It isn鈥檛 Iowa or a cornfield. Yet each summer, Royal Athletic Park is transformed into a sort of field of dreams. But pitcher Josh Mitchell, from the University of Pittsburgh Panthers, had to consult a map to find it.
鈥淲here is that?鈥� the personable 20-year-old from Ridgway, Pennsylvania, said with a laugh of his first reaction when told where he had been recruited to play summer ball.
It starts today with the Victoria HarbourCats鈥� opening exhibition game at 1 p.m. against the Canadian senior champion, Langley Blaze.
鈥淭his is my first time out of the U.S., and only my second time out west, after a trip once to San Diego,鈥� said the lefty reliever.
But RAP has a field and Mitchell has the dream.
鈥淢y goal is to be the key guy out of the bullpen for the HarbourCats, Pitt and someday, in the pros,鈥� said Mitchell, the first of the HarbourCats players to arrive in the capital for the 2015 West Coast League season.
鈥淚鈥檓 still hoping to hear that phone call on draft day.鈥�
Mitchell didn鈥檛 hear the ring in his first year of eligibility in Grade 12. The next opportunity comes when players are either in their junior NCAA season or have turned 21. Mitchell, who will turn 21, will be in the MLB draft mix again next spring after his sophomore season at Pitt. Because of shoulder surgery, Mitchell redshirted his freshman season. He is in pre-law at Pitt 鈥渋f baseball doesn鈥檛 work out.鈥�
Coming off the shoulder surgery 鈥渁fter I couldn鈥檛 lift my arm,鈥� six-foot-one, 210-pound Mitchell went 0-2 with a 4.56 ERA in 16 appearances and 25.2 innings pitched this spring in his rookie NCAA season at Pitt.
The HarbourCats have four exhibition tilts before the WCL regular-season opener Friday against the Kelowna Falcons, all at RAP. After Langley this afternoon, the HCats meet the Seattle North All Stars on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and the sa国际传媒 Premier League all-stars on Thursday.
With the majority of HarbourCats players not arriving from their NCAA or U.S. collegiate teams until Monday or Tuesday, the team will fill in today against Langley with local Maverick League senior players and juniors from the sa国际传媒 Premier League.
Mitchell said he hopes to get a few innings of work during the exhibition games to ready himself for the season opener Friday. An all-rounder, Mitchell played varsity baseball, football, basketball and golf. On the diamond, he wears No. 40 in honour of his pitching idol, Madison Bumgarner.
鈥淸Bumgarner] is the same guy every day and just goes out and gets the job done,鈥� said Mitchell, of the type of player he is working toward becoming.
That work-in-progress continues through the 2015 WCL campaign in Victoria.
