GOODYEAR, Ariz. – In the three years catcher/outfielder/overall standout utility guy Blake Sabol has played with the ultra-talented Temecula, Calif.-based CBA Marucci 2016 ball club, he’s experienced a whole heck of a lot of winning. That’s kind of what CBA Marucci 2016 does, don’t you know, especially in 2014 and 2015.
This team of talented Southern California kids under the direction of head coach Daylon Monette shows up, plays its collective heart out and carts championship trophies back home. This week the group is at the ultra-competitive 17u PG World Series being played at the Goodyear Ballpark Sports Complex and is following its usual script: Play games, win; repeat as needed.
That script hasn’t been followed with a lot of frequency at this PG national championship event over the last four years simply because the 17u PG World Series really does bring the upper echelon of the country’s 17-and-under teams together under one big desert sky. Twenty teams from coast-to-coast are here this week and only one – CBA Marucci – made it through its four pool-play games undefeated.
Sabol, a 6-foot-4, 190-pound left-handed swinging, right-handed throwing senior at Aliso Niguel (Calif.) High School who has committed to Southern Cal (USC), told PG Sunday afternoon he likes the 17u PG World Series a whole better than the big, 300-team affairs CBA Marucci 2016 often visits and sometimes wins.
That is because at this tournament every team knows it’s up for a dogfight in every game, even during pool-play; there are simply no weak sisters here, brother. Every pitcher, it seems, has a wicked arsenal; every batter, it seems, has that pitcher figured out.
“It’s a lot of fun meeting the great players from out on the East Coast that I never get to see during the high school season,” Sabol said. “You usually see a lot of these top players at other showcases and tournaments so it’s always nice to learn from them and see what they do and how they play.”
He’s done very well through undefeated CBA Marucci’s first four games here, going 4-for-9 (.444) with a double, a team-high three RBI and a run scored.
In the last 19 months, CBA Marucci 2016 has won Perfect Game tournament championships at the 2014 16u PG/MLK Championships, the 2014 PG California World Series (Underclass) and most recently – and most prestigiously – the 2015 17u PG WWBA National Championship played over in Emerson, Ga. Fifteen CBA Marucci players were named to that event’s all-tournament team.
“To be able to go out there and bring that (championship) home … it was just awesome,” Monette said. “To go out there and get the job done – and we had to go through some great arms to get there – it really made us feel good about it.”
Sabol has played an integral role in all three championships, usually hitting in the cleanup spot in this power-packed lineup. He was named the all-tournament team at both the 2014 16u PG/MLK and this month’s 17u PG WWBA National, in addition to his selection at the 2013 PG/EvoShield Underclass National Championship.
“Blake is a very versatile athlete, very humble,” Monette said. “He’s one of those kids that I can tell him he’s playing anywhere and he’s just happy to be in the lineup. If it’s his turn to rotate out, you’ll never see him getting down or anything; he’s the ultimate team guy.”
Monette calls Sabol one of those all-important “glue” guys every team needs, the type of player and personality that is willing to assume a leadership role and keep everyone rowing merrily, merrily, merrily down the stream. He has that inherent understanding of what is expected of him as both a leader and a player, and is able to become an extension of the coaching staff when he’s out on the field.
Sabol has been with Monette since the former was 12-years-old and Monette has been there front-and-center to watch the young prospect mature into both a fine player and fine young man. He’s hitting in the middle of the order on a 17u team that with each passing day – with each victory at a Perfect Game national championship tournament – is being accepted as the best in the nation.
“I’ve never wanted to leave this team; it’s definitely like a second home to me,” Sabol said. “Everyone that plays on this team is a great teammate, and (Monette) has definitely helped me become the ballplayer that I am today.”
Perfect Game isn’t the only amateur baseball avenue Sabol has traversed. He won a Gold Medal as a member of the 15u USA Baseball National Team in 2013, traveling to Colombia and playing national teams from Cuba, Panama and other countries.
He has also done very well at PG showcase events and has been honored with Top Prospect List designation at the 2013 PG California Underclass Showcase, the 2014 PG Sunshine West Showcase and just last month at the PG National Showcase.
“I think (the big-time events) is where he plays his best baseball as far as just relaxing and playing and hitting,” Monette said. “We don’t care anything about stats here. It’s just about having great at-bats, spraying up the baseball and doing whatever it takes to win.
“When (Sabol) can stay out of stat-mode and worry about hitting the baseball hard and doing whatever it takes to help us win, that’s when Blake’s at his best.”
He’ll have another opportunity to be at his best when he joins his CBA Marucci teammates Dominic Fletcher, an outfielder from Cyress, Calif., and Reggie Lawson, a right-handed pitcher from Adelento, Calif., at the Perfect Game All-American Classic in San Diego on Aug. 16.
It’s a very special honor for Sabol. Blake is the younger brother of Stefan Sabol, a catcher in high school who played in the 2009 Perfect Game All-American Classic as a West Team teammate of the Chicago Cubs’ Kris Bryant and the Washington Nationals’ Bryce Harper.
Stefan, who played summer ball with the ABD Bulldogs (a precursor to CBA Marucci), was selected by the Atlanta Braves out of Aliso Niguel HS in the 2010 amateur draft and didn’t sign, and then was taken by the New York Mets in the 17th round of the 2012 draft out of Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, Calif. Now an outfielder, Stefan Sabol is with high-A St. Lucie in the Florida State League.
“(Stefan) has had a huge influence on me,” Sabol said. “I try to model myself after him a little bit even though we’re kind of different (physically). He’s a lot thicker and probably a better athlete than I am, but he does teach me the (professional) side of the game that he didn’t know when he was younger so it helps me out that way.”
Once again following in his older brother’s footsteps, Sabol started catching when he was 10-years-old and immediately fell in love with the position. He likes being the leader out on the field, taking control of the game and being involved in every pitch, but he also makes sure he’s ready to perform at any position he’s assigned to play.
Sabol has had other influences, as well, and he considers 2015 Aliso Niguel HS teammate Kyle Molnar a very good friend. Molnar was at last year’s PG All-American Classic and was drafted in the 25th round by the St. Louis Cardinals, but didn’t sign professionally and is expected to be at UCLA in the fall.
It will be interesting to see if CBA Marucci 2016 can continue its winning ways when the eight-team playoffs at the 17u PG World Series kick off Monday morning.
As the No. 1-seed in what is really a double-elimination affair for the top-four seeds – Elite Squad Prime (3-1-0) is No. 2; the Dallas Patriots (3-1-0) are No. 3; the Southern California Bombers (2-1-1) are No. 4 – CBA Marucci is definitely the captain of its own ship. And with proven winners like Blake Sabol on board, there should certainly be trepidation about setting sail, because this CBA team has always done one heck of a lot of winning.