OBSERVER Photo by Matt Spielman Former Jamestown Tarp Skunks catcher Johnny Kampes fist bumps young fan Curtis Spielman before a Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League contest last season. Kampes will now play in the MLB Draft League.

JAMESTOWN — Johnny Kampes was back in Jamestown this weekend.

No, the former Tarp Skunks catcher wasn’t looking to take the field at Diethrick Park again.

He was merely making a pit stop on his baseball journey.

Next week, the 23-year-old, who became a fan favorite the past two summers playing for Jamestown in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, will begin playing for the Frederick Keys in the Second Half of the MLB Draft League.

“The goal is to get signed out of this league professionally, hoping to get with an affiliated club of Major League Baseball,” Kampes said Monday evening from his home in Colora, Maryland. “There are a lot of respected scouts watching this league. I’ll have an opportunity to match up with these guys and at the end of it, I hope and think I can come away with an MLB contract.”

Kampes set himself up with an opportunity to play in the MLB Draft League with a standout senior season at Goldey-Beacom University in Pike Creek Valley, Delaware.

In 55 games, he hit a team-high .368 with 10 home runs, 22 doubles, two triples and 56 RBIs. He struck out just 27 times in 204 at-bats, scored 60 runs, and had an on-base percentage of .459 and a slugging percentage of .642.

Defensively, Kampes had a .986 fielding percentage and threw out 18 of 29 would-be base stealers from behind the plate.

Nationally, Kampes finished third in Division II with 47 stolen bases that led the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.

“Being a catcher definitely helps you know the running game and know how they are going to pitch guys in certain counts, so I might have a little advantage being a catcher from that aspect,” Kampes said. “But being a catcher definitely does not help the speed aspect.”

He also led the conference and was 17th in the country in doubles, and was second in the league in RBIs, third in home runs, third with 75 hits, fifth in on-base percentage and sixth in batting average. His stolen base, doubles and RBI totals set Goldey-Beacom records.

“At Goldey-Beacom and in Jamestown I found people that I really care about and consider family,” Kampes said. “I found small parts of the game that you don’t see watching TV or watching the College World Series. That’s what has kept me going and wanting to stay in the sport as long as I can.”

For his efforts this spring, Kampes was named first-team all-conference and second-team all-East Region by three different organizations.

“As the season went along, obviously I had a good season and knew there would be opportunities,” Kampes said. “I was ready for any endeavor presented to me — Independent Ball, the Coastal Plains or Cape Cod leagues, those were options I was looking at. This option came and I didn’t expect it.”

In 40 games for the Tarp Skunks last summer, Kampes hit .219 with a home run, a triple, six doubles, 22 RBIs and 16 runs scored.

“Jamestown played a huge part. I’m not sure how much skill set you gain once you reach a certain age, but the experience in Jamestown did everything for my confidence and my mentality,” he said. “Before Jamestown, baseball was kind of a drag for me. I wasn’t getting the experience I wanted (at Wagner College). In Jamestown, it showed me what the game is about. … Jamestown kind of rekindled my love for the game and I took that back to Goldey-Beacom.”

The MLB Draft League is for professional baseball players who have exhausted their amateur eligiblity.

Players in the MLB Draft League receive housing, meal money, travel and weekly compensation, and play in 50 games per team from July 7 through Sept. 2.

“The Goldey-Beacom coaches got in contact with Major League Baseball and helped me out a little bit,” Kampes said. “The league president, Sean Campbell, ended up calling me and giving me an opportunity. He had the Second Half MLB Draft League contract for me.”

In addition to Frederick, teams are based in State College and Williamsport, Pennsylvania; Niles, Ohio; Granville, West Virginia; and Trenton, New Jersey. Teams generally play six games per week with one off day. Frederick and Trenton are both less than two hours away from Kampes’ home in Delaware.

The First Half MLB Draft League began June 1 and will continue through July 4. The First Half is for amateur/draft eligible players from NCAA Division1 I-III, NAIA, junior college and graduating high school seniors. Each team plays 30 games. Forty-seven players from last season’s MLB Draft League were taken in the 2022 MLB Draft, with the highest taken in the sixth round.

While the Second Half season won’t allow players to get selected in next month’s draft, there is the ability to be signed with affiliated clubs for the 2024 season.

If a professional contact comes along, it will be a dream come true for Kampes.

“Honestly, my whole career has been unexpected. It’s been fun. I’ve always wanted to reach the top level,” he said. “I obviously want to move on and hopefully play Minor League Baseball and Major League Baseball. It is considered professional baseball and I’ve always wanted to play pro baseball since I was 12 years old.”