As far as summer baseball goes, there is never a dull moment nor is it always a smooth sailing for any organization or players for that matter. 

During the fall of 2009 Florida Diamond Pros (FDP) catcher Andrew Valencia verbally committed to the University of South Florida  (USF) and was on his way to entering his senior year at Gulliver Academy as the starting catcher for his third year in a row but he was already committed to a Division I program.  

Playing baseball for college is every players dream but playing Division I, baseball is greater dream and Andrew was on his way. Andrew has always had the tools to play Division I and that was confirmed by Perfect Game during his sophomore year when he was rated a 9 out of 10, stated FDP Head of Baseball Operations, Harold Vaca 

Andrew had a great senior year posting a .462 BA – 6 HR & 21 RBI’s and being named to the First team All-Dade for Gulliver Academy. It was all looking great for Andrew he had accomplished some big things during his senior year and he was ready to take on the second phase of his young career -- Division I College Baseball. 

That all came to a halting stop when he was notified by the USF that due to some internal changes and baseball staff turnovers that the direction the staff was taking was seeking JUCO players. “It was a huge blow to us and Andrew,” stated Mr. Valencia.  

One might ask how does this happen? Unfortunately, based on the coaches’ assurance and contrary to proper protocol, Andrew never signed a letter of intent – a simple formality, that gave USF the leeway not to have to honor the verbal commitment.  This was a tough lesson to learn and an error, which we always advise our players not to commit—verbal commitments are just verbal.   

“We were upset that this can happen to any high school player but more upset that it happened to one of our players,” stated Harold Vaca.  However, we wasted no time in dwelling in something that we had no control over and became proactive in something that Florida Diamond Pros can control. Immediately, we reassured Mr. Valencia that we would work very hard on seeking for schools for Andrew - matching his attributes to the schools needs.   

Within hours the Florida Diamond Pros were able to contact several schools – five (5) in particular; Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) was among one of those schools.  That same day FGCU contacted Andrew, subsequently a meeting was set in Ft. Myers exactly four days after the Florida Diamond Pros got to work.  The timing could have not be better as Andrew was helping his Florida Diamond Pros 18U team compete in the Pro Baseball Select Event – which is hosted by Colorado Rockies scout John Cedarburg. 

We now are very proud to announce that Andrew Valencia has committed to Florida Gulf Coast University and will be able to live his dream of playing Division I baseball…”it’s a great thing to be able to help one of our own players and rewrite this young mans story” stated FDP President, Eddie Vaca.  

Florida Gulf Coast University is very excited about having this young man aboard -- via a telephone conference FGCU made the following comments regarding the signing of Andrew Valencia. “Andrew is a very talented catcher that is good on both sides of the ball, he can catch and throw and will definitely have the opportunity to compete for that every day role as a freshman. He has definitely made our program better and we would like to thank the Florida Diamond Pros Baseball Program for initiating the contact and bringing Andrew’s situation to our attention and making this happen for FGCU” Coach Forrest Martin FGCU  

Once again, we would like to congratulate Andrew Valencia and we wish him nothing but the best throughout his collegiate career.  We want thank FGCU for affording Andrew the opportunity to keeping his dream of playing Division I baseball alive.