Steve Bralver

Some agencies might look at those achievements and still say that a guy like Steve Bralver is not worth their time, but we saw somebody who has a lot of potential on and off the field, and someone we really wanted to bring into our family.

As mentioned, Bralver went undrafted after graduating from school.  After a lot of tryouts with various Independent professional teams (you can read more about that journey on Bralver’s blog at Seamheads.com), Bralver found out that no Frontier League teams had a spot for him on their roster.

Eventually, the Calgary Vipers of the Arizona Winter League came calling.  They needed a first baseman, and they liked Steve Bralver.  With not many options on the table and nothing to lose, Bralver accepted their offer and became determined to prove his value on the field.

Seventeen different Major League organizations sent scouts to watch the players in this year’s Arizona Winter League.  Steve Bralver got the exposure he needed.  Additionally, 55 free agents, including Steve Bralver, received contract offers from professional teams after a draft was held by the Arizona Winter League.  Bralver received an offer from the Chico Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League.

On Saturday, the draft was behind Steve Bralver, but he still was looking forward to that night’s Arizona Winter League Championship Game between his Calgary Vipers and the San Luis Athleticos.  Bralver ended up going 4-for-4 with a home run (2-run home run in the 1st inning) and three RBI.  He was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.  From unwanted to MVP.  But still the same amazing character.

“It’s been so much fun,” Bralver said. “We had fans out rooting for our team that we didn’t know, but they came out and rooted for us every single day. To win this for them, to celebrate with champagne and the whole number, the rings, the dog pile, we loved it all.”

Baseball

• Dan Leatherman – Last night, he picked up the win for the Potomac Nationals.  His final line was: 3.2 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.  This improves him to 2-0 with a 5.32 ERA on the season with the High A Potomac Nationals.  Leatherman has not walked a batter in his last 7 outings, which spans 12.2 innings.
• Pete Parise – Parise threw 2 perfect innings (1 K) in Springfield’s loss last night.  Parise has now thrown 11.1 consecutive scoreless frames over his last 8 outings and has a 0.59 ERA over his last 10 outings.  His season ERA is 2.86 in 34.2 IP (26 K’s).  We showed you a powerpoint slide on him yesterday.  His stat line has only gotten better since.
• Kyle Gunderson – Recently, Hi-A Jupiter placed Kyle on the reserve list.  Kyle is healthy and looking forward to returning back to the active list soon.  The Marlins put him on the reserve list as a precautionary measure to give his back some rest.  Since joining the Jupiter Hammerheads in a trade for Logan Kensing, Gunderson has a WHIP and ERA of 0.90 in 10 IP.
• Kyle McPherson – In his last 4 starts, McPherson has 3 wins and 1 no-decision. In the 22.1 IP over that span, Kyle has racked up 13 K’s and only walked 2 batters.  His overall record on the year with the West Virginia Power is 4-1.
• Ryan Kelly – R.Kelly has provided solid relief for the West Virginia Power thus far.  His ERA is sitting at 3.06.  When A-Rod was making his way back to the majors with rehab assignments, he could not get a hit off of R. Kelly.
• Brendan Murphy – Brendan got off to a scorching hot start with the Kalamazoo Kings of the Frontier League, but has cooled off a bit ever since.  He still has 2 HR in 8 games played, along with 6 RBI.
• The rest of our boys: Tommy Johnson, Nick Czyz, Ben Billingsley, and Zach Rosenbaum are doing very well in Extended Spring Training and will be on their respective teams’ Short Season A teams.

Bowling

• Our latest bowling client is Jason Belmonte.  He is currently in his home of Australia making the rounds with the press, but will be back in the U.S. shortly to bowl in the PBA’s Summer Series.  We have big plans for Belmo.  In the meantime, become a fan on his Facebook page.

Football

• Rulon Davis is doing well with the Denver Broncos.  The team needs all the help it can get on Defense and Rulon is just the type of guy who can give them that edge they so desperately need.
• Andrew Johnson had a very successful mini-camp tryout with the Cleveland Browns, but unfortunately, was not retained by the team.  We are now searching for other options for Drew.
• Kevin Grant is considering various options, but we still believe that he belongs in the NFL.  We continue to find the right fit for the former 4-year Akron LB.

Basketball

• We have recently added a bunch of new clients including, Terrrance Woodbury (leading scorer at UGA for the past 2 years), John Gilchrist (former standout at University of Maryland), and Jamarcus Ellis (University of Indiana – named Honorable Mention All Big-Ten).  All of them are receiving considerable interest in the United States (NBA/NBDL) and overseas.

Coaches

• Been working on a new website.  Jason and I have been given important positions in a particular coaches association.  More information will be posted in the near future.

Entertainment

• Hopefully you know about the new EntertainmentAgentBlog.com.  The new site alone, has allowed us to receive more leads for our clients.  Additionally, we are starting to move away from being “agents” to our clients, to taking on more of a managerial role.

Dynasty has three clients who will be starting their 2009 campaigns in various independent leagues. Gerard Haran will start the season with the Atlantic League’s Newark Bears, Brendan Murphy will be with the Frontier League’s Kalamazoo Kings, and Paul Rutgers will be with the Golden Baseball League’s Tucson Toros.

Independent Leagues are respected by MLB scouts.  Many players have been able to come out of various indy leagues to have successful careers in Major League Baseball.  One league that is getting some good press is where Rutgers will be starting the 2009 season: The Golden Baseball league.

The GBL is only going into its 5th season of existence, and is seeing nice revenue growth year-to-year.  Interestingly, two Stanford students dreampt up the league and started it with $5 million from outside investors.  While mainstream leagues are being stunned by the economic downturn, losing sponsor after sponsor, the GBL has mostly been unaffected.  In fact, two years ago, the GBL fielded 6 teams; this year it will start with 10 teams.

Many of the independent leagues have not started their seasons or are just beginning this week.  The GBL does not start until the middle of May.