' Bale said. 'I think I have to compete every day, make good pitches, and put up good numbers. At this level you have to show them that you are better and more consistent that what they already have.'
Silver feels like he has a great opportunity to make the jump to the next level, he just has to play like he knows how.
'Many people have signed with professional teams out of this league so I'm excited for the opportunity,' Silver said. '[I have to] play ball like I know how and hopefully someone will give me a shot.'
Brew said that each player brings a different style and a different skill to the game that could springboard them to the next level.
Brew said Bales, being a submarine pitcher, if he could find the right fit; he could be a valuable relief pitcher for teams at the next level.
For Silver, Brew said if he proves himself offensively, he could advance due to his outstanding defensive skills.
Pitts is a left-handed pitcher, a right fielder and a powerful hitter that Brew feels like could benefit his team by being a versatile asset.
'The reality for all three is that it's difficult to advance,' Brew said. 'It's no different than going from high school to college. It's a good jump'all three have an opportunity to springboard themselves, and that's all you want as a player.'
For all three players spring training starts April 28 and they are preparing for the Frontier League as much as they can.
'I have been training with Clint Spencer, strength coach at Lee and throwing. Until then [April 28], it's a long process of training and getting my arm and body in shape,' Bales said.
These players know the difficulty of going from unaffiliated baseball to affiliated baseball in the MLB. But this is just apart of their lifelong dream.
'It's a part of my dream to play baseball at the professional level,' Silver said.
For Bales, he has dreamed of playing in the major leagues since he was four years old. While he knows this is apart of his dream as well, he feels like he has not reached his ultimate goal quite yet.
'Playing professional baseball has been my dream since I was four years old, but ultimately I want to make it to the highest level,' Bales said. 'So this is a blessing, but I think it's just part of the process to get to the 'dream come true.''