On an otherwise quiet Saturday at Pima College, scouts from the Yankees, White Sox, Reds, Diamondbacks, Astros and Giants, and about 25 college coaches filled the third base dugout before the sun had a chance to clear the morning clouds.
They gathered to watch 28 hand-picked Southern Arizona ballplayers take infield practice, catch a few fly balls and take their cuts against someone like Sahuaro High School junior Alex Verdugo.
I counted 38 scouts/coaches in the dugout, and almost all of them aimed a radar gun at Verdugo. The Sahuaro lefty hit 93 mph and was a key part of the most productive scholarship-earning, head-turning baseball showplace in Tucson.
“Do I find players here?” asked New Mexico assistant coach Ken Jacome, the former head coach at Pueblo High School. “Oh, yeah.”
For the last 10 years, Sahuarita middle school administrator Brian Huie has operated a two-month training camp in an attempt to get exposure for Southern Arizona’s top high school players.
How’s it going?
Read this entire column in Wednesday's Arizona Daily Star.
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