Sept. 12, 2007
Righthanded pitcher Dan Kapala recently became the 20th former Notre Dame baseball player to be active in professional baseball during the 2007 season, after signing with the New York Yanees organization. Kapala – who had the option of returning for a fifth year of eligibility with the Irish in 2008 – was a 46th-round pick of the Yankees and began his career as a member of the Staten Island Yankees of the shortseason single-A New York-Penn League.
Staten Island was seeking its third straight league title but lost a playoff series to its rival, the Brooklyn Cyclones. Kapala compiled a 3.94 ERA in 10 relief appearaances, allowing 16 hits and six walks while striking out 10 in 16.0 innings. He closed seven games for Staten Island while helping the Cyclones finish with a 47-28 season record.
Kapala compiled a 3.26 ERA in three seasons of action with Notre Dame and totaled nearly twice as many strikeouts (104) as walks (54) during his time with the Irish (photo by Matt Cashore).
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Kapala – who missed all of Notre Dame’s 2006 season, due to shoulder surgery – posted a 3.26 career ERA in his three seasons with the Irish, with a .266 opponent batting average and nearly twice as many strikeouts (104) as walks (54) in 163.0 innings. He graduated in May of 2007 with a degree in economics – helping maintain the Notre Dame baseball program’s 100-percent graduation rate over the past 13 years, among four-year players (77 of 77; from 1995-2007).
“I enjoyed my time at Notre Dame and want to thank everyone who helped make my career a success.In particular, I want to thank all the coaches – past and present – at Notre Dame who helped me in my development over the years,” said Kapala. “I especially want to thank athletic trainer Mike Bean and my former pitching coaches, Terry Rooney and Sherard Clinkscales, who worked with me on a daily basis and helped me recover after my surgery. I also want to thank strength coach Mike Joseph, who helped prepare me for each season physically and helped me develop the mental toughness required to be successful at this level.
“The 2007 season was a tough one for me, coming off the shoulder surgery, but coach Clinkscales really helped me along the road to recovery and helped me with mechanical adjustments to my delivery. The medical staff, headed by Mike Bean, did an amazing job though the rehab process and I was very fortunate to have their assistance through the process.
“Professional baseball has been a very exciting experience for me. The transition was made easier for me because a former member of the Fighting Irish, John Axford, was a member of the Staten Island Yankees when I arrived. He has been with the Yankees organization since spring training and recently was promoted to high-A in Tampa. It has been very exciting to watch John enjoy success now that his arm has fully recovered from his ‘Tommy John’ reconstructive surgery in the winter of 2003. Through years of hard work, John has provided a positive example for me and other members of the Irish baseball community, and I am very happy to see him doing well.”
Kapala recently began his pro baseball career as a member of the single-A Staten Island Yankees (photo by Pete LaFleur).
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Dan Kapala UPDATED BIO CAPSULE – Selected by the New York Yankees in the 46th round of the 2007 Major league draft and later signed before opening his pro career as a member of the Staten Island Yankees … fifth ND player/signee to be drafted by the Yankees in the past 13 years (but the first since 1997) … the Yankees selected one player with ND connections every year from 1995-98, starting with OF Mike Amrhein in 1995 (99th round), followed by C/1B George Restovich (1996; 17th rd), RHP Aaron Heilman as a high school senior in 1997 (54th round) and OF Allen Greene, who signed as a 9th-round pick following his junior season in 1998 … Kapala had returned to action with Notre Dame in the 2007 season, after undergoing shoulder surgery that caused him to miss all of Notre Dame’s 2006 season … suffered the injury in his final outing during the summer of 2006, with the Cape Cod League’s Falmouth Commodores … had option of returning for fifth year of eligibility in 2008 … his three-year career totals included a 3.26 ERA, .266 opponent batting average and nearly twice as many strikeouts (104) as walks (54) in 163.0 innings … also compiled a deceiving 9-10 career record, plus a pair of saves, 165 hits allowed (12 home runs), 10 wild pitches and 20 hit batters in 65 appearances (16 starts) … entered three-man rotation one month into 2007 season and ultimately made third-most starts on staff (7, plus 5 relief appearances) while finishing fourth in ERA (3.92) and strikeouts “looking” (10), also finishing fifth on the ’07 staff in low opp. batting avg. (.278) and innings pitched (41.1) … compiled second-best walk ratio among the 2007 ND pitchers (with just 2.4 BB per 9 IP) and averaged 3.1 IP per appearance (3rd-best on staff) … also fourth on ’07 staff in groundouts per 9 IP (11.1) … held lefthanded batters to .256 batting avg. (4th-best on staff) … had a 12.0 WHIP (walks+hits per 9 IP) that included 9.6 hits allowed per 9 IP (5th-best on staff) … allowed only one home run in 2007 (plus 11 doubles and a triple) … compiled better than a 2-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (23/11), with his other 2007 season stats including nine hit batters, three wild pitches and a balk … pitched well enough to win several games but finished with deceiving 0-6 record in 2007, due to poor run support, inconsistent defense (8 of 26 runs charged to him were unearned) and bullpen breakdowns … opened season with 2.0 relief innings vs. Texas State, in San Antonio (R, H, K, HB; 0-6) … also threw an inning vs. Coastal Carolina, in Myrtle Beach (K; 0-4) and then logged 3.2 at Stetson (R, 2 H, 3 Ks; 4-5) … made first start on March 11 vs. Harvard, in Clearwater (3 IP, 2 R/1 ER, 5 H, BB, 3 Ks; loss, 0-4) … had no-decision in start at end of Spring Break, vs. Dayton at Florida Gulf Coast (4 IP, UER, 4 H, BB, HB, K; 5-2) … tagged with loss vs. South Florida, despite not allowing an earned run (5 IP, 2 UER, 4 H, BB, WP, 3 Ks; 1-9) … hard-luck loser the next week at Cincinnati (6 IP, 4 R/1 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks; 3-4) … missed next two starts due to minor injury but did pitch in relief vs. West Virginia, on April 22 (2.1 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 2 WP; 7-16) … put Irish in position for win as starter the next week at league leader Rutgers, getting no-decision in that 6-4 game (5.1 IP, 3 R/2 ER, 8 H, BB, HB, 3 Ks) … also drew no-decision in 6-4 win over Seton Hall (4.2 IP, 4 R, 3 H, 3 BB, 2 HB, 5 Ks) … made final start at Louisville (4 IP, 4 R, 6 H, 4 HB; loss, 3-4) before short relief stint vs. Connecticut (0.1 IP, R, 2 H; loss, 6-7) … one of the top pitchers on the 2005 staff (3.20, 7-3, 41 Ks, 27 BB, 84 H/.268 in 81.2 IP and 25 GP/9 GS) … logged five complete games in that 2005 season … his top ’05 outings included win over Pittsburgh in BIG EAST title game (5.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R/3 ER, 3 BB, WP, 5 Ks; 11-4) and victory over North Carolina in elimination game at NCAA Gainesville Regional (8 IP, 8 H, BB, 3 Ks, 12 GOs, 3 DP balls; 3-0), leaving both games after long rain delays … earned spot on 2005 NCAA Regional all-tournament team (also had pitched earlier in relief during 5-1 loss to UNC, with 2 IP, 2 H, BB) … helped secure spot in four-team 2005 BIG EAST Tournament with win over West Virginia in final week of regular season (7 IP, R, 5 H, BK, 5 Ks; 3-1) … served as tough righthanded setup man as a freshman in 2004 (2.70, 2-1, SV, 40 Ks, 16 BB, 37 H/.248, 28 GP).