Hello Dons family! Ryan Lipkin here, currently reporting from
the beautiful high desert of Washington in the Tri-Cities area.
Ok, not so beautiful and a nice 40-degree temperature change
from 100 in the day to 60 at night. Luckily, this has not been my
home for the summer.
I am currently playing in short season A ball for the Oakland
Athletics' Vancouver Canadians minor league team. I could not
have been any luckier to play in this organization, for this team,
in this city for my first year of pro ball.
Vancouver is an absolutely amazing city — for those that
have never been, I would be sure to mark it down as a
destination city. On days that we have noon games many of the
players and I head to the local beach after games and sit and
look at the Pacific Ocean from a sandy beach directly at the base
of 12,000 foot snow capped mountains.
I have also been fortunate enough to visit one of Tom Barry's
dream destinations, the 2010 Winter Olympic village. It was
awesome to walk around and see the places where the athletes stayed
and hung out. I would say that Vancouver is very similar to
San Francisco life in so many ways: it's a large city right on the
water, extremely diverse and very open minded.
I have also been lucky with my host family. I have had the
opportunity to live under the roof of Tom and Carol Irving, along
with their kids Brad (21), Christina (28) and Jen (19), as well as
fellow teammate and shortstop Wade Kirkland from Florida Southern.
They are an awesome family and have been special to Wade and
me.
Carol cooks us three meals a day while in town and when she has
time she has even surprised us by doing our laundry when we are on
road trips. She is also showing us a great time in the city
as our host brother is a bouncer in a bar downtown. Oh and on
Granville Street, where all the bars and clubs are located, they
shut it down to traffic and roll out carpets in the street just in
case people fall. Haha!... Not that I have been in that area at
all…
Now on to the team. I have heard many of the stories that
involve pro ball — some good and some bad. I feel like
I have gotten lucky with this team and this coaching staff and have
had one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life.
The team is full of mostly first- or second-year players
straight out of college. Seven of our eight position players were
drafted in this year's draft so this team has really taken on the
feel of a college baseball team. The relationships between the
players are very similar to that of a collegiate team.
Our manager, Rick Magnante, talked to us at the beginning of the
year and said, "This is your career and at the end of the day you
are going to be concerned with what you and only you did
on the day. However, if during the game you could make your sole
priority be winning and helping this team win, at the end of the
year you will be very happy with the results and the gains you have
made."
I really feel as if most everyone on this team has taken his
words into deep consideration as I do not know if a less
selfish pro ball team exists anywhere in the minors. Guys are
consistently giving themselves up for the team and it shows in
every player's performance.
It's also fun to see our pitching coach Craig Lefferts, who
spent 13 years in the bigs, speak and teach the pitchers. His
knowledge and ability to make the pitchers better is nearly
unmatched. His connections to other Hall of Fame players have
brought Goose Gossage, Andre Dawson, and Dave Stewart to the park
to talk to us and encourage us with stories and advice.
Our hitting coach, Casey Meyers, was a three-time All American
at ASU and played for coach G in his stint there as well. It
is so nice to play for someone with nearly the same hitting
philosophy that I have grown to understand throughout the last
three years on the Hilltop.
Coach Magnante is one of the most solid human beings I have
had the opportunity to meet. The consistent, positive attitude that
he brings to the park every day makes a grinding season an
enjoyable one. Our schedule is quite the grind as we play for about
three months and get four days off.
Congratulations as well to all the Dons that played summer ball.
Reading up on all of you has been quite the experience.
Congratulations Mason Morioka on the series MVP, his
teammates Connor Bernatz and Cameron Love on another CRCBL
championship and Matt Chavez, Tom Barry, and Ted LeMasters on their
productive summers at the plate.
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the Dante Benedetti
Golf Tournament and on campus. Wish the Canadians luck as we are in
our first pursuit of a North West League Championship. And good
luck Dons — work hard and bring a West Coast Conference
championship back to the Hilltop.
