Shortly after the UCLA baseball team’s elimination from the postseason by regional host Cal State Fullerton, 14 members of the team packed their bags and headed to different parts of the country ““ from Hawaii to Massachusetts ““ to participate in various summer leagues.
For the Bruins, the defeat marked the end of a disappointing and underachieving season after being ranked No. 1 by Baseball America heading into the spring. But the failure to advance to a second consecutive Super Regionals has given the players, especially those playing summer ball, something to shoot for.
“(The loss) is a building block for our team,” left-handed pitcher Rob Rasmussen said. “I wasn’t there for the Super Regionals (in 2007), but you take that and you try to build on it. You get better so that next time at that point in the season, you feel like you’ve done everything you can within the past year to get a better result.”
Three Bruin pitchers ““ junior Charles Brewer, junior Garett Claypool and Rasmussen ““ are trying to get better by competing in the prestigious Cape Cod League in Massachusetts as members of the Chatham A’s, Brewster Whitecaps and Orleans Cardinals, respectively. The Cape Cod League, which was founded in 1885, is a 10-team league that consistently features the top talent in collegiate baseball.
Five other UCLA players, including senior left-handed pitcher Brendan Lafferty, are participating in the Northwoods League. Like the Cape Cod League, the Northwoods League features a fine collection of the nation’s premier collegiate baseball players.
But the leagues do have their differences.
The Northwoods League, which is composed of 14 teams ““ with stadium locations in Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada ““ has only been in existence since 1994. In the Northwoods League, each team is handled like a professional minor league team, with the exception of paying its players. While the Cape Cod touts many illustrious Major League alumni, the most noteworthy alumnus of the Northwoods League might be Andre Ethier of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Though the Cape Cod League gets more publicity, Lafferty feels that the Northwoods League gets its players prepared for a future in baseball.
“I’ve played in this league for three years now, and in my opinion, this is the best league,” Lafferty said. “You go on road trips, you stay in hotels, and you play everyday. (I have heard) from friends in the minor leagues that this is the closest you can get to a minor-league atmosphere. There are great fans and each city loves their team ““ it’s a great experience.”
Aside from traveling overnight, players in the Northwoods League use different balls and play in big stadiums, as opposed to the fields found in the Cape Cod League. Still, the Cape Cod League has a few traits that make it unique. Instead of traveling from city to city and staying in hotels, each player lives with a host family and has the responsibility of maintaining a summer job.
“It’s just a lot of fun,” Rasmussen said regarding the Cape Cod experience. “You basically fall into a routine. I worked the clinics, which are the camps for little kids, and I would do that in the mornings Monday through Friday. Then I would go work out and go to my host parents’ house and watch TV or read. I would go to the games pretty early and then you’re back home going back to sleep. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s kind of the same process day-to-day.”
And what is it like to live with a host family?
“For me it was great,” Rasmussen said. “I lived with our general manager. She runs the whole team and gets everything going. She’s just in charge of getting all the players filled out and looking for host families. Obviously, she’s great because she loves the Cardinals.”
Like every other city that hosts a team, the three cities in which the UCLA pitchers lived were not far away from one another. Brewster, Chatham and Orleans are located on the Eastern part of the Cape Cod Bay, the outer-most tip of Massachusetts that seems to curl out into the Atlantic Ocean before hooking back toward the mainland. Due to their busy schedules, players were unable to spend a considerable amount of time with one another, even with the short distance between towns.
“We didn’t get to have much time,” Rasmussen said. “I think we’ve only had two or three off-days in 65 days. So we haven’t had much time to do anything but play baseball. But you talk to them during batting practice or a little bit after the games. Claypool played at Brewster, which is right next to Orleans, so we would actually see each other at the gym.”
Rasmussen was also astonished at the strange weather patterns that he had never experienced in Southern California.
“(The summertime here) is a lot different,” Rasmussen said. “It can rain in Orleans, but 10 minutes away it’s not raining. You can never base whether you’re playing or not on the weather. There have been times when it’s beautiful and sunny here and we’ve have to go 20 or 30 minutes away, but we haven’t been able to play because the field is under water.”
Not only has Rasmussen had to deal with the variances in weather, but also a different style of play. Summer league participants, who are accustomed to using aluminum bats during their collegiate seasons, handle wooden bats instead. Since wooden bats generally weigh more than aluminum bats, a hitter’s swing is slowed down, allowing pitchers to have a slight advantage. Even if the hitter makes contact with a pitch, the ball does not explode off the wood like it normally does off an aluminum bat. For some hitters, the switch to wood has demoralizing effects. Rasmussen has a perspective that downplays the wooden bat effect.
“(The game) is a lot different,” Rasmussen said. “Although it’s wood bats up here, it’s still the best hitters in the nation. So what you might get away with because it’s a wood bat, you’re not necessarily getting away with because the No. 9 hitter for a particular team could be the three or four hitter for their college team.”
Still, Rasmussen believes that having success on the mound narrows down to mastering the basics, not on the type of bat that hitters use.
“The big thing overall is consistency and being able to have control over everything you’re throwing,” he said.
Rasmussen, who starred at Polytechnic School in Pasadena, has been able to remain consistent in his eight starts for the Cardinals. The sophomore-to-be has struck out 43 batters in 39.1 innings of work and has helped lead Orleans to the postseason.
Some athletes primarily play summer baseball to stay sharp during the offseason. Others use it to showcase their Major League potential to scouts. But Rasmussen, who was limited to only two starts as a freshman last season after suffering a foot injury in his collegiate debut, is using this opportunity to get a feel for the college game.
“I almost would think that this is very much like my freshman year would be,” Rasmussen said. “I’m throwing probably the same amount of innings. There are times when I do real well and times when I don’t, so I have to be able to say, “˜This is your freshman year, you didn’t really play your freshman year of college as much.’ I just have to try to get better and hope that I can help the team out next year.”
As for Lafferty, who will be in his fifth season with the program, the summer league provides an opportunity to gain more experience, which he hopes will help him assume a leadership role once he returns to campus.
“I have been through everything, the ups and downs ““ when we were really bad and when we have been really good,” Lafferty said. “I think I can teach the younger guys a lot and hopefully show my experience.”
Lafferty’s experience has served him well as a member of the Mankato Moondogs this summer. The Riverside native was the starting pitcher for the Northern Division in the Northwoods All-Star Game last month.
“Summer ball is different,” Lafferty said. “I have started at the Northwoods League for three years and been coming out of the bullpen for UCLA. I think it all comes down to performance and who can get the job done.”
Lafferty got the job done last season as a reliever, becoming a reliable arm out of the bullpen for coach John Savage. His team-high 33 appearances earned him the team’s vote for most valuable pitcher.
Aside from playing against top-notch competition, a summer league player also has the distinct opportunity to have athletes from other colleges as teammates, which is something Lafferty values.
“I love playing against people I know,” Lafferty said. “It’s just fun having those connections across the country. I know guys from California to Washington to Florida to Texas. I think it’s cool having those relationships that you can keep not only in baseball but hopefully forever.”
While Lafferty enjoys the bond he builds with his teammates, Rasmussen turns to some of his teammates for a sense of familiarity.
“I happen to like the Loyola Marymount guys and (Fullerton outfielder) Gary Brown a lot. When you’re this far away from home, it’s nice to have guys that know the same things because you can talk about stuff like In-N-Out,” Rasmussen said with a chuckle.
Playing in new settings alongside new teammates is an enjoyable experience, but Lafferty is anxious to spend time with his Bruin teammates.
“I look forward to seeing all my teammates again,” Lafferty said. “You spend day in and day out with those guys ““ you become a family. I can”˜t wait.”
Rasmussen also looks forward to getting back to Westwood.
“I can’t wait until we get back together as a team,” Rasmussen said. “Obviously we had a disappointing season last year, but we still have a lot of great players back and we have a chance to do some special things.”
After a long summer away from home, there is little doubt in what Rasmussen will seek when he gets back to California.
“I would say the Mexican food, there is no Mexican food out here,” Rasmussen said.