Navigators’ league stresses local talent

LYNN – When the North Shore Navigators take the field tonight (7 p.m.) in their Fraser Field home opener against the Torrington (Conn.) Titans, it’ll be as a member of a new league with a couple of specific purposes.The Navigators are now in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League after spending three seasons in a different wood-bat league (New England Collegiate Baseball League). But where other leagues merely talked about infusing their rosters with local talent, the Futures League actually mandates that at least half the players on the squad need to either be local themselves (meaning New England area) or attend school in this region.As a result, the roster is stocked with familiar names. Among them are Lynn-area players such as Esteban Paula (Lynn/English), Alex Markakis (Lynnfield/St. John’s Prep), Tim Cassidy (Swampscott/Cushing Academy), Tony Serino (Saugus/Malden Catholic), Beau Batchelor (Peabody/Austin Prep), Bobby Dean (Danvers) and Joe Gruntkosky (Peabody).Gruntkosky, who was The Item’s player of the year his senior season at Peabody, came to the Navs halfway through last season and says he’s found a home.”I love it here,” said Gruntkosky, who attends college at St. Joseph’s in Maine. “My objective is to keep getting better. This is the closest thing to professional baseball I’ve ever been involved with.”Gruntkosky’s teammate at St. Joseph’s, Alex Markakis, wanted to be here last year. Now he is.Markakis’ cousin, Nick, plays for the Baltimore Orioles, something which, he says, has propelled him to do better.Markakis is also cognizant of the fact that there are plenty of Navs players who attend big-time colleges as opposed to Division 3 schools like St. Joseph’s. Still, he says, that doesn’t seem to be an issue.”Everybody here has been great,” said Markakis. “It can be strange stepping into this environment from a small school, but nobody’s stuck up here. It’s been great.”Like everybody else, Markakis, an infielder, just “wants to get better.”Peabody’s Beau Batchelor (Merrimack) has a more specific agenda. He’s making the switch from catcher to pitcher.Batchelor was on the Peabody West team that lost to Saugus American (which eventually went to the World Series) in the sectionals. His brother made it to the 2009 series.”This is fun,” he said. “It’s like I’m playing in the minors. I’ve always liked playing (at Fraser Field, which he did while attending Austin Prep).”This is my first year pitching,” he said. “For me, I just want to get some starts and develop.”Same with Cassidy, who just finished his freshman year in Amherst.”I’m looking to get a few starts and work on some stuff,” said the Cushing Academy graduate whose father, Tim, is a Swampscott police officer.”I only got one start this year, against Monmouth, and I’m hoping to accomplish more this summer,” he said.He, like Markakis, is where he wants to be for the summer.”Absolutely,” he says.Dean played for coach Roger Day in high school, and feels that gives him an edge with the college game and beyond.”Roger ran his practices like college, so I think I know what to expect,” said the pitcher.”I’d like to get as many innings in as I can and get back into a groove.”Serino’s father, Christie, coached Malden Catholic to a state hockey championship last year and is a renowned coach in baseball as well.”I love it here,” he said. “I’m practically right down the street.”Serino is good friends with Dario Pizzano, who was on the Navs last year, and who got drafted Tuesday by the Seattle Mariners.”I hit with him a lot,” he said. “He’s a good friend of mine (they were teammates on Saugus’ Babe Ruth and Legion teams).”It helps to see a local guy like that get drafted. He was one of the better players from that (2003 World Series) team.”Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].