Normally it’s our policy not to report on the various camps, mainly because there are just so many around here. So we try and limit stories to the camps when certain celebs come out — when there’s a story a little deeper than the fundamentals. Everything else we’ll just run in announcements on our Sunday recreation page.
One camp caught my attention this week. It’s the Elite Baseball Camp which will be held Saturday, Feb. 2, at the CWV Park in Mission behind Spikes Ford. It’s going to have the who’s who of the Valley’s recent baseball past as instructors. Former Sharyland pitcher Jaime Garcia, pictured at left, former McAllen Rowe star Jose Pablo Oyervidez, former Sharyland player Osiel Flores, former La Joya player Alex Guajardo and former Sharyland player Marco Garza will be the instructors at the camp, which will be held for $30 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
For those that haven’t kept up with these guys, here’s a little refresher: Garcia is considered the top pitching prospect for the St. Louis Cardinals. 
He competed in Triple-A last season, but injured his elbow. Garcia is scheduled to report to the Cardinals’ big league camp next week. Oyervidez, pictured to your right, is one of the best kept secrets in the Valley, having graduated from McAllen Rowe, played one year of junior college ball in Laredo and then signed a free agent deal with the San Diego Padres in 2002. Oyervidez is set to return to Double-A with the San Antonio Missions and has been labeled by scouts as a player to watch in 2008. Flores and Garza each attended UTPA and were picked up by MLB teams. Flores is in the lower levels of the minors with the Cleveland Indians, with Garza now playing in the Mexican League with the Union Luguna organization. Guajardo is in the Mexican League, playing with the Tigres organization.
Now, to me, this sounds like a good deal. Because with this batch of instructors, you’re not getting some old guy telling you how to get to the top. You’re getting the Valley’s young talent — guys who lived right here on a few years ago — telling the up-and-coming talent how they can make it to the next level. And considering that’s something that we don’t have much of here in the Valley, this camp will be unique for baseball players.
For those of you that are interested, you can contact these numbers for more information: (956) 463-7114; (956) 890-6925; (956) 225-9514. And if you will notice by the area code on these numbers, these players haven’t forgotten where they came from.
Wade Baker, 30, is Sports Editor of The Monitor. He graduated from Francis Marion University in Florence, S.C. in 2000 with a degree in Mass Communications and moved to the Rio Grande Valley in 2002 for a sports reporter opening at The Monitor. Baker was promoted to his current position in August of 2007 after serving as assistant sports editor for two years. 
