Summer in the Cape

June 26, 2003

I wanted to start this session out by thanking all of the Hurricanes fans for having supported us this past season. It was an exciting one. Even though it ended a little sooner than we were hoping.

I’m sure some of you read in Andrew Lane’s diary that we all flew out at 7:00 am on Wednesday the 18th. I really didn’t feel like doing much the rest of that evening. However, I decided to spend some time relaxing on Thursday. I didn’t realize how little time I would have.

My mom called my cell phone Thursday night and told me that I had to come home quickly. The coaches called from the Cape Cod League and said that I would be flying out first thing Friday morning. They had originally told me that I would fly out on Monday, so I was hoping to have some time to rest. I went home that nigh, packed my bags and went to the airport early Friday morning.

I flew into Boston at around 4 pm, and had to drive to the Cape. That ride took about 2 hours. The team that I’d be would be playing for is the Brewster Whitecaps and we were playing on the road. We drove straight to the field, changed into my uniform and began taking batting practice on the field. Our coach told me that I would be playing shortstop that game. (I’m also going to be working at second base too.) I ended up going 3 of 5 with 3 stolen bases. I can’t tell you how tired I was. After the game, I got to meet my host family and finally unpack at their place.

This is the first time that I have been anywhere without my brother, Danny. He’s trying out with the USA National team. I spoke to him the other day and he told me that things are going very well. If he didn’t make the team, he would be playing here with me. But I hope he makes it. I don’t have a car right now, so there isn’t much to experience right now in the Cape. One of my friends has a car here, so once we get an off day we plan on taking a look around.

There are a few of things that are different about summer ball. The most important is that the hitters use wooden bats instead of aluminum. Wood bats are harder to hit because they are easier to break. You have to focus when you’re hitting and hit the ball on the sweet spot of the bat. If you hit it off the end, or off the handle, the bat will break. Baseball is all about focusing and it’s great for the hitters in the long run because hitting with a wood bat makes you focus harder on not breaking the bat and hitting the ball squarely. This will help you when you come back to college and hit with an aluminum bat.

Because we are coming off a college season where we got used to using aluminum, the pitchers have the advantage in the early part of summer ball. Right now, they’re throwing nothing but fastballs and trying to break as many bats possible. It takes the hitters some time to make the adjustment, but it will all even out in the end.

Brandon Camerdese and Vince Bongiovanni are also playing here in the Cape Cod League. Both of their towns are no more than 15 minutes away, so we plan on getting together on our off days for dinner.

I plan on writing these journals once a week and would like to answer any questions that the fans might have. Please be sure to send me your questions and I will do my best to answer as many as I can.

See you next week.

Paco Figueroa, #16