Little League baseball in the Cayman Islands was recently graced with the presence of a World Series winner.
Devon ‘Devo’ White was the star guest at the Spring 2012 Cayman Islands Little League White Sox camp. The clinics featured instructors from the BullSox Training Academy, the youth development side of Major League Baseball’s Chicago White Sox.
White, 49, is a current minor league instructor and passed on a number of pointers to local players, especially 16-year-old teenagers like Alex Pascal and Mark Chisholm.
“Find your strengths and use them to your advantage,” White said. “You are at an age where it’s no more babying. You have to pick your team-mates up when they make mistakes.”
For the record, White reached the pinnacle of professional baseball three times with the Toronto Blue Jays (1992 and 1993) and Florida Marlins (1997). He played for four other teams starting from 1985 in the California Angels, Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers, retiring in 2002. Originally born in Kingston, Jamaica, White won seven Gold Glove awards (1988, 1989, 1991-1995) as an elite fielder and was named an all-star three times (1989, 1993 and 1998).
White instructed hundreds of youngsters at the Field of Dreams facility in George Town over the Heroes Day holiday weekend. The youngsters were aged 5-18 and worked with three other academy coaches in hitting/defence instructor James Nash (who actually played professionally in Europe), pitching instructor/scout Larry Owens and hitting/fielding instructor Sam Zagorac (who came last November with pitching guru Marty Kobernus).
Among the kids to benefit from their teachings at the free camp were brothers Sean and Shomar McField, sons of Little League officials Chris and Latoya McField. Sean, 14, states he learned a lot about hitting philosophy.
“This was my third camp and it was quite good, it went well,” Sean said. “I’ve only been playing seven years and I’m going into Triple A this year so the hitting and the idea of going for contact surprised me. They said you have to really hit for contact, don’t try for home-runs as they come naturally. With me I was trying for homers and to hit it over the fence every time.”
Sean is no stranger to the sport. In his brief playing career, he has already represented Cayman in Little League World Series qualifying. In a way, it’s no surprise since athleticism runs in the family as older sister Kimberly McField, 22, played basketball and older brother David Connolly, 16, played football for Cayman Athletic.
Shomar, 10, is still new to baseball and has beenfitted from the six-year partnership between the training academy and local Little League. He states most of the concepts he saw at the White Sox camp were eye-openers.
“This is my third time at the camp and I’m about to play Single A this season,” Shomar said. “I’m surprised by what they were teaching and how they were teaching it. The throwing, especially with the arm motion, was a new thing.”
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