Rockland Builds For Present and Future With Latest Roster Shuffle

Last week, the Rockland Boulders shook up their roster by making a big trade with the Sussex County Miners. The deal sent Mike Schwartz, Alex DeBellis and Jarrett Martin to the Miners in exchange for Elvin Soto and rights to Tony Amezcua. In addition, Rockland signed pitchers Mike Adams and Liarvis Breto out of tryout camps, as well as left fielder Devin Harris and catcher Logan Spurlin.

“Three bodies for one and five players is a lot to do in one day,” said  Rockland manager Jamie Keefe. “Getting those three players out of here and bringing in Soto, but the other side of the deal is making sure I got Devin Harris. He is going to be in left field, a monster and been in affiliate ball with the Giants for six years and five full seasons. Looking forward to seeing him in the outfield as he runs pretty well for a big guy. He can swing it, and, career wise a doubles and home run guy with a lot of RBI.”

“We got Amezcua in the deal and reason we did the deal he was one of the best bullpen arms in the league last year and threw the ball well in Mexico,” continued Keefe. “When the Mexican league and playoffs get done we are going to see him in the first week of August and that’s a big time to grab a fresh arm.”

Keefe on Spurlin, a rookie out of Northern Kentucky University, “This kid jumped in a car with his dad two or three days ago and drove through the night to get to the ballpark to work out for us. He never had an opportunity like this coming out of college and didn’t know if he would be able to play at this level. A catcher, and played a little first base.”

Pinch hitting in his first game against Trois-Rivières, Spurlin contributed immediately by smoking a drive down the right field line for a double and later added another hit, plus made a stellar defensive play at first base. “We knew right out of the gate there was going to be a play there and put up to the task and made a good scoop taking pressure off him,” said Keefe.

Keefe was very high on Liarvis Breto, “We picked him up out of a tryout camp last week, left-handed fireballer had a pretty firm slider. Four years in the Seattle organization, Venezuelan and Dominican summer league.”

“Adams is a good young arm and picked out of tryout camp and great performance in his first start,” said Keefe. A rookie out of Wagner College, Adams pitched well in his first start in game two of a doubleheader against Sussex County going 4 2/3 innings yielding two runs on six hits while striking out two and walking two.