By Paul Gotham
ROCHESTER, NY – Following the career path of Logan Darnell (Amsterdam ’08) is not one of complication. For now, the native of Joelton, TN is on a straight line from point A to point B.
Since being taken in the 2010 MLB Draft, Darnell has made a steady climb from Rookie ball to Triple-A. The next logical step is a trip to the big leagues.
A sixth-round choice of the Minnesota Twins, he spent his rookie campaign in the Appalachian League. Darnell made 11 appearances including five starts striking out 32, walking nine in 34 innings of work for the Elizabethton Twins. Those numbers earned him a promotion to Single-A Beloit starting the 2011 campaign. After six starts, Darnell jumped to Fort Myers of the Advanced-A Florida State before ending the campaign with the Double-A New Britain Rock Cats.
The 6’2” left-hander returned to New Britain in 2012 making 28 starts and hurling 156 innings. He fanned 98 and walked 47.
The southpaw started 2013 in Double-A but has spent the last two months of the season helping the Rochester Red Wings advance to the International League playoffs.
“Going into college my freshman year I struggled,” Darnell said prior to a game at Frontier Field in late August. “When I went to the NYCBL, I learned how to control my fastball.”
Darnell credited his solid sophomore season at the University of Kentucky with his work in the NYCBL. He improved from 14 walks and 12 strike outs in 17-plus innings of work as a freshman to 47 ks with 20 base on balls the following year in college. The lefty led the Wildcats and ranked ninth in the SEC with 28 relief appearances.
“Coming out of high school, I just threw it as hard as I could and got away with it. In college, if you throw it down the middle, it’s probably going to be hit hard.”
Darnell made eight appearances including six starts with Amsterdam’s Mohawks during the summer of ’08. He finished 3-0 with an ERA of 1.82. In 34.2 frames he surrendered just 29 hits and fanned 33 while walking 19. Baseball America and PGcrosschecker named him the league’s top prospect.
“I would go games just throwing heaters and work on locating,” Darnell recalled of his season playing for the denizens of Shuttleworth Park. “I had a lot of success because my ball was moving more, and I was sinking it.”
“When I got back to college after working on that one thing, it really helped. Young pitchers learn everything builds off the fastball. Once you get that foundation strong, you build off it. You can add a changeup – something to slow and speed their bat up. Then you can add a strike-out pitch. Once you locate your fastball in and out, then it just opens up the whole plate.”
Time spent in the NYCBL continued to pay dividends.
Darnell earned a spot in the prestigious Alaskan Baseball League the next summer. The avid outdoorsman “did work” on the halibut. He also posted a 5-1 record on the mound with the Anchorage Glacier Pilots allowing just 27 hits in 50.2 innings of work striking out 40 while handing out just 18 free passes. Baseball America named him the sixth best prospect in the league.
“I got the confidence that I gained from knowing that I can throw my fastball and get guys out,” Darnell explained. “Then I started throwing my other pitches.”
Darnell made 11 starts with the IL Wild Card Red Wings. He finished 4-4 including eight shutout innings against the Louisville Bats on August 18th.
“I needed that,” Darnell said of the start. “The last three outings I hadn’t gotten past the fifth inning. I’ve been working on trying to not throw as many pitches. I’ve been trying to get batters out in the first two pitches, so I don’t run my pitch count over 100.”
Rochester fell 3-2 to Pawtucket in the IL Semi-Finals. Darnell made two playoff appearances striking out seven in six innings while giving up two runs.
Darnell is one of four NYCBL alums who helped the Red Wings advance to the post-season for the first time in seven years. Caleb Thielbar (Little Falls ’07) went 1-1 with a save for the Wings before being called up to Minnesota. He has since made 41 appearances with the Twins posting an ERA of 1.91 in 37.2 innings of work. Darin Mastroianni (Saratoga ’06) worked his way back from an ankle injury and played 15 games for the Rochester nine. He too has been called up to the Twins. Cody Eppley (Elmira ’06) went 2-0 in 22 trips to the mound for Rochester.
The NYCBL is part of the National Alliance of College Summer Baseball (NACSB) which oversees the rules and policies of ten different summer leagues: the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League, Cape Cod Baseball League, Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League, Florida Collegiate Summer League, Great Lakes Collegiate Summer League, New England Collegiate Baseball League, Southern Collegiate Baseball League, Sunbelt Baseball League, and the Valley League Baseball.
These ten leagues provide a variety of competition levels that help prepare young players for life in professional baseball. One in every six Major League players has spent at least one summer playing in the Cape Cod League.
Current major league players Tim Hudson, Hunter Pence and Rajai Davis all spent a summer in the NYCBL. In all, more than 100 NYCBL alums dot rosters in Major and Minor League Baseball.
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