Summer in the Cape

July 11, 2003

Before we begin today’s journal, I just wanted to wish J.D. Cockroft a Happy Birthday. He’s in Miami right now working out and I’m hoping he got my voicemail. If not, he’ll be reading this soon, so Happy Birthday J.D.

We had a game last night, where the team finally broke out of an overall slump…myself included. I went 2 for 4 with 2 singles, a stolen base and 1 RBI. We’re now on a 3 game winning streak, after having lost 4 in a row. The guys had been a bit down, and this is what we needed.

My consecutive games without a day off is still going strong. We’re now at 17 straight games. I got here around the 20th of June and haven’t had a free day yet. We keep making up for all those games rained out before I got here. We had a bit of a scare. It rained here all morning, and I thought that they would call the game. This Sunday is scheduled to be our first day off, so if last night’s game was rained out we’d make it up on Sunday. Luckily, we were able to get it in.

I received quite a few emails from fans this past week. The first one I wanted to talk about was my favorite. It came with a picture, which I’ve asked them to place here on the website. The email was from Daniel Rothwell, who’s a young fan of the Hurricanes and was out in Omaha. Daniel got to be our batboy during our College World Series games. Daniel mentioned that he’s in Coach Morris’ baseball camp and that my brother Danny is showing him how to be an outfielder. Daniel was an infielder during his little league season and wanted some tips on being a shortstop. Well, Daniel, I can tell you that the shortstop is the leader of the infielder. If you want to be a good shortstop, you should always know where your other infielders are positioned. Practice taking ground balls every day and always concentrate when you’re on the field. To answer your other question, Daniel, when I’m not playing baseball I like to go to the movies, hang out with players and spend time with my family. While I’ve been here at the Cape, I’ve been going to the beach with Jim Burt. Daniel, keep up the good work and tell my brother I say shortstop is a much better position that outfielder.

In a reply email from last week, Julie Biederman sent another email of encouragement. Jules, once again thanks for the kind words and I’m more than happy to receive a weekly email from you. If you happen to see Andrew Lane during your visit, please give him my best.

Erin Espinoza wrote me a very difficult email to answer. She’s a softball player and wanted to know if I’m drafted next season, would I sign with the team or stay and get my education. Well Erin, I value education quite a bit. It’s the one thing they can’t take away from you. I was drafted out of high school, but chose to go to Miami because I wanted to get a college degree. Obviously, there will be a lot of factors next year. Some of those include what round I’m drafted, which team it is and how close I am to graduating. It’s a decision I won’t make by myself. I plan on sitting down with my family and making the right choice. Unfortunately, I won’t know what that choice is until I’m placed in the situation. Thanks for your email.

I received an email from someone who wanted to know what the rest of the canes were doing during the summer. Well, I know that some of the guys like my brother, J.D. Cockroft, and others are in Miami right now. Off the top of my head, I know that Jim Burt, Brandon Camerdese and Vince Bongiovanni are playing here in the Cape. Alex Blanco, Gaby Sanchez and Erick San Pedro are playing in the Valley League. Joey Hooft is playing in the Alaskan league. Marcelo Albir is in the Bethesda-Clark Griffith League. Hope this helps.

Ryan Bernal wanted to know about what it takes to become a UM baseball player. He mentioned that he’d be content just being on the team if he got the chance. Ryan, one of the most important things about baseball is that you play it because you love it. There’s no other reason to. We play a sport where we fail more times than we succeed and you continue on because of your love for the game. Miami is a great program, but they don’t recruit kids who are simply content at just being on the team. Miami is a great program every year because the kids that play on the team each believe that they deserve to be the starter and they try to prove that every day in practice. Those are the players that Miami wants and you can be that kind of player if you practice with that intensity every day. Coaches can’t see every player out there. Be active and make sure that you contact them. I hope this advice helps point you in the right direction. Good luck with your upcoming season and be sure that you’re still playing for the right reasons.

Charles Bishop wrote me this past week and wanted to know about how long it takes to gel with the teammates here at the Cape and how long does it take for us to get used to the signs. At this level, Charles, these players are some of the very best. You’re recruited to play in the Cape. Not everyone can get it. Because of that, the competition among teammates is high. Every player thinks he should be on this field. You fit in well in that everyone is hungry like you are. But it does take some time to get to know everyone’s personalities. That usually comes during the rare days that we have off where you can spend time hanging out and getting to know each other. Learning signs, though, isn’t too bad. We play games everyday, so there are few practices if any. There are only 3 signs that we worry about…sac bunt, steal and the hit and run sign. Those are the ones used most during the game and they’re pretty easy to pick up. Thanks for your kind words about next year. I’m sure we’ll be ranked too.

Mark Torres is a fan of ours from Omaha Nebraska. He wanted to know if my first trip to Omaha was how I pictured it and whether or not we had much time to take in the sights during our trip. Mark, I can say that it was exactly how I thought it would be. Jim Burt and George Huguet were there in 2001 and they described what we should expect. The only thing I didn’t expect was setting an attendance record for our first game. It was an amazing atmosphere and we’re hungry to return. Unfortunately, we ended up in the loser’s bracket and had to play every day to advance. The only real time we had to tour the sites was when one of the Rotary Clubs invited us to the golf course for a lunch. We had a driving and putting contest (where I continued to beat my brother Danny every time) and had a barbeque lunch. We even got to hear a song from Shawn Valdes-Fauli and T.J. Hacker. I think that there are some pictures here on the website from our golf outing. You should have a look. They’re pretty good.

Jennifer Loucks sent me a very nice email. Jen, I’ve had a great time writing these journals for everyone and I look forward to seeing you when I get back in Miami. I’ll let Vince know that you were asking about him. By the way, how was Chicago?

Last, but not least, I received an email from Vanessa Valdes. She wanted to know how it felt to be invited to play in the Cape even though I didn’t have the kind of regular season that I had hoped for. Well, it’s an opportunity for me to play everyday and to work on my game. This past season, I struggled more than I wanted to and sometimes it takes a lot of work to get your mechanics back to where they should be. I’ve been playing every day and I’m improving every day. Hopefully, I’ll get back to Fall Ball this coming season and give it my best shot.

It’s time for me to run, but I want to encourage everyone to keep sending the emails. If anyone has any pictures of us playing baseball during the season, please email them in. I’d love to see them and if they’re good, we’ll post them up here on the website.

Until next week,

Paco Figueroa, #16