Tryout Surprises

Coach Anderson stepping back into the head coach role or staying an assistant again this year?

Has Hudon grown at all? Has he progressed velocity wise or still sitting where he was last year in the low 80's?

Don't get me wrong on Hudon, I think the kid is talented but all fall I never saw him hit 80 nevermind low 80s. He was low to mid 70's but effective. I think he should have a good year for the Tomahawks.

Coach Anderson is still assisting Coach Davala this season.

I don't know if Hudon looks bigger I see him often so its harder to judge. Sometimes when you don't see a guy all fall or winter you can really see a growth spurt.

I agree that Hudon is a talented kid and has a lot of skill. With that being said though I also think he was the classic case of a kid who sprouted much quicker then other kids. When I first encountered him it was when my son was 11 and we scrimmaged Merrimack's 11U all-star team (could have been 12's...but think it was 11's). He was big back then with an arm & 1/2!! He'd blow the ball by kids when he could find the plate back then. He also threw a kid out at the plate by firing the ball all the way to home (in the air..no bounces) from the center field fence (200 or so feet away) on a line. However since then I don't think he has grown but 2-3 inches and everyone is starting to catch up to him on the field. I don't think he throws much harder then my son does now if at all. (I'm sure he still hits a lot better..lol.)

Again don't get me wrong the kid is a player with strong skills but after seeing him back then I'd be expecting mid 80's or more by now. He was one of those kids who's biological age was well ahead of his actual age.

Redsox, is your son still interested in playing for our 900 Degree team?

Mike,

Sent you a PM.

Well son made Nashua North as a swing player. He will be on the freshman team and then swing up to JV to pitch. Glad to finally be a part of the High School baseball scene!!

No more middle school updates!! I know Shipbuilder will be particularly crushed.

Good Luck to him.... Lucky you <g>

Sox,

Congatulations on your son's success and welcome to high school baseball. Our family's best wishes are with him.

As my friend 20Dad has told me many times, enjoy it, it goes by real fast. It's hard to beleive but in a few short months our son's high school sports career will come to an end.

This past Sunday we had our basketball breakup dinner and the coach was talking about his seniors. I look over at my wife and she is a mess. Not a few tears, she is bawling. I asked her what's the matter and she says "I can't believe his high school sports are almost over, I am going to miss this."

Enjoy it to the fullest.

On the tryout surprise topic, I watched 45 minutes of the Portsmouth outdoor practice today and all I can say is they have quite a few holes to fill!

Mr M..
Do you think Portsmouth will move up in the next couple years? They are going to be the team to beat this year and favorite for winning.. I personally think they can be the best in Class L by far..


Portsmouth v St. Thomas in championship and Portsmouth wins... Mike has too many rings.. he needs to give some away he doesn't have enough fingers.

Tryout surprise in Bedford - they have added 2 assistant coaches. One is Bill Chapman who recently was head coach at Sanborn, and the other is Joe Kegler, the Bedford basketball coach who also has HS baseball coaching experience. Both these guys played college ball.

Matt,

I don't share your enthusiasm for Portsmouth winning this years Class I championship. Here's my take on the team.

We don't have a shortstop, the loss of Fransoso in the field and at top of the order is huge! New catcher, probably a sophomore. Sophomore at third who will be ok defensively but losing Bergeron who did a great job hitting behind Montville will be another big loss. Both corner outfields will be new and who knows how they will perform.

Pitching is thin with Nate Jones and Keegan Taylor from last year and that's it. Other pitchers were JV's last year. I thought Coach Hopley would use Mike to pitch but he won't. Doesn't want to take chance of hurting his arm from what I hear. I think he could help but as I parent I have to respect Hop, he's looking beyond the High School season. Jones would be our answer at SS but Hop never lets a pitcher play SS because of the stain on the arm. Coach Hopley thinks about the players before winning games - commendable.

It we get some guys to hit Montville might have an ok season but most (including him) don't see him getting many good pitches pitches to hit. Add to that all the hype (way to much in my opinion). It will be interesting to see how he handles it

I think St. Thomas, Souhegan, Bedford and few other have an excellent chance of getting to the finals.

On the ring issue, he has never worn them - sitting in boxes at our house. Doesn't feel comfortable wearing then, thinks its bragging. Speaking of rings, congratulations to your school's basketball team for winning the state championship.

MCaravella I know you express your thoughts on Portsmouth being possibly one of the best Teams in class L as well as class I but you have to take a look at some the Class L Teams pitching. Nashua North is stacked with 3-4 strong pitchers and they have the ability to hit with anyone this year. And mostly the team is made up of a strong Junior class. Norths downfall could possibly be their defense. Look for Londonderry and Goffstown to be strong as they always are. And include Bishop Geurtin to turn some heads possible as they will probably be be an all Senior Team maybe.

I hear a freshman made the North varsity as a catcher - great for him, bad for my son's U14 AAU team which now won't have his services until the end of the HS season... As for BG - they do return last year's team minus at least one player who left BG. They will have "mostly" all seniors - there's still 3 pitchers from the JR. class which will see varsity time (same as last year Kelly, Gilcrest, Ferlan). My son said they're keeping large rosters on V and JV. I would have to think having 2+ seasons under your belt at varsity (a few played significant innings as Sophs, too) would make them very dangerous, but a dominant pitcher is still going to win "most" of the time. It should be a very competitive season - I hope it's like the basketball season with 1 team in 1st, 6 teams tied for second 3 at 7,8,9, etc. Very close all year long.

The Freshman you menmtioned is Fortin I think and he is on the JV team not Varsity, From what I heard he'll play Freshman, JV. The North Varsity has 2 Junior catchers already. North played Cranston, RI today and lost 6-5 and Fortin is on the JV squad but they will probably at times bring him up for the Varsity games I bet especially if one catcher gets hurt.

Monty,
I haven't had great luck so far with weather, please tell me Portsmouth's field will be playable this Thursday! My boys need to get some outdoor time!

My son got called up to play for North JV at the scrimmage yesterday in Cranston. North JV won like 6-2. Fortin did play for the JV. I only expect him to play freshman for the South game this season. I think he could get called up to varsity if the two Jrs falter defensively. My son pitched 2 scoreless innings for JV. North should be strong for the next 3 to 4 years as they have a very talented sophomore and junior class. At least two of the JV pitchers are around 80 right now if not 3 of them. I would expect them to reach the finals in at least one of the next 3 years.

IT WAS FREEZING in Rhode Island yesterday btw....lol But awesome to be watching baseball again!!

Iron,

Portsmouth has only been outside once for two hours and that was on the JV field. They are off to practice at 5 pm but its indoors. Doesn't look good for Mond and Tuesday. Thursday is supposed to be nice.

I will find out from my kid tonight about the field.

They have yet to hit live pitching.

My boys are in the same boat. We went to the Cape this weekend only to find thawing fields and half-practices in wind-dried outfields. They have seen live pitching in an indoor facility against our own pitchers so far...

Bring back those 70 degree days!

We will find out what fields around the state drain well this week!! North has scrimmages scheduled on Friday against Tyngsboro, MA but who knows what condition the fields will be in on Friday after the deluge!!

Three days of rain sure isn't going to help the case. Has anyone been outside yet? Merrimack got out on just the outfield last Friday.

Bedford got outside Saturday, but the infield was poor. They have a scrimmage against Central scheduled for Wednesday that doesn't look like its going to happen. Hopefully they play later in the week and don't just blow it off.

How does Bedford look over all? The pitching staff should be pretty solid. Where is the offense coming from this season any big bats to keep an eye out for?

Well, you know they players well from your league. so without getting into individual players, I will say that I think Bedford will be very competitive this year. They have a very tough schedule, which means that their final record may be deceiving, but the quality of play should be fantastic this year. Their schedule includes Goffstown, Portsmouth, St. Thomas (2), ConVal (2), Souhegan (2), Plymouth, plus other programs like HB and Milford that may not look like preseason favorites, but are always good programs. So by the time the playoffs come, Bedford will be battle tested.

The biggest improvement is just the fact that they return all their regular players from the last 2 years, since this is the first time Bedford has a senior class. So they all have 2 years of varsity experience. Plus they all play Legion and Showcase, etc. The same team that went 7-9 last year and upset the 4 seed Monadnock now is another year older, bigger, and more experienced.

Plus the fact that Coach Blahnik now has 2 assistants, who both played college baseball. He was at a big disadvantage the last 2 years since he was all alone, trying to do the job of 3+ coaches by himself from the 3rd base box. It just can't be done, I don't care if you're Joe Torre. So I'm very anxious to watch some quality baseball at Bedford this year.

And yeah, I know, I didn't answer your question about individual pitchers or hitters (hey, I gotta live in this town!). But I think we're very deep in pitching, and have a lot of good hitters in the lineup. So come check out some of those games against the real tough teams, and I think you'll see some fun baseball.

BHSDad, the addition of any two coaches is going to be a huge help. At any level attempting to coach a full baseball roster by yourself is a tough task, I could not agree more that even Joe Torre would have trouble with it. Good for Bedford having a full staff will pay dividends, I agreee Bedford is in for a good year, did Goffstown move down a class this year? Or is that an out of conference game.

Goffstown is an out of conference game. I hear next year they plan on moving down to Div 2, which will be next year's equivalent of Class I. But that's just rumor. I think this is Goffstown's year, and will be one of the top teams, if not they top team, in Class L.

BTW, my bad for not giving the two new coaches the proper recognition, but the two new coaches are Coach Keggler (the varsity basketball coach), and Coach Chapman, who I believe teaches at the middle school. I've heard good things about them from the boys. They say they are both "baseball guys". And I understand they both pitched in college.

You are correct they are going to be in Division 2 in 2011, or at least that is what I am hearing. Interesting pick with Goffstown, I personally like Nashua North as the top dog this year. Like I said before adding those two coaches is going to payoff for the Bull Dogs.

Yeah, North also looks outstanding. Classs L is so competitive. I might be biased towards Goffstown. This group of ballplayers at Goffstown has been beating up on our boys from Bedford for so many years, that I sometimes get them confused with the NY Yankees.

ha, well best of luck this year, I will see you at the ball park.