Prospects excited about move to Telus
Young baseball team taking over ballpark vacated by Capitals
As a young boy, Kevin Czarnecki spent many summer nights at Telus Field watching future big-leaguers play for the Edmonton Trappers.
Now, Czarnecki is an upand-comer himself.
“It was great to watch the Trappers,” he says of the Pacific Coast League team that left Edmonton in 2004.
“We knew a lot of the Trappers were going to be in the big leagues, and they were. I still watch a few of those guys on TV.”
Czarnecki and the rest of the Edmonton Prospects take to the river valley ballpark Saturday at 2 p.m. for their home opener — a doubleheader against the Lethbridge Bulls.
With some hard work and fine tuning, the infielder knows he can improve in his college career, and hopefully get drafted.
Czarnecki spent the winter playing for the Garden City Community College Broncbusters in Kansas.
The Broncbusters’ season ended on May 6 when they lost on the second day of playoffs. After a few days rest, Czarnecki headed home to Edmonton to play summer ball for the Prospects.
He is one of a handful of local players who are playing for the Prospects in the Western Major Baseball League, a developmental league for college players. Grimshaw’s Cashtyn Deleeuw is slated to start on the mound in the second game of Saturday’s double dip.
“I always look forward to opening day. I think it is almost the best day of the season,” said the 20-year-old Deleeuw who played last year at Indian Hills Community College in Centreville, Iowa.
The team is looking for good things this summer after a rather forgettable 2011 season, with a 15-36 showing that left them last in the league’s West Division.
But when import pitcher Craig George makes the first start for the Prospects Saturday, it’s a new season. And a new home. After playing out of John Fry Park in the past, the Prospects move north across the river to Telus Field for their 23 home games this season.
Dustin Sandberg, for one, thinks the change of scenery will make a difference.
“It’s easier to get up for a game when you’re playing at a great ballpark like Telus Field rather than playing in the middle of nowhere on a so-so diamond,” said Sandberg.
The infielder who played at Clarke University also said such a quality ballpark gives the team a more “professional feeling.”
Except for maybe the clubhouses.
The Prospects worked out a deal with the Edmonton Capitals — who suspended play this season — to use Telus Field.
However, the Prospects will not be using the Capitals’ third-base clubhouse and weight room, but rather, will share the other clubhouse with the visiting team.
First-year Prospects manager John Sutherland says a divider will be used in the clubhouse and doesn’t think it will be a problem.