Kids’ wow factor inspiring

Drew Miller has pretty much seen it all in the baseball world. The former outfielder and slugger for the Calgary Vipers has been on countless roadtrips, logged many miles to cities he’s never heard of, and pulled into too many hotels — too early in the morning — more often than he cares to remember.

But for the Alberta Cal Ripken squad, which are representing the nation at the 2012 Cal Ripken World Series in Aberdeen, Maryland, starting this weekend, it’s safe to say the novelty has not worn off.

“It’s fantastic,” said Miller, who has a coaching gig with the bunch joining a staff including Ramon Valdez, Lyndsey Clapperton, and manager Steve Lloyd. “I know all the things I’ve been able to accomplish. But to see these kids and how they have that ‘wow’ factor when they see these ball diamonds and even just interacting with other kids.

“It really makes you appreciate all things you have done in the past.”

And for Miller, personally, it’s been a welcome change of pace. He’d been with the Vipers since opening day in 2005 and was there when the professional club pulled up stakes after their 2011 campaign last fall.

“We’d been there for seven years,” he said. “I remember when they said we wouldn’t last one and we made it seven. Before that, there were the Cannons and it’s very hard not to see a professional team out there.”

During the long winter, the Medicine Hat native tried to help pick up the pieces, find some answers, and move on. Coaching seemed to be the next best thing to playing.

So he jumped in with the Cal Ripken representatives. The selection process for the team — a division of Alberta Babe Ruth baseball with kids aged 12 and 13 — started in early spring, whittling a roster of 60 players to 15 from Calgary, Cochrane, Okotoks, Lethbridge, and Lacombe.

Pitching is their strength — an important aspect in a tournament with so many games in a short compacted period of time. Josh Dobberthien of Calgary has a ton of velocity to turn heads when he’s on the mound while Mitch Dennis of Okotoks and Calgarian Mike Clapperton also have reliable arms.

“All of them can throw strikes, all of them can throw consistent strikes, which is a big thing for us,” Miller said. “The best thing we have here is we have 15 kids, and we can call on any one of them to pitch. To have a team that versatile is going to be something to contend with.”

Starting Saturday against Mexico, they’ll be contending with teams from Australia, Dominican Republic, Japan, and South Korea in the International Division while 10 teams from the U.S. are split into National and American Divisions.