By Paul Gotham
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – It didn’t take long for Dave Brust to arrive at an important realization.
Less than one month into his first season as head coach of the Webster Yankees, Brust watched his top reliever, Patrick Urckfitz, sign a minor league free agent deal with the Houston Astros. The departure created hole in Webster’s bullpen. During 14.2 innings of work, Urckfitz struck out 25. Opposing batters hit just .207 against the lefty.
Brust didn’t blink. Helping players get to the professional ranks comes with the territory in the New York Collegiate Baseball League. In reality, Brust knew this better than anybody. With four years of experience in the NYCBL (three as an assistant and one as a player), Brust had seen plenty advance their careers from amateur to paycheck-earning status.
But when it happens for the first time as a head coach, it can be an eye opener.
“It proved what a pivotal role the league and a head coach have in helping the process,” Brust said recently. “He was going to be signed one way or another, but we contributed. The job is more important than you think.”
Six years later, Urckfitz is a minor league veteran. He finished this season with the Oklahoma City RedHawks, Houston’s Triple-A affiliate in the Pacific Coast League, and Brust has taken over the Monroe Community College baseball program. Named the fourth head coach in school history the former minor leaguer knows well what the NYCBL experience provided.
“One hundred per cent it played a role,” Brust noted when talking about the NYCBL preparing him for his current position. “It was a dress rehearsal for working in a school. Without reservation I suggest any aspiring coach spend at least one year coaching in a summer collegiate league.”
From managing players, to working with assistants, interacting with parents along with developing a style and philosophy, the NYCBL gives young coaches a chance to grow.
“It’s as important to the coaches as it is the player.”
Webster finished 17-21 Brust’s first season at the helm. It was the only time a Brust team ended a campaign below .500.
One week after Urckfitz departed, the team’s best hitter, T.J. Baumet, returned home for personal reasons. Finally, all-league selection and current minor leaguer, Cory Brownsten took advantage of an opportunity to get in more games with a playoff-bound team and headed to the Coastal Plains League for the balance of the summer. The Yanks lost 10 one-run games on the season.
By the time he finished his four-year tenure, Brust guided Webster to the playoffs, established an NYCBL mark for consecutive wins, eventually claimed the organization’s first playoff series victory and earned Coach-of-the-Year honors.
“I never stopped reflecting on my coaching or diagnosing my team. The goal was to win, but it was also about sending the guys back to their campuses as better baseball players.”
Webster climbed to .500 in ‘09 finishing 21-21 but missed the playoffs when the club dropped a rare triple-header on the final day of regular season play. Rain outs and scheduling conflicts caused the Yanks to finish one game and play two others against two different teams on the final day.
“That was proof to me that we could win. That group wasn’t as talented as others, but they were such a great group of guys. Our success just didn’t show up in wins.”
A year later, Webster advanced to the playoffs and fell to Allegany County in the third and deciding game of the Western Division semi-finals.
Brust’s 2011 club set an NYCBL record winning its final 13 games of the regular season and ultimately stringing together 14 in a row. Webster defeated the Geneva Red Wings and advanced to the NYCBL championship before succumbing to Oneonta.
“Winning our side of the league was awesome. It was like I graduated.”
His peers acknowledged Brust’s work with the league’s top honor for coaches.
That work put Brust in position to seize the head coaching reins at Monroe. He follows a line that includes NJCAA Hall of Famers H. David Chamberlain and Skip Bailey. He succeeds the same man from whom he took over the Webster Yankees, Mike Kelly.
Brust, a MCC Hall-of Famer, served as an assistant in the Tribunes program from 2005-2012 the last five under Kelly. Brust also assisted Kelly for three years in the NYCBL.
As a player, Brust earned third-team All American honors for the Tribunes. He teamed with future Major Leaguer Tim Naehring and helped the 1986 Cohocton Red Wings to the then Northeast Collegiate Baseball League title.
After earning All-Conference and Most Valuable honors at Ball State University, Brust signed with the Atlanta Braves in 1989 and played three seasons in the minor leagues. He was coached by former major league skipper Grady Little and earned one major league spring training start. He homered in that one game. Former Brave, David Justice waited at home plate to congratulate him. Timing was not his ally. The Braves’ minor league system was stocked with prospects who led the club to 14 first-place finishes in 15 years.
While coaching Webster, Brust oversaw the development of several players who have gone on to professional careers including Chris Bostick, Brownsten, Bryan Gardner, Gary Helmick, Dan Jurik, Jon Massad, Marcus Nidiffer, Jordan Petraitis, Jasvir Rakkar, Lincoln Rassi, Jason Stifler and Urckfitz. Three others, Joe Greenfield, Jordon Herr and Jake Montgomery were taken in the draft but have not signed contracts.
He takes over a MCC program with 29 MLB Draft selections in its 48-year history. That number does not include players like Greg Keagle and Brownsten who went on to four-year schools before being drafted.
Keagle finished his college career at Florida International before the San Diego Padres made him a sixth-round pick. He made 23 starts and 46 appearances over three seasons for the Detroit Tigers.
During a seven-year span in the 70s, a dozen Tribunes earned 14 draft picks. Peter Castle led off for Monroe when the Pirates chose the right-hander in the sixth round of the June 1970 draft. Two years later, the reigning World Series champion Bucs took Al Dreschler in the seventh round. Charles Steffen heard his name called twice the following year — first in January by the Bucos and then in June by the New York Mets. The denizens of Three Rivers also took Bill Muoio in the 11th round of the January selection.
The Tribs made a splash in 1974 when four MCC diamond men were taken. The Pittsburgh nine chose John Pilato (4th round), Robert Harold (5th), James Del Re (6th) and Randy Law (10th) in the January draft.
In 1976, the Cincinnati Reds chose Tom Dimino (17th), and the Cleveland Indians took James Johnson (11th).
Ken Lelek accounted for three of those draft picks. The Montreal Expos tabbed the right-hander in the 1975 January draft. The Chicago Cubs took Lelek in June of that same year. Pittsburgh chose Lelek the following June.
MCC baseball has won 23 Regional crowns and eight District titles.
Brownsten and Urckfitz led the 2008 Tribune squad which advanced to the NJCAA World Series.
The Tribunes are currently 7-2 under Brust in the fall season.
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.
The NYCBL, sending players to the pros since 1978.
Paul Gotham is the Director of Media Relations and Communications for the New York Collegiate Baseball League. Paul is the founder, owner, editor and lead writer at Pickin’ Splinters. His work has been featured on Seamheads.com, BruceSpringsteen.net and GoBonnies.com. His book, Everybody On, Nobody Out, chronicles the hope and possibility in the New York Collegiate Baseball League. He will also appear in USA Today’s 2013 College Basketball Preview. You can follow Paul on Twitter @PickinSplinters.
Leave a Reply