It truly was an awesome weekend for local sports as every event delivered.  One particular event that drew a big buzz with an estimated crowd of over 4,000 was Kumar Rocker's debut for the Tri City ValleyCats.  Rocker was drafted in the first round of the 2021 MLB Draft out of Vanderbilt University.  He then went unsigned as the Mets had questions about his MRI, this according to Jon Heyman via Twitter.  Now the Valleycats have given him an opportunity to draft before this year's draft.  He delivered on Saturday night as his line was 4 innings, 6 strikeouts, 3 hits, 2 earned runs, and his fastball hit around 98-99 mph.  Here is my quick take on this from the Times Union:

Kumar Rocker wasn’t lights out in his ValleyCats debut on Saturday, but over 4,000 fans saw why he was a first round pick last July of the New York Mets. Rocker gave up a two run homer but otherwise an impressive start considering he hasn’t pitched in over a year. Rocker whose fastball topped at about 98 mph will get drafted in July, and become a star pitcher for some team in the MLB. In the meantime, Capital Region fans will get a chance to see him pitch a few more times for the ValleyCats.

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2021 NCAA Division I Men's Baseball Championship
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MJ was in the house for the game Saturday night and he said it was an awesome night and Kumar was impressive.  He also said that the crowd was loud which is always great to hear.  Below is our conversation on this.

Kumar Rocker will get a few more opportunities to pitch for manager Pete Incaviglia and the ValleyCats, so I recommend that you go out and watch him at the Joe if you can.

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