the plan and a few notes

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

the plan and a few notes

I've been staring at some stats lately, and though I've found that you can't conjure up any more baseball, you can learn some things. I will post some of the stuff either tonight or tomorrow, including a compilation of stats sorted by position. After that, I will get into the season wrap-up stuff that I've been promising.

For now, a few interesting tidbits.

Santa Clara's official web site did a cool Q&A with pitcher Steve Kalush, who helped lead Harwich to the Cape League championship. Kalush and his Santa Clara teammate Tommy Medica both played big roles for the Mariners, and in the championship, they beat their teammate Nate Garcia, who played for Cotuit. Interestingly, both Kalush and Garcia won the Alaska League championship last summer with the Mat-Su Miners.

Jim Callis of Baseball America's had some high praise for Grant Green in this week's "Ask BA" column: "Green is clearly the top shortstop for the 2009 draft at this point, and he's the top overall position prospect as well. He was an easy choice for the No. 1 prospect in the Cape this summer. One scouting director I spoke to said he embodied the best of Troy Tulowitzki and Evan Longoria, and others compared his bat to Longoria's, high praise indeed. Though he's 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, Green should be able to stay at shortstop."

With so many of this summer's stars signing pro contracts, we're getting an earlier-than-usual look at professional returns. The short-season Northwest League has a nice little Cape League flavor, with Dusty Coleman, Mike Bianucci and Cole Figueroa all making their debuts there. Coleman is hitting .243 in 10 games with the Vancouver Canadians (Oakland); Bianucci is hitting .318 with four home runs for the Spokane Indians (Texas); and Figueroa is hitting .284 with four home runs for the Eugene Emeralds (San Diego). Also out west, but in a different league, Cape League batting champ Jimmy Cesario is hitting .271 in 17 games with the Rookie Pioneer League's Casper Ghosts (Colorado). Other guys who signed this year: Danny Meszaros has made nine appearances for the New York Penn League's Tri-City ValleyCats (Houston) and has a 3.26 ERA with 33 strikeouts in only 19.1 innings of work. J.J. Hoover made his professional debut last week for the Applachian League's Danville Braves (Atlanta). He hasn't allowed a run in two outings. Bryce Stowell has been assigned to the Penn League's Mahoning Valley Scrappers (Cleveland) but has yet to make an appearance.

No comments:

Post a Comment

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, August 26, 2008