Have baseball, will travel
Published 12:29 am Saturday, June 23, 2007
What in the world could lure Braden Degamo back and forth to far corners of the state on a whirlwind road trip?
Baseball, of course.
Degamo, a 2007 graduate of Mariner High School, drove to Pullman this week to play in a tournament with his select baseball team. The catcher hopped back in a car Friday and zoomed to Vancouver, where today he’ll compete in the 12th annual Cascade Classic, an all-star baseball series that features many of the best players from Washington and Oregon.
The approximate mileage covered and travel time spent by Degamo this week: 858 miles and 14 hours.
The chance to play in the Cascade Classic In lieu of repeating an irritating commercial, let’s just go with awesome.
“It’s a great honor, being one of the top catchers in the state,” said Degamo. “It’s like, ‘Whoa!,’ you know. I’m honored to go represent the state of Washington.”
Degamo is one of two catchers on the Washington roster. He was selected by coaches based on his performance June 9-10 at the All-State series in Yakima.
The Cascade Classic, which began in 1996, consists of two eight-inning games and a home run derby at Hudson’s Bay High School. The Washington vs. Oregon event started when Don Freeman, a longtime prep coach in southwest Washington, and other coaches reached out to their Oregon peers.
Degamo and Kamiak’s Riley Henricks, a second baseman, are the local players on Washington’s team. Oregon is likely very talented but in a phone interview Friday Degamo said his opponents remain a mystery to him.
“I don’t know anything about them. I’m just going in blind. I’m just gonna go in there and play like it’s gonna be a championship game,” said the 5-foot-10, 185-pound Degamo, an All-Wesco South first-team honoree.
Degamo, who grew up playing Little League games with Henricks and frequently battled the Kamiak star in Wesco South competition, was selected June 8 by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 44th round of the Major League Baseball amateur draft. The 1,296th player taken overall, Degamo doesn’t plan to sign a professional contract – for now.
Instead, he will make use of a full-ride baseball scholarship at Yavapai College, a junior college in Prescott, Ariz.
“Growing up, I’ve always wanted to play college ball,” Degamo said, “whether it was junior college or (NCAA) Division I. … Unless (the Devil Rays) throw something on the table that’s really good, I’m 98-percent sure that I want to go to college.”
At Yavapai, Degamo would play for one of the country’s elite JC programs. The team, which competes in Division 1 of the National Junior College Athletics Association, was the 2006 national runner-up and regularly wins conference championships.
Beyond baseball-related opportunities, Degamo said he looks forward to warm, dry weather (the forecast Friday in Prescott was 91 degrees and mostly sunny) as well as a chance to get out of his comfort zone and live on his own.
Asked what he prizes most about the catcher, Yavapai head coach Sky Smeltzer cited Degamo’s tremendous arm strength and his proven ability – through high school and select-team experience – to catch a quality pitching staff.
Degamo flew to Arizona in January for a recruiting visit. He liked everything, from the campus to the coaches.
Yavapai has had success with recruits from Degamo’s region. “It’s nice to pull kids out of the Northwest,” said Smeltzer. “They tend to have a high ceiling for development.”
No matter how Degamo performs in today’s Cascade Classic, his future coach will be counting the days until Degamo’s arrival.
Said Smeltzer, “I know we’re very, very excited to have him come down here and play for us.”
