The familiar pings of the metal bats aren’t being heard in Alex Box Stadium right now. But the crack of wooden Louisville Sluggers and the popping of the mitts of the Tigers can be heard across the country as summer ball is well under way.Fifteen Tigers are across the country, from Alaska to Massachusetts, playing in summer leagues with college players from across the nation.LSU coach Paul Mainieri said it’s a great way for the players, especially freshmen who didn’t play much during the season, to gain experience against the best competition in the country.”It’s important because it’s repetition,” Mainieri said. “The more you play this game, if you go about your business the right way, you should improve. I’ve felt that players always come back to our team in the fall as a better player than when they left because you get the experience of playing … 40 games in the summer.”Players get picked for the league by their college coaches and the people who run the teams in the various summer leagues. Placement generally happens in August or September for the following summer.The most well-known summer league is the Cape Cod League in Massachusetts.Mainieri said most players want to go there, but the league typically takes players that were drafted out of high school or players that came to college with a stellar reputation.”It’s probably not even good for everyone to go there because it’s important that they get an opportunity to play a lot,” Mainieri said. “If they don’t match up with some of the players on their team, they sit on the bench all summer, and that doesn’t do them any good.”Five Tigers are currently in the Cape Cod League: Micah Gibbs, Austin Ross and Tyler Hanover are on the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox while Daniel Bradshaw and Leon Landry are on the Harwich Mariners.The players room with a teammate in a host family’s house. Gibbs said he is rooming with UC Irvine infielder Brian Hernandez.”We’ve gotten to know each other pretty well,” Gibbs said. “I’m glad that I do have a roommate just so that we can take everything in stride together. It’s not ideal living conditions, but I’m sure I’ll have to get used to it in the minors.”One thing the players in all leagues have to learn to get used to is playing with wooden bats instead of the metal bats they use in collegiate ball.”The wood bat has a lot less room for error when it comes to squaring balls up and hitting them on the barrel,” said Gibbs, who had a two-homer game last week. “With a metal bat, you can miss it by a couple of inches and still almost hit it out.”Pitcher Ben Alsup — who is in the playing in the Valley League in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia with infielder Johnny Dishon — said there’s not necessarily a difference in the way he approaches throwing to a batter with a wooden bat. But the high talent level in the summer league makes consistently hitting his target all the more important.”We have kids from all over the country and from big name schools,” Alsup said. “You have a lot of great pitchers and great hitters, including guys with double-digit home runs up here.”Dishon is on the Staunton Braves, and Alsup is on the Luray Wranglers, and said he has been in Luray, Va., for about three weeks.Alsup has pitched in both closing and starting roles.”I’m pitching whenever the team needs me,” Alsup said. “It’s pretty much whatever helps the team most.”And as the games end each day for Alsup and players in the Cape Cod League, the day is still young in Alaska, where Chris Matulis is pitching in the Alaska Baseball League for the Anchorage Bucs.Matulis said he’s been getting in a lot of work on his mechanics and is progressing well toward meeting his goals for next season despite dealing with unpredictable weather.”It can be very cold one day in the 50s and windy or rainy, and then the next day it will be in the 70s with no clouds at all. It’s like, ‘How does that happen?,'” Matulis said. “I’m getting used to the whole time change and being three hours behind LSU and four hours behind home … It doesn’t really get dark around here until much later, so I’m wearing my sunglasses during a 10 [p.m.] game.”While there are numerous upsides to playing summer ball, Mainieri pointed out the negative aspect – injuries.Freshman pitcher Shane Riedie, who made an all-star team playing with the Hannibal Cavemen in the Prospect League, had to return back home last week with a sore elbow.”I worry sometimes about the pitchers because they may not be giving themselves the proper arm care when they are gone,” Mainieri said. “We aren’t there to watch over them and make sure they do things properly, and the coaches there may not put the pitchers’ health first and foremost like we would here at LSU.”
LIFE IN THE MINORSFour former Tigers are also getting accustomed to life on the road.Jared Mitchell, Sean Ochinko, Nolan Cain and Louis Coleman have all embarked on their pursuit of the majors in minor league ball.Cain is pitching for the Lakeland (Fla.) Flying Tigers in the Class A Advanced Florida State League. Through Monday afternoon, he had thrown 3 2/3 innings, giving up one hit and striking out three batters.”It was a blessing because it’s always been a dream of mine to get a chance to play professional baseball,” Cain said in an e-mail to The Daily Reveille. “I’m just happy to still be playing.”Ochinko has been assigned to the Auburn (N.Y.) Doubledays in the Class A New York-Penn League. He is batting .214 (3-for-14) with a double through Monday afternoon.Mitchell, the No. 23 overall selection in June’s draft, signed a contract with the Chicago White Sox last Wednesday and has been assigned to the Kannapolis Intimidators.Chicago’s selection of the New Iberia native made him the first LSU player selected in the first round since Toronto chose Aaron Hill in 2003.Coleman, the only senior drafted from the 2009 LSU team, signed with the Kansas City Royals on Monday.The fifth-round pick has been assigned to the Royals’ Class-A affiliate, the Burlington Bees in Burlington, Iowa.And with the August 15 signing deadline approaching fast, DJ LeMahieu and Ryan Schimpf are close to time to choose whether to stay or leave LSU’s program.Designated hitter Blake Dean decided Friday to hang around for his senior season after being drafted to the Minnesota Twins in the 10th round. But Mainieri said both LeMahieu, a second-round pick to the Chicago Cubs, and Schimpf, a third-round pick to the Toronto Blue Jays, should be signing with their respective clubs within the next month.”I think something is going to happen here pretty soon with both of them,” Mainieri said. “From my understandings about the negotiations with their teams, they are pretty close. I wouldn’t say it’s imminent, but I would say that sometime within the next month, you will see something happen with both of them.”—-Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]