Keeping score: Local talent

[ Originally published on: Saturday, May 30, 2009 ]

Good morning!

There's been a lot of talk around town about whether Greenfield's two hardball prodigies, Jeremiah Bayer and Sean Killeen, will be taken in the Major League draft. Both players ended sparkling careers playing for coach Bill Decker at Trinity College last week, where Bayer finished his senior season with a 12-1 record and posted a 0.85 ERA, and the power-hitting catcher Killeen batted .448 with 11 home runs and 53 RBIs in 143 at-bats.

According to a major league scout who must remain anonymous until after the draft, both players will get the opportunity to play professionally even if they aren't drafted. ''I've known Sean for four years, and seen Jeremiah Bayer for two or three years,'' he said. ''Sean I know the best. I've followed him closely and he's made a big improvement from last year to this year, mostly his arm strength has gotten a lot better. That's the biggest difference. He's swung the bat and he's created some interest, gun to my head I don't know if he gets taken or not but he's definitely earned the opportunity to play somewhere. He's worked hard and is an exceptional makeup kid.

''Bayer's best attribute is he throws strikes. He's a sinker-slider guy and his changeup got better. Most college kids just throw but he knows how to pitch. He knows how to win when he doesn't have his best stuff. He's similar to Sean in his makeup. I hope someone gives him a chance. Even though he's older he's still got some physical upside. Pitchers take longer to mature.''

The scout credited Trinity coach Bill Decker with helping to develop both Killeen and Bayer into pro-caliber athletes. ''Those Trinity kids are good.

''You can sometime attribute a personality to the team he played for, and Bill Decker just does a great job with these kids.''

The amateur draft will be June 9-11 at MLB Network Studios in Seacaucus, New Jersey, but being selected is just the beginning of the journey since only seven percent will ever make the big leagues.

According to the scout, both Killeen and Bayer deserve a shot of beating those odds. ''What's most important is that the scouts know who they are and they're both quality kids. You pull for the Sean Killeen's and Jeremiah Bayer's of the world.''

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Despite the poor economy and subsequent low handle, the New York Racing Association plans to have its usual quota of giveaways for the Saratoga meet that begins on July 29 and runs through Labor Day. ''We are definitely doing giveaways,'' said NYRA's special events coordinator Kathleen Locke. ''I think the public is going to be very happy with what we're doing.''

Saratoga's giveaways are popular because people can walk away with as many hats, umbrellas, T-shirts they can carry provided they buy an equal number of admissions. Consequently, paid admissions often exceed 60,000 at the 18,000-seat track on giveaway days.

Locke said specific details will be made public later in June, but added that the bobblehead doll giveaways ''have run their course.''

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Radio wag Bobby ''C'' Campbell called with news that WGAJ-FM went dark this month. ''Nothing but static, man,'' he said of the station's 91.7 FM spot on the dial.

Owned and operated by Deerfield Academy, the station has long been a staging ground for local talent. UMass hockey color announcer Brock Hines got his sea legs by doing programs every Tuesday. He signed off for the final time on May 19, after doing about 1,200 shows in 26 years.

''Brock gave me my start the day I went up there and saw the studio,'' said Campbell. ''Max Wolanske and Danny Smith were doing a Motown show and Brock was coming on afterward and I said I'd love to be able to do this. He spoke to the station engineer (Jim Hemingway) and that was my start in radio.''

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Former Recorder sports staffer Nate Dow was backstage at a show in Boston a few nights ago when he met Alan Evans, the leader of the group Soulive that's fronted for groups like the Rolling Stones and the Dave Matthews Band. ''I had to quiz him about the PR tidbit that the group's new album was recorded at his studio-home in South Deerfield,'' writes Dow. ''He said the studio is actually in Hatfield but he does live in 'Sow Deerfield.' He chuckled because I pronounced it 'correctly.''

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Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton said in a recent issue of Esquire that he regretted using booze and drugs because it gives young people the wrong idea about how tough it is to quit. ''They might think, 'Well, he did it and look at him now, but this was hard. There's still those days, and it only takes one… it only takes thinking that I can (use) one time to end up right back where I was.''

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It's barely June but already the AL East is shaping up as a two-team race for home-field advantage between the Yanks and Red Sox. First it was the O's and now the Blue Jays are being exposed as pretenders. The Rays lost a key player when Akinori Iwamura went down with a knee injury this week, and their bullpen has reverted to 2007 form. On Monday, they became the first team in 15 years to blow a 10-0 lead when they lost to the Indians, 11-10.

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Squibbers: Spotted a Red Sox fan wearing a T-shirt at Sunday's Mets game that showed Jesus Christ standing on a cloud, arms outstretched. Below it was the inscription: ''Jesus hates the Yankees.'' Slightly irreverent, but to the point. … Sox fans were aghast at the number of Mets fans at the game, but considering Red Sox Nation's traveling caravan, turnabout is fair play. ... The NY Post's Phil Mushnick reports that the reduced price for a 12-person suite at Yankee Stadium is $3,600 per game. ... According to the Angels publicity department, through last week outfielder Torri Hunter had pulled 35 would-be home runs back from over the fence.

Chip Ainsworth has penned his observations about sports for four decades in the Pioneer Valley.

 

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