Last year, Vermont's Johnny Mishu won the All-Star Game MVP with a 2-2 performance with four RBIs. Earlier in the day, Laconia's Danny Collins won the home run derby with a total of 12 home runs, including five in the championship round.
This season, my local NECBL franchise, the Vermont Mountaineers are sending five members to the game. The list includes the Western Division starter pitcher John Miles (Missouri) and their homerun derby representative Kyle Smith (Vanderbilt).
Miles has warranted the starting role, as he holds a 3-0 record over six appearances and four starts, numbering 29 innings pitched. He's also only given up one earned run, boasting a .031 ERA with 23 strikeouts and just eight walks.
He's going to get the opportunity to showcase his talent, as last season, over 40 scouts were in attendance.
"It's an honor to do it, it's pretty cool. I'm really excited to start the game and even just to be in the game. I'm also excited to see fellow teammates that play in the other division," Miles said in a recent interview, "I'm just excited for the game, it's going to be a great time."
Miles also has some friendly competition on the opposition, the Eastern Division Roster. Newport Gull's Brett Graves will be pitching for the East out of the pen as the number two, as Graves is also the college teammate of Miles at the University of Missouri.
When asked about Graves, Miles responded, "That would've been really cool if we toed the rubber against each other, but we will. He'll get the second inning and I'll get the first, so its pretty cool that I'll get to see him. Every time we've been supposed to play in Newport this year, we've been rained out, so I haven't been able to see him. It will be nice to finally see him because he's one of my closest friends."
The other Mountaineer I got the chance to discuss with is the University of Vanderbilt product Kyle Smith. Smith is the Mountaineers rep at the 2013 Home Run Derby, and already has a derby under his belt.
"I was in one in high school- it was the International Power Showcase, the one that Bryce Harper did. I did that in high school, in Phoenix, Arizona."
Not only did he compete in that, he finished in the top five finalists with six home runs in the metal bat round, including a 453 foot bomb. In the wood bat round, he hit one a massive 429 feet, which would clear the Montpelier Recreation Field deep center field fence by ten feet.
And we have video, courtesy of the folks at the Power Showcase:
He also added two in the championship round. He won the Babe Ruth Underclassmen Wood Bat Award for the longest wood bat home run.
Smith will be taking on some of the NECBL most powerful hitters on Sunday in the Derby.
"Don't swing to hard and be selective on the pitches that I'm swinging at. If you swing at bad pitches, you're not going to be able to lift the ball and hit it out of the park," Smith said on his strategy.
He won't only be dealing with ten other derby participants, but the Muskrat Monster in left field. Measuring an imposing 18 feet tall and 88 feet wide, the replica Green Monster will be an difficult feature of Robbie Mills Field that will have to be dealt with.
Now, with the All-Star festivities just five days away- baseball is still being squeezed in, but once Sunday comes around, all of the NECBL's attentions (and the scouts as well) will be looking at the All-Star game in Laconia. Both the audio and video broadcasts will be avaliable on NECBL.com for free. Tune in at 2:00 PM for the HR Derby and the first pitch at 5:30 PM.
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