Anew brand of baseball was born last week in Middlesex County when the inaugural season of the Greater Middlesex Coaches Summer Baseball League (GMCSBL) got under way.
The league fields 15 teams, and each team will play an 18-game schedule and its own version of a mid-summer classic. After the teams play their first 11 games, a mid-season tournament will determine the league champion, which will advance to the Don Mattingly Playoffs of the American Amateur Baseball Congress. The remaining teams will finish the regular season with seven remaining games.
The league was founded by Spotswood High School head coach Glenn Fredericks and has been given the stamp of approval from several area coaches.
“The premise of the league is to give kids an opportunity to play varsity-level baseball during the summer,” Fredericks said. “Players will play for their high school coaching staffs and will be playing with their own teammates. This will benefit high school clubs because they’ll have an 18-game start to the upcoming season.”
Unlike American Legion teams, the GMCSBL will not field graduating high school seniors or seasoned college players. Instead, the emphasis is on younger players who will return for at least one more season of high school ball.
“Middlesex County does not get the recognition it deserves for turning out quality baseball teams and players,” Fredericks said. “I think this league will help us showcase the county talent. Currently, Division I coaches and major league scouts don’t come to Middlesex County, despite the fact that the county has produced three state champions in three years and the recent success of the county’s Legion teams.”
For three of the past four seasons, Middlesex County has had a team one victory shy of advancing to the American Legion World Series.
“We rarely get teams from our county ranked among the state’s top 10 teams, and I think we as coaches can do a better job of speaking up and representing our kids,” Fredericks said. “I think all of our coaches have that intention, and our aim is to let people know that we play quality baseball here in this county.”
The GMCSBL has also spawned a pair of offspring in the form of traveling all-star teams. Both 18-and-under and 17-and-under teams will travel to showcase events to further put area talent on display. The teams will be named the Middlesex County Matrix and will be coached by Fredericks and his staff of Mark Blevins, Tim Banos, Fred Cole and Kevin Dalton.
“The 18U, or the college prep team, will provide players with instruction to prepare for the college level,” Fredericks said. “We call the 17U team the ‘prospect’ team. This team will give area players the opportunity to play on a bigger stage at events which college coaches and scouts attend.”
While the new league is still in its infancy stage, several teams from outside Middlesex County are already onboard for next summer.
“We have 15 teams in the league this summer, and we hope to double that number a year from now,” Fredericks said. “Teams from Union and Monmouth County are looking to get into the league next summer.”