Summer Collegiate Baseball Offers Pure Game
College summer leagues offer another avenue for baseball lovers
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . Last summer’s top collegiate draft picks played in a variety of summer leagues. Brooks Lee, the eighth overall selection by the Minnesota Twins, actually played in three different summer leagues (2021 Cape Cod League, 2020 Northwoods League, and 2019 West Coast League). Zach Neto, the 13th overall selection by the Los Angeles Angels, played in two summer leagues in his final summer before returning to Campbell, playing with Brewster in the 2021 Cape Cod League for 16 games and one game for North Adams in the New England Collegiate Baseball League.
Leading Off
Sick of Greedy Owners? Try Collegiate Summer Baseball!
By Rich Campbell
This space is typically devoted to monthly coverage of the Oakland A’s, emphasizing on-field performance. In the past month, most of the local and national coverage about the Green and Gold has been about off-the-field activities, including a reverse boycott in Oakland, Nevada political machinations and plans for a second reverse boycott in San Francisco.
Certainly, it has been a stressful and disturbing time to be an A’s fan, all while holding out hope that the A’s deal in Las Vegas will falter or that a last-minute resolution to keep them in The Bay or that a new ownership group will be identified to keep the team in Oakland, similar to what happened after the Giants announced their move to Florida in 1992. Remember that?
Putting that hope aside, what if the A’s move to Vegas? Will the team’s fans just begrudgingly and gradually become Giants fans? Continue to follow the team from afar? Or find some other outlet for their love of baseball?
There are, of course, plenty of options to scratch the baseball itch, including high school and college baseball in the spring (including the NCAA Tournament that occupies much of June on ESPN’s networks) and minor league baseball in the summer, if it is in your geographic area.
Another option is collegiate summer baseball. Players from college teams play a robust schedule of games in leagues all across the country. In my local area, the Healdsburg Prune Packers play high-quality baseball at affordable prices (kids under 12 are free, $8 admission, $6 microbrews) with family-friendly start times (6 PM nightly and Sundays at noon). The ‘Packers play in the California Collegiate League.
Did I mention high quality? The Prune Packers have featured many players drafted in the last few years. When watching the NCAA Tournament this year (and last), former Prune Packers Austin Bost and Ryan Targac anchored the Texas A&M lineup, while Tennessee’s slugger Blake Burke’s titanic home runs were fun to see on ESPN, after watching him play the last couple of summers in Healdsburg.
According to the ‘Packers site, there are six former players currently in the majors, including the third pick in the 2019 draft, Andrew Vaughn of the White Sox. In essence, these collegiate summer leagues represent a chance to see the stars up close before they become stars in the big leagues.
So, if you are looking for a break from the news of billionaires shaking down cities and states for funding for new ballparks (or groveling for money to upgrade their existing palaces) and want to just enjoy some baseball this summer, find a collegiate summer ball team in your area to follow.
Rich Campbell is a Marketing Professor at Sonoma State University by day and A’s fan by night. He has previously been a sports business contributor at Forbes.com and his academic writing has appeared in Sport Marketing Quarterly. You can find him on Twitter @RichCampbellPhD.