Travel Baseball Teams in Pennsylvania

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MLB Players from Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has produced plenty of major leaguers. There are 35 listed as currently active. Neil Walker, Matt Adams, Devin Mesoraco, Philip Gosselin, Zach Lutz, and Josh Edgin are a few of the names.

Neil Walker

Neil Walker was born in 1985 in Pittsburg. As a youth, Walker was part of Beaver Valley Baseball, a travel baseball club (http://www.beavervalleybaseball.com/history/alumni/).

Walker was a catcher at Pine-Richland High School; he was also on the football and basketball teams. Walker was the first player from the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League to be selected in the first round of the draft in more than 25 years. For this and other achievements, he was later inducted into the WPIAL Hall of Fame.

Walker went in the 2004 draft, selected by his hometown team, the Pittsburg Pirates; he was just 18. The Williamsport Crosscutters, Hickory Crawdads, and Altoona Curve were among Walker’s minor league stints.

In 2009, Walker made the majors. It was back to Pittsburg where he could enjoy something major leaguers seldom get to experience during the baseball season: breakfasts cooked by his own mom (http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/).

Matt Adams

Matt Adams was born August 31, 1988 in Philipsburg. He was a catcher at Philipsburg-Osceola High School (http://www.theprogressnews.com/default.asp?read=17974). Adams later played for Slippery Rock University, a Division II school. He also spent a summer playing for the New England Collegiate Baseball League.

Adams was selected in the 23rd round of 2009 draft when he was 20. He played for the A Quad City River Bandits, AA Springfield Cardinals, and AAA Memphis Redbirds during his time in the minors. In 2011, while playing AA, he was selected as Texas League Player of the Year.

He also played in the Arizona Fall League during his time in the minors. Adams played his first major league game in 2012.

Devin Mesoraco

Devin Mesoraco was born in DuBois in 1988. He credits his dad with teaching him baseball (http://redlegnation.com/2014/03/24/better-know-a-backstop-who-is-devin-mesoraco/).

Mesoraco played catcher for Punxsutawney Area High School. He helped his team to a state championship and was selected Gatorade Player of the Year; he also set several school records. Still a teenager, he was drafted in the first round of the 2007 draft.

Mesoraco was on quite a few teams during his four years in the minors. He started out at the rookie level with the Gulf Coast Reds. The Sarasota Reds, Lynchburg Hillcats, and Lousville Bats were other stops along the way. He was called up to the majors in 2011. By this time, he was 23.

Tomorrow’s Ball Players

Adams, Mesoraco, and Walker weren’t the first Pennsylvania-born players to make the pros, and they won’t be the last. Some, like Cory Mazzoni, stand at the cusp while younger players simply dream.

What do tomorrow’s ball players need to set themselves up for success? One crucial thing is the opportunity to play on teams.

Role models can also be important. Like Mesoraco, Walker counts his father as a role model. He also counts a man his father knew: former Pirates great Roberto Clemente. Walker is very conscious of the fact that his father was one of the ball players who loaded Clemente’s plane before the fateful humanitarian mission; his father intended to go along, but Clemente urged him to stay and enjoy a local event. Walker used the Twitter platform recently to say he felt “blessed to be able to honor ‘The Great One’ Roberto Clemente today. A Humanitarian and someone near and dear to my heart! (https://twitter.com/NeilWalker18).”

Making the pros takes far more than athleticism. “You are definitely rewarded in this sport for how much you can take, especially mentally,” he says (http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/sep/05/direct-link-to-clemente).

Travel Baseball Teams in PA

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