In the GM's Seat With Dylan Elber
Summer Baseball Insider is please to introduce Dylan Elber. He is currently the Assistant General Manager for the Danbury Westerners of the NECBL. We plan on having Dylan contribute to SBI throughout this summer.
From Dylan Elber
This year, I have had the unique opportunity of being on both sides of summer ball placement. As the Assistant General Manager of the NECBL’s Danbury Westerners, my job is to find and sign players from all over the country who can help the team. While the General Manager, the coaching staff and I are very active in recruiting players, we also get a lot of interest from college coaches on behalf of their players about playing for us. Recruiting for the Westerners can be very challenging because there are so many talented players who want to play in a league with a great reputation like the NECBL.
Along with working for the Westerners, I am also the Director of Baseball Operations for the Keystone College Giants, a Division 3 program located right outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania. One of my responsibilities is to help in the process of getting our players into quality summer leagues. Keystone is a perennial top 25 D3 program so I thought this job would be relatively easy. However, the task was much harder than I had anticipated.
To successfully place a player, the staff must be able to evaluate a player’s talent without any bias. Keystone wants its guys to get as much playing time as possible over the summer. There is no point in putting a player on a roster where they will ride the bench for an entire summer. Another factor that comes into play when placing a player is how big a financial investment summer ball can be. Some of the upper tier leagues, like the NECBL, are free for players. Other leagues can range anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars to several of thousand dollars. Once a player has been evaluated and prices have been researched, the staff can begin the race. Reaching out to General Managers, coaches, etc. is exhilarating. On the other end of every phone call or email a great opportunity could be waiting for one of your players. Unfortunately, many teams do not respond and some of the teams that do respond do not need the player(s) you are trying to place. I referred to this process as a race because of my experience with the Westerners. There are so many players out there fighting for the same roster spot and sometimes it is just about who gets there first. Teams want to fill their rosters with talented players and it can be a big risk to pass on a good player early on in hopes of finding a great player down the road.
This summer, Keystone will be represented in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, the All-American Baseball League (NC), the Hudson Valley Wood Bat League, the South Florida Collegiate League and the Texas Collegiate League.
Being involved in summer league baseball, I know how important it is for players to continue to play after their collegiate season is over. Summer ball gives players the opportunity to play against top talent, learn from other coaches and in the right situation, get noticed by scouts. Hopefully, all of the Giants on summer league rosters have a great summer and come back in the fall with a lot of confidence that will lead to a very successful 2015 campaign.
Be sure to check out both Keystone Baseball and the Danbury Westerners on Twitter- @keystonebase @danbwesterners
Feel free to contact me at dylane37@gmail.com or on Twitter @DylanElber
