team usa announces final roster

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

team usa announces final roster

And there's plenty of good news for Cape League teams.

Eleven players who didn't make the final cut are on Cape League rosters, which means we can expect most of them to head to the Cape. The list is headed by North Carolina's Dustin Ackley (Harwich), Rice's Ryan Berry (Bourne) and Indiana's Josh Phegley (Wareham).

Here's the link to the final roster. It does say that two more players will be named, so this isn't quite set in stone.

Here are the Cape League players left off the final roster, at this point:

Dustin Ackley - 1B - North Carolina - Sophomore - Harwich
Ryan Berry - P - Rice - Sophomore - Bourne
Dusty Coleman - SS - Wichita State - Sophomore - Bourne
Brian Fletcher - OF - Auburn - Freshman - Falmouth
Justin Marks - P - Louisville - Sophomore - Chatham
Tommy Medica - C - Santa Clara - Sophomore - Harwich
Ryan Ortiz - C - Oregon State - Sophomore - Y-D
Josh Phegley - C - Indiana - Sophomore - Wareham
Drew Pomeranz - P - Ole Miss - Freshman - Bourne
Kyle Seager - 2B - North Carolina - Sophomore - Chatham
Rick Hague - SS - Rice - Freshman - Wareham

Big lifts for several teams, obviously. If Ackley does indeed head to Harwich, he becomes the best pure hitter on the Cape. Medica would also fill a big hole for the Mariners.

Bourne picks up two big-time pitchers, including Berry, one of the best in the nation. Dusty Coleman will also make a big difference.

Two teams in last place right now -- Chatham and Wareham -- should also feel pretty good. Phegley probably becomes the top catching prospect on the Cape, and Hague should be one of the top freshmen. Seager and Marks will help out a lot in Chatham.

Of the 20 players who did make the final roster, 14 were on Cape League rosters. That list includes Kyle Gibson (Falmouth), Derek Dietrich (Wareham), Stephen Strasburg (Y-D) and Ryan Jackson (Hyannis).

It will also be interesting to see if a couple of the players who didn't make it and who aren't on Cape League rosters come to the Cape as late additions. Tennessee pitcher Bryan Morgado, Texas A&M outfielder Brooks Raley, Texas pitcher Chance Ruffin and Missouri outfielder Aaron Senne all fall into that category.

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as the fog settles in

The left-field sunset has faded. It is chilly now. You slip a sweatshirt on. The stat sheet you hold in your hands almost feels wet, the air is so damp. But the ink doesn't run. You can read it. That kid from LSU is still leading the league in home runs. That pitcher who they say throws 95 -- he's way up on the list in strikeouts.
The game is close, 3-2 through seven innings. You're staying till the end.
You look out at the field. Some fog has slipped in. It settles like smoke, just off the grass in front of the right fielder, like a cloud. When he runs through it to catch a fly ball, it looks almost magical, maybe even spiritual, like he's playing baseball in heaven.
Maybe he is.
The baseball is pure here. The players eager. The fans, maybe some of them don't know what they're seeing, maybe they just heard it was a fun night out, good for the family and everything -- but they know. They know somehow that this thing, this Cape League, is special.
Really, there's nothing like it.
I'm going to try and keep up.

Stop waxing poetic

The Cape Cod Baseball League is the top college summer league in the nation. Plenty of other leagues have cropped up of late, and some are having success, but the Cape League is still the model -- and the pinnacle. In 2006, 198 Major Leaguers had spent time in the Cape League.
The rosters are like a who's who of the best college baseball players. All the top prospects want to spend their summers on the Cape. The only better opportunity is Team USA. There are 10 teams in the league, divided into two divisions. Over the course of two months, they play 44 games. Scouts will watch many of them. They come because of the combination of talent and wood. Unlike college baseball, the Cape uses only wooden bats, providing an accurate picture of what players might do at the next level.
What else? Players live with host families. Some have part-time jobs (Jeff Bagwell worked at Friendly's). There's no admission charge at games. The level of baseball has been compared to Single A.
That should sum it up. If you have never experienced Cape League Baseball, you have missed out.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008