Kaleb Holbrook Decides to Stay With Titans After Being Drafted by Dodgers
July 2, 2013 - Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL)
Torrington Titans News Release
Five current or former Titans were snatched up in last month's three-day MLB draft - Kaleb Holbrook and Kelly Starnes from this year's roster; Tyler Moore, Conor Bierfeldt and Alex Moore from last year's.
Torrington fans, back to Twister days, are used to waving goodbye to draftees until they see the likes of Stephen Strasburg on television in their living rooms.
This year, catcher/outfielder Kaleb Holbrook, drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 35th round (1,054th overall draft pick), pulled a reverse. He talked with the Dodgers, went home to Dawsonville, Georgia, to think about it, then came back to play out the season with the Titans.
A big bat in the lineup is one Titan fan reward for that decision. The chance to find out just what the whole experience was like is another.
"I got home from college (South Georgia) and, about a week before I got up here, I got a call from a Dodger scout inviting me to a workout," says Holbrook in the smooth light drawl of a Southerner who's seen some of the rest of the world as well.
The South has always been a hotbed of MLB prospects, some from schools that fly under the radar for the rest of us.
So, numbers like Holbrook's .307 batting average, with 11 doubles and a homer from the left side of the plate at a two-year school like Georgia Southern might seem hidden, but not from Titan coach Misha Dworken and not from Los Angeles Dodger scouts.
Nevertheless, the call stunned Holbrook.
"I was just hanging out at the house. It caught me off guard," he says.
The workout was at Woodward Academy in Atlanta, an hour south of Dawsonville, nestled in the North Georgia mountains. Continued...
Just 12-14 other invited players from all over the country joined Holbrook, including three other catchers.
In a session that lasted about an hour, officials timed the players in the 60-yard dash. Then the catchers threw to every base and caught two separate bullpen sessions.
"It was a really good workout. I figured, âI'm on the radar now,'" says Holbrook.
Holbrook got to the Titans, thanks to South Georgia College teammate Rhett Jones, who played with Bashlor, another South Georgia College product, on last year's Titans.
"Rhett told me they might need a catcher who bats from the left side, so I filled out the paperwork."
The day Holbrook arrived in Torrington, the Dodgers called again to verify some information.
When the draft came, the Mets took Bashlor, a right-handed pitcher who can approach 97 MPH with his fastball, with the 326th pick, in the 11th round. Just two of the four catchers who worked out in Atlanta were chose by the Dodgers - Holbrook and a University of Georgia catcher who went in the eighth round.
A day after Holbrook called to congratulate former teammate Bashlor on his selection by the Dodgers and just before Holbrook was set to catch in his first game as a Titan, he got the call that he, too, was drafted.
"Then I had to play the game. Fortunately, my parents were in town. After the game, my phone was almost dead I had so many calls on it."
Holbrook went home to think. Continued...
"I thought I was going to take it, but I wanted to get away to get my parents help in deciding. My dad was all for it; my mom was being a mom, wanting me to go back to school."
Another little tug might have come from Holbrook's older sister, Kasay Holbrook, who's one step away from joining the LPGA Tour after a sterling golf career at Presbyterian College (Clinton, South Carolina).
In the end, the Dodgers themselves helped.
"They suggested it might be best for me to go back and play one more year. There wasn't going to be much money this year. In another year, I have a chance to drop to a lower round."
Holbrook has committed to Georgia College (Milledgeville, Georgia) as a business major this fall.
"I have the best of both worlds," he says. "I'm going to school next year and I still might have the chance to play professional baseball."
Saturday night, Holbrook put on the gear for his second game behind the plate for the Titans.
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