Anybody know anything about the team/league that they can share? One of my former players asked me if I knew anything about them. His college coach has opportunity to place him there next summer. This is a southern country boy so I know he'd be out of his element there but my first thoughts are great opportunity baseball as well as socially. What a different summer experience I would think. Anybody have any insight?
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Son of "redsox fan" played with the Sharks in 2015. Try sending him a private message.
Son played in the same summer league last year, but for a different team. The Futures League has only been around for about 5 years, but seems to be catching on pretty fast. The league continues to expand and like most leagues, there are probably some teams that may be a little more desirable than others. The quality of play is decent, and probably improving year over year. For the most part the players are fresh/soph D1 guys and upperclass D2/D3 guys.
The league has a rule that 50% of the players either have to play their college ball in New England or live there and go away to school. The other half come from all over the country. I don't think a southern kid would have a problem. As you know, Martha's Vineyard is an island off the coast of Mass. It requires a ferry ride to get on/off the island. It's a beautiful place, but road trips I would think could be pretty lengthy with some late night returns. I did not attend a game there due to the travel.
League season is 56 games plus playoffs. With an exhibition game thrown in against the Red Sox A affiliate, as well as the all star game he played in, son played 64 games for the Futures Champs this past summer. The season is a grind and would be much better for the players if they cut the regular schedule down a few games. Having said that, I doubt the owners will want to reduce the revenue stream the full schedule produces. Speaking of revenue, attendance is pretty good. Worcester averaged about 2200 per night. Several teams were in the 1400 plus range. On Fourth of July weekend, Pittsfield (MA) had 5100 plus attend for a game against Nashua (NH).
The one thing I would caution is that the League enforces the player contract. Players had opportunities to play for better leagues come up during the course of the season and they could not escape their contract. While I understand and appreciate the concept of the contract and what it means, for a young league, a business decision opportunity to help build reputation as a league players want to play in an effort to improve their exposure was missed. I think established leagues that offer good exposure like NECBL, Northwoods, etc, can get away with that approach, not so sure at this point in their evolution that it was a well thought out decision by the Futures. FWIW, the league is one of the ones covered by Baseball America, complete with a top pro prospect list.
Thanks 9AND7DAD. They sent him a contract to look over. Will let him know to take it seriously.
Out of curiosity, what contract specifics in a Futures League contract, or other league contracts for that matter, restrict a player from leaving early, whether to head to the house or head to another league? Not sure if there is any cost to the Futures League, but less concerned with forfeiting payments and more interested in any other aspects of a contract that could place real restrictions on movement.
I hope I didn't turn this into a summer contract discussion, not my intent. It was just a warning to players to read and understand what they are signing as it is potentially enforceable. I understand the Futures position, I just thought there was a more thoughtful opportunity and approach available. Others will have a valid disagreement with that opinion. I have no idea and am not in a position to judge the validity or enforceability of the contract. Simply stated an opinion based on what I heard. Take it for what it's worth. An old thread that might help:
http://community.hsbaseballweb...mer-league-contracts
9AND7 - thanks for the link - that helps put your concerns in perspective. Not sure if 2017 will ever get around to summer ball, but am holding out hope that perhaps he can head north one summer and have some fun playing baseball. Was not familiar with the Futures League, but have done some research on NECB and Hamptons Leagues. I guess college coaches have the largest amount of input on placements, but doing some homework just in case one of these become an option.
I spoke with a young man who pitched for the sharks recently.
Pardon the punctuation, it's a cut and paste...
Living in the vineyard was honestly the best summer of my life. I stayed with an unreal host family that I still talk to all the time and she said I can come visit whenever I want. I made a lot of life long friends there. The sharks organization is unreal and will do anything to help the players out. Ownership is awesome and coach Cassidy is the man. The futures league is real good baseball and probably 4th behind the cape, necbl, and north woods league. But kids need to be realistic because playing everyday in the futures is better than sitting the bench in the necbl. We got a lot of kids that got cut from cape teams and came to play with us on the vineyard. A couple kids got signed out of the league as well. The league commissioner has a lot of connections too. They have an allstar game which is a privilege to play on and also a invitation only scout day. I played 3 years for wachusett and 1 years for MV and MV was the best place I had ever been. Not to mention we play at better fields than all the other leagues
It's a grind being a position player traveling to all the games but a lot of the kids loved the boat rides. And as a pitcher you do not need to travel if you're not pitching which leaves a lot of free time. I probably traveled to only 7-8 games all summer - I pitched a lot at home.
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There you go. FWIW.
CMASSRHPDAD...thank you very much for the first hand account! The kid is calling to commit today and sending in the contract! Hope to make it to a part of the country I've never seen to watch him play!
Very interesting about the starting pitchers getting to take off away games when they won't be pitching. Saw some pitching restrictions and it would seem that a solid starting pitcher would normally need 3-4 days rest (51 pitches gets you 3 days rest). If you really skinny down the pitching (say <80 pitches - 3 days rest) and go maximum on the restrictions, then I would assume no more than 2 starts each week with 3 starts every two weeks probably being more realistic.
Not sure if travel was a big issue at Martha's Vineyard, but is it normal in summer ball for the previous night's starter to not necessarily travel with the team and basically get the night off?
2017LHPscrewball posted:Very interesting about the starting pitchers getting to take off away games when they won't be pitching. Saw some pitching restrictions and it would seem that a solid starting pitcher would normally need 3-4 days rest (51 pitches gets you 3 days rest). If you really skinny down the pitching (say <80 pitches - 3 days rest) and go maximum on the restrictions, then I would assume no more than 2 starts each week with 3 starts every two weeks probably being more realistic.
Not sure if travel was a big issue at Martha's Vineyard, but is it normal in summer ball for the previous night's starter to not necessarily travel with the team and basically get the night off?
Might just be about the number of kids who can fit on the bus?
2017LHPscrewball posted:Not sure if travel was a big issue at Martha's Vineyard, but is it normal in summer ball for the previous night's starter to not necessarily travel with the team and basically get the night off?
Depends on the league and the team and the distance/duration of travel.
My son played three summers in a league where all the venues were within two hours of his home field, and played for a coach who had known him since high school. He was pretty much allowed to come and go as he pleased as long as he was ready to start on his night. It was pretty normal for starting pitchers to skip away games on their off nights and just throw together on their home field.
However, his college teammates on other teams in the same league were expected to be at every game, regardless of location or whether they might pitch.
And his friends in leagues with overnight travel reported that when the team hit the road, the whole team went.
I can't speak to MV specifically in the Futures League, but it must be team to team. Son's Futures team had all players, pitchers included, travel to all games. There may have been circumstances here and there where a particular kid didn't travel, but in general, everyone was expected to go.
bigcubbiefan - book early for MV... It's not a place where you just take a boat ride and find somewhere to stay! If I were 18-22 and had the opportunity to play for a team on an island/coastal tourist destination for the summer where you are *the entertainment* - it'd be hard to pass up!
My middle son pitched for the last half of a season a few years ago for the Old Orchard Beach Raging Tide - they've since left the league. His only negative was "it's like a job" or as others put it - a real grind with a lot of games. He ended up living at the owners house with 10 or so others - he enjoyed the time and even though his team wasn't very good, it certainly helped remind him why he was at a highly academic D3 school. Prior to that summer he talked about trying to "catch on" in some indy league or in Europe before taking is lsat's. After that summer, the focus changed and he's a second year law student at UNC Chapel Hill now. IIRC his team didn't require the prior nights starting pitcher to travel. The toughest/longest trip was to Torringon, CT (and I believe at the time they had the worst facility - although that could have changed since then).
w/r/t: the league commish (Chris Hall) - yes, he's well connected (former agent) and works tirelessly to promote his league. We got to know him from his previous gig as running a local AAU team with one of his clients (Marc Deschenes) and another local notable (Mike Glavine). He's living the dream and has put together quite a good group of owners. Can't say enough good things about Chris... He also played (Brandeis) and spent some time on a Cape League team - so he's "been there, done that".
