Red Raiders and a Reds’ scout By Duane Shimogawa Jr. – THE GARDEN ISLAND He might have not been the only scout at the Vidinha Stadium ballpark on Saturday, but he made his presence felt, even if he didn’t really
Red Raiders and a Reds’ scout
By Duane Shimogawa Jr. – THE GARDEN ISLAND
He might have not been the only scout at the Vidinha Stadium ballpark on Saturday, but he made his presence felt, even if he didn’t really catch the action that he wanted to see.
A Cincinnati Reds scout, who is based in Northern California, caught a glimpse of the Kaua‘i/Kapa‘a KIF baseball opener.
He made the trip out to the Garden Isle to see Red Raider senior Kirby Yates, whose been known in some circles, as the best pitching prospect in the state.
Fortunately for the scout and for the KIF though, he managed to see other talented Kaua‘i players.
He asked about Red Raider freshman Blake Gingerich and Kapa‘a junior Ekolu Allianic, who were able to catch the eyes of the Cincinnati scout.
According to the scout, this was the first time he’d been out to Kaua‘i, since the days of another Red Raider pitcher, Mark Rodrigues.
Like Yates, Rodrigues could also hit with the best of them. The scout remembered an instance, when Rodrigues roped a homerun to rightfield, which skyrocketed out of the park like a missile.
About an inning later, Yates got ahold of a fastball from Kapa‘a pitcher Tyler Teves and hit it about the same place as Rodrigues’ homer.
Unlike Yates though, Rodrigues is a southpaw (left handed), but that may be the only difference between the two.
Both are also from Koloa.
The two will also end up in the majors.
Rodriuges played two years at Los Medanos College in California.
He was drafted in the 29th round of the 2001 MLB draft, and taken in the 37th round of the 2002 MLB draft.
Right now, Rodrigues is on the University of Hawai‘i baseball team.
He’s been injured though, as an elbow injury last season, kept him out of the lineup, so he redshirted.
The junior is the only Kaua‘i player on the University of Hawai‘i roster.
But at least the Cincinnati Reds scout got to see Rodrigues on the mound.
On Saturday, Yates got to see some action, but during the last inning of the tail end of a double header.
The scout had a plane ride to catch and missed the Yates one inning domination of Kapa‘a batters, minus Kahai Nakano’s rope down the rightfield line for a single.
Yates overpowered the next three batters, Travis Shigeta, Joshua Teves, and Waylan Kupihea to secure the Kaua‘i sweep.
Yates however, left the “good stuff” in his back pocket.
He’ll bring the beef out today against the Menehune.
Throughout the preseason, the Red Raider senior has been scouted heavily, especially on Maui, against Lahainaluna, as Yates went through the Luna lineup, as if they were youth baseball players.
The young players on the Kaua‘i High School baseball squad have a chance to see what it’s like to play along with a major leaguer, which is darn special, if you consider that Kaua‘i has only one player in the major leagues.
Ironically, that players’ last name is also Yates, and yes, he is the older brother of Kirby.
Tyler, who suits up for the New York Mets, will miss this season with an injury, but he’ll be back a year from now, and maybe his younger brother Kirby will be there, too!
