February 11 - To most baseball fans, the 2007 World Series was a yawner, as the Boston Red Sox swept the Colorado Rockies behind their dominant pitching staff and star-studded lineup.
But for Northern Virginia fans, that Fall Classic was further evidence of how good the high school game was locally during the 1990s.
Three players who played their prep ball at area schools appeared in that World Series, Robinson graduate Javier Lopez with the Red Sox, and Gar-Field’s Jeff Baker and West Springfield’s Ryan Speier as members of the Rockies.
In total, 12 players who graduated from Northern Virginia schools during the 90s would later play in the Major Leagues. That chapter and perhaps the greatest era of local baseball came to a close last week when Lopez, the lone remaining active player from that group, announced his retirement from the game.
“More than anything, it’s just time,” Lopez told Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. “It’s a young man’s game. Although I think I can compete, it’s getting harder and harder to get ready for spring.
“I’m looking forward to some other things in my life. We’ll see what they are. I don’t know yet, but we’ll come up with something.”
His first task will be serving as a special instructor during spring training with the San Francisco Giants, the club he spent his final seven season with and helped win three World Series championships. The Giants announced yesterday that he would be serving in such a capacity.
The 39-year-old Lopez, a 6-foot-4 left-hander, was a fourth round pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1998 out of the University of Virginia, where as a two-way standout for the Cavaliers he hit a combined .319 with 15 home runs, 71 RBI and 22 stolen bases during the 1997-98 seasons. He retires after a 14-year career as a four-time World Series champion and with a 3.48 earned run average over 839 appearances.
"He was also a very accomplished hitter and I thought he might even have a chance to make it as a pro as a hitter. He was that kind of athlete," said Madison assistant coach Justin Counts, who played with Lopez at Virginia. "I think it is a real credit to his athleticism and his competitiveness that he was able to make the adjustment to a side arm thrower so well and he was able to be so effective and remain healthy for so many years. He looks to me like he could pitch forever if he really wanted to.
"I am a little sad to see him retire as he was the last of the guys I played with to still be playing but I am extremely proud of him and happy for him with everything he has accomplished. I always get instant credibility with young kids I coach when the Giants are in the World Series and I tell them that I played with Javier. Even in his success, he has been extremely humble and accommodating every time I go see him at the ball park. It is really refreshing to me to see a genuinely good person do so well."
Lopez made his first appearance on April 1, 2003 against Houston, tossing a scoreless inning of relief in which he faced recent Hall of Fame-electee Jeff Bagwell, Lance Berkman and Jeff Kent, a trio that combined to hit 1,192 homers in their careers. Welcome to the big leagues.
He would pitch with Colorado, Arizona, Boston and Pittsburgh before his stint with the Giants, compiling nine seasons with a sub-3.00 ERA, including six straight from 2010-15. He had a 3.50 ERA in 33 career postseason appearances, and did not allow a run in six appearances in three World Series.
“Javy is one of my favorite guys ever, a total class act,” said former longtime West Springfield coach Ron Tugwell. “After beating us a couple times his senior year at Robinson, I saw him go 4-for-4 in a game at [Virginia]. He said to me after the game, ‘I seem to do pretty well when you’re around’. Ouch! He was an outstanding hitter, and he could fly. Great athlete, tremendous person.
“He emulates what a professional athlete should stand for. A great role model for the younger generation.”
Added former Robinson coach Bill Evers, who was an assistant at Robinson during Lopez’ time at the school: “Javier’s probably best the best athlete I’ve ever coached. He could have been all-region in football or basketball if he had wanted to.”
Lopez, Baker and Speier shared the field in limited roles during that ‘07 Fall Classic. Baker’s lone at-bat in that World Series came as a pinch hitter during the sixth inning of Game 3, one batter after Lopez was removed during his lone relief appearance of the Series. Speier made his lone appearance in the fifth inning of Game 1, walking all three batters he faced in what would be a 13-1 blowout by Boston.
The All-Met Player of the Year after hitting 12 home runs as a senior, Baker was an All-American at Clemson, where he set a school-record with 59 career home runs before being taken in the fourth round by Colorado in 2002. A versatile utility player who played both corner outfield positions, first base, second base and third base, Baker’s best statistical season came in 2008, when he hit .268 with 12 homers and 48 RBI in 104 games with Colorado. He retired after the 2015 season with a career .264 average over an 11-year career with six teams.
Speier was a late-bloomer of sorts after graduating from West Springfield in 1997. Undrafted out of Radford in 2001, he was signed by Colorado and four years later, the 6-foot-7 right-hander made his debut with the Rockies, going on to compile a 3.99 ERA over 90 relief appearances in four seasons with Colorado. He last appeared with the Rockies in 2009, then was in the minor leagues before retiring in 2012. Speier holds the single-season saves records for the amateur Cape Cod Baseball League - of which he is a member of the Hall of Fame - and the Double-A Texas League, where he saved 37 games while compiling a 2.04 ERA with Tulsa in 2004.
The three were joined by Bill Pulsipher, Brian Buchanan, Adam Butler, Brian Fitzgerald, Brian McNichol, Seth Greisinger, Shawn Camp, Mike Colangelo and Joe Saunders as the 12 Northern Virginia high schoolers from the 90s to make ‘The Show’.
Pulsipher and Buchanan, both 1991 graduates of Fairfax, were the first two future Major Leaguers from that decade to make their mark on local diamonds. Pulsipher was taken in the second round of the ‘91 draft by the New York Mets after being named The Washington Post’s All-Met Player of the Year. After shining and becoming a highly-regarded prospect during an accelerated rise through the club’s farm system, the left-hander was unable to live up to high expectations set by the organization and New York media, compiling a 13-19 record with a 5.15 ERA over a six-year career with six clubs. After three-plus seasons at Triple-A from 2002-05, he made five appearances during his final big league stint with St. Louis in 2005, then bounced around the minor leagues before retiring in 2011.
Buchanan was a first-round pick of the New York Yankees in 1994, taken 24th overall out of Virginia after slugging 22 home runs that spring for the Cavaliers. Traded to Minnesota in the 1998 deal that sent Chuck Knoblauch to the Yankees, Buchanan would make his debut with the Twins two years later. He retired in 2004 after hitting .258 over five seasons with the Twins, Padres and Mets.
Butler, a 1991 graduate of Lake Braddock, pitched in eight games with Atlanta in 1998 after going undrafted out of the College of William & Mary. The left-hander retired in 2001 after seven professional seasons.
McNichol, a 1992 graduate of Gar-Field, was a second-round pick by the Chicago Cubs in 1995. The 6-foot-6 lefty made four appearances with the Cubs in 1999, but otherwise was an example of the ‘fringe’ big leaguer, pitching for seven seasons at the Triple-A level before retiring in 2005. Fitzgerald was a '92 graduate of Potomac who appeared in six games as a reliever for the Seattle Mariners in 2002 after a standout career at Virginia Tech. He retired following that season, his seventh as a professional.
Greisinger averaged 14 strikeouts a game during his senior year at McLean in 1993, then starred at Virginia before being drafted sixth overall by the Detroit Tigers in 1996. A member of USA Baseball’s bronze medal team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, arm injuries derailed a professional career that included 42 appearances over four seasons with Detroit, Minnesota and Atlanta.
In 1994, Camp (Robinson) and Colangelo (C.D. Hylton) concluded their prep careers before moving on to play locally at George Mason. Both were drafted in 1997 - Camp in the 16th round by San Diego and Colangelo in the 21st round by Anaheim - and would make their way to the big leagues. Colangelo got their first, debuting in 1999 and hitting .233 over three seasons with the Angels, San Diego and Oakland. Like McNichol, Colangelo spent much of his career on the cusp of the big leagues, hitting .289 in 511 games at Triple-A, including 16-homer seasons at that level in 2004-05, before retiring in 2006.
It took Camp longer to make a big league roster, doing so in April 2004 with Kansas City. The first batter he faced? Chicago White Sox slugger and future Hall of Famer Frank Thomas. (He walked him, but then retired the following three batters in order.) Camp would go on compile a 4.41 ERA over 541 appearances in 11 seasons with the Royals, Tampa Bay, Toronto, the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia before retiring in 2014. He led all Major League pitchers with 80 appearances in 2012 with the Cubs.
West Springfield’s Saunders concluded his prep career in 1999 and was a high draft pick three years later, selected 12th overall by Anaheim. After winning 27 games over his three years at Virginia Tech, he became an All-Star with the Angels, winning a career-high 17 games in 2008. He finished his 10-year career in 2014 with an 89-86 record and a 4.37 ERA over 235 games, including 229 starts.
Lopez’s retirement leaves Northern Virginia schools with four alumni on Major League rosters heading into spring training - Cleveland’s Brandon Guyer (Herndon), Miami’s Justin Bour (Westfield), San Francisco’s Jarrett Parker (Colonial Forge) and San Diego’s Paul Clemens (Robinson). Broad Run grad Conor Mullee appeared with the New York Yankees last year and will be in camp with the Cubs, and Westfield grad Brandon Snyder played last year with Atlanta and will be in camp with the Washington Nationals. Both are on minor-league contracts and not guaranteed roster spots with their big league clubs.
