Wednesday, June 15, 2011
By Pete Mollica
Video
The Mahoning Valley Scrappers are back in town for the 2011 season. Catcher Moises Montero grew up playing baseball in the Dominican Republic.
Cody Elliott, Rob Nixon and Jerrud Sabourin were raised about as far apart as three baseball players could be.
But one thing that this trio of 21-year-olds has in common is that they are extremely happy to be in the Mahoning Valley and playing for the Scrappers.
All three hope to be in action on Friday night when the Scrappers open their 2011 season against the Jamestown Jammers at 7:05 at Eastwood Field in Niles.
Elliott hails from Florence, Ky., and played collegiate baseball at Ball State University. Nixon was born and raised in Welland, Ontario, and played his college baseball at Adelphi University. Sabourin, a first baseman and the only one of the three new Scrappers who wasn’t drafted, is from San Diego and played at Indiana University.
Elliott, who has played nothing but center field since he started playing ball, was drafted in the 21st round of last week’s Major League Baseball draft. Nixon, a right-handed pitcher, was drafted in the 46th round.
David Wallace, the Scrappers’ first-year manager, said on Tuesday that several more draft picks and free agents will be arriving by Friday.
The rookies are excited about becoming professional baseball players in the Indians’ farm system.
“While I played in college at Ball State, we would usually get 80 to 100 fans at a game and from what they tell me this place is really packed throughout most of the season,” Elliott said. “I’m really looking forward to getting this season under way.”
Sabourin agreed.
“This place is awesome,” Sabourin said. “The playing surface is just great and I can’t wait to see these stands filled up.
“I came in [Monday] and they were having some sorts of auditions here and there was music playing and people all over the place,” Sabourin said. “More people than we’d have in a week of home games back in college, although we didn’t really have a good year this year.”
Nixon, who at 6-foot-1 is a hard throwing right-handed pitcher, says he is coming off his best season in college.
“We got to within one game or reaching the [Division II] World Series and I had a really good year,” Nixon said. “My best pitch is probably my splitter when it’s working.”
He said that baseball is becoming a big thing in Canada.
“I was playing in a summer tournament on Long Island after my senior year and the coaches from Adelphi saw me playing there and offered me a scholarship,” Nixon said.
A rugged minor league traveling schedule and playing with wooden bats are two of the biggest adjustments that rookies find in professional baseball, but Elliott and Sabourin don’t see that as a big problem.
Both have played in summer wooden bat leagues in the past few years and their collegiate teams have done plenty of traveling around the country.
“I really like the feel of the wooden bat better,” Sabourin said. “Although the new bats that they are using in college now also feel a lot closer to wood than the old ones.”
Elliott says that he’s not sure just what to expect from his first season in professional baseball.
“But I know that I just have to go out every day and play as good and as hard as I can and then we’ll see what happens,” Elliott said.
All three players were impressed with their new manager.
“He really seems great and I just can’t wait to start playing under him,” Elliott said.