Tag Archives: independent baseball

Independent Ball

Frontier League Player, Justin Vasquez, Battling Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

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GO FUND ME PAGE: https://www.gofundme.com/h5627ms8

During this Frontier League season, Schaumburg Boomers outfielder Justin Vasquez noticed that something was wrong. He was fatigued and had a cough that just got worse as the season wore on. After many tests, Justin was diagnosed with Primary Mediastinal Large B-Cell Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma on August 26th and is currently undergoing chemotherapy.

A fundraiser has been set up to help with medical and living expenses and will be held on November 20th in Fort Pierce, FL.

Currently, they are accepting donations such as raffle items, silent auction items, sponsorship, and monetary donations for the event.

A Facebook page has also been set up to support Justin through his fight, Team Justin.

Here is the information that has been posted by Team Justin regarding the event:

Hello Everyone,

There have been many people asking for information regarding a fundraiser for Justin and we are currently in the process of setting one up. We currently have the location and date set. The date is set for November 20, 2015 at Endless Summer Winery in Fort Pierce, FL. This event will be a very nice Friday evening filled with fun, food, drinks, music, 50/50, many raffles, and some really great silent auction items! More details on the event to follow… but mark your calendars!

Currently we are working on building our raffle and silent action item list so we have some more really great items! If you or someone you know would like to donate any items to this event please contact me. My contact information is listing in the flyer that is attached to this post. No item is too small or to large for this event. Please see the flyer for more information or please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

You are all such amazing people and we appreciate all the support you are giving Justin during his fight with cancer. We all know he is going to knock it out of the park!!

Much LOVE… TEAM JUSTIN

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Independent Ball

Matt Chavez Becomes First Pacific Association Player to Sign Affiliated Contract

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matt chavez

(California Winter League)

In the four year history of the Pacific Association, no player had signed a contract with an affiliated club until now.  Matt Chavez, first baseman for the San Rafael Pacifics, was signed by the San Diego Padres organization on August 18th and sent to High A Lake Elsinore.

Chavez was drafted in 2010 by the Chicago White Sox but elected to continue playing at the University of San Francisco.  After his senior season in 2012, he went undrafted and was unsure if he’d ever get a chance to play professional baseball.

In 2013, he made the decision to attend the instructional California Winter League.  After being noticed in the CWL, he had the opportunity to play with the Prescott Montezuma Federals of the Freedom Pro Baseball League. He earned the FPBL triple crown by batting .430 with 18 HR and 49 RBI.

Then last year, Chavez went on a wild ride through baseball.  His numbers from the FPBL helped him get noticed, and he was signed by the San Francisco Giants for spring training. Chavez played the month of April with their Single A affiliate in Augusta, but was released after batting .194 in 10 games.

After being released, he signed with the Frontier Greys, the road team in the Frontier League.  In June, he was traded to the Fort Worth Cats in the now defunct United League. After a month with the Cats, he was released. Days later, he was signed by another United League team, the San Angelo Colts, where he remained for only another month.

The California native ended the season by heading back home to the west coast with the San Rafael Pacifics in the Pacific Association.  In the last two weeks of the season, he was able to make an impact on the team and help lead them to the Pacific Association Championship over the Vallejo Admirals.

After several offers from higher independent leagues for 2015, Chavez ultimately decided to stay on the west coast and play for San Rafael again this season.  He dominated the league while batting .383 (2nd best in the league) 31 HR (a new league record) and 85 RBI (the next closest has over 20 less) in 66 games.

However, the one night a Padres scout was in attendance, Chavez didn’t even get to showcase his hitting ability.  He was in the lineup, but seven consecutive at bats resulted in a walk.

“If anything, it might have played in my favor,” Chavez told the Marin Independent Journal. “The scout comes and the guys don’t even want to pitch to me. That’s a pretty good thing.”

The scout was impressed by his numbers and the fear he struck in opposing teams, and signed Chavez earlier this month. He is now splitting time between playing first base and DHing with the Lake Elsinore Storm. In eight games, he is batting .267 with one home run.  He hopes to make the most of the remaining weeks in the season and get an invite to spring training with the Padres next year.

*Update: 3/23/16* It was recently brought to my attention by the Vallejo Admirals that Chavez was NOT the first Pacific Association player to get signed. According to Tim Fitzgerald, Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations, “Our leader in HRs, RBIs and OPS in ’13, Nathan Tomaszewski, was signed to Pirates rookie ball from us. He retired after that season and now works for Scott Boras.”