Injection of talent from college ranks may bolster ECML
The Eastern Connecticut Major League is undergoing a makeover as it enters its 27th season.
Mitchell College coach Travis Beausoleil and ECML commissioner John Turner are working to transform the ECML into a more competitive amateur league than in the past by injecting some more college talent into the mix.
The improved ECML will help fill a void left from the cancellation of collegiate summer baseball leagues in the region. College players also took a hit from having their spring seasons cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic."The last couple of years, they haven't had many teams and the talent has gone downhill," Beausoleil said of the ECML. "With the summer leagues getting canceled and no baseball round, I joined up with John, a co-commissioner of it, and we're going to treat it like a collegiate summer league. "It should be a younger, more competitive league." While some details still need to be worked out, Beausoleil is confident that the new version of the ECML, a wooden bat league, will be up and running this summer. He'll likely know more information about what needs to happen to pull it off by June 17, the date that Gov. Ned Lamont set for Phase 2 of his reopening plan.
The goal is to have a six-team league — last year only three competed in the adult summer league — that will start play in late June or early July and end in early August. A 20-game regular season will be followed by playoffs. Games will mostly be played on weekday nights with some seven inning doubleheaders on one weekend day.
Washington Park in Groton, which has served as a home to the ECML, will likely be the league's main field.
"It's not 100 percent that Washington Park is going to open," Beausoleil said. "We assume they will. It's still a question mark for us, but that's the expectation."
Beausoleil and Turner, who will each run a team, are still building the rosters for the league. They're reaching out to players who live within a reasonable driving distance. Returning ECML players also will fill out spots.
Beausoleil has called around to college coaches in the Connecticut-Rhode Island-Massachusetts region, including Nichols College, Salve Regina and Central Connecticut State University, and received positive feedback.
So far, about 40 college players from five different programs have committed to playing in the ECML, including a large chunk of Beausoleil's Mitchell team. UConn Avery Point also will be well-represented.
“With the summer leagues getting canceled and no baseball round, I joined up with John (Turner), a cocommissioner of it, and we're going to treat it like a collegiate summer league.''
TRAVIS BEAUSOLEIL, MITCHELL BASEBALL COACH
Some recent college graduates, like Waterford's Kevin Johnson who played at Western New England, plan on playing.
Entry fee is $250 for position players, $150 for pitchers.
"We're not making any money off this," Beausoleil said. "It's never been about that. It's about trying to get baseball back in the area after we've missed it for so long and give the college guys reps and opportunities to go out and play and work on some things so when they go back to their schools in September they're hopefully ready to go."
The league plans to follow all the safety guidelines, including social distancing.
Some players will likely sit outside the dugouts.
Beausoleil has been in contact with the Eastern Board about supplying umpires.
"They're good to go," Beausoleil said. "They're just waiting on their restrictions from the governor and the task force. Are they able to umpire from behind the plate, or will they have to do it from behind the mound?
"We've had a bunch of conversations with the umpires. I think they're chomping at the bit as much as the players are. They want to get back out there as well."
Not done yet
While there's still hurdles to clear, Beausoleil is very optimistic that the improved ECML will be off and running this summer.
"I'm confident that we will be ready to go assuming the governor and umpires and everything with this COVID stuff allows us to," he said. "We will have a competitive ECML league in some fashion. Maybe even better than we're planning it."
Any players interested in playing can email Beausoleil at beausoleil_t@mitchell.edu g.keefe@theday.com