This is for any position?

Okay, now this one gets more interesting with the Pecos League.

From this article about the league from last year, it appeared that they were looking at the idea of not paying SOME of their players.



I mean, some of the guys who are getting paid are getting $50/week to play a full schedule. It's pretty much room-and-board provided and maybe some meal money to live but it's so small that calling it "pro" is iffy already although I do feel it qualifies. Getting paid is getting paid....even if it's $200/mth.

But what about the guys who don't get paid at all...on a pro team?

If they are doing that then that would certainly be the kind of position that amazin would be attempting to land. So are free players still pro just by playing in a pro game even if they don't get paid? It's complicated.

But overall, this Pecos League is a glorious opportunity for a much lower level caliber of player to make it to a "pro" league. Whether it remains an option or not is questionable because the league could be on the verge of going under. Maybe not though. Hard to lose too much money when you aren't even paying a lot of your players.

amazin - yes, it is for any position. You aren't going to freaking make it as a DH or a CF or something so I'm not at all worried about that. Your best chance is easily as a lefty curveball guy as kyleb has already said. But yes, if you make it via any position then you win the bet. Start sharpening up those left-handed shortstop skillzz!!!!

And we did cover our bases. And yes, any pro league counts.

If there is some sort of dispute about a really weird hybrid-semipro league AND you happen to play in it then we let the forum decide or go to an arbiter/judge or something. But I'm not looking to angle you on this and I assume you are not trying to angle me.

If somebody pays you $5 to play an inning on their rec-league team...or pays for your entry-fees or something and then tries to say that technically this would make you a pro because a college athlete would not be allowed to do that...then I'm going to lol at that logic.

If there is some crappy league like the Pecos or lower or whatever that plays a 50+ game schedule (not weekend games against whoever they feel like playing that week) and they pay their players $50/wk or something terrible...then that would count as pro.

Pecos is easily your best bet for this in the US. Abroad there is some league in Sweden and I think another one elsewhere in Europe perhaps where maybe you would get paid to play pro over there. That should almost certainly count too. The only way I don't think it would count is if there is no pay involved and they just provide room and board just to bring over ballplayers or something.

Add on another 50 dollars.

Okay, so that is $150 from you for $3700 from me if you don't make it pro by May, 2014. (I think that was the date agreed to. Can't remember)

It was either June or July 2014.

Obviously my chances of making it as a DH or 1B are LOL. But I still see myself as a speedy CF who swipes bags.

Anyway, I'm off to the casino to try to win some money. Wish me luck, because any free money I have after paying bills will go towards baseball equipment, including HD camcorders to better analyze my progress (and for your viewing pleasure!)

End of 2014 season is fine.

Speedy bag-swiping CF's usually need to be able to do other silly things like hit and catch the ball let alone know what they're doing on the bases. But hey, if you want that as your backup plan when pitching doesn't workout then go for it.

If you've got a better backup plan I'm all ears.

knuckleball ldo

.

Also Amazin you never mentioned how these "similar ability levels" ("sucking ass" and "barely being able to throw") manifest themselves whenever you were "training" with rec league players. I'd like to know the details of how bad they were because honestly I think you are just making **** up to feel better about your skill level and maintain this notion that you are too good for such a league.

Also, are they the same guys who said you are throwing mid-70s?

Answer when I get home too annoying to type the answer on my tab

Your better backup plan should been enacted already. It is to have realistic and achievable yet still challenging goals. Such as moderate level rec ball as I have mentioned quite a few times. So no, you are not all ears.

Obviously I meant a backup plan in my quest to make a pro team. Do you have any better alternates if pitching falls through? I certainly can't think of any. I'm never going to hit for power, and of the 4 positions in pro baseball available to lefty's (besides pitcher obviously) CF is the one that requires the least power.

When do you plan to give it a rest with the rec league nonsense? I've stated before I'm willing to play in a rec league as a stepping stone towards playing pro. And that is it. My goal is not to play in anybodies stinkin' pay to play recreational league, so give it a rest already.

I got a reply from the young man who played in the SSBL. This is it.

"Well the league is pretty much dead now. It costs too much money so for now the league is no longer available. They now play in the ABL. Which is the Mens League. They have teams in tampa you can join. We had a game today and only 6 guys showed up. pretty embarrassing."


From that reply it's obvious I could have played in the league under the right circumstances. Say 8 guys showed up to a game and the team was at risk of forfeit. If had paid league fees I'm sure they would have said "Hey, stick the new guy in RF, it's better than a forfeit!"

I'm sorry, but I've been working out with guys who play in a local rec league and some of them are pretty bad in the field. I've worked out with 5 guys, and my arm is stronger than 2 of them. 1 of them it's not even close, guy can barely long toss 100 feet. They all hit better than me though. Yea, did I mention I hit off a human for the first time today? Yea, they're the guys who said mid 70s. But they're not the only guys. Others who have higher skill level said the same thing.

The summer collegiate wood-bat league I'm working in this summer: The lowest anyone peaks is low 80's I think. Lefty-curveball type guys. Top guys are throwing low 90's. Most will hit in the mid-high 80's.

It's a decent league but not the best in the country like Cape Cod or Northwoods leagues. Blend of major college guys from the SEC all the way down to adequate players from community colleges near and far and little schools nobody has ever heard of such as Eastern Oklahoma A&M.

Anyway, the team I'm with is easily the best at 19-3 and they have some definite pitching prospects on their roster. But less than half will go on to play at even the lowest levels of professional baseball. For the other teams it would be less than a third. This includes indy ball.

Most guys who are peaking mid-80's are simply not good enough for the pros. However, many of them would scoff at the idea of heading to New Mexico or $200/month and probably COULD get onto one of the rosters there following their college career if they wanted to. So it's hard to say for sure really.

But even in the Pecos League I'm thinking it's fairly similar caliber of ball to what I'm witnessing here interestingly enough...with a few scattered legit prospects in the mix too.

I'm just picturing how out of his element amazin would be on the college summer teams I'm with (on one of the worst teams in our league...not the best) amongst the mostly college freshmen/sophomores I'm watching this summer because it's probably roughly the level of ball he would need to be able to get to in order to have a chance at making the Pecos.

So throwing mid-70s, your arm strength (the only thing you have going for you right now from the viewpoint of a rec league) was average out of the 5 guys there? Wow they sound terrible!

They all hit better than you. So you were the worst at hitting.

And since you didn't mention that you hit the first time and this time you just mentioned it with no details can we assume it went really poorly? Or were you flat rakin' brah?

Your best skill was average among the amateur guys you worked out with yet the league is beneath you - a mere stepping stone on your way to Cooperstown.

Also it's weird that you say "I will obviously never hit for power" but assume you will pitch well enough to go pro. Like yeah you are about .000001% more likely to be a pro pitcher than a pro hitter so you will focus on that and keep the dream alive!

Last summer I went to about 15 Valley League games (watching the Harrisonburg Turks), those guys sound similar to what MB is talking about.

They are definitely all really solid baseball players but a few would sniff any success in the pros

Valley League is a level lower than my league I think. Although maybe close to the same if you remove the team I'm with who are now 20-3, rated 6th in country, and are flatout embarrassing the other teams.

They can play ball but it is noticeably worse than single-A ball. Not even close. These teams would get crushed in the Frontier League except the team I'm with who could maybe hold their own I guess.

Hard to say for sure but that's how I'm viewing the general level of play of the mostly college freshmen here.

And amazin is not going to be remotely close to being good enough to crack a team here (have to be in college ball so a moot point). And most of these guys won't play professionally.

Okay, I take it back and got that backwards. Looked at their allstar game rosters and was impressed.

My league and the valley league are close. Valley with slight edge I think. Take away my team and this league loses fairly decently to Valley. Three teams in Top 30 and lots of good schools represented. valley league definitely more legit than I thought.

yeah i know last year it was legit, lots of SEC and big conference guys from all over the place

havent followed it at all this year though tbh

I spoke to a pitcher who played in the Pecos league this year. He said it was completely disorganized, 5 guys to a room, players having to sleep on carts, etc. He was out there 2 weeks before quitting, and says they stiffed him out of 200 dollars.