Dub Baseball put another feather in its cap after having three players chosen to represent Northern California at the 2017 National Team Identification Series in North Carolina.
Jackson Pace of Hollister, Justin Kester-Johnson of Morgan Hill and Zach Lewis of Pacific Grove all were identified following an All Star game tryouts.
“We’re pretty pumped. It shows the experience of the program, especially with kids from different regions,” said Dub President Erik Wagle.
Dub had four players chosen to play in the All Star game which identified who would be chosen to represent Northern California.
“I think this shows we’re doing good things,” Wagle said. “Obviously we’re developing players at a good rate.”
The NTIS is a nationwide program that seeks to identify future baseball talent through a series of regional tryouts leading to the series in North Carolina.
From there, players are chosen out of their six respective age groups—starting from 11U and going up to 17U—to attend National Team Trials, National Team Development and the Tournament of Stars.
The 13U players will head out for four days of competition starting Aug. 9 in Cary, NC.
Following team tryouts—where a travel team gets a chance to compete for a spot in the All Star game—individual players are chosen to advance to the next round.
That’s where the three plus Justin’s brother Trevor were chosen to compete.
From there, the three learned by email they had been chosen for the Northern California team.
This is the second straight year Dub is sending a player to North Carolina after Aidan Keenan was picked last year.
All three players this year play for Dub’s 13U team and all show off different skill sets that helped to make the team, in Wagle’s view, one of the stand out teams Dub has this year.
He noted the 13U team has some great parent involvement and said among them, Justin, Pace and Lewis all come from great families who are active in the sport.
“This is the kind of vision we had when we started and it’s started to become reality,” Wagle said. “Out goal is to take kids in this region and give them an opportunity to move to next level.”
The players said this is going to be a good measuring stick to see where they’re at.
Justin, Pace and Lewis will join forces with players from around Northern California, but they said most of them were from out of the immediate area.
They said they will have one practice before heading over to North Carolina, but noted they are largely just trying to take in the experience of it all.
“I just want to see all the best players in my age bracket and see what they’ve got and see how I stack up against them,” Justin said.
Justin from Morgan Hill was described as a phenomenal athlete by his coach.
He largely plays center field where he uses his speed and aggressiveness to his advantage, Wagle said.
“He’s the 3 hitter on the team and one of the most dynamic players out there and one of the most athletic,” Wagle said.
Pace looms large within the team both in stature and talent.
Pace said he is looking forward heading out to North Carolina.
“It’s going to be a great experience without a doubt,” Pace said.
The Hollister kid is already north of 6 feet and has a live arm. His father was a college pitcher, so he has the pedigree for success.
“He’s definitely a fireballer,” Wagle said. “He’s very physical on the mound and he’s aggressive.”
Pace joined Dub a year ago, but has been throwing since T-Ball.
He has the look of a pitcher, with a stern face and professional domineer. Following practice on Thursday, he stood with his two other teammates with a baseball in hand and going through his pitching grips.
Pace said with a laugh that he always works on getting faster with getting to the right pitch on the mound.
But while he has the look of a pitcher, Pace said he kind of took that role for granted until recently.
“At first I didn’t take it too seriously until recently,” he said.
But through his experience with Dub, Pace said he’s learning a lot.
“I love the coaching we get here,” Pace said. “I’ve learned a lot and am hoping to keep getting better.”
Pace comes into a Dub program that recently expanded down into Hollister and already has some good numbers showing up for their Hollister-based teams and practice facilities.
While Pace has a bit of a hike to get to Morgan Hill for practice, he doesn’t have the longest haul.
That honor goes to Lewis who makes the hour-plus trek to workout with Dub.
Wagle was high with his praise for Lewis, who plays shortstop on the 13U team.
Wagle said his teammates call Lewis “The Big Leaguer” because he carries himself as you might if you were in the big leagues.
Wagle said he’s a dynamic player who has both speed and can hit for power.
“He understands the nuances of the game,” Wagle said. “Coming from Pacific Grove, he’s had some good coaching along the way.”
Lewis said he didn’t want to put too much pressure on himself to make the team and just went out there to do his job and try to help the team.
“I just wanted to go out there and put my best foot forward,” Lewis said. “If I didn’t make it, I didn’t make it. Thankfully I was chosen and it’s going to be good.”
Lewis said he heard about Dub from Trevor and has liked his experience.
He said the coaching is as good if not better up here compared with Pacific Grove and said he likes the level of competition he’s exposed to through Dub.
