DuPage Dragons vice president of baseball operations Tim Connelly said Thursday that he has already started assembling next year's team.
Connelly said he pursues top local seniors as they're graduating, so that they might play for DuPage after their first season in college. The position players are usually set by September, but the roster on January 1 never looks the same as it does on June 1.
This season's version finished the first half in second place of the five-team Central Illinois Collegiate League with a 13-11 record. The Dragons entered Thursday with a 3-4 mark. DuPage's schedule can be found here, with stats here.
"You really come to appreciate (the off days)," pitcher Ryan Copeland said last week at Benedictine. "You'll play six or seven days in a row and you really get to feel the grind (of) a professional baseball player, whether it be the minor leagues (or) major leagues."
For infielder Jordan Tokarz, a Neuqua Valley graduate, this marks his third consecutive summer playing in wood bat league.
"The sweet spot's (a) little bit smaller on a wood bat (but) the swing's gotta stay the same whether it's aluminum or wood, so I don't think there's really any huge adjustment that has to be made," Tokarz said.
Tokarz works for the city of Naperville around his scheduled road games this summer. The team travels in vans, stopping at gas stations for food.
"I seem to eat more than we actually play baseball. It's weird," Pete Capetta said. "It's fun though."
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