baseballa19

[eddo31]

what part of florida are you from?

just curious with your baseball background.

who is the best player that you have seen in high school(either coached, or had play against you)?

in college we always played in fort myers/cape coral for a week, and there were some pretty good facilities down in that area.

[Baseballa19]

I coach about 45 miles northwest of Orlando.

Best players I played against? I pitched twice against a Boone High School team that had Ron Karkovice and Joe Oliver, both future big leaguers, in the lineup. Don't get the wrong idea. I was a catcher. They didn't want to waste good pitching against the State Champs to be. In college, I played against Paul Aussenmacher,Bobby Thigpen, Robbie Thompson and Mike Stanley. I was in the same rookie camp as Jay Bell and Gene Larkin and Yorkis Perez (he was 15 at the time). As a coach, we've faced some pretty fair players. Here's a list of kids we played OR that I saw against other people:

Zack Grienke - Apopka High School - played SS and hit a BOMB!
Bronson Arroyo - Brooksville Hernando - played SS.
Prince Fielder - Summer AAU team
Felipe Lopez - Lake Brantley High School
Jason Varitek - Lake Brantley High School
Tim Raines Jr. - Seminole High School
Mark Bellhorn - Oviedo High School
Johnny Damon - Dr Phillips High
Mike Maroth - Boone High School
Lenny Dinardo (Red Sox bullpen lefty) - Alachua Sante Fe High School

Some other guys from Central Florida that I didn't see:
Tim Wakefield - Melbourne
Tom "Flash" Gordon - Avon Park
Paul Wilson - Boone High School
Dave Martinez - Lake Howell High School
Ed Taubensee - Lake Howell High School
Dwight Gooden - Tampa
Gary Sheffield - Tampa
Tino Martinez - Tampa

[eddo31]

i would have loved to see damon, fielder and grienke in high school. each one of those guys was rated as one of the top 5 prospects in the nation during their high school days, and they must have been beasts in high school.

being from mass i havent played against nearly that tough competition myself, but the best i have played with or against are sam fuld (4 year starting cf for stanford, graduated last year), rick asadoorian (sox 1st rounder in 99), brad baker (sox sandwich pick in 99), mike fontenot (lsu second baseman and orioles top prospect), gavin floyd (phillies top prospect, 4th pick overall in draft), and joe saunders (angels ist rounder in 2002 draft).

i might be fl for spring training this year, which would be great. so far my baseball jobs havent taken me to spring training yet, but this might be the year that it happens for me.

[GeoffM]

Yeah, when I was in tyke I played against a kid by the name of Sean Hill, who pitched for the Expos last year and also on Team Canada at the Olmpics. Funny I always remember him as being a junkballer back then but now he's throwing in the 90s.

[Baseballa19]

Geoff, it often happens that way. Kids can develop into monsters. It's always better when a kid starts out with less arm strength, learns how to pitch and then matures into a hard thrower. Those kids become the total package.

[Kidd7138]

baseball, do you live close enough to any GCL or FSL teams to see them play often?

[Baseballa19]

I live close enough, but they play during my spring and summer seasons and I get all the baseball I need then. I did cover a Lakeland Tigers vs. Sarasota RedSox game for TeamOne Baseball last year, but that's the extent of it.