Nava Getting Some All-Star Buzz; Speculating on Cities for New Diamond League

As strange as it would have seemed a few months ago, onetime Independent leaguer Daniel Nava is getting attention for major league baseball’s All-Star Game.

It still is a long shot for the Boston Red Sox outfielder and occasional first baseman to be part of the July 16 contest at Citi Field in New York since he was not even assured of being on the roster when spring training started and thus is not on the All-Star ballot.  But this did not keep The Boston Globe from a recent headline saying “Daniel Nava keeps playing like an all-star”, nor writer Peter Abraham from saying the 30-year-old, who started his pro career in Chico, CA of the defunct Golden League, “is indespensible now” to the team with the best record in the American League.

Abraham pointed out at the time of his story that the switch hitter ranked “first among American League outfielders in on-base percentage, second in RBIs, second in batting average and fourth in OPS” and even though Nava has struggled in recent games he has a career-high 10 home runs (second on the team) and 45 RBI (third) while hitting .281 and he is getting on base at a .381 clip.

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  Diamond League Formed, But Cities Not Identified

We can only speculate about most of the possible cities, but we do know some more details about Frank Boulton’s new league for professional players 21-25 years old.  It will be called the Diamond League, teams supposedly will be unveiled in August for a six-team, 60-game startup schedule next year, then, hopefully, jumping to eight teams and 84 games a year later.

“Worcester‘s chances of being part of the six teams that we announce in August are very good,” Boulton told The Telegram and Gazette in that Western Massachusetts city.  The newspaper reported Boulton, who will serve as CEO of the Diamond League, said local ownership would be preferred, but the league’s business partners have the financial ability to own all six teams for the first year, if necessary.

Speculation of other possible markets has included Atlantic City, NJ and Sussex County (Augusta, NY), and such markets as Brockton and Pittsfield in Massachusetts might be attractive although they have moved from professional leagues to the collegiate Futures League, where economics are much better for smaller cities.  This corner speculates current Atlantic League member Bridgeport, CT could be a candidate since Boulton owns it and attendance has dwindled in recent years.  Also, the Atlantic League will be adding the Loudoun Hounds (Ashburn, VA) next season which would throw it into an awkward nine-team scheduling problem unless another new market is developed by that time.

Second Can-Am Grad on Fire in Triple-A

Teammate Chris Colabello has gotten most of the attention, but another Can-Am League grad, Andrew Albers of Quebec, is on a run of his own in the International League, winning his last six decisions (in seven starts) to improve his record at Rochester, NY to 6-2 with a 3.00 earned run average.  The southpaw, only 27, has been even better his last three times out with a nine-inning six-hit shutout June 7 followed by two-run performances in his next two starts.  He has a 1.61 ERA in that 22.1 inning span in which he has given up 14 hits and three walks while striking out 17 hitters.

Meanwhile, Colabello is back on top in the Triple-A league with a .358 average and he has 21 doubles, 14 home runs, 53 RBI and a .424 on-base percentage despite being on a shuttle for a few weeks between Rochester and the parent Twins.

By BOB DUTTON The Kansas City Star

Updated: 2013-03-26T05:37:57Z

           (This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes year round on Independent Baseball.  Forty columns are planned during 2013.  Fans may subscribe at newly-reduced rates at www.WirzandAssociates.com, enjoy added stories on the blog www.IndyBaseballChatter.com, or comment to RWirz@aol.com.  The author has 16 years of major league baseball public relations experience with Kansas City and as spokesman for two Commissioners and lives in Stratford, CT.)