Summer baseball grooms players for majors

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As the sun sets on Cape Cod and the swimmers leave the beach, local ball fields light up. Here top college players go head ahead in the Cape Cod Baseball League.

“The talent is unbelievable here.”Jeff McNeil, a second baseman at Long Beach State University in California. He’s spending the summer on the country's other coast, playing for the Brewster Whitecaps. “My dream in baseball is, like everyone’s dream, is to go pro and the Cape Cod League is a good starting ground for that.”

In fact hundreds of current major leaguers used to compete on these same fields and the top college prospects draw scouts from the major league teams.

“They’re here at every game, they’re here to watch batting practice," says McNeil. "They’re watching your every move. Basically everything you do on the field, you’re being evaluated for.”

For fans, the atmosphere is laid back. There’s no admission fee and spectators line the field and the bleachers, their own beach chairs or by just sitting in the grass like 9-year-old Max Finocchio and his father, Mark.

“Oh it’s great. I mean, you know, We love baseball, it’s a great sport to watch, and it's, you know, a good chance you’re going to catch a foul ball down here," says Mark. "And you know, maybe [we'll] actually catch someone that’s up and coming in this league is gonna become a major league baseball player.”

But this summer experience goes beyond baseball.

Each player lives with a host family. McNeil and one of his teammates are staying with Julia and Bob Tulloch and their two children.

“Having the boys around has been fantastic, absolutely fantastic," she says. "They’re great kids.”

“I feel like I’m actually a part of the family," says McNeil. "They’ll do anything for me.”

One morning, the Tullochs took the players on their boat for a ride and a chance to a classic coastal activity: clamming.

“I want them to leave knowing there are so many different things to do on the Cape. You know, the fishing, the clamming, the tubing, the quaintness of it all.”

The Cape Cod Baseball League has 10 teams and when the Brewster Whitecaps are on the field, the Tullochs are in the stands.

“We’re just, you know, we're just proud of them just like we would be of our own kids,” Julia Tulloch says.

It’s a two-month stay on the Cape, but the players and families say they’re creating memories that will last a lifetime.

baseman: 守壘員，壘手

scout: 童子軍，偵察兵

foul ball: （棒球）界外球

sandbar: 沙堤

rake: 耙子

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（來源：VOA 編輯：實習生朱眉霖）