GLENDALE, Ariz. – Travel team owners, operators, managers and coaches always have their own reasons for loading their teams onto airplanes or into cars, vans and buses so they can compete at Perfect Game tournaments often hundreds of miles from their homes.
No single approach is right or wrong, and any approach team directors take is almost assuredly done with the best interest of the young players in mind. If that weren’t the case, those travel ball organizations would be out of business before they ever got a foot in the door.
The Corona, Calif.-based So Cal Birds, with former big-league pitcher Mike Cosgrove running the organization, are at this weekend’s PG Underclass Fall National Championship Protected by G-Form with a roster full of players who are performing like a championship-caliber group. Just don’t expect Cosgrove to fully embrace the notion that this is all about a first-place trophy and championship banners.
“The only reason we travel to events is to put the kids in front of college coaches and try to help them along with the college (recruiting) process,” Cosgrove told PG Saturday morning from the Dodgers’ side of the Camelback Ranch spring training complex.
“I know Perfect Game and I know what they do and they’re a great (company) but I really don’t care about winning events,” he added. “I want the kids to play hard and I don’t want them to lose but winning isn’t the most important thing.”
Cosgrove was speaking shortly after the Birds had chalked-up a 10-1, six-inning victory over Rocklin, Calif.-based CBA Sacramento 2020. The win was their second straight in pool-play to open the tournament, having beaten Regis Jesuit Red out of Englewood, Calif., by a 7-1 count on Friday.
“Our pitchers have been throwing strikes and our defense is fielding the ball and making the routine plays,” Birds standout 2020 right-hander/corner-infielder Max Rajcic told PG. “If we can keep doing this, I feel like we can win this tournament.”
No, despite his genuine belief that winning shouldn’t be end-all at events like this, Cosgrove doesn’t discourage that kind of talk from his players. It’s just that he sees a bigger picture here and he wants his players to take advantage of this opportunity. College recruiters turned out in force at both the Camelback Ranch and the Surprise Stadium MLB spring training complexes both Friday and Saturday.
“This is (an event) that I’ve been looking forward to for a while,” top 2020 outfielder Isaiah Greene said. “You’ve got different (colleges) out here trying to watch you … and this is a (good team). Everyone’s loose in the dugout and when we’re hanging out in the hotels. … We just want to have fun out here and do our best out here.”
The prospects filling spots on this So Cal Birds roster will remember the PG Underclass Fall National Championship Protected by G-Form as the first time they ever stepped out on the field as a unit. Cosgrove’s program is in its seventh season and, as he likes to say, he takes a different approach to the world of travel baseball.
He explained that he typically doesn’t bring his Birds teams to PG tournaments with the idea of leaving with a championship trophy. He brings teams in so the uncommitted prospects can perform in competitive game situations in front of an array of college coaches from schools all across the country.
“I don’t stack teams to try to win events but I owed it to these guys because they show up all the time to our practices and to our games on the weekend that I put together,” Cosgrove said. “They asked me to put them all together, so these are our best 2020 and 2021 guys, and it’s a really good group.”
It’s easy to point to the 2020s Rajcic and Greene as the centerpieces of this Birds team, although there are plenty of other contributors.
Rajcic is an athletic, 5-foot-10, 160-pounder out of Fullerton, Calif., who PG ranks as the No. 38 overall prospect in his class and who has committed to UCLA. He was 3-for-4 with a double, triple and five RBI in Saturday morning’s win over CBA Sacramento 2020, and was obviously enjoying himself immensely while playing under the bright sunshine coming down out of the desert sky.
“I think this is really fun; baseball is a really fun sport,” said Rajcic, who is playing in his first season with the Birds. “Especially when you win – winning is a lot of fun. We have the mentality that we’re just going to have fun, play our hardest and try to win every game.”
Greene is an equally athletic 6-foot-1, 172-pounder from Eastvale, Calif., who is ranked No. 371 nationally; he has committed to Oregon. Greene, who hits leadoff in the Birds’ lineup, was 3-for-5 (.600) with a double, two walks, two RBI and three runs scored through the first two games.
2020 middle-infielder Colby Canales is a Loyola Marymount commit ranked as a top-500 national prospect in his class. 2020 middle-infielder Ryan Ball singled three times in his first four at-bats, drove in two runs, scored one and stole two bases. 2020 infielder Hudson Lehnertz is a steady contributor and 2020 right-hander Jake Covey threw four, two-hit shutout innings, striking out eight, in Friday’s win.
“I didn’t really know everyone on this team but now we’re getting to bond with each other at the hotel,” Rajcic said. “It’s really a good group of kids.”
His head coach echoed that thought: “It’s awesome watching these kids show up and watching the leaders who gradually (emerge) over time,” Cosgrove said. “There are kids in the dugout who are involved in the games and it’s just a good dynamic. It’s a good group, a really good group of guys.”
Cosgrove enjoyed all or parts of five seasons in the big leagues (1972-76) pitching for the Houston Astros; the left-hander compiled a career record of 12-11, working most out of the pen.
He was quick to praise the work of his extended coaching staff and he likes eagerness with which his young Birds players embrace what the old guys have to share with them.
“They take in everything we say and then they use it or they don’t use it,” Cosgrove said. “It’s not like, hey, we want you to do this, it’s, hey, here’s what I did when I played so why don’t you try this or why don’t you try that.”
The So Cal Birds won their pool championship when they held on for a 7-4 win over the Queen Creek, Ariz.-based Wildfire Baseball 2020 Saturday afternoon.
They scored their seven runs on just six hits but were able to take advantage of six walks issued by Wildfire pitchers. Connor Valenzuela contributed a two-run double, Ball singled twice, drove in a run and scored two others, Rajcic singled, walked and scored twice, Corbin Ellis doubled and scored, Greene walked two more times, drove in a run and scored another and Lehnertz drove in a pair of runs without the benefit of a base hit.
Having outscored their three pool-play opponents by a combined 24-6, the Birds had to sit back and wait for the end of play Saturday before learning what seed they earned in the 14-team playoffs. It’s likely Cosgrove won’t pay a lot of attention to it regardless of where his Birds land.
“My biggest thing at the end of the year is how many kids I can help get to college; I don’t’ care about winning championships,” Cosgrove said. “My goal is to help parents help these kids, help the high school coaches and work alongside them, as well, and ultimately get them to college. So, where the program has gone and where it’s going is off the charts.
“It’s a different type of program, but they all have the opportunity to show up every week and work on their game,” Cosgrove said. “If they can’t appreciate that then they’re in the wrong program.”