Fall Combine & Free Agency Recap

Free Agents in attendance:

Matt “Gusto” Gustavson – Bats: R Throws: R / City preference: Eagan

He’s the well traveled vet of the group. I do believe he is the only player in the league to play for 5 different franchises. Let’s see if we can’t make it a 6th. (See the Marlins team page for more info)

Joel Brown (age: 20) – Bats: R Throws: R / City preference: Eagan

Joel showed decent power during BP and during the combine’s “game” of HRL vets versus the potential Newbies he had a few hits as well. He lives in Eagan not far from Sky Hill and I believe he will turn 21 by the time the season starts. He mentioned that his friend Cliff and his brother may be interested in joining the league as well.  

(The following 3 would like to be considered as a potential replacement for the team opening in Hopkins. They also have a 4th player named Bill)

JR Westberg (age: 26) – Bats: R Throws: R

TJ (age: 25) – Bats S? Throws: R

Rob (age: 26) – Bats: L Throws: L

These three guys look like they would have the skills to compete with just about anyone in league and from what they tell me their fourth player “Bill” (not in attendance) is the most skilled of them all. You could see that they were excited to be on the field playing a game they love. “We’d quit softball for this,” said JR at one point. They were very eager to learn the rules of the HRL and were quite obliging whenever someone mentioned a rule they needed to heed (ball in hand / speed limit). They all seem to have good power and JR had some good stuff on the mound. They have been playing pickup wiffleball together for years and at one point had visions of putting together their own league.   Rob knows about Trees. TJ played SS for Mankato in college. JR is excited that someone emailed him back after 4-5 years. 

Other Free Agents:

Paul “New Guy” Seika (age 29) – Bats: R Throws: R / City preference: Hopkins

“New Guy” is a familiar face to plenty of HRLers. He and Chops were classmates at ISU and he is a regular at the HRL Thursday Bowling Club. His wiffleball experience is limited, but he did play in the Crystal Fall League this year. During this time he showed surprising signs of power. He should improve once given time to develop some pitch recognition at the plate and being able to use an entire field rather than the wedge format used in Crystal.  

Alex Valen & Jay Briemhorst

The only 2 survivors of the folding of the Angels. According to Alex they are a group package.

In the words of Alex: “While Jay and I would love to play next year, we don't have the time to run a team ourselves. I am therefore announcing that we are both free agents. Jay is not 100% sure if he will be able to play next year as he just got married (don't think I need to say any more). Let the bidding begin!” (See the Angels team page for more info)

Drew "Drizzle" Ely

Not much is know about Drew. He has a MB account and said he would be at the combine but was not able to make it. Most likely he saw us at Sky Hill and immediate ran once spotting Gusto. According to his free agent posting on the MB he has some experience. He played baseball in high school and currently plays softball. He lives in Minneapolis.  

Contact information is posted on the MB, or feel free to contact Sanchez or Dee.