Two Teams Qualify for Connie Mack World Series

The Florida Legends and the Dallas Tigers became the first two teams to qualify for the Connie Mack World Series, winning the two national qualifiers in Troy, N.Y., and Phoenix respectively.

Part of the allure in following the World Series is the opportunity to witness the next Manny Ramirez, Ken Griffey Jr., or Barry Larkin grace the field at Ricketts Park. This year's tapestry of stars is already starting to fill.

Seattle Mariners draft pick Steven Baron, the first selection of the compensatory round and No. 33 overall, will not play. He signed Thursday for a $980,000 signing bonus. The Legends will have to switch catchers.

If Cuban Rangel Ravelo makes it big, he can point to the summer of 2009 as the watershed moment. He's leading the Legends with a .441 batting average -- nearly 100 points higher than his high school average of .350 -- with a wooden bat against superior pitching.

Ravelo played for Legends coach Carlos Marti's high school team as a junior last year. Marti expected him to be a replacement player early in the summer while some of his regulars were out of town, plugging him into the No. 8 lineup slot.

Ravelo excelled, stuck around and eventually became the team's best hitter. He doesn't speak much English and didn't possess the same confidence in his ability toward the beginning. His success, coupled with acceptance from his teammates, has changed that.

"He knows he's good now," Legends pitcher Aaron Arboleya said. "The best word to describe it is swagger."

Said recruiting coordinator Angel Herrera: "Seeing that he can succeed at our level and succeed with a wooden bat, it's just been a monster that's grown into someone that's very confident in his ability. I definitely see a correlation between his performance and his confidence, no doubt."

Pitching, anyone: Don't expect the Legends to repeat their 8-0 loss last year to the East Cobb (Ga.) Yankees.

In fact, if anyone scores eight on this Florida team, they'll be reaching home more often than Wilt Chamberlain. The team's ERA is 1.34 -- Marti attributed part of their mind-boggling numbers to the wood bats.

Here are the ERAs for every pitcher with at least 11 innings (Arboleya's analysis in parentheses):

James Kessler, 16 innings, 0.00
Andy Suarez, 11, 0.00 (young, but will be a high draft pick one day)
Aaron Arboleya, 20 1-3, 0.34 (sinker/heavy ball, gets strikeouts if needed)
Gregg Bennis, 17, 0.41 (competitor, throws four pitches well)
Cody Stiles, 26, 0.54 (throws hard, hard to make good contact)
Edward Piderman, 15, 0.93 (heavy fastball)
Casey Delgado, 17.2, 1.98 (main pitch is a good curveball)
Shawn Zabriskie, 13.1, 3.15

Notice that only Stiles and Arboleya have pitched 20-plus innings, a staggering number. That's less than three complete games, and only two pitchers have reached that. Marti said he's tried to save his players' arms in light of their younger age and their heavy load during the high school season.

Happy comedians: Asked to describe his team to someone that has never seen them play and has already looked at the stats, Herrera said the unusual bond between his summer league players stands out.

"We can pick names out of a hat to determine rooming lists," Herrera said. "It really helps on the field. Guys play hard. We play like we've played together for a long time and we have one heartbeat. It's real cool.

"We're a fun group. We've got a lot of comedians. Even the quiet guys are comedians in their own way."

Right, left, right, left: Arbolyea said their lineup features a combination of switch hitters and right and lefthanded batters that alternate nearly every hitter. He said there's only one place in the Legends' regular lineup where two righthanded hitters are next to each other on the lineup card.

Record solid: The Florida Legends are 26-3-2. One of their losses, 7-3 to the New York Nine in the qualifier quarterfinals, they avenged in the championship game. Their other two? The first two games of the summer. They faced teams that were using aluminum bats and lost each by one run.

Stock rising: Marti expects his unsigned players could create leverage for themselves with a good showing at Connie Mack.

"If you can get it done in that atmosphere with that talent level it definitely helps your stock," Marti said.

Three players on the Legends that were drafted will play in the World Series.

I'll try to get in touch with the Dallas Tigers again tomorrow, but until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Stay true and keep pounding,
Christopher