In our latest installment of Meet the Lefties, we introduce players from as near as Tacoma and as far away as Arizona, one with a deep football pedigree ranging from Iowa to Fresno State to the Oregon Ducks.
The Port Angeles Lefties are a collegiate wooden bat team that will begin play at Civic Field on June 1st, playing in the West Coast League. The Lefties will be made up of college players from community colleges, private and public schools (including Pac-12 universities) from all over the country. Some of the players are coming from as far away as Tennessee and Arkansas.
This week, we introduce several pitchers, including Sam Mundt, Brandon Reynolds, Jarett Thoren, Nicholas Caudillo, Jacob Battaglia and Jake Suddeth.
Sam Mundt
Mundt is the fourth player for the Lefties from the University of Utah, where he is a pitcher. A big 6-6, 240-pound right-hander, he was an All-Valley Oak League football star for the three-time California small-school champion Central Catholic High in Hughson, Calif.
In his senior year, he gave up football to focus on baseball, where he became an All-Valley Oak League first-teamer and ranked in the 2016 Perfect Game top 500 nationally.
Mundt’s grandfather played basketball at Iowa and his father played football at Fresno State. He brother, Johnny Mundt, is playing tight end for the Oregon Ducks. You can follow him on Twitter @sammymundt or on Instagram @scooba_sam.
Brandon Reynolds
Reynolds won’t be traveling too far to play for the Lefties. He is a pitcher at Tacoma Community College playing the Northwest Athletic Conference. He’s a native of Wenatchee. At 5-9 and 165 pounds, he was a first-team All-League reliever at Wenatchee, helping his team to a 25-1 record and third place at State. He also played for the Apple Valley Packers, an American Legion team in the Wenatchee area.
Jarett Thoren
Thoren pitches for Corban University (an NAIA school) in Salem, Ore. He is a 6-1, 195-pound native of Nampa, Idaho. He was an all-conference infielder at Rocky Mountain High School in Idaho, leading his team to the 2012 state championship.
Thoren is also a sports management major at Corban and a member of the Cascade Collegiate Conference’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. He hopes to become an athletic director at a small university one day. You can follow him @jarettthoren and on Instagram @jthoren5.
Nicholas Caudillo
Caudillo joins the Lefties from Eastern Arizona College in Thatcher, Ariz. A native of Gilbert, Ariz., he is 6-0, 185 pounds and pitched last year for the Kitsap Blue Jackets. You can follow him on Twitter @mastercaudillo or Instragram @mastercaudillo.
Jacob Battaglia
Battaglia comes to the Lefties from Biola University in La Mirada, Calif. A native of Riverside, Calif, he is a big 6-3, 200-pound right-hander. Last year, Battaglia pitched for the 2016 Foothill Conference champion Chaffey College. You can follow him on Twitter @b_tag30 or on Instragram @b_tag30.
Jake Suddreth
Suddreth is coming to Port Angeles from Mesa Community College in Arizona. Another native of Gilbert, Ariz., he is 6-3, 200 pounds, and like Caudillo, played last year for the Kitsap Blue Jackets. Suddreth was an honorable mention for the All-Arizona team in 2015 as a senior at Mesquite High School in Gilbert. He plans to major in business. You can follow him on Twitter @J_Sudds24.
