Fortunately, I had gone over to Bradenton on Saturday and got to see him play well and hit well in a game against the Yankees. (Not to mention meeting the lovely Q's Dad, another hsbbweb treat.) When he finished, I sat down by one of the unused fields, and a charming gentleman named Woody Huyke sat down to talk to us. The Oldest Working Pirate; heck, the facility is named after him! Quite an honor to talk basbeall with a man of his experience. In the course of the conversation, he mentioned that he didn't like the Pirates' policy of picking up FAs and Independent League guys, as they never gave them any real consideration. I was afraid he was giving me a warning and I guess now that he was.
When Aeden was released by the Pads last July, he started work on finding a 'real' job. But this time, he just wanted to keep playing --- even though he well knows that it's unusual for a released guy to get another shot, most particularly an NDFA sans agent. So not much thinking that particular miracle is going to repeat itself. What to do, what to do.
As some of you know, he also plays for the Great Britain National team and the World Cup is this Fall (22 countries, including the USA will be there); the UK will start play in Moscow and hopefully continue into Italy. He loves playing for his country and was so looking forward --- gotta stay in shape! So he gets home Sunday, calls his UK coach Monday, and by Tuesday he had an offer to play in the Dutch pro league (remember those guys from the WBC
), including transport, an apartment, and a salary just a little higher than MiLB. He'll be playing and managing their Junior (18u) team as well sincethe league only plays 3-4 days a week.He's played in Europe two summers during college --- once in the UK, once in the German Bundesliga. Such phenominal experiences for him.
So, as this Being Released Thing would have happened eventually (as it does for at least 95% of the guys, alas), this isn't a bad consolation prize at all, at all. He made it into his third year of MiLB, and is still, as he's wanted to be since T-ball days in England, a Pro Ballplayer
.I've got to mention one other thing of great importance. Aeden had a chance to talk to Zach Duke last week and they spoke, of course, about the highschoolbaseballweb. Unlike most of the times our boys with hsbbweb-junkie parents "discuss" this hallowed site
, those two had nothing but praise for this fine forum, recognizing what it has done for both of them. In Aeden's case, his introduction to the UK team came from right here. Without the hsbbweb? No UK team, no summers in Europe, no tournaments in Barcelona, Prague, Vienna, and Bavaria. No Moscow to come....and no continuation of his career in Holland. All of those fantastic experiences started because of people in our community. Deepest thanks.Ah, life's rich tapestry.
Continued best of luck to all our boys.
