Titans Baseball Club - Philippines

Whether it's enhancing player development on the national level or generating a pool of players for national and international competition, Titans Baseball has certainly been providing for the continuity of ballplayers in the country.

While competitive circuits in the nation leave much to be desired in terms of the number of games played during baseball season -- or any other sport's season for that matter -- players can still hone their skills in the Titans League, the premier baseball circuit in the country today.

Reiterating the words of Bruce Arena, the most successful head coach of U.S. Men's Soccer/ Football, "Player development is the responsibility of leagues and clubs and not the governing sports body."

These days, the collegiate sector and the Philippine Amateur Baseball Association aren't the pinnacle of Philippine baseball. On the heels of graduation, you have not yet reached your peak as an athlete. Scientifically speaking, baseball players only reach their prime in their late twenties.

Indeed, in this new era of Philippine baseball the current crop of the Philippine National Team features several players who have seen action in the Titans circuit. Given that every member of the squad has hailed from the nation's various grassroots programs, the recent emergence of the Titans this century virtually ensures a fixture for player development continuing at the adult level. On top of that, orangemen should only continue to be streaming into the RP nine's ranks over time.

This renewal of our nation's player development system can trace its roots to the influx of talent brought into the Titans during its heralded infancy.

It was in 1990 when righthanded pitcher Dino Lising, then a recent graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University, got his invitation to sport the country's colors after leading the Blue Eagles to their best ever University Athletics Association of the Philippines finish; a season that included an upset of then-defending champion University of Santo Tomas and a stunning ninth inning comeback against University of the Philippines.

"Wild Thing", as he would come to be known in his senior year of college, owned close to a 90-mph heater during his prime. A grassroots product of the International School of Manila, Dino played for the Titans in the 2002 Metropolitan Baseball tournament and the 2002 Titans Series posting a combined 1.80 earned run average.

A few years later, backstop Leslie Suntay would anchor the De La Salle University Green Archers' first ever collegiate title while wearing the Philippine Team's colors in 1995-96. His "El Carabao" moniker attests to his durability behind the plate and the pop of his bat. One of the Titans founders, Leslie led all Titans hitters with a .458 BA during the team's national debut in the 2001 Philippine Amateur Baseball Association Seniors League and was among the leaders in offensive categories during the 2003 Titans League while playing for the Alabang Titans.

University of Santo Tomas Tiger standout RHP/CF Edito Justo was a senior member of the Philippine National Team before playing for the Titans in 2002's Metropolitan baseball, compiling a .400 BA and 1.64 ERA.

Retooling with players from the collegiate and national team's ranks have been the hallmark of the Titans early on. With its focus on rebuilding the future of such ranks by streamlining the products of today's grassroots programs with the talent of the present and yesteryear, Titans Baseball now beckons future generations of Filipino baseball players.

Collegiate standouts get to ply their trade in the Titans League before joining the national squad and adding credibility to it, whereas high school prospects strut their stuff before embarking on their respective colleges.


	Antipolo City's Roswald Palacol (left) and Joseph Orillana are among the newest additions to the RP National Team.

LHP Joseph Orillana, a recent graduate of DLSU who throws a fastball in the low to mid-80's, was the 2003 Titans League MVP after pacing the circuit with 4 HRs and 21 RBIs while leading the Antipolo City ACG to the maiden league's title, adding to the wiry lefty's two collegiate crowns with the Green Archers.

Mild-mannered LHP Darwin Dela Calzada, who gave the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons three collegiate titles from 2000-2004, won the 2004 Titans League earned run average title with a crafty 2.08 despite his Marikina Golden Bears' third place finish.

C Marlon Caspillo led the Cebuana Lhuillier to the 2004 Titans League championship, hitting at a phenomenal .718 clip while slugging 8 HRs and driving in 25 runs to win league MVP honors and a batting title in the process. He barely edged Antipolo City's Joey Ponce (.660-9-29) in the MVP vote.

Current Maroons 3B Roswald Palacol of the Antipolo City ACG was the 2003 Titans League batting champion with a .571 BA and most recently the 2004 Titans Series MVP.

These are but a few of the country's premier stars today.

Developing from within the system is at the heart of any one team's or country's rebuilding program. Several players can only benefit from today's increased competition, a necessary ingredient for success on the international stage. Hopefully, the consolidation efforts of the present turn out dividends for the country in the future.

You're in the game!