Greenbrier Christian graduate plays for one last shot at the bigs

Jacob Dempsey's baseball career came to a crashing halt last season.

The Greenbrier Christian graduate hit .262 with a team-high seven home runs for low-A Batavia (N.Y.) of the Philadelphia Phillies' organization in 2006. He was eagerly awaiting his next minor league destination as 2007 spring training wound down.

Then the Phillies cut him.

"It was a real big shock," Dempsey said. "I thought I was doing well in spring training. I was so surprised, I couldn't even respond."

Rather than stew while waiting for another team to call, Dempsey returned to Winthrop University, where he had starred for four seasons, to complete his degree. He considered a career in police work or the Coast Guard. But Dempsey couldn't get baseball out of his blood.

"He hit every day," Winthrop coach Joe Hudak said. "He wanted to make sure he was in the best possible shape to get back."

Dempsey's career wouldn't restart easily. Major league teams weren't interested in a designated hitter who had just taken a season off.

The Washington (Pa.) Wild Things were, however. The team, which plays in the independent Frontier League, signed Dempsey and inserted him as its cleanup hitter when the season began in May.

Dempsey started slowly, producing no home runs and four RBIs in the first seven games.

"The hardest part was catching up with the pitching," he said.

Before long, Dempsey was up to speed. On May 29 against Kalamazoo, he went 3 for 6 with five RBIs and his first home run. By late June, he was among the league leaders in RBIs.

And Wednesday, he was a starter in the league All-Star game. His seven home runs led the team and his 44 RBIs ranked second in the league.

"I'm overwhelmed about where Jacob is right now," Wild Things manager Greg Jelks said. "I've been in this game 26 years. You don't see kids sit out a year and come back and do the things he's doing."

Dempsey's success, however, has not brought calls from major league teams, and his clock is rapidly ticking. Jelks said major league clubs ideally look for independent league players between the ages of 20 and 23. Dempsey will turn 25 in September.

That is not lost on Dempsey. He is loving life in the Frontier League, but said he'd likely play only one more season. More than that and he figures he'd be too old to gain a chance to work his way to the majors.

"You don't think about that," Dempsey said. "For a lot of guys, this is their major leagues. So we just play as hard as we can for right now. If we play hard, we might get a call."