Baseball is a sport of failure. Even the greatest to ever play the game only succeeded about 30 percent of the time.
“It’s a hard sport,” Putnam Science Academy outfielder Angell Garcia said, “and there was a point last year, around this time, that I didn’t think I wanted to play anymore. I had gotten injured twice in the span of a month, and it was like a complete failure to me.”
And then there are days like last Thursday, when Garcia and four of his PSA teammates were celebrated for having recently committed to continue playing the game in college.
“It’s pretty crazy to think about,” Garcia said. “From not being sure if I should keep playing to now being good enough at it to play in college…it’s just a dream.”
Garcia will play next year at Dominican University in New York and was joined by fellow commits Matt Blachuta (Eastern Connecticut State), Robbie Natale (Central Connecticut State), Anthony Mena (Assumption), and Baltazar “Junior” Mesa (Albertus Magnus).
“I remember playing Farm Ball (the level after T-Ball) growing up in East Windsor, on some fields behind the elementary school,” Blachuta said, “and they had the ball set up on the tee and I was just hitting the ball a lot further than everyone else. Baseball is what I was good at initially, and I’ve grown up wanting to be a baseball player.
“It hasn’t officially paid off yet because I haven’t started playing college ball, but I am definitely one step closer.”
One step at a time is how Natale approaches things. He’s come a long way since hitting his first home run and hugging his dad as he rounded third base when he was 8. It has taken him a few years to really understand the mental side of things, which has helped him continue moving forward in pursuit of his goals.
“I’m learning about the little details, how every single day there are little things you can do to get better from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed,” he said. “I think once you figure that out, you can really unlock your success.”
Mena battled through trials and tribulations that may have thwarted others, never losing the belief that he could have this success and be in this position.
“I’ve been to some other events where kids have signed their National Letters of Intent, and I’m not taking anything away from those guys because they absolutely deserved it, but I remember always thinking, ‘That should be me up there,’” he said. “Thankfully, a couple years later, I was on that stage with my family and my teammates and their families all here.
“I fell in love with this game at a very young age, from one of the very first times I picked up a bat and a ball. People think it’s a boring game, but I disagree. I think it’s the greatest game on the planet, and I thank God that He gave me the talent to play it.”
Mesa, from the Dominican Republic, took a bit of an unorthodox journey to Putnam, but did so with the goal of going to college.
“Coming from D.R., this isn’t usually the way you go,” he said. “You usually either go pro there or you stop playing baseball. But this was the way I wanted to do it when I decided to come to school here in the U.S. It was a big sacrifice for me, being away from family (Mesa’s mother flew in the night before to be at the ceremony), different language, all kinds of things. Being able to go to the next level and keep my dream alive for the next four years, and get my college degree, it really means a lot to me. It’s a special day.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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