The Other Side of Baseball: Women’s Pro Ball, Collegiate Summer League, Minor League Play, Ed. 2

Hey folks, welcome to the second installment of a new series, The Other Side of Baseball: A Look at Non- MLB Play. This time, it is all written by me. At times, I will use ChatGPT to find the best in baseball that isn’t MLB. AI will be edited by me and noted as ChatGPT-generated.

Leading off are the new kids on the block

Women’s Pro Baseball League

The WPBL continues to gear up for its inaugural season that begins Aug.1. "August 1st isn't just the WPBL’s Opening Day,” WPBL Commissioner Justine Siegal said. “It’s the day we build on history.”

The four teams set to make that history a reality are the Boston Hunters, Los Angeles Queens, New York Heights and San Fransico Firebells.

A recent presser adds depth to the team names.

The Boston franchise is known as the Hunters to honor Harriot K. Hunt, “the first woman to apply to Harvard Medical School (1847) and establish a successful medical practice in the U.S (1835),” the presser explained. 

It was the Queen of the Diamond, Lizzie Murphy, for whom the LA Queens are named.  Murphy made her mark by being the first woman to compete against major league players on Aug. 14, 1922.

The NY Heights drew their name from the life of Dorothy Irene Height (1912-2010), “a pioneering civil rights and women’s rights leader from New York,” the presser reads.

The San Fran Firebells used Lillie Hitchcock Coit’s nickname “Firebelle.” Coit (1843-1929) was a champion of San Francisco’s volunteer firefighters and benefactor of the Coit Tower.

The quartet will play a 30-game schedule followed by a post-season with round one slated for Sept. 9. All four teams make the playoffs.

The first round is a three-game set pitting the first-place team against the last-place team, while the second and third-place teams duke it out.

The five-game Championship Series begins Sept 16.

All regular season and postseason games will be played at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois.

Robin Roberts seats 5,200, is 320 ft down the lines, and 415 ft to centerfield. The Women's Baseball World Cup is played on fields that are 290 to 330 ft. down the lines and 360 to 400 ft. dead center. I have reached out to the league asking if the WPBL will alter the stadium’s dimensions.

WPBL Notes: The league will have trading cards; players are currently making promotional appearances; the WPBL has chosen the following players as names to know: Kelsie Whitmore in San Francisco, Mo’ne Davis with Los Angeles and on the East Coast, New York’s Denea Benites and Boston’s Lexi Hastings.

On July 8, the WPBL held a press conference in Manhattan to announce team names and branding.

Another new league is in the two-hole for this edition of The Other Side of Baseball.

Orange State League and New Smyrna Gnarlies

Recently, I had the pleasure of taking in my second NS Gnarlies game. They play in the new wood bat Orange State League. The Florida-based league features collegiate players who exhibit a good deal of hustle in a run-and-gun playing style.

What I found the same at both games were the beautiful Florida evenings, highlighted by the setting sun, a light breeze, friendly crowd, cheers of encouragement from coaches, players and fans, and affordably priced tickets. It adds up to the Gnarlies' home games at the New Smyrna

Beach Sports Complex being a great experience.

Unfortunately, the Gnarlies are in last place within the four-team league with a 4-9 record.

It is the oldest city in the continental U.S. that has the best team in the Orange State League, St. Augustine. The Sardines are up on top with an 11-3 record, followed by the Cocoa Tailgators (7-8) and Palm Coast Big Buoys at 6-8.

The Gnarlies' home games this week are on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with a 7 p.m. start time. Thursday’s game has intrigue as the Gnarlies play the first-place Sardines. Two of St. Augustine's three losses have come at the hands of the Gnarlies.

On the year, NS has averaged 8.1 runs per game while allowing 9.62. St. Augustine checks in with a 12.1 runs-per-game average whilst getting dinged for about half that, at 6.29. Just for kicks, those stats indicate a final score of St. Augustine Sardines 11 – New Smyrna Gnarlies 7.

The picture-perfect game-day experience at the New Smyrna Beach Sports Complex. Home of the NS Gnarlies.

Unlike the OSL or the WPBL, the Florida State League isn’t new.

It has a tradition that can be traced to 1892, delivering many great players to MLB. Let’s take a look at a few players who would like to be added to the list of great FSL players.

Daytona Tortugas

The Cincinnati Reds-affiliated Daytona Tortugas have gone 6-3 since we last met, with a possible seventh win halted due to lightning and rain.

On Sunday, July 12, Daytona was besting the St. Louis-affiliated Palm Beach Cardinals, 2-0 after three innings, when the game was suspended. The balance of the game will be played on August 11.

The Tortugas' second-half record is 11-8, good for second place in the Florida State League’s East Division, a mere half-game back of Palm Beach.

Ty Doucette is leading the way on offense. The Canadian-born first baseman is swatting .301 with a .928 OPS. He won Player of the Week for the week of June 29th through July 5th.

When it comes to Daytona moundsmen, we first want to acknowledge the July 2 promotion of Tortugas righty reliever Brady Afthim. The most recent Tortugas pitcher highlighted in this blog, Afthim’s promotion takes the 23-year-old from Daytona to Dayton, Illinois.

Given that this was his first full season in Daytona, I expected he’d stay with the Tortugas for a bit longer. “However, if he keeps up the good mound work, he could be joining (Jacob) Friend in Dayton before the season is over,” I wrote on June 28,

Who is the guy to keep your pitching eye on now? I like 20-year-old righty Sheng-En Lin.

Born in Taiwan, Lin has played some outfield, shortstop and designated hitter since turning pro. This season, though, he is strictly pitching, to the tune of a 3.84 ERA, with a 1.459 WHIP.

Those numbers seem a little high for the No.9 prospect. However, he grades well per MLB Pipeline. They write that Lin has “shown an impressive feel for pitching with a three-pitch mix he can use to fill up the strike zone.”

All affiliated minor league baseball has paused, simultaneous to MLB’s pausing play for the All-Star Game. Daytona picks up the action in Jupiter against the Hammerheads this Friday. The Miami Marlins FSL entry is 8-13 in second-half play, landing the Hammerheads as a third-place team within the league's four-team Eastern Division.

Be sure to see RHP Sheng-En Lin play for the Daytona Tortugas. Signed by Cincinnati in '23 as an international free agent for $1.4M, he might not be in the FSL for long.

There is no one better to be handed the cleanup spot in this edition of our look around non-MLB play other than Coach David Valdez

A Conversation With Staten Island FerryHawks Hitting Coach David Valdez

David Valdez took a minute to field a phone call from yours truly late last week. We discussed the recent signing by the Pittsburgh Pirates of FerryHawks Outfielder Joshua Palacios and the Milwaukee Brewers promotion of Louis Lara from their AAA Nashville Sounds.

Coach Valdez has worked with both.

In fact, when Carlos Mirabal was hired to manage the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball’s Staten Island FerryHawks, he called Valdez and explained he had “one thing” for Coach Valdez to do.

“This kid, Joshua Palacios,” Coach Valdez recalled Mirabal saying.  “I think if you work with him, he can go back to the major league because I think you're the only person who can straighten out his head, his playing style.”

Prior to signing with the Staten Island FerryHawks, Palacios had spent parts of five seasons in the majors. The work coach Valdez and Palacios put in resulted in a .339 batting average with a 1055 OPS in 145 plate appearances.

On July 7, Palacios signed with the Pirates for the second time in his career. That doesn’t give the 30-year-old outfielder enough time to accumulate significant statistics. In a scant 17 ABs, he has two hits playing for the Pirates AAA Indianapolis Indians.

Coach Valdez said Palacios can adjust to any pitching style as he is backed by a rare combination of hitting for average and power and being a good baserunner. Valdez concluded, “The guy is a workaholic and he’s very coachable.”

When in the employ of the Milwaukee Brewers Coach Valdez filed the organization’s first scouting report on Outfielder Louis Lara. Valdez said the 21-year-old Lara is an amazing person who does everything with love and intensity.

Lara was the 67th overall prospect in baseball at the time of his promotion from Nashville to Milwaukee. As his MLB Pipeline scouting report indicates, he is known more for his glove than his bat.

Milwaukee outfielder Luis Lara (left) and Staten Island hitting coach David Valdez as members of Milwaukee's Class A Carolina Mudcats in August 2023.

Coach David Valdez, a regular on my The Opinion Guy Tuesday Baseball show before he was hired by the FerryHawks, is enjoying his time with the team: “Excellent people here,” he commented.

Charles I. Guarria is an author, reporter and host based in the state of Florida, USA, covering any topic, anywhere in the world. His career began in 2009. Mr. Guarria is a three-time winner of Emerald Group Publishing’s Highly Commended Award and host of The Opinion Guy Fun Friendly Informative. He is available for hire to write, research, or beta-read. 

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Photo credits: David Valdez, CPBL, WPBL, Me

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