Ready for a LEGENDary Summer
The Menlo Park Legends are set to open up the 2016 summer, and Head Coach David Klein is optimistic about the outlook.
When asked about the Menlo Park area, it can be a common mistake to overlook one of the more popular draws to the area during the summer months–baseball– when the Menlo Park Legends don their green and gold colors for June and July home games at Cañada College. This is not your average summer baseball experience; the Legends go above and beyond what most summer baseball organizations strive to accomplish. The summer of 2016 will be no different, and the outlook is bright, like that of the San Francisco Bay on the warmest of days.
2015 saw the Legends finish 20-16 with a 12-13 record in the North Division of the California Collegiate League. The aspirations for this year’s team are even higher, and I was able to sit down with Head Coach David Klein to talk about the upcoming campaign. Klein was the original founder of the team back in 2009, and the organization has continued to grow under his leadership. Not only does he handle the coaching duties, but he also plays a large role in recruiting, managing the front office, and running the Legends Academy and youth baseball camps. A smile was drawn on his face when I asked him about the fast-approaching summer. It was easy to tell that countless hours have been put in shaping up the roster for summer play.
For Klein and the Legends, it goes beyond the product on the field. While the Legends have been one of the more competitive teams in the CCL since their inception seven years ago, their continued success comes in large part to the experience that each player receives with the team. As Coach Klein puts it, “I want to bring the kids back to school an improved player. I want them to walk away from here knowing they made some significant strides moving forward in their careers. I believe that if we focus on that, winning will be a bi-product.” It also helps when the players on the roster buy into the system that is in place, another factor Klein looks for when he is constructing the roster. “I look for coachable players who want to work hard and take their skills to the next level and if they are high-character as well, then there is no doubt they will have a killer summer out here,” Klein explains. “I think we can compete with the best-of-the-best in the CCL and in the country.”
One man cannot be the only one running the show, so Klein has constructed a top-notch coaching staff to run the Legends this summer. The team’s hitting coach will be former MLB outfielder Pat Burrell, who most recently won a World Series with the San Francisco Giants in 2010. Burrell played 12 seasons in the big leagues and finished his career with 292 homeruns and four seasons of 90 RBIs or more. On Burrell, Klein comments that “Pat does a really good job of relaying the information to young men in a way that they can understand. He knows what he is talking about and we are really excited to have him on board.” Sean McMillan is the head JV coach at Serra High School and will be serving as the team’s Head Assistant Coach and 3rd Base Coach this season. “Here is a guy who is just beginning what looks to be a very bright career in coaching,” says Klein on McMillan. “He will work primarily with the hitters and also with the catchers since he is a former catcher.”
Speaking of catchers, Dane Fujinaka will be an Assistant Coach for the Legends this summer. Fujinaka just finished the 2016 season as the primary catcher for the Menlo College Oaks and was a vital player in the team’s deep run into the Golden State Athletic Conference playoffs. Klein notes that Fujinaka “has the potential to be a big-time Division I coach if that’s what he chooses to do. Dane has a bright future ahead of him and we are super excited to have him here.” Last but certainly not least is one of the more popular coaches on the staff in Bill Ryan. “Wild Bill” as he is affectionately called, will return as the team’s pitching coach. “He is the best set of baseball eyes out there,” beams Klein about Ryan. “He gives it all to the kids, he is extremely detailed, and he does not take a cookie-cutter approach to developing pitchers.”
The most important component to success on the field will be the players themselves. The Legends figure to have a competitive roster that is not only deep, but talented. It all starts with the pitching depth, and the Legends are on the right track to compiling a roster full of arms ready for a long summer. “We have a very young staff but we have a really good pitching staff,” Coach Klein states. “I’m really excited about the guys we have coming out of Texas. We have Jacob Wilcox who is a Sunday starter at Texas-Arlington, Trey Cumbie is a freshman over at the University of Houston who has thrown over 50 innings and has a sub-2.00 ERA. We just have a lot of young arms and it should be exciting.” To name a few more pitchers who figure to be important for the pitching staff: Ryan Lefner, Jameson Kruger, Elijah Saunders, Tanner Disibio, Jake Swiech, Finn Del Bonta-Smith, and Sheldon McClelland.
The offensive side is a bit more murky in terms of who will be the lead guy, but that just shows how deep the offense is. In years past, the Legends have had a more difficult time fielding a lineup of nine quality hitters, but that is expected to change this summer. The offense should provide quality at-bats from each hitter, and fans should expect to see some pop this year. “I wanted to bring in some guys who could drive the gaps and clear the fences this year which we haven’t really had in the past,” says Coach Klein. “The strikeout numbers are a little high with that so we will have to cut down on those while learning to hit for a little bit higher of an average.” Some of the players fans should keep an eye on are a pair of Gonzaga starters, Nick Brooks and Justin Jacobs, along with others such as Dan Hetzel, Chandler Bengston, and Scott Ota.
One difference this year versus years past is the amount of games the Legends will be playing. As it currently stands, the Legends will be playing 47 games, an increase of 11 from a season ago. This means games will be held every day except for Mondays, giving players an experience that is almost identical to that of Major League Baseball. The grind is something that most players are not accustomed to, so when they join the Legends it is a unique task for Klein and the rest of the coaches to get their players acclimated. “If the guys want to play at the next level, they have to get used to playing every day,” Klein comments. “If they’re not feeling 100%, they’re going to have to grind it out. It’s going to be intense, but we are carrying a decent-sized roster to accommodate some injuries that may occur. Overall, we are really excited about the chance to be out there every single day.”
The CCL provides some of the best summer baseball opportunities for athletes looking to take their skills to the next level. The competition will be stiff with the Santa Barbara Foresters being the class of the South Division and the Neptune Beach Pearl being the reigning champions. While the Menlo Park Legends may be young, they are ready to step up to the plate and show the rest of the league that 2016 will be quite Legendary. Stay up to date on all things Legends at www.menloparklegends.com, come out to the ballpark, or catch a game live on the Legends Radio Network.
