Midgley fooling Canadians with fastball
After finishing his college career at East Central University in Ada this spring, Koby Midgley of Wister searched for professional baseball opportunities. Creating a profile on baseballjobsoverseas. com led him to signing with the Grand Falls Catarcts in Canada.
Grand Falls, New Brunswick, sits across the border from Caribou, Maine.
Midgley had never been to Canada before joining the team.
His main adjustment was getting used to dealing with the French language often. Most of the teams in the league are in Quebec, a predominatly French-speaking province, as opposed to other Canadian provinces being mostly English-speaking.
Midgley was warmly welcomed by the team. Off the field, he golfs and fishes with teammates.
“They are all close and have played together since they were pretty young. They brought me in and made it feel like home, which helps a lot when you are are 30plus hours from your actual home,” he said.
One other Cataracts player, Lake Erie College (Ohio) product Corbin Paxton, is from the United States.
With the team having played most of its 20 games (which will be followed by postseason play), Midgley has performed well both at the plate and on the mound.
Through 17 games, the Cataracts are 10-7. Midgley is hitting .326 in 46 at bats with a triple and a run batted in.
Since he was exclusively a pitcher at ECU, Midgley took a few weeks of seeing live pitches again to read the spin and get his swing back.
Despite that, he went 2-for3 with a double in the season opener May 28.
As he expected, he found himself playing different positions in the field, including outfield, catcher and once at shortstop.
In nine pitching appearances, he’s 6-1 with a 3.88 earned-run average with 49 strikeouts and 28 walks in 48.2 innings.
Midgley earned his first professional pitching win in early June. He threw a careerhigh 12 strikeouts in the seven-inning outing.
“That first win was big for me. I was anxious to get off on the right foot with the team by having a good performance in the season opener,” he said. “After that, I settled in and it was just baseball as usual.”
His fastball sits at 85 mph, but he fires it up to 89 mph when he closes games.
“I feel like my fastball has developed more here because these players usually sit on off-speed pitches because they can’t catch up to the fastball as well as the college players I faced. Essentially, I’m pitching the exact opposite of how I did in college. I relied on my cutter, slider and changeup, and my fastball was there if I needed it. Here, I rely on my fastball and cutter, and the other two are there if I need them,” he said.
His cutter sits between 79 and 81 mph while his changeup is 78 to 81 mph and his slider is 75 to 78 mph.
Midgley finds that the competition is not at the quality of American baseball leagues, although he said some players could compete in American independent minor leagues.
A few players in the league played college baseball in the U.S. before returning to Canada for their professional careers. Some also played professionally in the U.S. One significant former prospect in his league is Matt Marsh, who rose as high as DoubleA in the New York Yankees’ minor-league system.
Midgley said he will play internationally again, adding that the Cataracts are interested in retaining him.
“If they want me, I’ll be here. I really like this area and the people here, too,” he said.