Everyone wants to be wanted, and when you’re a baseball player, there is nothing like being wanted by a major league team.
Corbin Burnes knows the feeling well. On Friday, Burnes, a former player for the Riverhead Tomcats of the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League, was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers. Burnes, a junior righthanded pitcher for St. Mary’s College (California), was selected in the fourth round with the 111th overall pick on the second day of the MLB Draft. READ
Opening day is a special day in baseball. The pageantry, the anticipation and the high hopes teams take into the new season all contribute to a setting that is about as American as it gets. A clean slate is ready to be written on. The story it will tell is anyone’s guess.
The Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League celebrated its third opening day with three games on Sunday, including a matchup between the North Fork Ospreys and the Riverhead Tomcats at Veterans Memorial Park in Calverton. They were the first games in an expanded 42-game regular season for the seven-team league. (more…)
Nick Ahmed, who played for the University of Connecticut when he was a member of the Westhampton Aviators in 2009, was the first Hamptons League player to reach the big leagues. (Credit: Steve Slade/UConn Athletics)
Brett Mauser had hoped the milestone moment would have come late last summer when Major League Baseball rosters expanded and clubs began calling up players from their farm system. Alas, it never happened.
As the 2014 MLB season unfolded, it quickly became apparent that the race was on. The Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League, now in its seventh year, was on the verge of seeing its first former player called up to the majors. (more…)