Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2022 10:05 am
Nolan Ramsey had just celebrated his twenty-third birthday days ago. He had been born in Elephant Valley, the biggest city in South Newlandia, and grew up playing baseball from a young age. When he was twelve, he watched the Elephants first play in the World Baseball Classic. When the second series, where South Newlandia would host Northwest Kalactin, came to Elephant Stadium, Nolan and his father were there. Nolan watched a then-19 year old Adam King power the Elephants to a 3-2 win thanks to a 2-run home run in game one, his destiny was certain. He was going to become a first baseman, just like his idol, King, and he wanted to play for the Elephants too.
On the playground, he tried his best to emulate the swing of his idol; and it worked rather often. Nolan Ramsey became a star player in his high school. Just like him, the Elephants became stars, too. When Nolan was eighteen, the knockout stages of the WBC came to South Newlandia, and when the Elephants took down Sarzonia in the Elephant Stadium, Nolan was there to watch the series go the distance. Just months later, Ramsey accepted a scholarship at his local Elephant Valley University; which, in recent years, has made some noise with their gridiron program; but Nolan was there to play baseball. He became the starting first baseman in his freshman year, and he made himself known as an elite speedster who can easily hit got average. He was never the best slugger or walking all that much, but he was a great lead-off bat for the Red Elephants who could easily come through in the clutch. He and his team ended up winning two national championships in his four years with the Red Elephants.
Now, months after he graduated, he sat in the LPB draft room. It was not going to be a usual draft; for the first time in LPB history, Llamaphant Pro Baseball had made a unique agreement with the Chromatik Baseball League. This would allow LPB Teams to select established Chromatik talents for their draft picks, including the reigning CBL MVP, Raitis Ranta; but there were also two Chromatik first baseman in this draft, which had Ramsey a bit worried. Aside from him and the two Chromatiks, there was only Celina Campazzo to be reasonably debated in the first round; Campazzo, meanwhile, was two years younger than Nolan, a power-bat with lacklustre defense that graded out with a C-grade from the established draft analysts, when Nolan had received an A.
Nolan had wondered for months when he might be selected. From his perspective, there were eight other guys with an A-ranking, seven of them position players like him. Nolan knew that he could be better than any of them, aside maybe from his teammate, Mike Oeland. The two infielders had played together for three seasons in Elephant Valley. Nolan was sure that he was going to go in the top ten, top five if scouts properly evaluated his talents.
Where would he land, was another question. Of course, there were about even odds that he would land somewhere in Super-Llamaland, one of the most accomplished countries in the history of baseball. His favourite landing spot would be the Elephant Valley Homers, his home-town team, but Nolan knew that was never going to happen. The Homers controlled the 18th pick. By that time, Nolan would be long off the board; and the Homers were highly unlikely to trade up for him. They already had a great first baseman in Adam King, after all, and he was only thirty.
The Elephant Valley Sports Mail had arranged to follow him and some of his fellow players on draft day; the four South Newlandians with A-grades, to be exact. Next to him and Oeland, that were going to be third baseman Leo Jiminez and catcher Tyler Danson. Danson and Oeland were well-known to the public, having appeared on the International Baseball Slam in Hannasea.
From the first five picks, Nolan’s favourite landing spot would be South Falls. The Athletics had a promising team, and were gearing up to contend, and despite the fact that they just traded for Banijan All-Star first baseman Luxulo Mbeki, maybe they had a role as DH for Nolan. Other exciting teams with early picks included the Saints at 6, who had just traded Mbeki, and, of course, the Rüsselsheim Blue Sox, who were in possession of the first overall pick. They had traded for the pick before the last season had started, in a move that the Peninsulara Kingfishers surely regret now. Nolan didn’t expect the Sox to choose him, but he thought it was possible. After all, the Blue Sox had Tom Abbott, a Sanfordian, pencilled in at first; Nolan thought he would be an upgrade there.
It was an exciting day for the young South Newlandian, possibly the most exciting day in his life. This decision would shape the largest part of his life as an athlete. All day, he had wondered where he might land; Nolan had mostly accepted that it was out of his hands. He just hoped he would not somehoe be a Kingfisher after all. Nolan, his former teammate Mike, Leo, and Tyler sat around a table, getting ready to get drafted. The first pick was in. The Rüsselsheim Blue Sox had made their decision.
“With the first pick of this Llamaphant Pro Baseball Draft, the Rüsselsheim Blue Sox select: Raitis Ranta, Second Base, Chromatika!”
That checked out to Nolan. The Blue Sox were contending in the SNL Central, it made sense for them to pick the reigning CBL MVP to a position they were weak at.
The Chariots were next up. They didn’t have a great first baseman, either, so maybe that was it?
“With the second pick, the South Bryant Chariots select: Will Gutierrez, Catcher, Super-Llamaland!”
Fair enough. The Chariots needed a catcher, too, and that’s an extremely important position.
The Cosmos and the Athletics were next up. Neither of them picked any of the South Newlandian 4, including Nolan. It made sense; the A’s had an elite first baseman, and they both picked great Llamanean talents.
“With the fifth pick, the Denison Dynamo select: Mike Oeland, Second Base, South Newlandia!”
Mike stood up, ready to go to the podium. “Congrats, bro”, Nolan was happy that his friend and teammate had gotten his talents recognised, but he couldn’t deny that he had hoped to be the first South Newlandian coming off the board. Oh well, there was plenty of time. Surely, someone was going to pick him up eventually. Picks 6 and 7 were the Saints and Mariners; neither of them were the most exciting landing spots, but neither currently employed a strong first baseman. Maybe it would be one of those?
It would not be one of those. The Saints and Mariners both passed up on the remaining trio, before the Monarchs scooped up Leo Jiminez at 8, and Danson went to the Greens at 9. All of a sudden, Nolan found himself all alone at the table, all the cameras still pointed on him. When the Flames, who had drafted a great first baseman in Tiffany Grey the previous season, passed on Nolan, he had officially dropped out of the top ten.
Nolan was getting quite anxious. For weeks and months, he had thought of himself as a possible top-3 pick. Had he been wrong all along? Or were the scouts wrong, somehow? There was only one other player on the board with an A-grade, a Llamanean named Jeff Huang, third base. Huang went to the Renaissance at 11. As Nolan he got smaller and smaller in his chair, he watched team after team pass on him. Twelve, Fourteen, Sixteen, when suddenly, he noticed that the Elephant Valley Homers were up, at pick number 18. He had never even thought about falling all the way to his home-town team naturally. Nolan knew they had King – but maybe his hometown team was going to come to his rescue anyway?
“With the 18th pick, the Elephant Valley Homers select: Niles Pandolt, Pitcher, Chromatika!”
They would not.
Nolan had almost entirely stopped listening now. He really just wanted to be somewhere else, he wished it was all over. Why him? Why did this have to happen? He just wanted to have a good day.
“Nolan Ramsey, First Base, South Newlandia”
Nolan was flashed back awake by hearing his name. He looked up to see what pick it was. The Malidridad Mariners had just selected him 22nd overall. The Mariners, seriously? Oh well.
On the playground, he tried his best to emulate the swing of his idol; and it worked rather often. Nolan Ramsey became a star player in his high school. Just like him, the Elephants became stars, too. When Nolan was eighteen, the knockout stages of the WBC came to South Newlandia, and when the Elephants took down Sarzonia in the Elephant Stadium, Nolan was there to watch the series go the distance. Just months later, Ramsey accepted a scholarship at his local Elephant Valley University; which, in recent years, has made some noise with their gridiron program; but Nolan was there to play baseball. He became the starting first baseman in his freshman year, and he made himself known as an elite speedster who can easily hit got average. He was never the best slugger or walking all that much, but he was a great lead-off bat for the Red Elephants who could easily come through in the clutch. He and his team ended up winning two national championships in his four years with the Red Elephants.
Now, months after he graduated, he sat in the LPB draft room. It was not going to be a usual draft; for the first time in LPB history, Llamaphant Pro Baseball had made a unique agreement with the Chromatik Baseball League. This would allow LPB Teams to select established Chromatik talents for their draft picks, including the reigning CBL MVP, Raitis Ranta; but there were also two Chromatik first baseman in this draft, which had Ramsey a bit worried. Aside from him and the two Chromatiks, there was only Celina Campazzo to be reasonably debated in the first round; Campazzo, meanwhile, was two years younger than Nolan, a power-bat with lacklustre defense that graded out with a C-grade from the established draft analysts, when Nolan had received an A.
Nolan had wondered for months when he might be selected. From his perspective, there were eight other guys with an A-ranking, seven of them position players like him. Nolan knew that he could be better than any of them, aside maybe from his teammate, Mike Oeland. The two infielders had played together for three seasons in Elephant Valley. Nolan was sure that he was going to go in the top ten, top five if scouts properly evaluated his talents.
Where would he land, was another question. Of course, there were about even odds that he would land somewhere in Super-Llamaland, one of the most accomplished countries in the history of baseball. His favourite landing spot would be the Elephant Valley Homers, his home-town team, but Nolan knew that was never going to happen. The Homers controlled the 18th pick. By that time, Nolan would be long off the board; and the Homers were highly unlikely to trade up for him. They already had a great first baseman in Adam King, after all, and he was only thirty.
The Elephant Valley Sports Mail had arranged to follow him and some of his fellow players on draft day; the four South Newlandians with A-grades, to be exact. Next to him and Oeland, that were going to be third baseman Leo Jiminez and catcher Tyler Danson. Danson and Oeland were well-known to the public, having appeared on the International Baseball Slam in Hannasea.
From the first five picks, Nolan’s favourite landing spot would be South Falls. The Athletics had a promising team, and were gearing up to contend, and despite the fact that they just traded for Banijan All-Star first baseman Luxulo Mbeki, maybe they had a role as DH for Nolan. Other exciting teams with early picks included the Saints at 6, who had just traded Mbeki, and, of course, the Rüsselsheim Blue Sox, who were in possession of the first overall pick. They had traded for the pick before the last season had started, in a move that the Peninsulara Kingfishers surely regret now. Nolan didn’t expect the Sox to choose him, but he thought it was possible. After all, the Blue Sox had Tom Abbott, a Sanfordian, pencilled in at first; Nolan thought he would be an upgrade there.
It was an exciting day for the young South Newlandian, possibly the most exciting day in his life. This decision would shape the largest part of his life as an athlete. All day, he had wondered where he might land; Nolan had mostly accepted that it was out of his hands. He just hoped he would not somehoe be a Kingfisher after all. Nolan, his former teammate Mike, Leo, and Tyler sat around a table, getting ready to get drafted. The first pick was in. The Rüsselsheim Blue Sox had made their decision.
“With the first pick of this Llamaphant Pro Baseball Draft, the Rüsselsheim Blue Sox select: Raitis Ranta, Second Base, Chromatika!”
That checked out to Nolan. The Blue Sox were contending in the SNL Central, it made sense for them to pick the reigning CBL MVP to a position they were weak at.
The Chariots were next up. They didn’t have a great first baseman, either, so maybe that was it?
“With the second pick, the South Bryant Chariots select: Will Gutierrez, Catcher, Super-Llamaland!”
Fair enough. The Chariots needed a catcher, too, and that’s an extremely important position.
The Cosmos and the Athletics were next up. Neither of them picked any of the South Newlandian 4, including Nolan. It made sense; the A’s had an elite first baseman, and they both picked great Llamanean talents.
“With the fifth pick, the Denison Dynamo select: Mike Oeland, Second Base, South Newlandia!”
Mike stood up, ready to go to the podium. “Congrats, bro”, Nolan was happy that his friend and teammate had gotten his talents recognised, but he couldn’t deny that he had hoped to be the first South Newlandian coming off the board. Oh well, there was plenty of time. Surely, someone was going to pick him up eventually. Picks 6 and 7 were the Saints and Mariners; neither of them were the most exciting landing spots, but neither currently employed a strong first baseman. Maybe it would be one of those?
It would not be one of those. The Saints and Mariners both passed up on the remaining trio, before the Monarchs scooped up Leo Jiminez at 8, and Danson went to the Greens at 9. All of a sudden, Nolan found himself all alone at the table, all the cameras still pointed on him. When the Flames, who had drafted a great first baseman in Tiffany Grey the previous season, passed on Nolan, he had officially dropped out of the top ten.
Nolan was getting quite anxious. For weeks and months, he had thought of himself as a possible top-3 pick. Had he been wrong all along? Or were the scouts wrong, somehow? There was only one other player on the board with an A-grade, a Llamanean named Jeff Huang, third base. Huang went to the Renaissance at 11. As Nolan he got smaller and smaller in his chair, he watched team after team pass on him. Twelve, Fourteen, Sixteen, when suddenly, he noticed that the Elephant Valley Homers were up, at pick number 18. He had never even thought about falling all the way to his home-town team naturally. Nolan knew they had King – but maybe his hometown team was going to come to his rescue anyway?
“With the 18th pick, the Elephant Valley Homers select: Niles Pandolt, Pitcher, Chromatika!”
They would not.
Nolan had almost entirely stopped listening now. He really just wanted to be somewhere else, he wished it was all over. Why him? Why did this have to happen? He just wanted to have a good day.
“Nolan Ramsey, First Base, South Newlandia”
Nolan was flashed back awake by hearing his name. He looked up to see what pick it was. The Malidridad Mariners had just selected him 22nd overall. The Mariners, seriously? Oh well.