Islanders Field A Baseball Beauty

Nate Trosky has seen a lot of ballparks through the years, but the Milwaukee Brewers scout has never seen anything quite like Islanders Field in Lathrop.

Trosky describes the picturesque new stadium in the River Islands master-planned community as “beautiful, first class, as good as it gets.”

“I don’t think there’s any place like it possibly in America because I travel everywhere,” said Trosky, who’s done college player showcases at Islanders Field with site director Don Johns. “I don’t think there’s any place like it in the world, literally, because typically anything that has value like that place is owned by either a major university or a professional ball team. There’s no field like that that exists.”

He even compares Islanders Field, a 500-seat, grass-field beauty across from the Bradshaw Crossing bridge, to a Double-A or Triple-A ballpark.

“It’s just a beautiful setting,” Trosky said. “There’s the river … It takes you away from the city. It’s a great field and it’s very well done. From our experience there, I don’t think they missed anything. They had everything you needed.”

The highly respected Trosky, who has coached in the minor leagues, college baseball and four different national teams around the world, holds 20 Trosky Baseball camps a year, in and out of the country. He had 25 guys selected from his program in this year’s MLB Draft, including two first rounders – Fresno State’s RHP Ryan Jensen (Chicago Cubs, 27^th pick) and OF Hunter Bishop (San Francisco Giants, 10^th pick).

Other Trosky Baseball players drafted included Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts’ son Cole, a shortstop who was picked the 38^th round by the Padres. Stanford first baseman Andrew Daschbach, out of Sacred Heart Prep, was picked by the Orioles in the 11^th round.

But Trosky is not alone in his admiration for Islanders Field. Adam Farb, who has done four events there with NCTB Baseball, the largest provider of youth baseball tournaments in Northern California, shares Trosky’s view of the venue that draws its look from the Giants’ Oracle Park and other pro stadiums.

“Great park and such a treasure to have in Northern California, to have a field that was built first class like that, to be able to let players play in those kinds of venues outside of the premium college fields or professional fields. There’s really nothing like it,” Farb said.

NCTB Baseball held the final weekend of “The League” for top eighth graders in Northern California at Islanders Field and had a premier underclass event called “The 100” and two other showcase tournaments at the site.

Farb had the distinction of hosting the very first event at Islanders Field in May. Well, almost.

“The field was in absolute A-plus opening day condition. We played four innings and it rained,” recalled Farb with a chuckle. “And the day ended up getting rained out. We had pretty much the top eighth grade players in Northern California all there, all excited. It was our final weekend. It was the first weekend of Islanders … There was news media and then the rains came.”

But the skies soon cleared, and the sun has kissed the location ever since its grand opening. Farb notes that Islanders Field is a “great place to play for left-handed hitters. The prevailing wind takes the ball out to right field. The lefties’ eyes get big when they go out there,” he said.

EXPERT ADVICE: Trosky has spent the past two decades offering sage advice and emphasizing player development in Trosky Baseball. He still works with the German national team and has helped run baseball camps at Stanford.

He is aware that it takes more for players to succeed than just being seen by coaches and scouts. Player development is a critical, and an often overlooked, aspect of the equation.

“We teach, test, train and develop the five physical tools,” Trosky says. “We give them a benchmark of where they’re at. We test them and teach them the importance of the tools. We help them with the development of the tools, and we teach them how to set goals and to reach those goals so they can become the player they can be,” he says.

Most players struggle with the mental game, he says, so that area is a key component of his program. Players take what he says to heart.

“They leave (my camp), they are changed,” he says. “… The message is different, and I come across differently. I come across as like real life stories. They’re like ‘Oh man, that sounds real.’ … Sometimes if the stuff hits you in the heart you only need to hear it once.”

MORE BIG EVENTS AT ISLANDERS FIELD: NCTB will host Velocity NCTB with four games on Saturday, Oct. 12. The NorCal World Series Underclass League is Sunday, Oct. 13. The Monster Mash tournament on Oct. 25-27 will close the busy spring-fall season at the busy field.