Last Chance?

I registered for my final US tryout showcase late last week. The tryout is being run by the Brockton Rox of the Can-Am League on the last weekend of April in Brockton, Massachusetts (about an hour south of Boston).

In addition to the Rox, there will be team representatives from other teams in the Can-Am League—one franchise from Quebec City—as well as teams from the Frontier League and the American Association.

The format of the showcase will be very similar to the one in Fort Myers. The tryout will be held over two days and will be a combination of drills and intrasquad scrimmages. When I called for further details on the showcase, I was sure to confirm that pitchers would in fact be throwing in game situations as opposed to just throwing bullpen sessions.

It will be a great opportunity for me to build on the confidence I gained in Fort Myers, as well as see the results of all the work I’ve put in on my mechanics and delivery over the past two months. This will more than likely be my last shot at playing in the States for this summer.

Yes, there is still an Indy Pro Showcase in Detroit in July, but my attendance at that tryout will depend on a myriad of factors; specifically, where will I end up playing for the summer. That, along with my pitch velocity and success on the mound, will be the contributing factor in my decision to attend.

If I’m unsuccessful at the Brockton showcase, but I am able to finagle a roster spot with a team in the Intercounty League—thereby playing semi-professional baseball for the summer and earning a ½ mark in the box for reaching the aforementioned titular goal of this blog—and continue to build on my success from last season then it would make sense to give the Detroit showcase a shot.

However, if I’m able to achieve that success, but the radar gun readings are still languishing in the bottom half of the eighties, then there’s not really a point in giving the Indy Pro Showcase another attempt. I know what they’re looking for radar-wise, so I’m not attending without a fastball that regularly lives above 85 miles an hour.

And this Brockton tryout, besides giving me an opportunity to show my stuff in front of independent league scouts and hopefully acquire a contract, will let me know where I stand velocity-wise.

So the next three weeks are extremely important for the gestation period of my fledgling delivery and will be filled with maintenance training sessions, liberal amounts of long toss and a lot more work fine-tuning my mechanics and finding that consistent, hard-throwing release point.