Description
Cam Opp is a pitcher for the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the American Association of Professional Baseball. They are based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Opp was signed by the New York Mets in 2020. He attended the United States Military Academy and signed with the New York Mets as an undrafted free agent on December 16th, 2020. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in May 2019 after graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Opp was born in Highlands Ranch, Colo., and his family moved after six years to Hinsdale, Ill. for three years and then made a third move to London, England when he was almost 10. While England is a hotbed for soccer, cricket and rugby, baseball is an afterthought on the sports scene. The competition level in London was terrible. As Cam started high school, the reality was that he would have to move back to the USA if he stood a chance of playing college baseball.
His family came to a decision to allow Cam to return to the United States and attend Christ School in Asheville, N.C. for his junior and senior years of high school. He would then see where his baseball skills would take him while going through a demanding academic load at this well known boarding school. Opp not only honed his craft at Christ School, but he continued to dominate. The lefty was named to the all-conference team as a junior, then earned all-state and all-conference honors as a senior while being named conference player of the year and team MVP in 2014. He graduated with a 19-1 record and a sub-2.00 ERA.
After graduating, Opp decided on William & Mary. It was a Division I program and he had visited with the coach, who said he could walk on that year. But before the season started, that coach and the university parted ways. Opp attempted to pivot to West Point, but at the time, he needed a nomination from the vice president – then Joe Biden. Opp received that nomination, but it came late. So the Army suggested attending William & Mary for his freshman year and reapplying after that if he still was interested.
The southpaw successfully transferred to West Point the following year and made Army’s baseball team as a walk-on. Opp joined the baseball team and appeared in 17 games (one start) for Army in 2016 — posting a 1-1 mark with a 4.86 ERA and 22 punchouts over 37 frames. The following season, Jim Foster became Army’s head coach in an effort to turn the struggling program around. It didn’t take long for him to realize Opp would be a key component in that effort.
The pair began focusing on pitching drills and adding size to Opp’s frame. During his sophomore campaign under Foster, Opp was named to the Academic All-Patriot League team after making 18 appearances (five starts) and posting a 4-2 record with 36 strikeouts in 39 1/3 innings. During his junior season, Opp led the team with 25 appearances (six starts) and sported a team-best 2.66 ERA with a 5-2 record. He notched four saves while fanning 72, which ranked fourth on the squad and seventh in the conference. He was named to the All-Patriot League Second Team as well as the All-Academic All-Patriot League Team for the second straight year. At the end of that year, Opp recorded the final two outs of the Patriot League championship game against rival Navy to secure the team’s eighth Patriot League title and a spot in the Super Regionals. Army drew top-seeded North Carolina State in the opening round, and Opp nailed down the 5-1 upset of the nation’s No. 1 seed.
Opp helped Army reach the Super Regionals again his senior season, posting a 5-1 record over 24 relief appearances with a 3.65 ERA. His velocity reached 94 mph that year, and he whiffed 51 over 44 1/3 frames. That created some momentum for Opp as he entered the 2019 First-Year Player Draft, but the 5-foot-10, 180-pounder never heard his name called. After he graduated, he still kept in shape, kept a throwing program and kept working out in anticipation of getting signed as a free agent. Unfortunately, that call never came either for Opp. Instead, the southpaw received a different one that kept his dream alive.
He was at a wedding in Chicago and his pitching coach called and said there was an opening to play in Evansville in Indy Ball. The club was just hitting their All-Star break and wanted Opp to join them for the rest of their season. Opp appeared in 21 games for the Otters and amassed a 2.70 ERA and 4-2 record while notching a pair of saves and striking out 35 in 26 2/3 innings. After his 2019 season with the Otters, Opp still didn’t receive any offers from big league organizations. His days playing baseball seemed to be over. One month after his final pitch in Evansville, Opp reported to Fort Rucker in Alabama to begin flight training school.
Since the Army was ok with an effort for Opp to sign with an affiliated team, but after 2019, when he didn’t get a deal, he went ahead with his aviation commitment as an Army officer. But the itch to play didn’t subside. Opp returned home for Christmas that year with another idea. He didn’t feel like he went through every avenue he could have at that point. So once he got back to flight school, he reached out to teams and set up four workouts just to see if there was still any interest. He reached out to the scouts he did know, and Otters skipper Andy McCauley knew a Mets scout and he set that one up.”
The then 24-year-old was approved for leave and flew to Arizona to put on private workouts for four teams in February, 2020. He never made it past his first showcase with the Mets. After a torrential downpour moved his exhibition to inside a facility with a less-than-cordial host, Opp displayed the type of talent on the mound and character off of it that the Mets were looking for. Finally, he was offered a contract. However, the coronavirus pandemic put a freeze on operations, so Opp could not officially sign with New York until December.
Since there wasn’t a Minor League season in 2020, Opp was sponsored by the Army’s World Class Athlete Program as he continued to serve his military commitment while maintaining baseball activities in facilities throughout Texas, Colorado and North Carolina, where he was working with Jon Rosoff at the USA Baseball National Training complex in Cary.
On May 3rd, 2021 Opp was assigned to St. Lucie Mets from GCL Mets. On May 18th, Opp was assigned to the Brooklyn Cyclones from the St. Lucie Mets. On June 15th, the Brooklyn Cyclones transferred LHP Cam Opp to the Mets Development List.
In 2023, Opp played for Great Britain in the World Baseball Classic. In 2022, Opp made it to the New York Mets Double-A Binghamton, performing well enough to catch the eye of Great Britain’s WBC organizers. He threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings in Great Britain’s qualifying round win over France, then watched his teammates upset the favored Spaniards to earn a spot in the main bracket.
Opp’s ties to England indeed run deeper than those of most of his WBC teammates, who are largely Bahamian and American. (Because King Charles is the head of state in the Bahamas, a former British colony, players from that country are eligible to compete for Great Britain in the WBC.) Of those with upper Minors experience, only one was born in the UK. Some players live overseas on a part-time basis, but Opp’s British ties run deeper. He is a dual citizen with an eye toward perhaps one day moving back to England.
The featured blue New York Mets Baseball Nike Dri-Fit Shirt was issued to and worn in practice by Cam Opp in 2022 as a member of the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. The Binghamton Rumble Ponies are an American Minor League Baseball team based in Binghamton, New York. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the New York Mets major-league club. The Rumble Ponies play in Mirabito Stadium, located in Binghamton. Opp played in 4 Games with the Rumble Ponies in 2022. The talented southpaw has signed the Shirt and added “LFGM!” in black. (Let’s F…… Go Mets!) The Shirt was obtained directly from Cam Opp!!!
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