Congrats to EvoShield Canes alum, Chad Pinder! Pick 2-71.
Current Va Tech SS and Poquoson grad.
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Congrats to EvoShield Canes Alum, Kyle Crockett. Pick #4-111.
Current UVA Pitcher and Poquoson grad
No wonder Poquoson was so good in 2010!
Congrats to these two young men on their newfound wealth, and the chance of a lifetime to live the dream!
Congrats to EvoShield Canes Alum, Bobby Wahl. Pick 5-161.
Ben Verlaner, ODU, 14th round by Tigers, and Ryan Yarborough, ODU, 20th round by Brewers
Ben Verlander,
Link to mlb website filter for state of Virginia 37 players.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/...013/drafttracker.jsp
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/...013/drafttracker.jsp
"John Cleary" from University of Maryland is better known as Jack Cleary, who was a reserve catcher on James River's 2007 AAA state championship team, and the starting catcher for the 2008 champs.
Jack's story is really one you could repeat to anyone about hard work and perseverance paying off. Through his junior year at JR, he was stuck behind Tyler Gruhl, who was a stud player in his own right. This led to Jack not being all that heavily recruited. But he put up strong numbers his senior year, after Gruhl had graduated. I was there for a district tourney game in late May 2008 when Jim Farr (former W&M head coach, then the associate head coach at Maryland) noticed Jack's pop times, strong arm, and unusual speed (for a catcher) running home to first. Farr recruited Jack as a walk-on with no promises but an opportunity.
Jack was redshirted as a freshman, and after that year, the entire Maryland coaching staff was replaced. Entering fall of his sophomore (redshirt freshman) year, there were supposed to be 2 catchers ahead of them. One transferred due to the coaching change. The other was injured and lost for the year in fall workouts. Jack ended up catching nearly every inning that spring, including some instances catching every inning of doubleheaders. He had a very strong year.
Still, Maryland recruited guys who were supposed to replace him year after year. And year after year, he beat them out. His redshirt junior season, he led the team in hitting. This year, as a 5th year senior, he threw out over 44% of base stealers.
And now, he is going to pro ball.
This is a kid I had the pleasure to coach when he was very young (from 9u through 12u), and to know as he went through school as my son's teammate and friend. I know he and his parents are tickled pink. But the key thing to understand is that this is a kid who worked his butt off to beat out all comers. He wasn't on the top prospect lists out of high school and no one offered him a scholarship, but here we are 5 years later and he's the one moving on to the pros.
Simply awesome!
Simply 'inspirational' for all of these young men reading this thread. Work hard and relish every opportunity that you get.
Congratulations to to Jack and the Cleary family! Great story! Let it continue.....!
Central Region Tom may have some video archives of footage he took of James River in 2008. I remember there was a key play at the plate in a regional game at Hanover and another key play made by Jack in the state semifinal and they were shown on the VirginiaPreps.com video clips at the time.
Tom, do you keep that footage that far back?