Frankie Niemann can鈥檛 recall the last time he was named an all-star in baseball. The closest he came, he said with a chuckle, was making his Little League鈥檚 rep team.
But Niemann tonight will join five Victoria HarbourCats teammates in the 2019 West Coast League all-star game taking place in Bend, Oregon, in front of scouts from almost every MLB team.
Batting .396 on the season will certainly do that for you.
鈥淚鈥檝e hit the ball hard this season, and with consistency, and it is an awesome honour to be recognized like this and to be involved in a game with so many good players,鈥� said Niemann.
Everybody likes to get noticed but it鈥檚 not the be-all and end-all.
鈥淚 am not focusing on the scouts. I am just focusing on playing hard,鈥� said Niemann, who is from the NCAA Div. 1 Tulane University Green Wave in New Orleans.
The HarbourCats鈥� strong season was rewarded with the six players named to North Division all-star team. It was the second most behind the seven Corvallis Knights selected for the South Division team. Both the Knights and HarbourCats were the first-half champions of their respective divisions and have the two best overall records in the league.
The North team will be led by the blazing bats of 鈥機ats catchers Niemann and Tyson Hays from Illinois State, the latter batting .377. They are joined by fellow HarbourCats sluggers Parker Bramlett in the infield, Jason Willow and Nick Plaia in the outfield and pitcher Jack Hyde (2-1, 2.10 ERA), listed as the starter for the North.
鈥淭his is my third season in the league and the first time I鈥檝e been selected to play in the all-star game, so I鈥檓 super-excited,鈥� said Plaia.
The NCAA Div. 1 player out of Cal-Baptist is hitting .265 but getting on base more than when his numbers were gaudier in last year鈥檚 team MVP season in Victoria. That鈥檚 an important thing for any batter to learn in baseball.
鈥淢y getting-on-base percentage has gone up,鈥� said Plaia.
鈥淚鈥檓 striking out more but I鈥檓 also getting more walks because I鈥檓 learning to work up higher count mixes.鈥�
Asked about the MLB scouts in attendance tonight in Bend, Plaia responded: 鈥淭here鈥檚 no pressure. You have good days and bad days in baseball and they happen when they happen. All you can do is always try your hardest, which I always do.鈥�
Hometown Victoria-product Willow, a Baltimore Orioles draft pick and former sa国际传媒 U-18 captain, was the HarbourCats鈥� representative in Monday night鈥檚 WCL home-run derby in Bend. Willow is hitting .313 with five homers in 23 games.
There could have been even more HarbourCats players selected as all-stars, noted Plaia: 鈥淚t should have been the whole team.鈥�
The most watched player tonight among the scouts will be South Division infielder Brooks Lee of the Knights. Lee was ranked 37th overall by MLB.com for the 2019 MLB draft. He was taken by the San Francisco Giants but will instead head to the NCAA to play for his dad at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo before re-entering the draft in his junior season.
DIAMOND DUST: The Yakima Valley Pippins touched HarbourCats pitching for 22 hits Sunday afternoon in a 12-4 WCL victory at Wilson鈥檚 Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park. The HarbourCats鈥� highlight was Kyle Sherick鈥檚 two hits and three RBIs. . . . Victoria won the three-game set 2-1 and is 9-4 in the second half and 27-13 overall, while Yakima Valley went to 7-6 and 18-21 . . . The rest of the 鈥機ats will meet up with their all-star six on Thursday and Friday in Ridgefield, Washington, for a pair of games against the Raptors.
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