Current Conditions
37°F - CLEAR
(1260) (1080) (719) (565) (532) (85) (55) (9) (8) (3) (2)
"It's been a hectic year," Watson said of his playing winter ball November and December in Mexico, then in January going to Japan for spring training to play in Korea. He returned to the States in May and got a job in the Mets organization, which was cut short because of a back injury.
Now, he's happy to be in back Lancaster, where he has maintained his residence through his 10-year pro career. He's hopeful to find the fun and success that he enjoyed previously and at the same time help the Barnstormers win.
"It hadn't been much fun playing (this season)," he said. "I hadn't played much and it hadn't been much fun doing all the travel. Between all those things, it seemed like an easy decision to just stay at home and see if I can have some fun and get some games in before the end of the year."
Watson, his wife Nicole, who is also a McCaskey grad, and their sons Landon, who will be starting kindergarten in the fall, and Kylen are getting set to move into a house in Manheim.
"Sometimes your priorities when you have kids shift around," Watson said. "My wife and I discussed it instead of dragging around and going to the Southern League somewhere this year in Double-A or even the Eastern League, we decided to just try to be at home and get some stability for them (the kids)."
Playing mostly overseas or on the West Coast previously, this will be a first for Watson's family and friends to get to see him play regularly. One of the times they did get to see him and Nicole was on TV at the Triple-AAA All-Star Game in 2005. Watson, playing for the host Sacramento team, hit a two-run homer. Nicole, pregnant at the time with Kylen, was featured by the ESPN crew and shown cheering him on.
"Now he's almost four years old," Watson said of Kylen. "Time keeps moving. That's why we wanted to move home and get settled."
Watson was drafted by the Montreal Expos in 1999 after playing three seasons at Xavier University. In 2002 he was traded to the Mets and he made his major-league debut with them on Sept. 12, 2003. In October of that year he was claimed on waivers by the A's.
In the Oakland organization, he had three very successful seasons at Sacramento hitting .305 in '04, .315 in '05 and .317 in '06. He also played 19 games for the Athletics in 2006, hitting .188 in 48 at-bats.
"Nothing's ever handed to you," Watson said. "I've always been in a position where I had to earn it."
Watson played in Japan for the Chiba Lotte Marines in part of the '06 and '07 seasons "That was a nice set up over there with (manager) Bobby Valentine and a lot of other Americans," Watson said. In Japan, he batted .274 in 51 games in 2006. "That would be one of my goals to try and get back to Japan and play a couple of more years there."
Last season Watson batted .290 at Triple-A Syracuse and has a .299 average in his minor league career, prior to this year.
Watson does not believe his career in affiliated ball is over, but he also knows he's no longer a kid. For the first time, he is looking beyond the diamond.
"We're starting to plan some things to do after baseball," he said. "I don't think I want to get into coaching, (because) you pretty much live the same lifestyle. I have a lot of interests other than baseball and I'm starting to experiment with a few of those."
But for the rest of this season and perhaps a few more he will play baseball.
"It's a tough market to find jobs in, as I'm sure a lot of people in the Atlantic League are finding that out," Watson said. "I don't think I'm done. I think I can still get back. Maybe a Matt Stairs type player, pinch-hitter, lefty off the bench. Just finding those opportunities.
"Hopefully, these three months here I'll find an enjoyment for the game see if it's fun playing still."
The Barnstormers think Watson can find that fun at Clipper Magazine Stadium and that will help them find wins.
E-mail: bwilson@lnpnews.com
