Fans of the State College Spikes attend games of the hometown Class A affiliate looking for a great baseball experience.
The team has a championship banner and a few good prospects here and there make it worth the relatively inexpensive ticket to get into the stadium.
But with players who are so far down the totem pole of baseball’s development system there is little expectation that many will ever go far.
It’s not impossible for these players to work their way up the ladder, it’s simply that the odds are stacked against them.
Even Rowan Wick, who set the Spikes’ single-season home run record with 14 in just 35 games has found himself pitching at the next level. Getting from Single A to the Majors is no small task.
And so as MLB announced its All-Star rosters this week, Boston Red Soxs’ outfielder and man of many hats Brock Holt became the second former Spike to take home such an honor. Fittingly, Holt joins fellow Reds Soxs’ Allen Craig, a 2013 All-Star, as a former Spike turned recognized pro. Craig played for State College in 2006.
“Brock Holt’s story is certainly an interesting one,” Boston manager John Farrell told CSNNE.com. “Everything that he’s gotten along the way he’s earned. We all see the way he plays — hard nosed, hustling type of player. But, the thing that stands out to me is his attitude that he’s embraced the versatility and the utility role.”
“Because of that he wasn’t concerned about being embarrassed defensively when he went to new positions for the first time and the first time at the major league level. To me, his attitude is the thing that stands out and is so significant while being so successful in the role.”
Holt played for the Spikes in 2010 before moving on to bigger and better things. Making his MLB debut in 2012, his ability to play multiple positions defensively, coupled with a hitting average of .295 with a .383 on-base figure has turned him into a valuable asset for the franchise.
Holt is the exception to what are otherwise long odds for most prospects who will take to the grass at Medlar Field.
But you simply never know when the next Brock Holt will show up, and fans can say “I saw him before he was an All-Star.”
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