Minor league diamond offers precious outing

The doors of the buses opened simultaneously and approximately 200 youngsters poured onto Sarasota’s Ed Smith Stadium grounds.

This was a 12-cup-of-coffee type of energy. It was June 29, and the kids were there for a Baltimore Orioles-hosted clinic. They were excited, loud and proud of it.

Among the waves of children, camp counselors from the Lakewood Ranch branch of the Manatee YMCA attempted to direct their members toward the welcome tent, where the kids received an Orioles player T-shirt and cap.

The children flooded four stations throughout the morning, designated for hitting, pitching, running the bases and fielding grounders.

Many of the participants live in Lakewood Ranch, one of them being 9-year-old Cooper Leiberick. The pitching station is where Leiberick, who has a Howitzer of an arm, excelled. He impressed a gaggle of Orioles minor leaguers, who were working the stations.

Leiberick is a Tampa Bay Rays fan, and his performance emulated that of his hero, Rays pitcher Chris Archer. None of the kids I talked to were Orioles fans, which selfishly made me sad, but I also get it.

The biggest takeaway for Leiberick, who plays in the Lakewood Ranch Little League, had nothing to do with pitching.

“Get in front of the ball when you are fielding it,” Leiberick said. “Well, I already knew how to do that, but it’s good to remember.”

Leiberick’s group mate and fellow Little Leaguer Alex Stablein, 8, was one of the best hitters on the day, causing some campers to watch his long fly balls in awe. Stablein, a Boston Red Sox fan, said all the Orioles players at the clinic were nice and helpful, and that the whole day was fun.

Vincent Alesi, 14, doesn’t play in a league, only with friends or in school.

“I liked running the bases because now I have a lot more respect for the players,” he said. “It was like ‘Wow, these guys have to run fast.’ You see it on TV and it doesn’t look far, but when you’re actually running it, you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, this is a lot of work.’”

Alesi said he threw only “change-ups” during the pitching session because they are “a good trick pitch.”

“‘Oh, it’s going high,’ and then it sinks right into the glove for a strike,” he said, with enthusiasm.

Pitcher Branden Kline was one of the players helping at the clinic. A second-round draft pick in 2012 out of the University of Virginia, Kline hasn’t pitched in an actual game since having Tommy John surgery in 2015. He was at the Orioles’ AA affiliate, the Bowie Baysox in Maryland, when he had the surgery.

Kline said doing things like the clinic help him stay positive during the recovery process. He knows what days like these can mean to children. Growing up, he participated in the Keys for Reading program sponsored by his hometown Frederick (Md.) Keys, an Orioles’ Single A affiliate.

“It was kind of the same thing for me, going out there as a little kid and walking around the field,” Kline said. “You would have the biggest smile because you knew they played professional baseball. I guess in that aspect, I kind of know a little bit of what they see when they see us.”

Alesi mentioned to me that he liked talking to the Minor League players. He said you never know if one of them will make it big. Perhaps even Kline.

But whether Kline makes it or not, he will be part of a memory those kids will cherish forever.