Wirz: Colabello’s journey from Can-Am League to majors is unique
From SABR member Bob Wirz at Seamheads.com on May 24, 2013:
To put Chris Colabello’s feat into proper perspective one must realize he is only the 38th player in the 21 seasons since Independent Baseball started up to break into the professional game at the non-affiliated level and climb all the way the major leagues.
But not a single one of the 37 before Colabello, who got his long-awaited chance Wednesday afternoon for the Minnesota Twins in Atlanta, played as many as seven Independent seasons before his contract was picked up by a major league organization and he got as far as a regular season game.
Catcher Chris Coste is the closest example, playing for five years in Independent leagues before he played his first affiliated minor league game. Pitchers Chris Jakubauskas, Scott Patterson and George Sherrill also went five seasons before their contracts were picked up by major league organizations.
Colabello came out of Assumption College in Worcester, MA and joined the Worcester Tornadoes of the Can-Am League when he was 21 in 2005. Except for ’07 when he played half a year in the same league for Nashua, NH, the Framingham, MA native was Worcester’s first baseman all the way through the 2011 season.
Read the full article here: http://seamheads.com/2013/05/24/chris-colabellos-journey-from-can-am-league-to-majors-has-uniqueness-written-all-over-it/
Originally published: May 24, 2013. Last Updated: May 24, 2013.