Lefties slugger a strait shooter
Port Angeles hosts WCL all-star game
If it was good enough in the MLB for Bryce Harper of the Nationals in his home ballpark in Washington, D.C., it was good enough for Ron Brown off his home-team waterfront in Washington state.
Brown, of the Port Angeles Lefties, launched such soaring baseballs in the direction of Victoria that some might have been in danger of landing in the vicinity of the Ogden Point breakwater.
Well, not quite, of course, but it was a monumental display to win the West Coast League home-run derby, which was held on the Port Angeles waterfront and dubbed the Saltwater Splashdown.
The 2018 WCL All-Star Game, with scouts from most MLB teams in attendance, ended in a 10-6 North Division victory over the South Division Tuesday night at Civic Field in Port Angeles.
Representing the Victoria HarbourCats were pitchers Garrett Goodall and Tyler Yoshihara and slugger Jeddediah Fagg.
“It’s been awesome,” HarbourCats GM Brad NorrisJones said of the all-star festivities.
“It seemed like the whole town came out for the home-run derby, and the home-team Lefties player [Brown] put on a show for them. This is a big moment for the all-stars.”
HarbourCats head coach Brian McRae said the Victoria trio of Goodall, Yoshihara and Fagg were worthy representatives.
“They are all-stars for a reason, and they should enjoy the experience,” McRae said before the game.
“There are a lot of pro scouts there for the All-Star Game. And it’s a good opportunity for them to improve their draft stock before they return to help us out for the stretch drive.”
That begins tonight at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park, as the HarbourCats begin a three-game home set against the Corvallis Knights in a reprise of the 2017 WCL playoff final.
Victoria is 4-5 in the second half of the 2018 season and 18-18 overall in the North Division. The Knights are 5-2 in the second half and 21-13 overall in the South Division.
DIAMOND DUST: McRae and HarbourCats assistant coach and former Montreal Expos infielder Todd Haney — along with James Lofton and 2003 all-star pitcher Shawn Chacon of the Colorado Rockies — will conduct a free MLB Players Alumni Association clinic for youth players Thursday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Royal Athletic Park.
McRae, Haney, Lofton and Chacon combined for 1,732 games in a total of 24 MLB seasons.
“It’s to promote baseball at the grassroots, and is an MLB effort to get more kids playing the game,” said McRae, a 10-season former major-leaguer.
McRae will join Roberto Alomar, Lloyd Moseby, Jesse Barfield, Ricky Romero and J.P. Arencibia in the sold-out Toronto Blue Jays Academy Honda Super Camp next Tuesday and Wednesday at Serauxmen Stadium in Nanaimo.
“It’s a good change of pace for us coaches, too, to take a step back and see eager kids having fun without worrying about wins-losses and stats,” McRae said.
Island youth players can register for Thursday’s no-fee MLB Alumni Association clinic at RAP by going to baseballalumni.com.