SWFL announces 2015 summer rosters
Southwest Florida Baseball announced its rosters on Tuesday, “this is the initial draft of rosters, the Coaches will be looking for players to finalize their roster throughout the spring” said Clint Montgomery – Vice President of SWFL Baseball. “We’ll hold another try-out in May and be looking for players as the spring evolves.” In all, 34 players were selected to the 17U and 16U squads that will play a rigorous schedule with a total of 5-7 tournaments that will include 2 National tournaments. SWFL most recently won the 2014 Perfect Game Florida State Championships in July and went 4-0 in pool play at the PG World Championships in Jupiter in late October.
Players were selected out of the Pro’s Select Collegiate Clinic that was held January 10-11, 2015. “These rosters are not final, there were other players at the Clinic that are good players and still have a chance to make a roster,” said Montgomery. “We know we have enough players to fill two 17U squads, it comes down to pitching, and we need more arms for all of the teams.” SWFL will also run a 15U team this summer but will wait until the May try-outs to post the roster. “We’re excited about the 15U program. We feel that we’ll have good players, a good schedule and a chance to win some championships” said Montgomery.
SWFL also announced their coaching staffs for the summer. “I feel that our coaching staff is as good as you get for a summer program. We have a number of Head Coaches or Assistant Coaches at the High School level, and we have pitching coaches at every level that bring a level of expertise that is exciting” said John Cedarburg, a scout for the Colorado Rockies and a founding member of the SWFL program. “It’ll be a fun summer, practices can be a challenge but we’ll do our best to compliment what their High School Coach is teaching them” said Cedarburg. Here are the SWFL summer coaching staffs:
18U – Kevin Pickett – TBA
17U – Ryan Horton – Bryan Beisner – Tom Woodley
16U – Clint Montgomery – Bob VanDeventer
15U – Pete Saez – AJ Reyes
The SWFL 18U program will be run by Kevin Pickett and will feature a short 3 tournament schedule so the players can get back together one last time before heading off to school. “The 2015 class is the most decorated group that we’ve ever had. They won a bunch of tournaments, including 2 National Championships over the years, it’ll be fun to get them back together for a little bit” Cedarburg said. “We’ll have a draft pick or two from that group, and it’ll be an exciting spring for them. The summer will give them one last chance to pal around before heading to school.”
SWFL can boast over 50 professional players that have gone through the program and over 300 have had an opportunity to play at the collegiate level because of the SWFL program. “We run a solid program and have had success for a number of years. We play with the players that want to be here and try to be good members of the community by assisting the local and out of area kids with opportunities in baseball and hopefully having a positive influence on the local community.” Cedarburg said. “Our record kind of speaks for itself.”
Dates for the May try-out will be announced but is usually held the first weekend in May. For more information please send your emails to the appropriate Coach:
15U – Pete Saez – pely3@yahoo.com
16U – Clint Montgomery – clintondmo@leeschools.com
17U – Ryan Horton – hortonrryan@gmail.com
18U – Kevin Pickett – kpickett.realestate@gmail.com