DiMatteo to the Frontier

Former California University of Pennsylvania standout outfielder Sam DiMatteo (picture) has signed a contract with the Traverse City beach Bums of the Frontier League.

DiMatteo played his first season of professional baseball this year. He was in spring training with the Washington Nationals but was released. He eventually found a spot on the roster of the Ruidoso Osos of the independent Pecos League. DiMatteo played in 40 games for Ruidoso, batting .333 with eight home runs, 29 RBI and eight stolen bases.

DiMatteo was one of the best players Cal has ever produced. The Beaver County native was the first player in PSAC history to steal 100 bases in a career, and batted .375 with 31 home runs and 161 RBI. He helped Cal win the PSAC championship in 2010.

This is a good signing by Traverse City. Based on what he did at Cal, I felt DiMatteo was good enough to make a Frontier League roster and contribute.

It always could be worse

Warning: This is not a post about the Frontier League or the Wild Things, though you might think differently about each after reading the following:

Minor-league baseball is filled with thousands of interesting stories, with most prompting the same question: Why do people do this for a living? It doesn't matter if the story is about a player, coach, umpire, owner ... you often wonder if the time and effort is worth the reward.

With that in mind, the following are links to two stories that I came across while searching for information about two players, former California University standout outfielder Sam DiMatteo and ex-Wild Things utility player Joel Hartman. Neither story is about DiMatteo or Hartman, who are currently playing in the Pecos League, an independent circuit with teams in New Mexico and west Texas. This is the bottom of the ladder in independent baseball.

The first link is a story about the Pecos League having a traveling team that played three "home games" in Carlsbad (N.M.). The second link is to press release that actually appeared on the league's website. You'll be be shaking your head in disbelief after each story. I know I was.

Read the Carlsbad story here.


Read the website story here.