While Major League Baseball pauses for the all-star break, Westfield State graduate Brandon Smith '23 is still hard at work, as he embarks on an umpiring career, working his first season in the Northwoods League this summer.
Smith, a Feeding Hills, Mass., native who was a business management major and an all-conference golfer at Westfield State, headed south to the Wendelstedt Umpiring School after graduating in December.
"It has been awesome," Smith said by phone recently from Waukesha, Wisc., where he was working a series. "Right afterward I got picked up to umpire in the Northwoods League, and every opportunity has been awesome and I have loved every second of it."
"I went to the school with the idea that it would help me to get into upper level college baseball," added Smith. "But now I have an invite to go to minor league baseball's umpire camp in Vero Beach next year, and the big goal would be to get to Major League Baseball, but for now I am just trying to take one step at a time."
"Being a business management major, I think I use a lot of those principles in my in-game management," said Smith. "Westfield State did a good job with that as well. I think I learned a lot about time management, and working with two other umpires all year, we need to plan, coordinate, work as a team, do some team building as a crew as well, some of the things that I took from my experience playing golf."
Smith was a two-time MASCAC All –Conference golfer for the Owls, as he was named to the first team in fall of 2022, and in the spring of 2021 as he helped the Owls win the league's team title as he finished fifth as an individual with a score of 77 at the Ranch Golf Club in Southwick, Mass.
Smith has been umpiring at various levels of baseball since starting when he was 13 years old. "I had to be 13 to umpire Little League, so that I was actually older than the players," he said.
"I met coach Bashaw during my freshman year at Westfield, actually at an AAU baseball tournament I was umpiring, and I'd work scrimmages and bullpens for him, right from my freshman year," said Smith. "I'm grateful for all those opportunities."
"It's been a lot of fun to watch Brandon develop as an umpire and pursue a career in professional baseball," said Owls head coach Nathan Bashaw. "I remember the first time we met was in a parking lot prior to a summer game. I was out recruiting and he was getting geared up to work it. He saw my hat, introduced himself and told me that he was a Westfield State student and if we ever needed an umpire give him a call."
"He has a great demeanor for it and tremendous knowledge of the game, we will all be following him as he works up the ranks," added Bashaw.
Smith will continue touring the Midwest with his Northwoods Schedule through the 19th of August, with stops in outposts like Battle Creek and Kalamzoo, Michigan before he plans to return to Western Mass., where he will stay involved with golf.
He's been on the road, living in hotels with his fellow umpires, noting they were staying at nice resort for this trip, one of the perks of the job.
The Northwoods League is one of the premier summer leagues for high-level collegiate baseball players, on a par with the legendary Cape Cod League.
"There are some amazing players in this league," said Smith. Some of the top collegiate players in the country. And if you catch a 96-mile per hour fastball off the facemask you certainly realize there is a difference!"
The league had 93 players and alumni selected in the 2022 Major League draft.
The league describes itself as 'a valuable training ground for coaches, umpires, and front office staff, over 310 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball.' That list includes three-time Cy Young Award-winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (NYM) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS), as well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and 2019/2021 Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM).
Wendelstedt has long been the premier school for baseball umps, now run by Major League Baseball umpire Hunter Wendelstedt, and formerly by his late-father Harry, who worked the Major Leagues for 32 years and called five World Series and five no-hitters.
Note: The Division III Commissioners association and the NCAA have identified a shortage of officials and umpires across college athletics. While Brandon is pursuing umpiring as a potential full-time career, umpiring regionally or locally at the high-school and college levels can be a lucrative second income or side-hustle, with some sports officials earning $150 to $200 per game (or more) based on sport and officiating bureau. Resources on becoming an official are available on the NCAA website at: https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2021/11/11/sayyestoofficiating.aspx%20 or at SayYesToOfficiating.com
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Westfield State's 2021 MASCAC Championship men's golf team: |