ELMIRA JUNIOR GETTING CHANCE TO REPRESENT USA AT GOODWILL GAMES IN BARCELONA (2024-03-31)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
Elmira junior Caleb Ostrander has dealt with a lot in his baseball career, as he’s had to battle back from an injury.

Now, the hard work to get back is paying off as he’ll get a chance to represent Team USA for MVP baseball in a trip to Barcelona, Spain in early August.

Ostrander will be taking part in the Goodwill Games in Spain from August 1-8.

“I’m very excited,” Ostrander said. “I get to go out of the United States. I get to go over and see more things and explore.

“We are going to be playing teams from around the world.”

The team will be playing teams from countries like Japan, Cuba, Spain and Portugal.

“I am happy and I’m just glad I get to do it and see more things and explore more things and have better opportunities,” Ostrander said.

The Elmira junior is the only kid from the area going and the team will have players from all over the country like Texas, California, Georgia, New Jersey and Florida.

“I’m really excited because I can see what and how they play,” Ostrander said. “I just like to play baseball with new kids and it will be fun to do it.

“I’ll probably learn new things there too. I’m the only one coming from around here, so I’m kind of glad because I got the opportunity and they asked me and I am shocked. After everything I’ve been through I’m glad my hard work is paying off. I have to hit the gym more and I’ll probably get more opportunities.”

Ostrander had heard from MVP baseball in the past as they were the ones who found him and invited him to take part in the Goodwill Games. But, after he got hurt the Elmira junior wasn’t sure he would ever hear from them again.

It took a lot of work for Ostrander to come back from his injury and get to this point.

“Very hard, training a lot,” Ostrander said. “Doing a lot of things. Coming off from my Tommy John surgery that kind of pushed it back a little bit. They reached out once and I didn’t think they would reach out again. And, then they said they wanted me and I took the opportunity.”

Ostrander knows that playing in this tournament will only make him a better player.

“I am glad, because it gives me an opportunity,” he said. “There are going to be kids that are better than me over there so it’s going to be competition. It’s going to make me better.”

And the Elmira student can’t wait to see what things are like in Spain.

“I’m very excited, because I want too see how it is there, how it is organized, how certain places are and the culture,” Ostrander said.

During day two of the trip the team has a tour to go through Barcelona and see some of the churches. But, through the week the team will be playing every day of the trip, from the day they get off the plane they will be playing one game each day.

For Ostrander it was special that they wanted him for the tournament.

“I guess someone recommended me from one of the tournaments I went to,” Ostrander said. “Someone recommended me to them and they asked for me. They wanted me.”

The junior is probably going to play a utility role, probably middle infield and outfield and some pitching.

Ostrander is actually throwing harder now than he was before he got hurt. But, it’s been a long journey back from his injury.

“It was hard because I was home a lot, I was on the couch or in the bed, sleeping a lot because of my surgery and the pain I had and not a lot of people reached out to me,” Ostrander said. “It was kind of difficult, but when I came back into school a lot more people started talking to me.”

Ostrander got hurt playing travel ball and missed a year of baseball, but now he’s back ready for the tournament. There was also the struggle mentally returning to the game after missing so much time.

“It was just hard to come back from it, but I just worked my butt off,” Ostrander said. “It was difficult to come back from it mentally.”

It was special for Ostrander to be wanted by MVP Baseball still after the injury.

“I was glad I was very glad that I still had the opportunity to do it,” Ostrander said.

In some ways Ostrander is happier to get the opportunity now, because he knows if he had gotten it in the past before his injury, and then gotten hurt he wouldn’t have gotten to compete.

“I was kind of like after my surgery it was like I’m throwing harder, I’m throwing faster,” Ostrander said. “So, I’m kind of glad now I get the opportunity, because if I got the opportunity before my surgery then I had my surgery I wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

There may be some baseball before August, but the tournament in Barcelona will be the main tournament for Ostrander this year.

“I might do fall ball or something like that,” he said. “I might do a little rec ball here or there, but this is probably going to be the big tournament.

“I’m very happy, very happy I’m just happy I got the opportunity and they asked me.”

As a junior this is the time you start looking at colleges, and Ostrander knows this tournament may help get more schools to notice him.

“I’m glad, because then I get better opportunities and more colleges will look at me,” he said.
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PHOTO BY BRIAN FEES.