Travel Baseball Teams in Alaska

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MLB Players from Alaska

The biggest state is far from the biggest baseball state. Still, Alaska has produced eleven major leaguers since 1925. Two are currently active in the pros. They are Daniel Schlereth and Aaron Cunningham.

A younger player, Johnny Meszaros, is aiming for the pros. Unlike Schlereth and Meszaros he was drafted out of an Alaskan high school.

Daniel Schlereth

Daniel Schlereth was born in 1986 in Anchorage. He was playing catch with his father (a former pro football player) from the time he was a toddler.

Schlereth later pitched at Highlands Ranch High School in Colorado. He had the opportunity to play in the 2003 Area Code Games on the side.

Schlereth continued to build his career at the University of Arizona. He was the 26th person taken in the 2008 draft. It was quite a step up! He had turned down an 8th round draft pick the year before.

The South Bend Silver Hawks, Mobile Baybears, and Toledo Mud Hens were among the teams Schlereth played for in the minors. He was called up to the majors in 2009 at age 23. Following injury and rehabilitation, he's doing a stint at a lower level. He's been racking up the scoreless innings as he tries to make the Pirates’ roster (http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140315).

Aaron Cunningham

Aaron Cunnngham was also born in 1986 in Anchorage. He lived in Alaska until about the age of five.

As a youth, Cunningham was active in the Babe Ruth League. He played at South Kitsap High School in Washington. His team won the Washington State title in 2003.

Cunningham went on to play baseball at Everett Community College. He was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the 6th round of the 2005 draft when he was 19. He began his minor league career with a stint with the Rookie Bristol White Sox. The next few years saw a trade, but also a relatively steady rise through the minors, with assignments with the Class A Kannapolis Intimidators, High A Winston-Salem Warthogs and Visalia Oaks, Double A Mobile Baybears and Midland RockHounds, and Triple A Sacramento River Cats.

He was called up to the majors for the first time in 2008. He has moved back and forth between the MLB and Triple A during much of his career.

Tomorrow’s Ball Players

Sports can be good for youth regardless of whether they go on to play pro ball. They can make some friends, become more fit, learn a life lesson or two.

Some, though, will commit themselves to becoming the best baseball players they can be. This may be more difficult for Alaska teens. However, it’s not impossible.

Schlereth and Cunningham had both found their way to the contiguous states by their teen years. Not so Johnny Meszaros who was drafted out of Service High in 2013, but opted for college.

Meszaros sought out opportunity, pitching on a Canadian travel team and in the Area Code games (http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20130609/service-high-grad-alaska-drafted-baseballs-tampa-bay-rays). “When I got back from Area Codes,” he told the Alaska Dispatch, “it was a big eye-opener for me. It was like ‘This is what I have to do to get to these guys’ level’.”

Perfect Game notes that very few Alaska high school students have been drafted in the first 14 rounds (http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View.aspx?article=7142). Youth who are serious about baseball may need to be proactive like Meszaros and search for those opportunities. They will begin the process in their high school years, possible earlier. They may continue even after they make the pros.

Aaron Cunningham told the Port Orchard Independent, "When you get that chance, you have to take advantage and run with it (http://www.portorchardindependent.com/sports/97919069.html).”

Travel Baseball Teams in Alaska

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