Smith to play in Western Major Baseball League

Ryan Smith will be spending this summer in Canada as a member of the Yorkton Cardinals, who play in the Western Major Baseball League.

The 2006 Fallbrook High School graduate, who is currently a freshman at Butte Community College in Oroville, will be one of 22 players on the Yorkton roster.

“I’m excited,” Smith said. “Everything is working out so far.”

Smith was a shortstop on the Fallbrook High School varsity team for four years, concluding his high school career with the Warriors’ loss to Poway in the 2006 CIF Division I finals. Although there wasn’t an opening for Smith at Palomar Community College, Butte College coach Anthony Ferro contacted Palomar coach Buck Taylor about Butte’s player needs. That produced an opportunity for Smith. “I was looking for a place to play, and Buck just hooked us up,” Smith said.

Ferro initially planned for Smith to be the backup third baseman this year, but Smith was Butte’s starting shortstop by the sixth game of the season. “I just worked hard and worked my way into the starting lineup,” Smith said.

In addition to playing shortstop, Smith was also communicating with Yorkton head coach Bill Sobkow through electronic mail. “Our organization is very pleased to have a player of Ryan’s capability with us for the summer,” Sobkow said.

The process for college summer leagues begins in September, when college players are placed in the Cape Cod League and the Alaska Summer League. Those two leagues have agreements with college teams, and after those rosters have been filled other summer leagues begin the process of acquiring players for the following summer.

“The process really starts on October the first,” Sobkow said.

Sobkow has a list of college coaches he contacts. “I just tell them the position players that I need, and then I start getting responses,” he said.

Those college players, most of whom attend schools in the eastern part of the United States, didn’t provide the middle infielder Sobkow needed. “I was at the right place at the right time. He was looking for a shortstop,” Smith said.

Sobkow spoke to Smith in January after Smith had initiated the contact. “From there I talked to his parents and then I did a little bit more research on him,” Sobkow said. “He was a pretty decent baseball player.”

Sobkow extended the invitation. “Didn’t hesitate,” Smith said.

This year teams in the Western Major Baseball League will have 12 American players and 10 Canadian players. Four of the Yorkton team members will be from California; Smith will be joined by University of California Riverside catcher Michael Brezden (who attended Canyon High School in Anaheim), UCR pitcher Aaron Edwards (a Wildomar resident who graduated from Elsinore High School in Lake Elsinore), and Torrance High School graduate Gary Valadez, a catcher who currently plays at Yavapai Community College in Prescott, Arizona. All four California players are freshmen.

The Western Major Baseball League includes both freshmen and upperclassmen, but Sobkow notes the value of freshmen players. “I like them because they’re willing to learn,” he said. “It’s kind of new to them, so they’re very devoted.”

Sobkow clarified that upperclassmen are also willing to learn. The Western Major Baseball League even has a handful of seniors, allowing those seniors to receive exposure from the nearby Northern League, an independent minor league. Yorkton players have also ended up with the Long Beach Armada of the independent Golden Baseball League.

“It’s like pretty much equivalent to ‘A’ ball in minors,” Smith said of the Western Major Baseball League, which in 2007 will consist of 11 teams.

(The Class A minor league designation includes both full-season Class A leagues, such as the California League, and short-season Class A circuits, such as the Northwest League.)

Yorkton’s roster in 2004 included pitcher Anthony Claggett, who was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 2005. Claggett spent two seasons with farm teams of the Tigers, and in November he was traded to the New York Yankees as part of the deal which brought Gary Sheffield to Detroit.

“It’s going to be a pretty great experience. A lot of exposure,” Smith said of playing in the Western Major Baseball League.

Sobkow said that he might also use Smith as a second baseman on occasion.

Spending the summer in Canada isn’t without drawbacks. “My parents are just a little sad they’re not going to see me,” Smith said. “I’m only going to be here for four days.”

The season begins June 1 and runs for 2 1/2 months, through mid-August. Smith will need to be in Yorkton on May 29, and school ends May 24.

Smith hopes that he won’t even have four days in Fallbrook before leaving for Yorkton. Although Butte’s regular season ends May 3, the junior college state championship is scheduled for May 28. That would necessitate Smith taking a red-eye flight after the state championship, which some Western Major Baseball League players had to do in 2006. “It would be actually nice,” Smith said of that scenario.

He is currently focusing on his college season but looking forward to the summer league. “Counting down the days,” he said.

“I’m excited about the fact that Ryan is coming to our team,” Sobkow said. “We’re just hoping that he can make some real great progress here.”