Brian Bent

T.J. Hose

Danny Leatherman

Danny Leatherman played for the Mid-Atlantic Red Sox in the fall of 2002.  The Walkersville High School (MD) graduate went on to a successful career at West Virginia University before signing as a free agent with the Minnesota Twins in 2006.  In 2006, Leatherman started his pro career with the GCL Twins and earned a promotions to Class A Elizabethtown and then Class A Beloit, going a combined 4-1 with a 1.40 ERA as a reliever.  In 2007, Leatherman played a full season for the Class A Beloit Snappers.  The 6’2” 210lbs. RHP posted a 7-4 record with a 3.89 ERA.  Leatherman was released by the Twins in spring training of 2008.  He quickly signed with the Washington Nationals.  He started 2008 with Class A Hagerstown and earned a promotion to Class A Advanced Potomac after posting a 2.68 ERA.  In 2009, Leatherman went 6-1 as a reliever for Class A Advanced Potomac earning him a promotion to Class AA Harrisburg.  Leatherman posted a 3.25 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 72 innings pitched.

   

Adam Mills

Brett Sellers, an outfielder for James Madison University (VA), signed a free agent contract with the Washington Nationals.  Sellers, from Greencastle, PA, played for the Mid-Atlantic Red Sox before attending Potomac State Junior College (WV) and then James Madison.  Sellers hit .217 for the GCL Nationals in 2008.  Sellers was released following the 2008 season.

Nate Starner

Nate Starner, a 6’2” 190lbs. Left-handed pitcher, played for the Mid-Atlantic Red Sox in the fall of 2001.  Starner went on to play college ball at Shippensburg University (PA) before signing a free agent contract in 2006 with the Toronto Blue Jays.  Starner started his pro career in 2006 as a relief pitcher with Class A Pulaski earning a promotion to short season A Auburn.  In 2007, Starner was promoted again to Class A Lansing as a starter.  Starner went 12-9 with a 4.43 ERA for the Lugnuts.  He recorded 143 strikeouts in 140.1 innings pitched.  In 2008, Starner returned to Lansing before earning a promotion to the Class A Advanced Dunedin Blue Jays of the Florida State League.  Starner had 5-4 record with a 1.76 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 102.1 innings pitched over the two levels in 2008.  In 2009, Starner was promoted mid-season from Dunedin to Class AA New Hampshire.  Pitching mostly as a reliever, Starner posted a 1-3 record, 2 saves, a 4.28 ERA, and 41 strikeouts in 67.1 innings pitched.  

Brian Valichka

Sam Walls

The Red Sox will play 3 games on the weekend, all at the National Training Complex.  The four field complex has hosted some of the best amateur players in the country including an NCAA Regional, NCAA Super Regional, and International competition from the USA Summer Collegiate Team.  The Red Sox play against the Dirtbag 18’s (NC) and #7 nationally ranked Richmond Braves (VA) on Saturday, and the #5 nationally ranked Dirtbags (NC) on Sunday.

 

Cody Wheeler Makes USA National Collegiate Team Roster

CARY, N.C. – Mid-Atlantic Red Sox alumni and Coastal Carolina University left-handed pitcher Cody Wheeler (Spotsylvania, Va./Spotsylvania) has made the 22-man roster for the 2009 USA Baseball National Collegiate Team. 

Wheeler was one of 10 pitchers and one of only two left-handed pitchers to make the team.   Wheeler was 10-1 with a 3.83 earned-run average in 15 starts this season for the Chanticleers.  The Big South Pitcher of the Year has struck out a team and conference high 98 batters in 91.2 innings pitched this year.  Wheeler pitched a complete-game no-hitter in a 4-0 win over Hawai’i March 26 and was named National Pitcher of the Week.  He also had seven-inning, one-hit performances in wins over Stony Brook and VMI.  Wheeler was 7-0 in Big South games and has 63 strikeouts in 57 innings pitched in conference matchups.  He was named the Big South Pitcher of the Week three times this season.  The Chanticleer opponents hit just .222 off Wheeler.  He was named a Louisville Slugger Third Team All-American and was an All-Atlantic Region First Team member.   

Wheeler, expected to be a top draft choice in 2010 following his junior season at Coastal Carolina, left the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod League to put on the red, white, and blue of Team USA.   

   

The Mid-Atlantic Red Sox program has now had 17 players selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft, including 8 in the last two years.  The Red Sox have also had 3 players sign as undrafted free agents.  The program’s rich 10-year tradition has produced over 200 collegiate baseball players from the Mid-Atlantic area.

 

Ryan Woolley – Atlanta Braves, 6^th Round

A right-handed pitcher from Montclair, Va., Woolley was taken with the 178th overall pick. 

Despite not pitching in 2009, Woolley becomes the highest draft pick in the history of the Mid-Atlantic Red Sox baseball program.  Branden Kline was also selected in the sixth round but was taken 20 spots lower with the 198th overall pick by the Boston Red Sox. 

Woolley sat out the 2009 season due to NCAA transfer rules after joining the Blazers from the University of Georgia, where he appeared in 22 games over his freshman and sophomore seasons. He has not appeared in a game at UAB. 

Woolley has two years of college eligibility remaining and now has the option to sign with the Braves or to return to school at UAB. In addition to his baseball ability, he also succeeded in the classroom, posting a 4.0 GPA in the fall semester and a 3.57 mark in the spring. 

 

Branden Kline – Boston Red Sox, 6^th Round

The 6’3”, 185-pound right-hander, who is committed to play at Virginia, sits in the low 90’s with his fastball, and touched 95 mph during the spring.  In 41 innings his senior season, Kline allowed just three runs and 16 hits, striking out 79 batters and going 6-1.  

Even though Kline has been drafted, as expected, he has indicated that it will take a hefty signing bonus to lure him away from the University of Virginia. 

Kline and the Red Sox have until Aug. 15 to work out a contract, should Kline consider forgoing college and launching his professional career.  If he doesn't sign by that date, his name will be thrown back into the pool of prospects, and he is eligible to be re-drafted or signed as a free agent following his junior year of college. 

"In my heart, I hope he goes to college," Linda Kline said. "But it's his decision; whatever he decides."   

 

On Monday, Brandon King hadn’t given much thought to being picked in the Major League Baseball amateur draft that began Tuesday. 

The Washington Nationals gave the new Martinsburg High School graduate just a little extra to think about after they selected him to start the 27th round on Wednesday.  King, a pitcher and third baseman in high school, was drafted as a pitcher.  

A day after selecting Stephen Strasburg with the No. 1 pick and Drew Storen with the 10th pick, the Nationals continued to draft pitchers and added King to the list.  

Whether he signs remains a question.  King was the 802nd player drafted and was the 14th of 16 pitchers taken by Washington in the first two days.  

King tossed a one-hitter as Martinsburg defeated Logan 8-1 in the West Virginia Class AAA state semifinals.  Martinsburg went on to win the state title.  

He ended the prep season with a .454 batting average and led the state with his 15 home runs and 55 RBIs. He also walked 18 times and scored a staggering 53 runs in 37 games.  

King and the University of Tennessee recently agreed on a release from a previous scholarship and he is in the process of working through other scholarship offers.  

 

 Josh Conway – Atlanta Braves, 42^nd Round

Round, 1258th overall. 

Conway was a two-sport star at Smithsburg.  He excelled as a wide receiver and defensive back on the football team. 

On the baseball field, he went 4-0, had an ERA of 1.00, and had 52 strikeouts in 35 innings pitched.  At the plate, he batted .500 with 5 homeruns, 19 RBIs, 29 runs, and 16 steals. 

“I’m happy and excited just to be drafted,” said the Smithsburg graduate.  “There are so many guys that get drafted you just have to be excited to be a part of it.” 

Conway, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound pitcher/outfielder, was selected by the Braves as an outfielder.  He had recently visited Turner Field, home of the Braves, for a workout in front of Atlanta scouts. 

Now, Conway must decide by Aug. 15 whether he’ll accept the Braves’ offer, but history has shown that players drafted in later rounds who are graduating from high school, like Conway’s situation, usually end up heading to college.  Conway said if there is not signature on a contract’s dotted line, he would begin a summer semester class at Coastal Carolina on July 11.  

Edgin was selected as the seventh pick in the 50th round (No. 1498 overall).  Edgin, a native of Three Springs, Pa., posted a 4-2 record this past season with a 4.04 earned run average.  He appeared in 16 games, making 11 starts, and struck out 57 batters in 69 innings.  Opponents batted .234 against him.  

His two best starts may have been the final two of the season.  He allowed only three hits and one run in seven innings while fanning nine in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament championship game, leading FMU to the title and earning a spot on the All-Tournament Team.  Four days later, he tossed a two-hit shutout (5-0 FMU win) against nationally ranked Tusculum College in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional.  

Edgin has the option of signing with the Braves or returning to Francis Marion for his senior year. 

Edgin is the 8^th Red Sox player to be drafted in the past 2 years. 

 

 

Pitching Decision Awaits for Thomas Johnson Ace

 

 

Thomas Johnson H.S. Senior Potential MLB Draft Pick 

Thomas Johnson High School senior Branden Kline is a potential high draft pick in next month’s Major League Baseball draft. He has accepted a scholarship to play for Virginia, but now faces the choice of skipping college and signing a contract worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

By Josh Barr 

The first time Branden Kline took the mound for Thomas Johnson this spring, the scene was typical for an early-season high school baseball game: a relatively sparse crowd made up of mostly classmates, friends and relatives. 

A month later, those crowds are larger, and now include about two dozen mostly middle-aged men, toting notebooks, video cameras and radar guns. They scrutinize Kline's every move, from how he throws in the bullpen and swings in the on-deck circle, to the release point of his 90 mph fastball, to how fast he gets himself down to first base on a hit. 

All of a sudden, a 17-year-old who was barely on the map for some major league scouts has become a hot commodity as the start of the first-year player draft approaches on June 9. Scouts are flocking to Frederick to witness his last few pitching appearances, often bringing their bosses and sometimes their bosses' bosses to get a second or third evaluation before Kline's season ends. 

"We didn't think he would be this kind of kid," one scout said on the condition of anonymity because area scouts generally are not authorized to discuss prospects. "He's the flavor of the week. Heck, he's the flavor of the month." 

Kline has shot up the charts to the point that some scouts project him being selected in the first five rounds, with an accompanying signing bonus well into six figures if he chooses to turn professional and skip college. He already has accepted a scholarship to play for the University of Virginia, but the opportunity to immediately begin the pursuit of a major league dream can be enticing. 

"When I was young, I always wanted to play some type of professional sport," said Kline, who has a 6-1 record and has allowed just three earned runs and 16 hits with 79 strikeouts in 41 innings, though he was scratched from today's scheduled start because of a slightly strained elbow, according to Coach Jim Foit. 

"As I got older and older, I noticed how good the kids were coming out of high school. But now [being included in that group is] a high possibility. It feels pretty cool knowing you could get drafted coming out of high school, but there is a lot of pressure with people asking me what I'm going to do. 

"It's actually something I have had to sit down and talk to my parents about. It's getting real serious, thinking about the pros and cons of going to the pros against going to college first." 

Not that Kline's situation is unprecedented. Danny Hultzen, last season's All-Met Player of the Year, went from totally unknown to potential first-round draft pick. With concerns that he was unlikely to sign a pro contract, Hultzen slipped to the 10th round, where he was picked by the Arizona Diamondbacks before turning down their contract offers to follow through on his scholarship to play for Virginia. 

While Kline has indicated to scouts that he also wants to go to college, some teams likely still will pursue him because of his talent. His parents, Linda Kline and Gary Bowens, also would like to see their son attend Virginia. 

"For me, growing up, I didn't have a chance to go to a university," Linda Kline said. "I would like for him to go to college and get a good education. Plus, he'll get more experience with baseball on a higher level. It wouldn't be going from high school to the minor leagues. That would be nerve-wracking. I never thought his playing ball would get this far." 

The decision to possibly put off college is one Kline never anticipated having to make, even after his senior season started. That's not to say he wasn't a good player, because Kline often played against older competition and has spent the past two falls playing on a well-known travel team, the Mid-Atlantic Red Sox, which draws players from all over the East Coast and has sent 40 players to NCAA Division I programs the past two years, according to General Manager Allen Haines. But in the 10 years of the Red Sox, Kline could be the highest draft pick. 

"I saw his potential, but I never thought he could do this," said Haines, noting that Kline threw in the low- to mid-80s when he invited Kline to join the Red Sox. "I saw a projectable kid with potential." 

That's the same thing pro scouts see now. Although Haines set up Kline with a pitching coach for offseason workouts -- Clear Spring Coach Mark Shives, who played at Florida International -- scouts still consider Kline a raw talent, not a polished pitcher. They like his arm strength and velocity. While Kline is 6 feet 3 and 185 pounds, he is still growing. With proper nutrition and a dedicated weightlifting regimen, scouts envision him adding another 25 pounds, perhaps adding even more velocity to a fastball often in the low 90s that requires his catcher to wear two batting gloves for padding under his catcher's mitt. 

It was after Kline hit 95 in a game at Hedgesville, W.Va., that things took off. A few scouts had started to trickle in to see Kline, but word of his performance against Hedgesville quickly made it through the tight-knit scouting community. For his next start against Tuscarora, about 25 scouts and a potential agent were on hand. Ditto his following start last week against North Carroll. 

"In the fall I knew pro scouts would come out and look at our team, but I never thought I would be one of the guys they would be looking at to draft high," Kline said. "I got a couple questionnaires in the fall, but I didn't think anything about it. I figured they just wanted to know my info." 

Now they want to know more. They will watch an inning or two from behind the plate, then move to a spot down the foul lines to get a different vantage point. From any angle, they've seen the emergence of a pitcher.