League News

• David Filak (P), Burnt Hills Spartans, RD4 (#134) - Atlanta Braves
• Tommy Kahnle (P), No. Colonie, RD5 (#175) - NYY
• Greg Holle (P), CBA, RD11 (#339) - Milwaukee Brewers

Congratulations to all three young men for their great success on the baseball diamond, which is the result of their great talent, much hard work, and the great support and instruction they received along the way.

I can remember watching all three play in our league on numerous occasions but the one occasion that stands out in my mind was about five years ago when I was managing the Bethlehem Eagles 16U team and we opened our season in Cooperstown, on Doubleday Field. Our opponent was the independent No. Colonie team (unfortunately I can't recall what they called themselves) that was formed and managed by Tom Kahnle, who was a great advocate of our league. During his tenure here, Tom never missed a league meeting and he and I enjoyed many long and interesting conversations about baseball in general, including the politics of youth baseball, locally. The pitcher on the mound that day was Tom's son, Tommy Kahnle. He had a masterful performance, never going deeper in the count than two balls in six innings pitched. He shut us out and held us to, I think, one hit. And we had a pretty good hitting Gold team. When that season was over and I looked back, Tommy Kahnle was by far the best pitcher we faced all season, including during our post-season appearance in a PONY Regional tournament in NJ. If I'm not mistaken, Greg Holle was drafted by the same team his dad once played for, the Milwaukee Brewers. In my email box this morning, Ray Seefeld, ENYTB club rep for Burnt Hills the last several years, proudly brought to my attention that one of their players had been drafted. I didn't know David but I believe he was a C who was converted to a P while at Oneonta. By being drafted at the top of this local star studded list, he obviously has developed into a very special P.

These three players join a long list of former ENYTB players who were selected in the MLB draft. Yes, the odds of getting drafted are long, but it can be done and is done almost every year locally. Current major leaguers Brendan Harris and Casper Wells also are former ENYTB players. In fact, in the last ten tears, virtually every player to be drafted by MLB from this area played his summer travel baseball in ENYTB. We are very proud of that fact. Although a cliche, it is nonetheless true, "to be the best you must play against the best" and ENYTB's Gold Division offers an elite level of local play that can be found only in ENYTB. This is borne out not only by the success of individual players but entire teams. In the last three seasons, ENYTB has produced three consecutive World Series Champions in sanctioned tournament play. No othe rlocal league can claim even one. In addition, numerous teams that make successful runs in school Sectional play played most or all of their summer travel in this league e.g., Ft. Plain, Waterford, and many, many more. I can even recall one year when two teams from our league met in the State Championship (Burnt Hills and a team from Utica). I believe Burnt Hills won that game.

Best of luck to our graduates for their journey in the professional ranks as well as to all our future MLB draft picks that are following in their footsteps right now!