ABD ACADEMY: Welcome

Southern California area includes Southern CA and HI

USA Baseball is proud to present the Southern California region of the National Team Identification Series (NTIS). Players from across your region will participate in selection events and tryouts with the aim of being named to the Southern California's 14U, 16U and 17U teams. The three teams will then compete in their respective age groups against 14 other regions from across the country in the NTIS, August 24 - 26 and September 7 - 9, 2012, at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. From the NTIS, USA Baseball will invite a minimum of 32 players to future National Team Trials and National Team Development Program opportunities with the ultimate goal of being selected to represent our country as part of Team USA. For more information on the Southern California region's team selection process, please see the "view details" link located within the events below.

USA BASEBALL SO CAL NTIS COLLEGE CAMP GAMES - This year the So Cal NTIS will be have a college camp that will allow players to play games with college recruiters while having an opportunity to be selected for "TEAM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA".  Colleges will range from DI to JC's. 

For more information and colleges that are expected to attend, send an email to info@socalntis.com.

BY JIM ALEXANDER - The Press Enterprise

RIVERSIDE — The teenager hears the advice from his father, and … well, you know how most teenagers are. What could HE possibly know about this?

NATHAN RODE - Baseball America 

To anyone posted behind home plate, Mission Viejo (Calif.) High's Kieran Lovegrove looks like a typical high school righthander destined to pitch on a bigger stage.  His background shows that he is anything but typical. Lovegrove is a late bloomer who hasn't been prominent on the showcase circuit. Not to mention there aren't many high school prospects who are natives of South Africa and co-founders of a charitable foundation.

Lovegrove's father is from South Africa and met his wife in the United States in the 1980s. The couple moved back to South Africa and had two kids, Kieran and Kayla. Kieran, about three years younger than his sister, was born in Johannesburg, and the family moved to Cape Town when he was about a year old.  Crime in the country was on the rise in the late 1990s so Keith Lovegrove put his wife, Kelly, and kids on a plane and they moved to Los Angeles in 1999. The family stayed with Kelly's parents before getting settled in Southern California.

"I know my dad wanted a better life for me and my sister," Kieran Lovegrove said. "It's tough not knowing where you came from because I was so young. I remember the views from the apartment and the beaches. Little things like that. It's a good reminder how beautiful it is." 

Lovegrove hasn't been back since the move, but he is proud of his heritage and hopes to represent his country on the field by playing in the World Baseball Classic and being the first South African-born major leaguer. That didn't seem like a possibility a couple of years ago, but thanks to physical maturation and hard work, Lovegrove is now a legitimate pro prospect. 

STEPPING FORWARD

Mission Viejo head coach Chris Ashbach has known Lovegrove since he entered high school. He says Lovegrove was an above-average freshman, a good hitter with a nice arm. He spent his first two years of high school on the junior varsity squad. As a sophomore, he was sitting in the low 80s with his fastball. That summer, everything took a step forward.

"His progression took place after his sophomore year," Ashbach said. "He went from 82-83 (mph) to 88-90 in a matter of a few months."

Lovegrove attributed the jump in velocity to his body growing. He now stands at a chiseled 6-feet-4, 185 pounds, and delivers a lively fastball that can sit in the low 90s while complementing it with a sharp slider that is a swing-and-miss pitch when at its best. But for all of his physical development, it was a wake-up call before the start of his senior year that changed everything. 

Lovegrove had drawn attention on his travel team thanks to his frame and arm strength, but he was disappointed after making just four starts in 10 appearances as a junior and going 1-4, 5.49. That summer he participated in the Area Code Games and "got knocked around a little bit," he said.   

"That's when I told myself I'm not working hard enough," he said. "I didn't like the way it turned out and I'm not going to let that happen again.

"I'm lucky enough to be blessed with a strong arm and a fastball with movement. It took me a while to figure out I can't throw 110 (mph) and get a strikeout on the first pitch."

So Lovegrove got serious with his workout routine. He started working with a personal trainer and gets into the gym a few times a week, lifting properly and focusing on exercises specific to baseball. He now long-tosses on a regular basis, and he's able to easily sit in the low 90s. He touched 94 at the Southern California Invitational in February and may have more in the tank.

Lovegrove's first goal for the season was to help the younger players for Mission Viejo get acclimated to the routines and demands of the varsity program. But after seeing how quickly the group came together, he wants to lead them back to the playoffs as the Diablos seek a second consecutive Southern Section championship.  

He also wants everyone to see the progress he has made.  "I want to show the difference from last year and the work I've put in," Lovegrove said. "I want to put up the numbers I'm capable of and put myself into that upper echelon of players."

PUTTING OTHERS FIRST

As an Arizona State signee and a draft prospect, Lovegrove seems to have a bright future, but he shines off the field as well.  "He's extremely competitive, but a wonderful, emotional, caring young man," Ashbach said. "He wants to please people. He's one of the most caring kids I've had. He's so conscious of other people."

With the help of two friends and teammates—Adam Salcido and Kyle Candalla—Lovegrove started the Going To Bat Foundation. The young men saw a video of players in South Africa who had very little in the way of equipment and were practicing in poor conditions, yet still were winning games. So they set forth with this mission: To improve the lives of youth by providing any child who wishes to play baseball or softball with the means and the opportunity, providing a viable alternative to other destructive options.

"In a place like Orange County, kids get new stuff every year," Lovegrove said. "We did a shipment to South Africa. We did some work in Alaska and locally, too. It's really started to grow over the past year."  Their Website, goingtobat.org, makes it easy for anyone to help. There is a page dedicated to collecting monetary donations while another lists urgent needs, wish lists for specific schools and communities, as well as suggestions of what equipment to purchase. The group collects the donations and then provides the equipment to those in need.

With Lovegrove attending various baseball events around the country, the foundation has received a lot of attention. Lovegrove is fully aware of his good fortune and wants to do everything he can to afford others the chance to chase their own dreams.

"I look at kids with single parents with two jobs and they're struggling," he said. "It affects me inside. That kid wants to be a star player and they just don't have the opportunity. Anything you can do would really change their lives."

Lovegrove attributes his character to his parents being supportive of all his endeavors and raising him with strong morals. He has been told that he'll get the chance to represent South Africa in the World Baseball Classic qualifying tournament this fall, and he has at least one more goal in mind.

The freshman left-hander from Bakersfield, Calif., picked up the victory in each of his two starts. Watson allowed one run and seven hits through six innings in a 7-2 win against USC at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday. He limited Arizona State to two runs and four hits in six-plus innings during UCLA's 4-2 win early Sunday evening.

In addition, Watson threw one scoreless inning in relief against Arizona State on Friday night. He recorded three consecutive outs in the eighth and ninth innings in a game that was tied, 5-5, before UCLA won the contest, 6-5, with a walk-off home run by Kevin Williams in the ninth inning. 

"Gilly" as he was known by his fellow umpires was very popular where he grew to know all of the players in ABD and talked of them often during games.  He developed relationships with several of them as it carried into college where he followed them and was always talking of how they were doing.

Michael did all the assigning of the umpires for the Spring League and tournaments for the ABCL.  He traveled internationally with Mike Spiers who was coordinating teams in the Pan Am Championships.  He was truly a professional umpire an will be missed by all of us.  

On February 20th, the second day of his college baseball career Cory's life dramatically changed.  In the first inning of the second game of the day, he went to steal second base.  Sliding head-first, colliding with the second baseman.  Cory suffered a C-5 fracture of his spinal cord, ultimately leaving him paralyzed from the chest down.

Cory Currently spends his time doing outpatient rehab and is taking one dat at a time.  his father Dale has retired from his job to be his son's full-time caregiver allowing him to make sure Cory can get to any and all physical therapies and treatments.

A Scout Game between the New York Yankees Scout Team and Milwaukee Brewers Scout Team will play on Saturday, November 19th at the Urban Youth Academy in Compton California where all proceeds will go to the Hahn family.

Kohler, a junior lefthander at Los Osos High in Rancho Cucamonga, has been overpowering for the Red Sox Scout Team this fall. A week after he struck out 13 batters in five innings in a start, Kohler fanned eight in three innings of work against an overmatched Cardinals Blue team on Saturday. His out pitch was a sharp 71-73 mph curveball that he can throw for strikes or use as a chase pitch.

"My curveball was working good. It's usually my strongest pitch," Kohler said. "Usually I start batters off with that pitch, then go to the fastball, then maybe finish with the curve again. I brought the fastball up a little high, but felt good overall. I tried to elevate it on some, because they were chasing it."

Kohler has an easy delivery and plenty of projection in his 6-foot-2, 170-pound frame. He sat around 85-86 mph on Saturday and topped out at 87, but he figures to add significant velocity as he continues to get used to pitching and keeps maturing physically.

Several other underclassmen on the Red Sox team shined Saturday. Switch-hitting middle infielder Elliott Barzilli, another junior, showed smooth actions, good instincts and a strong arm at shortstop, while also hitting hard line drives to right field and left. He has a chance to be one of the top infield prospects in Southern California for the 2013 draft.

Outfielder Corey Dempster, a USC commit like Kohler, showed good bat speed and a solid approach, hitting a three-run, opposite-field homer to right. The ball carried well to that part of Memorial Field in Upland, and sophomore Luke Dykstra also took advantage, hitting a two-run opposite-field shot earlier in the game. Dykstra, the son of former big league all-star Lenny and the younger brother of 2008 second-round pick Cutter, is strong and athletic, and his swing and approach are making great strides. He credited his work with Cutter with helping his offensive game progress.

"(We) go to the batting cages all the time. He's one of the reasons I got so much better this offseason," Dykstra said. "I've tried to get stronger, and I'm seeing the ball way better in the fall. I was sitting on fastball (on the home run), and I just drove it the other way. I've been trying to do that the whole offseason. I changed my swing up, changed my stance. I feel more comfortable at the plate."   MORE

Nearly every major national amateur baseball organization in America is united as a USA Baseball National Member Organization. As a result, USA Baseball governs more than 12 million amateur players in ballparks and playgrounds across the country.

As the commissioner's office for amateur baseball, USA Baseball is a resource center for its various membership groups, fans and players. USA Baseball is also responsible for promoting and developing the game of baseball on the grassroots level, both nationally and internationally.

The USA Baseball membership program draws on all of the organizations' resources to afford players, coaches, parents and fans the most comprehensive baseball experience to date. The program will allow USA Baseball to further engage players of all ages in an effort to provide them with the resources to maximize their understanding of the game. USA Baseball along with the support of Major League Baseball, its National Member Organizations and sponsors is proud to offer players of all ages the opportunity to be part of Team USA.

The membership initiative will aim to provide a centralized source of baseball information, including material related to NCAA compliance, anti-doping and drug awareness, current medical safety reports, rules interpretation and coaches education. The program will also include National Team identification opportunities, travel information, player training tools, USA Baseball specialty merchandise offers, character development and more that will improve the players' overall baseball experience. The individual registration fee is $25 for all players, coaches, officials and fans. Rules interpretation, little known facts, basic laws of the game and upholding sportsmanship.

Features of the USA Baseball membership program include: