Chasing a Dream
NEW BRITAIN, CT - The New
Britain
Rock Cats are off to a hot start in 2012 and first baseman Chris
Colabello has done
his fair share to help the team climb to first place in the Eastern
Division. For the
28-year-old rookie, he's just happy
someone gave him the chance to play ball.
Despite growing
up less than 100
miles from New Britain Stadium, Colabello has taken an unusual route to
New
Britain. The path from Milford, Mass. to New Britain, Conn. may not
seem like a
long one at all, but for Colabello it has been one lengthy road paved
by
determination, hard work, and patience.
"I just went
out and played the
game hard and played the game the right way," Colabello said of his
path to the
Eastern League.
His first stop
along the way was Division
II Assumption College, where he batted .352 with 40 doubles, 24 home
runs and
111 RBI in 154 career games. After going undrafted in 2005, Colabello
signed
with the Worchester Tornadoes of the Canadian-American Association
League. In
seven seasons, he proved he could simply rake at the plate - he never
turned in
a season under the .300 mark - yet found himself in the same position.
Still, he
kept suiting up and taking the field chasing a dream.
"I was very
fortunate. I had some
people around me early in my career that gave me some good advice. They
said,
'Keep playing until someone rips your uniform off your back. As long as
you
have your uniform on, someone could see you,'" Colabello said.
Colabello's
best season in independent
ball came in 2011, when he batted .348 with 20 home runs and 79 RBI on
his way
to being named the Can-Am Most Valuable Player. It was enough to be his
final
season.
"I was very
fortunate to have a
good year and I think that kind of got me on the map a little bit," he
said.
The success of
last season was certainly
enough to garner the interest of the Minnesota Twins. After seven
seasons, Colabello's
dream was realized with one phone call.
"It was
tremendous," he said. "It
was something I waited for a long time. I had a little bit of an
opportunity
with Detroit in 2006."
Back in 2006,
Colabello was
working out for Team Italy in an attempt to make the roster for the
World
Baseball Classic - and thus following in his father's footsteps of
playing for
the Italian National Team.
"My dad ended
up in Italy in
1976, I think was his first year, and played eight years over in Italy.
He was
an American guy from Milford, Mass and met my mother over there," said
Colabello.
His dad pitched
for the Italian National
Team in the 1984 Olympics, facing off against the United States at
Dodger
Stadium. Colabello just grinned when asked how the game ended for his
father.
"It didn't go
well for him. He
still has nightmares about it a little bit," Colabello joked.
It was while
following in his
father's footsteps in an attempt to represent Team Italy at the WBC
when Colabello
learned the Tigers were holding a tryout. It resulted in his first
Spring
Training camp. And his first Spring Training cut.
"It seems so
far back. I always
promised myself I would use that experience as a learning experience
for the
future in case I got another opportunity," he said.
That
opportunity finally arose
with the call from the Twins. With that, the independent ball
veteran-turned-minor league baseball rookie was packing his bags for
Spring
Training once again. Now, a month later, he finds himself in Double-A,
just two
steps away from the big leagues on the organizational ladder.
On Saturday afternoon, while he
stands near the on deck circle as the visiting New Hampshire Fisher
Cats take
batting practice, he can look in the home team dugout and see the
Twins' roving
instructors. Among the Minnesota staff perched atop the dugout bench is
Hall of
Famer Paul Molitor. Consider it a perk of working in the Twins'
organization -
and a far cry from the Can-Am League.
"Everything I
had heard about
Minnesota from even before I signed was that they are a first-class
organization in terms of the way they treated guys in their minor
league system
and the opportunities that guys got in the system," said Colabello. "All the coordinators, all
of the coaches have
been tremendously helpful. They don't short-change anyone. Being an
outsider at
the beginning was a situation that could have been fairly uncomfortable
but
they made this transition so easy for me."
Colabello has
made the transition
to the Eastern League look effortless as well. The New England native
currently
leads the team with a .313 average (15-for-48), four home runs, a .414
on-base
percentage, and .667 slugging percentage. He ranks second in runs
scored with
12 and is tied for second with 12 RBI. With the Twins' brass in town
for the
current homestand, Colabello learned on Sunday he had just been named
the Twins'
Minor League Player of the Week.
"It's a great
environment to be
in," said Colabello. I think there are a lot of good people around. I'm
very
thankful to the Twins for the opportunity. I'm just trying to go out
and play
the game I've been playing."
He enters the
season as the
oldest member on the Rock Cats' roster and finds himself surrounded by
a mix of
veterans and young prospects. It is the young faces and naturally
talented
prospects that have been two of the biggest changes for Colabello to
adjust to.
"What I've
noticed is that there
are a lot of guys that are certainly tool guys. You'll notice you have
a guy
like (Rock Cats center fielder) Aaron Hicks on your team that it speaks
for
itself - the way he runs, the way he throws, the way he goes and gets
it in the
outfield," Colabello said. "I think in independent baseball, you're
typically
going to find guys who have been around the game a little longer. It's
weird
for me to be the oldest guy on the team. I've never been that guy in my
career."
Just add
"oldest guy on the team"
to the list of firsts for Colabello this season. With his lifelong
dream
becoming a reality, it likely won't be something he will let deter him
from
continuing to flat-out rake at the plate no matter what uniform he puts
on.
"At the end of
the day,"
Colabello said, "you have to remind yourself that baseball is baseball
no
matter where you play."
Thankfully for Rock Cats fans, Colabello finds himself playing in New Britain these days.