Baseball:

Pictured L-R: Brandon Ramey pitching to Franco Alonso, Zach Jacobs getting ready to face a batter, & PCC pitching coach/Legends Tournament Director, Nico Calderaro.

By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor

The idea of running an indoor baseball league had percolated in his brain for over a year.

Nico Calderaro, a member of the PCC baseball coaching staff since day one of the Pat McGee regime back in 2015, put together a blueprint that would allow high school seniors and college baseball players the opportunity to compete against one another in a controlled and competitive environment.

And it wasn’t just a physical experience Calderaro envisioned, it was also the providing of the most advanced technology for both the pitchers and hitters that helped sell the idea.

Calderaro’s background included playing for and graduating from Bonita in 2009, where he threw a no-hitter.

He would go on to play at both Mt. SAC and APU, before joining McGee in Pasadena.

Originally, he planned this out well before COVID-19 was a threat, let alone a reality.

PCC’s final baseball game before the 2020 season was canceled came on March 7, and within a month, Calderaro had contacted the owner of the Legends Baseball Academy in Pasadena.

He worked out a deal with Al Quintana, who also serves as the respected hitting coach at Maranatha High School.

He also brought on the owner of BaseballCensus.com, who recorded every pitch and swing and put together nightly videos for the athletes.

The batters were also able to pick an MLB park they most liked and each time they made contact, a big screen TV would show where the ball would have landed in that particular stadium.

It also gave the batter his hot zone, a launch angle, exit velocity, and results in terms of single, double, triple or home run.

For the pitchers, De Muro provided an MPH (velocity), spin rate, spin efficiency and the horizontal and vertical break.

Calderaro had hoped for 40 kids to compete in the maiden voyage, but it attracted a remarkable 140 competitors for the six-week run.

Some of the names that took part in the league include Kristian Scott (Bishop Amat/Chico State), Zach Jacobs (SDHS/UCR), Brandon Ramey (MLK Riverside/Phillies draftee), Cole Dale (Maranatha/UCSD), Gordon Ingebritson (Village Christian HS/PCC/UCI), Franco Alonso (Pasadena Poly/Cornell), Kenny Carrillo (Montebello HS/Biola), Aaron Treloar (St. Francis HS/Biola/GCC), Owen Hackman (Maranatha/LMU), Casey Slattery (Harvard-Westlake HS/GCC), Brock Vradenburg (Maranatha/MSU), Matthew Sox (La Canada HS/Whitman/Utah) and Davis Cop (Valencia HS/COC).

Some might be wondering during a worldwide pandemic, “how could an indoor league be safe for the adults who run the event and the athletes?”

It was Calderaro and his staff’s biggest priority, so they took each entrant’s temperature literally three steps inside the facility, there was hand sanitizer and plenty of room for social distancing.

This writer went to the Legends Baseball Academy last Thursday and spoke to a number of athletes, made up of both hitters and pitchers.

To a man (or boy), they each stressed how much they were progressing, how good the competition was, and that they 100-percent would suggest to any player that reads or hears about this to take part in what they hope will be a September 9th or thereabouts start to a fall season.

Below will be links to several videos, including action inside the facility, but also the thoughts of players, including Zach Jacobs, Kenny Carrillo, Franco Alonso, Matthew Sox, Justin Gutierrez and Calderaro himself.

Calderaro’s skipper took some time away from his family vacation in Newport Beach to praise his pitching coach.

“I’m not surprised at all that he’s having success, because Nico thought this all out and worked with everyone to make sure the athletes were both safe and that they got a lot out of this,” McGee said. “One thing I really respect about Nico, and I’ve never told him this, but when I asked him to come coach with me at PCC, he never once questioned why we should be at a school without the greatest facilities or tradition that other JC’s enjoy. He just wanted to come in and make a positive contribution to the program and the student-athlete’s lives, and he’s done that. I think his indoor league is way bigger and better than anyone could have hoped for in its first run, so I am very happy for him, and I think the kids got more out of it than they could have expected.”

To contact Calderaro about prices or future six-week league’s, click here: [email protected]

To watch an extended interview with PCC pitching coach/Legends Indoor Summer League tournament director Nico Calderaro, and players throughout the area recommending this tournament in the future, please click on the links below.