Golden Baseball League Begins Building its San Diego Team
January 6, 2005 - Golden Baseball League (GBL)
San Diego Surf Dawgs News Release
San Diego, CA, January 6, 2004: The professional Golden Baseball League today announced that seven players have been drafted by its San Diego team from the league's first open tryouts held in Fullerton, CA.
"The try outs were great because we saw talent from all over the U.S. as well as international players," said Team Manager Terry Kennedy. "I was extremely impressed with the high level of play and excited about selecting players with Major League and collegiate experience to start forming the team."
The San Diego team also selected two players with local ties. "I am focused on building our team with local players such as Nick Guerra from Chula Vista and Rick Guzman from Point Loma Nazarene."
The two day try outs at Goodwin Field at Cal State Fullerton -- the site of the GBL Fullerton team were attended by over 300 top players from thirty three states and over ten countries, including players from Canada, Japan, Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. Of those, more than half had professional experience in the independent, A, AA, or AAA levels of the minor leagues. In addition, several major league teams had scouts attend as did the Mexican, Korean, and Japanese leagues. The League drafted sixty two players overall.
This is a great first step to sign the 240 players that we will need to bring to Spring Training in May," said Kevin Outcalt, GBL Commissioner. "We were amazed by the number of interested players and the level of talent that registered for and attended the tryout."
The try out camp was run by Nick Belmonte of Independent League Consulting, who has organized and run most of the independent minor league tryouts over the last five years. "This was by far the most successful tryout that I have ever been involved in, or heard of, in my 14 years of running these events," said Belmonte. "There was a tremendous amount of experienced players, but I was most excited about the rookies that showed up. A number of the rookies that we selected were overlooked in the MLB draft last June, and they will have a chance to be acquired from the GBL by a major league organization early in the season."
This early in the season, the focus was primarily on rookies and pitching. "At this point my priority is building my pitching staff," said Kennedy. "As the season gets closer and I feel comfortable with the bullpen I'll look for positional players, including some from the try out that impressed me, but did not get drafted." The team will sign 30 players that will be reduced to a 22-man roster after Spring Training.
The GBL will be holding additional league-wide level and team specific tryouts. Information regarding these tryouts will be available at www.goldenbaseball.com shortly.
The Players Selected by San Diego:
Name Position Last Stop Home Town
Jeff Blitstein Pitcher Houston Astros Parker, CO
Justin Ottman Pitcher Oklahoma State Garnerville, NY
Michael Leishman Pitcher Windy City Thunderbolts Millbrae, CA
Gil Herrera Pitcher Chandler Gilbert CC Mesa, AZ
Rick Guzman Pitcher Pt. Loma Nazarene El Centro, CA
Jonathon Rogers Pitcher Atlanta Braves Portland, TX
Nick Guerra Catcher San Jose State Chula Vista CA
About the Golden Baseball League
The Golden Baseball League, Presented by Safeway Inc., is a professional baseball league operating under a single-entity ownership model, with the League owning all the individual teams, with the exception of Los Toros de Tijuana. Charter Golden Baseball League cities include Chico, CA; Fullerton, CA; Long Beach, CA; San Diego, CA; Mesa, AZ; Surprise, AZ; Yuma, AZ; and Tijuana, Mexico. Los Toros de Tijuana has entered into a joint operating agreement to play in the Golden Baseball League and is the only team not directly owned by the league. The season will consist of 90 games per team and will begin late May and end in early September. Each team will have a 22-player roster.
Players will be recruited from throughout the United States, including former major leaguers working their way back up through the minors, some of college baseball's finest players who missed being drafted, and recent cuts from major league baseball organizations spring training roster trimming. The Golden Baseball League plans on pursuing additional international player exchange agreements with other foreign leagues looking to develop their talent or acquire players.
For general information and/or ticket information, please visit our web site at www.goldenbaseball.com or call (619) 282-HITS.
About Safeway/VONS
Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 50 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America based on sales. The company operates more than 1,800 stores in the United States and Canada and had annual sales of $35.6 billion in 2003. The company's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SWY.
Golden Baseball League Stories from January 6, 2005
- Outlaws obtain relief pitcher A.J. Ampi - Chico Outlaws
- Golden Baseball League Begins Building its San Diego Team - San Diego Surf Dawgs
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
