Player Profile: Sam Cummings (Stoneham Sabers #23)

Cummings

Sam “The Bull” Cummings is one of four original Stoneham Sabers still playing from the inaugural roster back in 2011. Cummings comes from Burlington, Mass where he once struck out 21 Woburn High School batters when he suited up for his hometown team.  Manager Angelo Colucci first noticed Cummings’ brilliance when they faced off in the Lou Tompkins summer baseball league and brought Cummings on board in 2011.  Cummings went on to graduate from Bentley University where he played a few years of collegiate baseball.

Cummings is one of the most underrated pitchers in the Yawkey Baseball League. He has a career winning record of 16-12-2 on the mound.  Tossing 184 innings, striking out 169 YBL batters, with a phenomenal 1.19 earn run average that is currently good enough for 7th All-Time in the YBL since the 400hitter era.  His post season numbers are just as good. In the post-season Cummings is 4-2 with a 1.48 era, defeating some of the best team’s the YBL has to offer in the Somerville Alibrandis and East Boston Knights.

Sam is one of the most dedicated players on the Sabers and is a “Bull-Like” competitor on the mound. He pitches whenever he is called upon and is a true team player.  Cummings will be pitching a shutout and will take himself out to get other players innings.  It is truly a pleasure to have a leader like Cummings on the roster and the Sabers hope to have him for years to come.

(Intro Courtesy of Angelo Colucci)

Nickname: The Bull

Position(s): P

Bats/Throws: R/R

Club(s) Played for in YBL: Stoneham Sabers

Where did you grow up? Burlington, MA

Where do you live now? Allston, MA

When is your birthday? October 23, 1990

Where did you go to college? Bentley University

What do you do for a living? IT Auditor for State Street Bank

If you played pro ball, where have you played, and what was the most interesting city you called home? Never got the call, unfortunately.

What baseball awards / honors have you won in your life? There were some accolades back in High School but that was many years ago and are pretty irrelevant now.

Do you coach/play anywhere outside the YBL? Where? Play in a few games after Yawkey season in the MNBL out of Woburn for the Orange Crush

Been part of any championship teams prior to / outside of the YBL? Waaayyyyy back in the day. We (Burlington) used to dominate Little League. Did a decent amount of damage in Regionals every year.

What years have you been an All-Star in the YBL? 1 – 2014 maybe?

Favorite MLB player(s) of all time? Pedro Martinez and the Big Unit

What are the three best movies you’ve seen in the last year? Tough to think about what I have seen recently. Would have to go with The Big Short, Captain America Civil War and Finding Dory.

What concerts have you been to in the last year? Did a little ZBB at Fenway. Saw Kenny at Gillette and saw Steve Aoki in Vegas

You’re on your way to a game, what are you listening to in order to get hyped? The Stone Cold Steve Austin intro. Daniela will play it for me in the first inning if she is doing walks ups that day.

Read any good books lately? Would it come as a surprise to say that I am not much of a reader?

What are your 3 favorite shows right now? Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Workaholics

 What is the best trip you’ve ever taken? Hands down the best ‘trip’ I have ever been was studying abroad in Barcelona for 6 months. Got to live in the best city in Spain while seeing another 12 cities across 6 or 7 different countries.

Who is the most underrated player on your team? Ryan Flanagan. Tracks fly balls with the best of them – and in the wise words of Kenny Powers, “He’s got an arm like a #$@!ing cannon”. There is a reason why he wears that C.

Who else on your team would make for an interesting interview? Dion – Kid is a weirdo

Who have you most looked up to in the YBL? Mike Smith – still able to be as effective as he is over an extremely long period of time

Who is the toughest pitcher to face in the YBL? Haven’t picked up a bat since Vietnam –

Who is the toughest hitter to face in the YBL? Carrera or Katsirubas

What was the most exciting moment you’ve had in the YBL? There is always new excitement every year in the YBL but there is no better feeling than a little playoff baseball against the leagues’ powerhouses.

What are your hobbies/passions outside of baseball? I am actually wicked boring during the other parts of the year so thank god for baseball!

What was the greatest baseball accomplishment in your life? Have had quite a few but will always remember when I struck out 21 batters in a 7 inning game back in High School. There were 24 total outs due to drop 3 drop 3 strikes.

Who is the most influential person(s) in your life? Know its cliché but the Parental Units had the biggest impact in my life and are the reason I am who I am.

Do you have any pets? Got a 25 Lb cockapoo named Bruschi. Little guy just turned 14.

How does your significant other handle your baseball habit? Just starting to understand the half of it – she’s in deep sh*t

Tell me something about you that people wouldn’t know. I get all my golf skills from my Eskimo bro for life – Jordan Spieth.

Do you remember who started your Sabers’ team nickname “Stals”? Wow, that was a really long time ago. I want to say it was our first year in the league and it may have been Jake Zelnick or Mike Robinson. 50/50 chance on either one of them.

What Saber in franchise history would you want up at bat with the YBL championship on the line? Mike Robinson – Call the Army and bring him back!

What drives you to keep playing ball every summer? Trying to win that championship so I can ride off into the sunset like Jared Allen

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YBL Players of the Week (Jul04-Jul10)

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Blaine McLean – Malden Maddogs – #16

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With the EMass Classic taking place, we had another short week but a big performance to highlight. The Maddogs accomplished what the rest of the league has been unsuccessfully trying to do so far in 2016, and that is hand a loss to the Al Thomas Athletics. Blaine McLean earned POW honors by throwing a complete game, scattering 5 hits and allowing only one run while striking out 6 As batters.

Fantasy Impact: Aside from a bad inning in his first outing, McLean has settled into a groove for Team ‘Leez Nutz’ (mgrs: Jay Shatto / Matt Grimes) and now has a 2-1 record with a 2.08 era in 36 innings pitched. Leez Nutz has one of the better staffs in the league, if only stud wing Chris Foundas would get his lazy can out of the pool and back on the bump.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK:  Chris DiGiacomo – Al Thomas Athletics – #17

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And bursting onto the scene with his first weekly award, Chris DiGiacomo is our new player of the week. In 3 games, Chris was 6-for-9 with a double, triple, 4 runs and 3 rbi…..and a stolen base thrown in for good measure.

Fantasy Impact: Yet another new jack on the scene, this rookie has been infected by the AT offensive frenzy with a .370 avg, 7 extra base hits, 18 runs and 16 rbi. He will surely be on draft boards in 2017, along with the rest of the ATBC roster, Joe O’Hara’s goatee, and the bricks under the plate at Healy.

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2016 EMass Challenge Roster Announced

2016-emass-allstar-classic

On Saturday, July 9, 2016, the Yawkey Baseball League All Stars will be taking on their counterparts from the Boston Park, Cranberry and InterCity Leagues at Morelli Field in Melrose, MA. The YBL boys will be playing the Cranberry League at 4:00, the winner of which moves on to the Finals to face the winner of the Park and InterCity tilt.

Listed below are the coaches and players chosen to represent the YBL and take back the trophy. Good luck!

Coaching Staff:

John Griffith – Manager (Brighton Black Sox)

Nate Laliberte – Bench Coach (Revere Rockies)

Tim Varakis – Assistant Coach (Brighton Black Sox)

John Kostas – 3rd Base Coach (Al Thomas As)

Ted Tracy – 1st Base Coach (Brighton Braves)

Anthony Perry – Bullpen Coach (Somerville Alibrandis)

Roster:

Chris Dion – P (Stoneham Sabers)

Brendan Huber – P (Savin Hill Dodgers)

Matt Kerin – P (McKay Club Beacons)

Collier Laird – P (South Boston Saints)

Blain McLean – P (Malden Maddogs)

David Montiverdi – P (Stoneham Sabers)

Connor O’Brien – P (Charlestown Townies)

Lamarre Rey – P (Somerville Alibrandis)

John Skoczylas – P (McKay Club Beacons)

Mike Smith – P (Brighton Braves)

Stephano Stravoravdis – P (South Boston Saints)

Pat Shore – P (Revere Rockies)

Chris Sandini – P (Revere Rockies)

*********

Mark Addesa – SS (Somerville Alibrandis)

Angelo Colucci – 1B (Stoneham Sabers)

Alex Criscuolo – 2B (Revere Rockies)

Apolinar De La Cruz – 1B (Brighton Black Sox)

Ted Dziuba – DH/C – (Somerville Alibrandis)

Bobby Foote – OF (Revere Rockies)

Nathan Hodor – C (Savin Hill Dodgers)

Alex Joyce – C (Brighton Braves)

Geoff Lopes – C (Malden Maddogs)

Tommy Lenane – OF (Stoneham Sabers)

Mike Maguire – OF (Somerville Alibrandis)

Peter Maltzan – OF (Malden Maddogs)

PJ McDonald – 2B (Malden Maddogs)

Jimmy Ricoy – 1B/3B (Somerville Alibrandis)

Sean Ryan – OF (McKay Club Beacons)

James Whittle – INF (Savin Hill Dodgers)

Pat Yee – OF (Savin Hill Dodgers)

Adam Del Rio – SS (Revere Rockies)

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YBL Players of the Week (Jun27-Jul03)

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Jon Morse – Somerville Alibrandis – #27

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With America’s Birthday shortening the schedule of games last week, there was no shortage of pitching performances deserving of POW notoriety. After some deliberation, the award goes to Jon Morse of the Somerville Alibrandis. Jon has been almost unbeatable in 2016, and last week he threw a complete game shutout of the Maddogs. Only giving up 3 hits and 2 walks, Jon recorded another 6 strikeouts…..one of which put him over the hump of 500 career Ks!

Fantasy Impact: In a move so bold, so brazen, so downright villainous that it has nearly torn apart the Red Army, Morse was the first pitcher selected by ‘Chicks Dig the WongBall’ (mgr: Mike Maguire). And while it ruffled some feathers, the WongBall would do it all over again as Morse has gone 5-1 with a sub-1.00 era and a 37:10 k:bb ratio.

Honorable Mention: While Morse took home the ‘hardware’, we would be negligent to not commend the efforts of Sam Kennedy-Smith of the Brighton Braves for his efforts before the holiday. Sam came in on Tuesday for 2.2 innings of relief, giving up no hits or runs and striking out 5 batters to pick up the save against Charlestown. Only a couple days later he was called on again, this time for an emergency start on Thursday against Stoneham. In that game he went 5.2 innings, yielding 3 hits and 3 runs for the win.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Matt Rodriguez – Al Thomas Athletics – #23

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And although it was a shortened week, you wouldn’t know it based on the production of Matt Rodriguez from the still-undefeated A’s. In only 2 games, Matt went 6-for-9 with a triple, homerun, one run and 9…..NINE rbis. Another big output from a guy who has been putting up lots of crooked numbers on his own lately.

Fantasy Impact: NONE. In a shocking development, Rodriguez wasn’t drafted in the YBL fantasy league this year, but that will change in the future. He is currently riding a 7-game hitting streak, and has hit safely in all but one of his 16 appearances on the year. He has 3 hits in each of his last 4 games, and currently leads the YBL with 30 rbi. He also leads the league in hits, doubles (tie), slugging and OPS…..and is 2nd in the league with a .483 avg.

GAME OF THE WEEK: McKay Club Beacons @ Charlestown Townies

While we are unable to honor as many players as we’d like, a shout-out has to be given to the performances of the Townies and Beacons this past Thursday. The linescore might look like two teams struggling to put anything together at the plate, and that would be true. But only because of monster pitching performances from DeLochrey (MCB) and Zavolas/Souza (CT). Since I’m too lazy to comb through the archives, I’m going to go out on a limb and mark this game as the highest combined strikeout total between 2 teams in a single game in YBL history. DeLochrey threw a complete game (8 innings) striking out an astounding 18 Townie batters in a tough loss. On the other side, the rookie squad threw Zavolas (7 ip for the win) and Souza (1 ip for the save) who combined to set down 18 hitters from the Beacons lineup with no walks allowed. Suffice it to say, we’ll be checking the box scores this week for follow-up performances.

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Happy Birthday America!!!

Yawkey July 4th Collage

It looks like all Yawkey League teams are hitting mid-season form as we head towards the halfway point of the 2016 Yawkey League Season.  This week has seen epic pitcher’s duels, webgems and bombs!!!  Here’s a little something that we all know and love taking you into the YBL Fourth of July weekend break…

“Ray. People will come, Ray. They’ll come to Iowa for reasons they can’t even fathom. They’ll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they’re doing it. They’ll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. “Of course, we won’t mind if you look around”, you’ll say, “It’s only $20 per person”. They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they’ll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they’ll watch the game and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they’ll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good and that could be again. Oh…people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.”

A reminder that the 2016 EMass Classic will take place at Morelli Field (Melrose HS) this Saturday, July 9th.  The Yawkey Stars will take on the Cranberry Stars in the semi-final at 4pm.  

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YBL Players of the Week (Jun20-Jun26)

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Jonathan Matos – South End Astros – #13

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The Pitcher of the Week award goes to Matos from the South End, who spun a complete game 2-hit shutout against the McKay Club on Thursday. Jonathan struck out 5 Beacons while walking only one en route to his  first win of 2016.

Fantasy Impact: This first win for Matos helps to bolster the already strong rotation for Team ‘Chicks Dig the Wongball’ (mgr: Mike Maguire). The win brought his era down to 3.59, and more production from Matos should help this team contend for top pitching staff in the fantasy league.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Billy Uberti – Brighton Braves – #6

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This edition’s ‘Player’ is Billy Uberti of the Braves. In just 2 games last week, Billy  was a sizzling 6-for-7 at the plate including a double, 2 homeruns, 5 runs scored and 7 rbi (and then topped it off by starting this week with another homerun and 2 rbi).

Fantasy Impact: A 2-time defending Silver Slugger Award winner and 3-time defending Gold Glove Award winner (for 1st basemen), this hot streak couldn’t come at a better time for Team ‘Hold the Door’ (mgr: Jon Morse). Uberti is now hitting .405 with 11 runs, 17 rbi and 6 extra-base hits. Morse’s squad has been festering at the bottom of the offensive categories, so this infusion of run production couldn’t come at a better time.

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