Local Player Chases Big-League Dreams

As the 2008 Major League Baseball amateur draft was approaching and his high school career was coming to an end, Los Alamitos High School's Kirk Singer spent hours talking about his options with then-Griffins head coach Mark Clabough.

But the Seal Beach native decided to tell interested clubs he wanted to play college baseball at CSU Long Beach and opted out of the opportunity to pursue his lifelong dream of playing professional baseball.

Fortunately for Singer, it wasn't the only time scouts were interested. A 29th-round draft pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates this year, Singer just completed his season with the low Class-A State College Spikes of the New York-Penn League and is excited for what the future holds.

The Chicago Cubs called early on during the 2008 draft. And the Baltimore Orioles took a flier on Singer, picking him in the 40th round, just in case the itch to play professionally would draw him in. But the infielder enjoyed watching Long State Beach alumni who have gone on to careers in the big leagues and wanted to follow in their footsteps.

"I grew up in Long Beach and really wanted to be a part of the Dirtbag shortstops," Singer said during a recent interview in State College.         Evan Longoria, Troy Tulowitzski and Danny Espinosa had all made it to the major leagues from Long Beach, "and I wanted to play there."

Singer struggled to crack the lineup his freshman year but had a breakout season as a sophomore in 2010. He started all but six of the Dirtbags' 43 games, hitting .315 with five home runs and 21 RBIs. His offensive numbers dipped quite heavily in his junior year (.215, one HR, 13 RBI), but the Pirates still believed in Singer. The team thinks highly of his skills in the field.

"Kirk has a good swing, and mechanically, there really isn't anything we want him to change," assistant Spikes coach Austin McClune said. "The thing for him is calming down a little bit. Every out is not the end of the world. He's one of our key defensive players, and we want him out there but he's also got to be productive at the plate."

Singer has produced more at the plate than he did at Long Beach State. The right-hander sported a .236 average for the season and hit .281 in his final 10 games of the year. But he also has no illusions about what his strengths are.

"My priority out there every day is to play good defense. That's what I take pride in and what got me to this level," Singer says. "The bat is there every once in a while, but not as consistently as I'd like it to be. I've made strides this year at the pro level. I'm happy with that, but what's going to keep me progressing is my effort in the field."

Singer likes to show off his speed and calls himself a "gap hitter" who is looking to attack a fastball. He has worked hard on hitting the ball to the opposite field, and it paid off, with 13 of his 15 extra-base hits for the Spikes going to right field. His goal each at-bat is to always leave his club in a better position than it was in when he came up.

"I love situational hitting," he said. "I can bunt and move guys over because that's what they preached at Long Beach State for three seasons, and I take pride and being able to help my team like that."

The 2008 Los Alamitos grad learned the fundamentals from his high school days. He says both Clabough and infield coach Andy Yonaki benefited from the tutelage of Steve Boaz, an assistant coach on the 1992 Pepperdine University national championship team. Those philosophies became second nature to him and were already instilled once he started playing in college.

Clabough was influential in Singer’s decision to play for Long Beach before going pro.

"I served as his teacher's assistant at school, and we would talk about all the possibilities," Singer said of his time with Clabough in high school. "When I started getting interest from some teams to get drafted after high school, we told teams I wasn't going pro. I was a bit under-developed at that point."

"The way we went about things on a day-to-day basis was based off the way it is done at a national-championship level. I really couldn't have asked for better coaching," Singer said.

Now, it's time for a little rest before he heads to Florida for instructional league play. His goal is to move up a level to the Pirates' Class A West Virginia Power of the South Atlantic League, which is the first full season league in the minors. But the Seal Beach native couldn't wait to get home.

"I live right on the sand. I miss the water and surfing with my buddies," Singer said. "I'll get home, get an In-N-Out burger and go down to the beach. I think I'll enjoy it for a few weeks, but then I'll be itching to get to Florida for instructional leagues."