West Coast League's roots come Back to the Basin 

WENATCHEE — The more I’m around Columbia Basin baseball, the more I am impressed with this hotbed of local talent. Everywhere you look, the connection somehow comes Back to the Basin.

I took a run up the highway to see the Wenatchee AppleSox play last week at Paul Thomas Sr. Field. The Sox have couple of our guys making their way through the West Coast League, which is the premier summer collegiate baseball league west of the Mississippi. The professionally operated, wood-bat league showcases professional prospects from major college conferences across the nation June through August.

Moses Lake right-hander Hunter Boyd is in his second season with the Wenatchee AppleSox and Alix Garcia from Othello is playing a limited schedule against some of the best collegiate players in the country.

Boyd is the No. 2 starter on the staff and is looking to take his game to the next level. The right-hander that helped Yakima Valley to a NWAC championship and was on the staff of the Columbia Basin River Dogs with they won the Senior Babe Ruth League World Series in 2015. Boyd still has a year of college eligibility remaining and is talking to the University of Montana-Billings.

Garcia wrapped up a stellar junior college career at Central Arizona and is now headed to Oklahoma State. The former Husky has already has a game-winning home run and a three-RBI double to his credit this season for the AppleSox. Alix is getting married this summer to Kylee Hawley, so his time with the Sox will be limited. But he will get in some games with a team that just picked up its 600th victory in franchise history and their 200th win at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium last week against Kelowna.

Roots run deep, AppleSox manager Kyle Krustangel is a former Big Bend Community College player who finished up his collegiate career at Whitworth. He’s also a West Coast League alum, having played for the Spokane RiverHawks (2008).

Makes me wish I was around when the Moses Lake Pirates (2005-2010) were still in the West Coast League. The Pirates won a championship in 2007 beating the West Division Champion Corvallis Knights 3-2 at Larson Field to sweep the league's Championship Series 2-0. They finished 29-13 record with the league's top mark.

Moses Lake's Zach Kim of University of San Francisco and Kitsap's Brandon Kuykendall of Benedictine College were named co-MVPs that year. Kim (.327) played outfield and second base for the Pirates and led the league in hits with 56 and runs scored with 32.

“I wish the Pirates were still around,” Boyd said. “I think it’d be a blast to be pitch in front of hometown fans at Larson.”

The Pirates’ inaugural manager was former Washington State assistant and Columbia Basin River Dog Gabe Boruff (2006-07), who was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 35th round of the 1998 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Boruff was the West Coast League coach of the year the season the Pirates to a league title.

Warden’s Jorge Reyes dominated during his second summer in the West Coast League. Though he pitched just five times (three starts), he posted a 28-2 strikeout-walk ratio in 21 innings with a fastball in the 92-93 mph range. Reyes was the Most Outstanding Player of the 2007 College World Series throwing the rock for Oregon State. Central Washington Spuds and Big Bend coach Steve Kerr also managed the team before it gave way to financial instability in 2010. But the ties to the Basin and the roots to baseball here run deep.

There’s also been a steady stream of West Coast League players make their way to both the NCAA and professional baseball. You can trace the footsteps all the way to the 2018 College World Series where Oregon State and University of Washington catchers, Adley Rutschman and Nick Kahle, respectively, played on the 2016 WCL champion Corvallis Knights.

Oregon State's starting lineup featured eight WCL alums, including left fielder Jack Anderson (Bend), center fielder Steven Kwan (Corvallis), third baseman Michael Gretler (Victoria), shortstop Cadyn Grenier (Bend), second baseman Nick Madrigal (Corvallis), first baseman Zak Taylor (Corvallis), catcher Adley Rutschman and designated hitter Kyle Nobach (Corvallis).

You never know if you're watching the next big league superstar. The West Coast League is the starting place of 271 WCL alums were active in affiliated professional baseball in 2017, including 31 in the major leagues.

Guys like 2015 home-run leader Chris Davis (Baltimore); record-breaking rookie slugger Rhys Hoskins (Philadelphia); rising star pitchers James Paxton (Seattle) and Matt Boyd (Detroit); and outfielder Mitch Haniger (Seattle).

If we dream big, maybe we can add Hunter Boyd and Alix Garcia to that list.

Rodney Harwood is a sports writer at the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com.