The Noise of Summer

Harvard Update:

Lance Salsgiver (.327) is leading the Cape Cod League's Wareham Gateman in batting average. Shawn Haviland has a 5.21 ERA in eight appearances.

Steffan Wilson is making quite the impression, according to this article that, for some reason, vanishes as soon as it loads. You have to press "stop" quickly to read it. Excerpt:

TORRINGTON -- When Torrington Twisters manager Gregg Hunt looks at Steffan Wilson, he sees a solid right fielder. And infielder. And pitcher if need be. In fact, Hunt just sees one darn good baseball player.

With virtually total roster turnover year-to-year in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, surprises are always part of the deal, and there has probably been no nicer surprise for the Twisters this season than Wilson.

"When we agreed to take him as a freshman (at Harvard), we didn't know what we were getting," Hunt said.

"He's a heck of a right fielder and can probably play anywhere he chooses. He played the infield for Harvard and was their closer. The only positions he probably can't play are up the middle."

"I think if I spent some time there (up the middle) I could play there," Wilson said with a smile when told of Hunt's analysis.

Wilson, a sturdy 6-foot-1, 210-pounder, was the 2005 Ivy League Rookie of the Year. He is currently hitting .320 for Torrington with a team-leading 32 RBI. He has spent most of the season in right for the Twisters, a situation he almost considers relaxing.
"It's nice to only focus on right field," Wilson said. "There is going to be time soon to focus in (on one position). I don't know if I need to make my decision now. If a scout told me to zone in, I'd definitely listen to the advice. But right now, I'm keeping all the doors open."

At this stage in his career, Hunt sees Wilson's versatility as nothing but an advantage.

"Eventually he is going to have to decide what he is, but he is in a great position now," Hunt said. "He can choose what he wants to do on the baseball field."

Wilson has no specific preference where he plays; this summer, he says, is about getting better in all areas. But, he does have a general direction for the future.

"I want to hit," he said. "I don't want to be stuck on the mound. I've always loved pitching, but I would choose to hit. I like being part of the action every day."

Former Crimson catcher Brian Lentz was released by the Mariners organization and signed with the independent North Short Spirit.

Former Ivy Pitcher of the Year Trey Hendricks leads the Yakima Bears, the Diamondbacks' Class A Northwest League affiliate, in average (.310), slugging (.442) and RBI (15) over 33 games.

Former Ivy Co-Pitcher of the Year Ben Crockett has an 3.68 ERA through 7 relief appearances and one start with the Class AA Tulsa Drillers.

While Wilson has thrived in the NECBL, Josh Klimkiewicz (.200) and Tom Stack-Babich (.156) have struggled. Speaking of struggling, Zak Farkes (5-for-45) has not had an auspicious start to his pro career at Class A Lowell.

Finally, we have this: Apparently, Larry Summers enlisted Matt Hyde for a crash course in reaching the mound before throwing the first pitch at Fenway recently.

“He was going to throw from behind the pitcher’s rubber like it was the baseline in tennis, so I had to get him straightened out,” Hyde recalled. “I told him they’d probably have him throw from 45 feet or something. But Larry said, ‘No, if I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it from the full distance.’”

“You learn a lot about a person when he puts on a glove,” Hyde said.

Zak Farkes: A Greatest Hits Compilation

• This Week: Farkes signs with Red Sox, ends Harvard career.
  
• Lowell Spinners' Farkes page.
  
• GoCrimson.com profile.
  
• Boston Herald feature.
  
• Unanimous selection to 2005 All Ivy.
  
• A clutch 2005 Dartmouth weekend.
  
• 2005 injury issues.
  
• Ultimately prescient 2005 Preseason Feature in The Crimson.
  
• Farkes returns for junior year.
  
• Summer league play in the Cape.
  
• Red Sox Draftee [with Crimson story]
  
• Unanimous utility selection, All Ivy First Team 2004.
  
• The Sick Season.
  
• Huge Dartmouth weekend as a soph.
  
• Farkes and the Facebook feature in The Crimson.
  
• Farkes, Klimkiewicz and Salsgiver named The Crimson's Male Rookies Of The Year.
  
• Ivy League Rookie of the Year, 2003.
  
• Meet The BB&N Boys.
  
• Early returns.

Breaking News: Farkes Leaves

The Harvard Crimson reports in its Friday edition that Zak Farkes forgoes his last year of NCAA eligibility to sign with the Red Sox, the team that drafted him last year:

TROY, N.Y.—Zak Farkes has always known just what kind of career he wants. From his childhood watching the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park through his years as a slugging infielder for the Harvard baseball team, Farkes has had the goal of playing baseball for a living.
Although various setbacks threatened to deny that dream, Farkes fulfilled his lifetime desire July 2 by signing a professional contract as a non-drafted free agent with his hometown Red Sox. Foregoing his senior season of baseball eligibility at Harvard, Farkes is embarking on what he hopes will be a long professional journey.

“What I want to do in my life is be a pro baseball player,” Farkes said before his new team, the Lowell (Mass.) Spinners, played Tuesday night. “A Harvard degree will help me out in the future, but my first commitment was to baseball.”

That commitment began last Sunday evening in Troy, N.Y. After signing the previous day—a contract that he negotiated with the team himself—Farkes was assigned to the Spinners of the New York-Pennsylvania League, a class-A franchise.

Farkes joined his new team just in time to catch the bus to Bruno Stadium, where Lowell was taking on the Tri-City ValleyCats, a minor league affiliate of the Houston Astros. He was barely settled before learning Spinners’ manager Luis Alicea had penciled him into the starting lineup at second base, the position where the Red Sox have told Farkes he’ll get the majority of his playing time.

We'll have more on this story.