A.J. Block remembers when he heard the Chicago Cubs had selected him out of high school in the 2016 Major League Baseball draft. Sure, it was the 39th round and he was not signed by the Cubs, but something like that never leaves you.
鈥淚t was surreal to be drafted,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t didn鈥檛 really sink in until a day later.鈥�
These are milestones every aspiring young baseball player will remember. Another for Block was when he was recruited to play in the NCAA Pac-12 by the Washington State Cougars. There will be another Thursday night when the willowy pitcher starts the 2017 West Coast League season opener for the Victoria HarbourCats in Port Angeles against the Lefties.
鈥淚 am really excited,鈥� said the six-foot-five, 200-pound lefty from Bellevue, Washington.
It鈥檚 another milepost along the journey. There will be many.
Going from high school to the Pac-12 as a true freshman was a major step up.
鈥淚t was a big learning experience as an NCAA freshman this year. You find out that any mistakes are punished,鈥� said Block, who was 0-3 in 16 appearances and 32 2/3 innings pitched with a 6.89 ERA for the Cougars.
Now the WCL offers another challenge because only the best bats from university are recruited to play in summer collegiate ball.
鈥淚 want to use this summer experience to continue getting bigger and stronger,鈥� said Block, a computer science major at Washington State.
There are two draft years for players. The first is in high school in Grade 12 and the second is in the third year of university, which is referred to in the U.S. as the junior year.
鈥淭hat junior draft year is my goal right now and I want to get as big and strong as I can over the next couple of years,鈥� said Block, who describes himself as a strategic pitcher with a good curve ball.
There is expected to be a sellout crowd of more than 3,000 fans Thursday night in Port Angeles for the first game in Lefties history after the franchise moved from Kitsap, Washington, where it was known as the BlueJackets.
鈥淚 played in front of 3,600 fans at Oregon State this year so I have experienced something like this . . . I am looking forward to it,鈥� said the amiable Block, among the 24 HarbourCats making the trip across the strait Thursday.
Thursday night鈥檚 potential showers won鈥檛 bother Block. Remember, the guy is from the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, so he鈥檚 used to pitching in a little rain.
鈥淎lso because of the weather we had this year in Pullman [home of the Washington State campus on the eastern side of the state], we even played through some hail and snow this season,鈥� he said.
The HarbourCats go into the season opener as the defending North Division champions, although there is a great deal of turnover between seasons on WCL rosters.
Following Thursday鈥檚 game, the HarbourCats will make their way to Yakima Valley on Friday for the start of a three-game set against the Pippens.
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