MSU Summer Baseball Diaries, Part Three
7/30/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
July 30, 2006
EAST LANSING, Mich. - This is senior right-handed pitcher Craig Brookes reporting from the Wisconsin Woodchucks of the Northwoods League. To say this summer has been an adventure would be an understatement. Playing in the Northwoods League for the past two years has provided me with some of the best experiences of my life.
I guess it all starts with the host family. They are in fact my home away from home the entire summer. With four kids in the household already, myself and my roommate have become just another addition to the family. While my host family provides food and great accommodations without asking for anything in return, we try to help out by giving the kids rides into town and help with the housework. More than anything, it's nice to have a "home" to go back to every night. It's great to have a place to get away from baseball and eat home cooked meals when we aren't on the road.
Speaking of on the road, that's the other half of the summer. Playing a grueling 68 game schedule keeps us on the road from between two to six nights at a time. While on the road it's not exactly as glamorous as people might think, but all-in-all its not too bad. Depending where we're playing, the hotels range from average to top of the line. The only thing that doesn't change is the food. I've eaten my share of bratwurst, pizza, hamburgers, and hotdogs this summer. In our travels, we get to see a lot of the "jewels" of the Northern Midwest. Our coach enjoys waterfalls so we've gotten the chance to visit almost every national park in the region. Our team has also made stops at the Mall of America, Field of Dreams, and every Cabelas or Gander Mountain we run across. These day trips make the road a great place to see and go places I wouldn't normally visit.
Baseball, the reason we are here in the first place, is first class. I've never played against such good competition. It seems that every major baseball program in the nation is represented by at least a handful of their top players. Getting the opportunity to have these players as teammates provides a great atmosphere to learn and improve my game. Spending the majority of my time at the ballpark gives me more than enough time to continue the work I started at Michigan State in the spring. I've also become surgical with a fungo.
Playing for the Wisconsin Woodchucks, we have won games and lost games, but the sole objective out here is to get better. I've been working on improving a cutter and being able to throw my changeup for strikes on a regular basis, all goals that I had established with the coaching staff at MSU before the summer. The baseball here is similar to college, but a lot less structured. While lifting and running at State are monitored closely, during the summer I'm pretty much on my own. However, a huge perk for the summer is a free YMCA membership so I can work out whenever I want, not only at home but on the road as well.
As a whole I have to say that playing ball in the Northwoods League has been one of the best experiences of my life. It's shown me not only a great level of baseball but also what life is like in pro ball. With only a month left in the season I'm looking forward to finishing strong and returning to MSU ready to win a Big Ten championship.
