Ryan Gugel

Former Batavia High baseball standout Ryan Gugel still has a place in the Philadelphia Phillie's organization even though he missed most of 2010 with a shoulder injury.

Gugel is back home for a few months and helping out a little with his family's business -- Clor's Meat Market -- and continuing his rehabilitation.

The 23-year-old catcher was off to a good start in spring training -- hitting .450 with one home run -- when he was throwing at a scouting session and felt a stinging pain in his shoulder.

The initial diagnoses was tendinitis, but after three stints in rehab without improvement, the Phillies trainers sent him in for an MRI. Doctors found a 50-percent tear in his rotator cuff.

The Phillies gave him a choice -- more rehab, with the risk that the problem would return, or surgery. After giving it a couple of days thought and talking it over with his parents, Gugel opted for surgery.

That was in May and Gugel spent the next few months in Florida at the Phillies' training facility, going through rehab in the morning and just hanging out at the hotel in the afternoon.

"It was a tough period," Gugel said. "I'd get back to the hotel and there just wasn't much to do."

The rehab stint wasn't entirely boring, though. Gugel said as the season went on, more members of the Phillies organization joined him in Florida, including some of the MLB team's stars.

"It wasn’t bad when I got to rehab with Rollins, Happ, Madson, Durbin, Polanco and Utley," Gugel said. "It was a good time there talking with some of those guys."

Gugel's rehab continues in Batavia. He's glad to finally be back lifting weights and he trains with his uncle Dee Gugel. In October, he can start tossing a baseball again. The Phillies want him to report to Florida in January, where he'll get some work as Roy Halladay's bullpen catcher when the ace starter starts his pre-season workouts.

In an organization with some drafted catchers -- including this year's third-round pick Cameron Rupp -- Gugel, who was signed as a free agent in 2009,  knows he has his work cut out. But he feels encouraged that the Phillies are showing faith in him despite the injury.

"It’s really a bit tougher being one of the lower-ranked guys," Gugel said. "You’ve got to work your way to the top."

Video from Sunday's nights game at Batavia's Dwyer Stadium where former BHS and GCC standout Ryan Gugel played for the first time as a pro in his hometown ballpark.  Gugel is a free agent-signee with the Philadelphia Phillie's franchise in Williamsport.

Jim Owen was one of Ryan's teachers. He had this picture taken before last night's game.

If you're a local baseball fan, you know this already: Ryan Gugel is coming to town.

Sunday and Monday's Muckdogs games against the Williamsport Crosscutters are as eagerly anticipated -- maybe more so -- as last year's playoff and championship games.

And maybe because both events -- championships and BHS grads playing professionally at Dwyer -- are equally rare.

Gugel, a BHS and GCC standout who signed a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Phlllies earlier this summer, will do something tomorrow night that very few BHS grads have accomplished -- stepped onto the field at Dwyer Stadium wearing the uniform of a professional baseball team.

The last BHS grad to play a professional game in Dwyer is probably Frank Dudley, a pitcher for the Batavia Indians in 1958-59.

Such a long time gap means there are many life-long Batavia baseball fans who never witnessed a championship until last season, and now may get to see for the first time a local kid play professionally at home.

"I've been going to games since 1968, since the dying days of the Lyndon B. Johnson administration and I've never seen a Batavia High kid play in this league," said Bill Kauffman. "It's exceedingly rare and what a great accomplishment for Ryan Gugel. He and his family should be really proud."

Before Dudley, there were Dick Raymond (who pitched a complete-game shutout in his Batavia debut), Ray Jamalkowski, Bob Radley and Jerry Maley.

Maley, who still lives in Batavia and regularly attends Muckdogs games, was probably the first BHS grad to play professionally at the hometown ballpark.

"Actually, it was quite a thrill (to play at home as a pro)," Maley said. "I grew up here and hung around the park when I was young and then when I signed, I thought it was quite a thrill."

Maley tried out for the Batavia Clippers in 1949, won a roster spot, but then didn't see much playing time, so he asked for his release. After a tryout with the Olean Oilers, Maley signed with the Clippers' New York-Penn League rival, finishing out the 1949 season with the Oilers and stepping up to the plate 443 times as the Oilers' second baseman in 1950.

Then Maley was drafted into the Army and his professional baseball days were over.

Maley thinks Gugel will feel the same excitement he did six decades ago.

Baseball fans throughout town are talking about Gugel, not because he's tearing up the NYPL (we're all mindful that he's just starting out and playing behind a league-leading hitter -- Sebastia Valle -- so he's only had five plate appearances in his short time with Williamsport), but because he's done something very, very few people who ever play high school or college ball: Become a professional ball player.

"He's playing for all of us," said Bill Dougherty, a local baseball history buff and dedicated Muckdogs fans. "Maybe he doesn't know that, but that's how I look at it, he's playing for all of us guys.

"Here's a guy who's actually going to the next step," Dougherty said. "We all played Little League or Babe Ruth, high school and we'll say at some point semi-pro or amateur, but here's one of us out there in the New York-Penn League, which is just great."

Dougherty figures there are only about a dozen Genesee County ballplayers who ever made it to the pros. The last one to play for Batavia was Mickey Hyde, who came out of Pavilion and played for GCC. He spent his first year of pro ball, 1989 in Batavia. His career carried him through 1993 and Triple AAA Scranton.

The last Batavia-born baseball player -- but he didn't grow up here -- to likely play a professional game in Batavia is Tim Kister, who spent the first of 13 minor league seasons in Auburn. Kister complied a 97-95 record with a 3.98 ERA, but never made it past AAA.

Dudley, the last BHS grad who played a professional game in Batavia, died at age 44 of an apparent heart attack in 1977. Canadian-born Dudley lived in Brockport at the time.

Game time Sunday is 5:05 p.m. and Monday 7:05 p.m.

Ryan Gugel may still be looking for his first professional hit, but he's still making a contribution to his new team, the Williamsport Crosscutters:

In the bottom of the 5th the Crosscutters rallied to plate two runs and take the lead as Cutter DH Ryan Gugel, in his first game for Williamsport, got things started with a walk. 3B Alan Schoenberger hit his second double of the season to left, allowing Gugel to advance to third. With CF Carl Uhl batting, Hudson Valley RHP Jordi Amargos uncorked a wild pitch that scored Gugel and tied the game at one. Schoenberger, who advanced to third on the wild pitch, scored the go-ahead run on a Uhl sacrifice fly to center.

Gugel made three plate appearances in the game, drawing the decisive walk and striking out.

Gugel, a BHS and GCC standout, will likely be with the team when Williamsport visits Batavia Aug. 2 and 3.

Meanwhile, the Muckdogs eeked out a 7-6 victory in Oneonta. 

Alan Ahamdy, playing first base, collected two hits and two RBI, as did Neko Vasquez.

The Muckdogs are now 17-16, three games out of first, trailing Mohoning Valley and Williamsport.

Local baseball fans may get to see a familiar face at Dwyer Stadium on Aug. 2 and 3 when Williamsport visits the Muckdogs.

Former BHS standout Ryan Gugel, signed as a free agent by the Phillies a month ago out of Albany, has been moved from the team's affiliate in Lakewood to the Crosscutters.

He will be the Crosscutters' third catcher, so he may not get any playing time during his visit to his hometown. 

Those are Williamsport's final two games at Dwyer this season. The Muckdogs face the Crosscutters tomorrow and Thursday in Williamsport.

Gugel was hitless in four plate appearances for Lakewood, drawing one walk.

Ryan Gugel, the Gulf Coast League barely got to know you.

The Batavia high grad who signed a free agent deal with the Philadelphia Phillies organization after the Major League Baseball Draft didn't get to play in the GCL Phillies opener because he's been promoted from the short-season rookie league to long-season A ball.

The catcher will make his professional debut with the Lakewood BlueClaws of the South Atlantic League.

The club is 42-26 and leading the Northern Division.

Fellow BHS grad Chris Page was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds organization, but has yet to sign a contract. The Reds drafted four first baseman and is waiting to offer him a contract until a position opens up.

Local baseball fans will be disappointed to learn that newly-minted professional ballplayer, and Batavia High grad, Ryan Gugel likely won't be playing any of his games in Batavia this summer.

The slugging catcher who signed a free-agent contract with the Philadelphia Phillies last week has reported to Clearwater, Fla., in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League, according to the D&C..

The Phillies also have an affiliate in the New York-Penn League, the Williamsport Crosscutters, and it's possible Gugal could make his way to that Batavia Muckdog rival at some point this season or next. Though his next step could just as easily be the Lakewood BlueClaws or the Clearwater Thrashers.

Meanwhile, fellow Batavia High grad Chris Page, taken in the 50th round of the June Draft by the Cincinnati Reds, has yet to sign a contract.  The Reds have rookie-level and Class A affiliates in Sarasota, Fla., Billings, Mont. and Dayton, Ohio.