Daily Fog: Going Long

Both Harwich and Y-D played 14 innings of baseball on Sunday in the first doubleheaders of the summer.

They almost did it again Monday night.

After Harwich split its twin bill with Bourne on Sunday and Y-D swept past Falmouth, the teams played the longest game of the season on Monday in Harwich. They went 13 innings, and no one scored for 12-and-a-half of them. Finally, in the bottom of the 13th, the Mariners pushed the game-winning run across on an RBI single by Phil Gosselin (Virginia). In addition to being the longest game, it was also, amazingly, the first 1-0 game of the season.

Getting that one proved to be extremely difficult. Seven pitchers took their turn on the mound, and none of them surrendered much. Even the only run was unearned. Y-D starter Greg Peavey (Oregon State) struck out six and allowed five hits in eight shutout innings, and his might not have even been the best performance. His Harwich counterpart, Mike Gipson (Florida Atlantic), allowed just two hits in seven scoreless frames.

When the game went to the bullpens, it was more of the same. Seth Simmons (East Carolina) and Kevin Rhoderick (Oregon State) each went two scoreless innings for Y-D, with Rhoderick striking out five. For Harwich, Geoff Parker (Florida State) and Matthew Price (Virginia Tech) went three innings each. Parker, making his first appearance, didn't allow a hit and struck out five.

Harwich finally broke through in the 13th. Chris Wade (Kentucky) reached on an error to start the frame, and he went first to third on a single by Dan Grovatt (Virginia). That set things up for Gosselin, who knocked the walk-off single to right field. Gosselin and Grovatt, both late arrivals after Virginia's run to Omaha, are already in the top five in hits on the team.

The win moved Harwich to 6-7, just 2.5 games back in the suddenly tight East standings. Y-D is sitting in second place at 8-7 with the second-best record in the league.

Elsewhere

Bryan Morgado (Tennessee) might be making himself a little money. A third-round pick this year, Morgado arrived in Bourne last week and turned in a solid, but short, first start. His second start wasn't exactly long, but it didn't have to be. Morgado went five innings last night against Cotuit and struck out 13. That's a league-high for the summer. At one point, Morgado struck out 10 of the first 11 batters he faced. Clearly one of the most dominant performances we're likely to see all summer.

Bourne ended up winning the game 2-1 thanks to an eighth-inning rally. Cotuit starter Jake Buchanan (NC State) struck out five in six shutout innings, but the Braves got things going against the Kettleer bullpen. Kyle Roller (East Carolina) tripled to start the inning and Chris Wallace (Houston) knocked him in with a single to tie the game. Bourne eventually loaded the bases and Wallace trotted home with the go-ahead run on a walk to Scott Woodward (Coastal Carolina). Stephen Harrold (UNC Wilmington) stranded a runner on third in the ninth to pick up the save.

Wareham moved into first place in the West -- at least in the loss column -- thanks to a 6-1 win over Hyannis and Bourne's victory over Cotuit. Jack Armstrong (Vanderbilt) allowed one run in 5.1 innings and the bullpen combined for 3.2 shutout innings to secure the win. Brett Eibner (Arkansas) and Zach Wilson (Arizona State), both of whom recently arrived from the College World Series, each hit home runs to power the six-run attack. Eibner ended up 2-for-2 with three RBI. Shea Vucinich (Washington State) went 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

Brewster hung on for a 9-8 victory and handed Chatham its fourth straight loss. The Whitecaps led 7-2 in the sixth before Chatham came all the way back to tie the game 8-8. Jedd Gyorko (West Virginia) went 3-for-4 with a home run four RBI, and he started an eighth-inning rally with a single. Pinch-running for him, Tyler Thornburg (Charleston Southern) scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Stephen Yarrow (San Francisco). It proved to be the winning run when the game was called after the eighth due to darkness. John Barr (Virginia) and Colin Walsh (Stanford) each had three hits for Brewster. Dean Green (Oklahoma State) went 2-for-4 with three RBI and Matt Perry (Vermont) went 2-for-4 with two RBI for Chatham.

Todd Cunningham (Jacksonville State) went 3-for-3 with a home run and two runs scored to help Falmouth past Orleans 4-2. Brian Fletcher (Auburn) and Jason Esposito (Vanderbilt) also drove in runs, as did the elusive Hunter Morris (Auburn). Morris was a third-round pick out of high school two years ago and has been on the Falmouth roster for two years running. He went with Team USA last year and was an invitee again this year, but apparently didn't take part in the trials. Last night's game marked his first appearance in a Falmouth uniform. Tommy Collier (San Jacinto) picked up the win for the Commodores with five shutout innings.

What to Watch For Tonight

Another high draft pick, Cotuit's Chris Dwyer (Clemson) will get the start against Y-D. Dwyer struck out nine in five shutout innings last time out. He'll actually be going up against Mario Hollands, a former Kettleer. The lefty from UC Santa Barbara played for Cotuit last year and was a 24th-round pick earlier this month. This will be his first appearance of the summer.

Daily Fog: Lucky Seven

With the rule changes implemented, I believe Sunday's seven-inning doubleheader games were the first scheduled seven-inning games played in the Cape League in a long time. I'm guessing they might have had a few somewhere along the line, maybe before the modern era. But Cape League games have been nine-inning affairs for as long as I can remember.

Either way, the Y-D Red Sox didn't mind.

Using just two pitchers -- the fewest number of pitchers they've used in any two-game stretch this summer -- the Red Sox swept past Falmouth 6-3 and 4-0 in a Sunday doubleheader. The victories gave Y-D a four-game winning streak and moved them to 8-6. They had previously lost five games in a row.

In the first game of the twin bill, Chris Sale (Florida Gulf Coast), the most effective starter in the league thus far, made his third appearance and delivered a strong performance again. Having not allowed a run prior to Sunday, Sale stretched his scoreless streak all the way to 20 innings when he got through six without allowing anything. Falmouth finally got to him in the seventh, touching him up for three runs. But with two men on and two out, Sale finished the game with a strikeout. He ended up striking out four and walking none in the complete-game effort. Sale leads the league in strikeouts.

Brian Hernandez (UC Irvine) led the way at the plate in game one, going 2-for-2 with three RBI. Austin Wates (Virginia Tech) and Mickey Wiswall (Boston College), two of the league's top hitters, stayed hot with two hits apiece. Wates is second in the league with a .391 average. Wiswall is fourth at .360.

It was more of the same for the Red Sox in the second game of the doubleheader. John Leonard (Boston College) one-upped Sale by taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning. He lost it with one out in the sixth but still finished off six scoreless frames and struck out five. Kevin Rhoderick (Oregon State) came on in the seventh with a runner on first and struck out the side to preserve the victory.

Wiswall went 2-for-3 with three RBI. Jordan Casas (Long Beach State) and Blake Kelso (Houston) had two hits apiece.

With the victories and a Chatham loss, the Red Sox moved within three games of the Anglers for first place in the East.

Elsewhere

In the other doubleheader, Harwich and Bourne played to a split, with Bourne winning game one 6-3 and Harwich taking game two 8-1. Stefan Romero (Oregon State) went 3-for-3 in the first game with a home run (his third) and four RBI. Chris Wallace (Houston) added a home run in the same inning as Romero. Cameron Roth (UNC Wilmington) picked up the win with six strikeouts in four strong innings. Harwich turned things around in game two, posting its second-highest run output of the season. Everybody in the lineup was on base at least once, with Trent Mummey (Auburn) driving in two Phil Gosselin (Virginia) delivering two hits. Justin Wright (Virginia Tech) and Chase Reid (Vanderbilt) combined to strike out 11. Reid struck out six and didn't allow a hit in 3.1 innings of relief.

A wild first inning was all Orleans needed to beat Chatham 2-1. Two walks and four wild pitches staked the Firebirds to a 2-0 lead. Starter Jimmy Reyes (Elon) made that lead stand up with seven strong innings. He allowed just an unearned run, struck out nine and didn't walk anybody. Matt Packer (Virginia) and Alex Hassan (Duke) went one scoreless inning each to keep the slim lead. Logan Verrett (Baylor), who had been with Team USA, struck out seven in 5.1 innings after relieving starter Thomas Keeling (Oklahoma State) in the first. The loss was Chatham's third in a row.

Cotuit broke a 1-1 tie in the eighth to beat Hyannis 2-1. An RBI single by Zach Cox (Arkansas) scored Jeff Rowland (Georgia Tech) with the go-ahead run. Benjamin Rowen (Virginia Tech) struck out four in three scoreless innings to pick up the win.

Wareham played just its second game in the last seven days, but the Gatemen certainly weren't rusty. After postponements the last two nights, the Gatemen reached double digits in runs for the first time all year in a 10-2 victory over Brewster. Shea Vucinich (Washington State), Ryan Pineda (Cal State Northridge), George Springer (Connecticut) and Ryan LaMarre (Michigan) all drove in two runs each, with Springer delivering a team-high three hits. Blake Monar (Indiana) allowed two runs in 5.1 innings to pick up the win. Scott Rembisz (Florida International), Keith Bilodeau (Maine) and Zach Brewster (Georgia Tech) combined for 3.2 shutout innings of relief.

What to Watch For Tonight

Jake Buchanan (NC State) goes for Cotuit against Bourne and Bryan Morgado (Tennessee), the highest-drafted player on the Cape this year. Neither pitcher allowed an earned run in his first start.

Daily Fog: An Early Statement

Chatham may have the best record in the league, but the Anglers are 0-2 against Cotuit, the team with the next-best record. The Kettleers beat the Anglers 3-1 last night. That's their second two-run victory over Chatham, which has dropped its last two after six straight wins. Amazingly, Chatham and Cotuit are the only two teams in the league with winning records.

Last night, Chatham out-hit Cotuit 10-8 but stranded 10 runners. A second-inning solo home run by Steven Brooks (Wake Forest) accounted for Chatham's only run. Cotuit responded quickly with two runs in the bottom of the second on a sac fly by Tony Plagman (Georgia Tech) and an RBI single by Jeff Rowland (Georgia Tech). Cotuit added an insurance run in the sixth on an RBI double by Cory Vaughn (San Diego State).

For the second straight night, strong pitching performances helped keep Chatham from putting together a comeback. Justin Grimm (Georgia) got the start for Cotuit and allowed just the one run in 4.1 innings. Seth Blair (Arizona State), a star on the Cape last year, made his first appearance this year since arriving from the College World series and worked four shutout innings to pick up the win. Daniel Tillman (Florida Southern) struck out two in the ninth to pick up his first save.

All in all, an impressive win for the Kettleers. Strangely enough, they didn't necessarily play their game to do it. They didn't have a stolen base, which I believe is the first time that's happened all year. They also didn't have a sacrifice bunt.

That's the thing about this team, though. For all the speed and small-ball leanings, when you look at their lineup, you realize they have some hitters who can be very productive. The combination of the two gives Cotuit a real dangerous offense.

Of course, Chatham's offense has been more dangerous. The Anglers still lead the league in runs scored, but last night, they didn't have enough.

The Kettleers and Anglers won't see each other again until July 12. It'll be interesting to see what they do then, and where they stand.

Elsewhere

In a sadly unsurprising twist, two games were postponed last night, which means that just once in the last week has a full slate of games gone off without a hitch. Crazy.

One game got impacted by weather but went far enough to be official. Y-D beat Brewster 5-3 in a game called because of lightning and rain. Remarkably, the lightning didn't flash until just after the bottom of the seventh inning. In the top half of the inning, Y-D had taken its 5-3 lead. If Brewster's at-bat in the bottom of the inning hadn't been completed, the seventh inning wouldn't have counted and the game would have gone back to a 3-3 tie. Y-D got its lead on an error and a Jonathan Jones (Long Beach State) RBI single. Seth Simmons (East Carolina) picked up the win with four strikeouts in two innings of relief. For Brewster, Jedd Gyorko (West Virginia) made his first appearance of the summer, going 1-for-3. Gyorko was at Team USA trials.

In the longest game of the summer so far, Hyannis outlasted Falmouth 6-5 in 12 innings. A passed ball on a strikeout allowed the go-ahead run to score in the top of the 12th. Cody Hawn (Tennessee) went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI to lead the Mets. He was one of five players who had two hits for Hyannis.

What to Watch For Right Today/Tonight

With doubleheaders at Y-D and Bourne, games are happening as I write this. In tonight's action, Chatham will try to stop its two-game skid with a home game against Orleans. It's the second match-up of the year between the East rivals. It appears that former Falmouth Commodore and CWS hero Jorge Reyes (Oregon State) will go for Orleans. He was not on anybody's roster this year, but has just popped up for the Firebirds. He was a 17th-round pick this year.

Daily Fog: End of the Line

The way things have been going, you got the feeling it would take something special to stop the Chatham Anglers.

Three Bourne pitchers delivered it.

Turner Phelps (James Madison), Justin Poovey (Florida) and Stephen Harrold (UNC Wilmington) combined on a four-hit shutout as the Braves toppled the Anglers by a 4-0 score, snapping Chatham's six-game winning streak.

It was the third start of the season for Phelps, who turned it into his longest and best start so far. The sophomore righty allowed just two hits, struck out nine and walked only one in six shutout innings. Bourne gave Phelps the lead with single runs in the fifth and sixth, and the bullpen helped keep the lead, a crucial part of the equation against the comeback-minded Anglers. Poovey struck out two and allowed one hit in two innings. Harrold surrendered a leadoff single in the ninth but got three straight groundouts to end the game.

It's the first time this season that Chatham has been shut out. The Anglers came into last night's game leading the league in hitting, but they dropped behind Y-D after their four-hit performance.

Kaleb Fleck (Pitt-Johnstown) got the start for Chatham and pitched well, surrendering just a run on two hits in four innings. Cody Freeman (Mississippi State) hit a solo home run for the Braves. Raynor Campbell (Baylor) scored the second run on a wild pitch and a throwing error. A dropped fly ball allowed two runs to score in the ninth.

The Anglers still sit in first by eight points, and they're the only team in the East with a winning record. Bourne improved to 4-4-2.

Elsewhere

Rob Gariano (Fairfield) got credited with the shortest complete game of the season as the Harwich-Hyannis game got called in the sixth because of rain. The Mets were trying to rally when the game was called. They had runners on second and third. Before that, Gariano had been lights-out. Making his second start, the junior righty struck out 11 and walked nobody through his 5.1 innings. For the season, he has struck out 19 without a single walk, one of the more impressive early pitching lines of the season. Harwich made a winner out of Gariano thanks to two runs in the second and one in the fifth. Levi Michael, North Carolina's freshman who was making his first appearance, drove in a run, as did David Herbek (James Madison) and Marcus Niddifer (Kentucky).

Y-D got just enough offense, and Tyler Burgoon (Michigan) delivered a lights-out relief performance to lead the Red Sox to a 3-1 victory over Orleans. After a strong start by Jared Ray (Houston), who allowed just an unearned run in six innings, Burgoon struck out seven and didn't allow a hit over the final three innings. Burgoon is establishing himself as the league's best reliever. He now has four saves and 16 strikeouts in 7.2 innings. He has not allowed a hit or an earned run. On the offensive side, Jonathan Jones (Long Beach State) led the way for the Red Sox with three hits and an RBI. Elliot Glynn (Connecticut) allowed one run in 5.2 innings for Orleans.

The other two games were postponed because of rain.

What to Watch For Tonight
Two first-place teams will get together in Cotuit as the 9-2 Chatham Anglers take on the 5-4-1 Kettleers. Before last night, Cotuit had handed Chatham its only loss. Chad Bell (Walters State) will get the start for Cotuit against Chatham's Tyler Lyons (Oklahoma State). Both have been impressive in the early going.

Historically Fast, etc.

Notes written while wondering how on Earth it rained again today . . .

I wrote the other day about Chatham's start and where it ranked in recent history. Right then, I didn't have time to go back and really look, but I did I have time tonight.

Good thing I had a lot of time.

The Anglers' 9-1 start is the best since 2002, when the Cotuit Kettleers started 13-0, breaking the all-time league record for most wins to start a season. Led by batting champ and league MVP Pete Stonard, that Cotuit team ended up tying two games before it lost its first game, which didn't happen until July 1. Pretty remarkable.

Maybe more remarkable? The Kettleers won 10 games the rest of the regular season. They still won the division title, but lost in the Western Division playoffs.

So Chatham, your cushion is nice, but it's not everything.

The league has announced some policy changes in response to all the postponements. Greg posted the full release on Codball . It looks like the big one is the allowance for seven-inning games in doubleheaders. Previously, league bylaws prevented that, but with a lot of doubleheaders on the horizon, this looks like the right move.

Some interesting names have popped up over the last few days, adding to the already large number of players drafted in 2009 who are on the Cape. Two were big names last summer on the Cape -- Baylor's Raynor Campbell and Mississippi State's Connor Powers. Campbell was a 31st-round pick while Powers went in the 11th round. Also of note is Tennessee's Bryan Morgado, who got the start for Bourne last night. Morgado was a third-round pick of the Dodgers. He missed his freshman year at Tennessee because of Tommy John surgery, but he's got a power arm that can light up radar guns. I believe he's the highest pick to play on the Cape in a few years. Last year, I think the highest pick was fifth-rounder Greg Miclat, who left pretty early in the summer.

Cotuit pitcher Drew Gagnier is the first Cape League player to come from the University of Oregon since the program was re-established. Oregon hadn't played baseball since 1981, but the program was set on course in 2007 for a return and was officially brought back to life this spring. Gagnier, a redshirt sophomore who previously played at Fresno State, is a pretty good first representative. He had a 2.70 ERA out of the bullpen for the Ducks and was a 14th-round pick of the A's earlier this month. In three appearances for Cotuit, he hasn't allowed a run and has struck out six in four innings.

Some of the Virginia contingent has arrived from the College World Series, and they're making sure everyone knows it. Dan Grovatt has gone 4-for-7 in his first two games for Harwich. John Barr went 3-for-4 last night in his first game with Brewster.

As LSU tries to defend its national championship next year, Brett Bruening may play a big role. A juco star who has committed to the Tigers, Bruening has a 0.75 ERA in two starts for Harwich. He has struck out 12 in 12 innings of work.

Speaking of LSU, it'll be very interesting to see what Anthony Ranaudo does this summer. He's on the Y-D roster, but as Dave touched on over at Codball, Ranaudo pitched a lot of innings this year -- 124.1 after just 12 last year. I too wouldn't be surprised if Ranaudo is either shut down for the summer or kept on a very tight leash. To some extent, he's done everything he needed to do this year, helping lead LSU to a title and, in the process, establishing himself as perhaps the top college prospect for the 2010 draft. On the surface, Ranaudo's situation is similar to Alex White's last year. A top prospect who carried his team deep into the tourney, White was scheduled to pitch in Chatham but was shut down for the summer. We'll find out soon enough what's going to happen with Ranaudo.

Daily Fog: Finding It

Man. It's 2:30 p.m. and I have no reasonable excuse for why this hasn't been posted yet. I have a day off, with nothing going on. I tried starting it three separate times, but no matter how many box scores I stared at, I couldn't come up with a theme.

This is rare. For all the times I've had writer's block in my life, I don't think I've ever had Cape League writer's block. In two years of putting out these daily updates, I'm pretty sure this has never happened. But today, I feel out of the loop, out of rhythm. It's like the rainy interruptions killed every ounce of momentum. Nothing connects to anything else. Wednesday's games offered a brief moment of excitement: Hey, they're playing again. Today, it's more of a "What now?"

I can only imagine how the Hyannis Mets feel.

They were on a two-game winning streak before the monsoons rolled in. Then they did nothing for four days. On that fourth day, when everyone else was back in action, they were postponed again.

Somehow, they fought through it.

Facing the same Cotuit team they beat in their last game on June 20, the Mets put a ninth-inning rally together to edge the Kettleers 3-2 last night. The bullpen shined, with Dallas Gallant (Sam Houston) and Kevin Brandt (East Carolina) tossing four shutout innings and setting the stage for the rally. The Mets delivered in the top of the ninth as Dustin Harrington (East Carolina) worked a walk and Eddie Rohan (Winthrop) knocked him in with a base hit. Brandt struck out two in the bottom of the inning to seal the victory.

That's three wins in a row for the Mets, who improved to 4-4. I can't imagine it feels much like a streak, but they'll take it.

I'll take it too. Rhythm or not, it's about time this season gets in gear.

Elsewhere

Wareham, the only other team that missed four days, didn't fare quite as well in its return. But that might have had more to do with the scorching Chatham Anglers, who came to Clem Spillane Field and beat the Gatemen 6-4 in 10 innings for their sixth straight win. That's the third extra-innings victory of the year for the Anglers, who have shown quite a flair for the dramatic. Whit Merrifield (South Carolina), who pinch-ran after a walk to Tom Belza (Oklahoma State), scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch after he had moved up two bases on sacrifice bunts. Phillip Pohl (Clemson) also scored on a wild pitch for an insurance run. Thomas Keeling worked a perfect bottom of the inning to pick up the save. The win moved Chatham to a league-best 9-1. Wareham starter Eric Pfisterer (Duke) finally allowed a hit after surrendering none in his first two starts.

Ace Chris Sale (Florida Gulf Coast) was scheduled to start for Y-D last night against Orleans. He didn't go, but if he had, he might have been out-dueled. Orleans' Casey Gaynor (Rutgers) allowed just two hits in seven shutout innings and struck out three as the Firebirds rolled to a 6-0 victory. It was the second strong start of the year for Gaynor, who has has a 0.69 ERA. Gary Brown (Cal State Fullerton) went 3-for-5 with two RBI in his first game since arriving from the College World Series. Jaren Matthews (Rutgers) and Alex Hassan (Duke) each had two hits and two RBI. Hassan, a 20th-round pick this year, is now hitting .421 with seven RBI. He's emerging as one of the most productive hitters in the league.

Bourne got a strong start from newcomer Bryan Morgado, a third-round pick this year out of Tennessee, but it went for naught in a 5-4 loss to Falmouth. Morgado struck out five in three shutout innings, but Falmouth jumped out to a 5-0 lead on the Bourne bullpen then held off a late charge. Taylor Wall (Rice) picked up the win with six shutout innings in his first appearance of the summer. Jason Esposito (Vanderbilt) and Todd Cunningham (Jacksonville State) each had two hits and an RBI for the Commodores.

Harwich snapped a six-game losing streak with a 6-3 victory over Brewster. Eric Jokisch (Northwestern) struck out five and allowed one earned run in six innings. Recent additions Dan Grovatt (Virginia) and Connor Powers (Mississippi State) both had two hits and an RBI.

What to Watch For Tonight
Looks like a nice pitching match-up in Falmouth. Casey Schmidt (San Diego), a 15th-round pick this year, will go for Brewster against Jordan Cooper, who had an outstanding freshman year at Wichita State. Cooper allowed two runs in seven innings in his first start. Schimdt has made two starts and has a 2.70 ERA.

Daily Fog: Game On

I always try to use this space to write about what seemed important from the night before. The most important thing last night?

They played baseball. On Cape Cod.

After two full days of rainouts and one day with four rainouts, the weather finally cooperated long enough last night to get most of the games in. Hyannis had to postpone its match-up with Wareham, but that was the only one. Everyone else played, and I, for one, am glad they're back.

I'm guessing the Chatham Anglers are happy to be back, too.

I feel like I've partially lost it in all the unevenness of the early season, but it's time to take notice: the Anglers are on fire. Last night, they won their fifth straight game as they topped Y-D 8-3. They're now 8-1, a full seven points ahead of second-place Brewster in the East. They're off to a faster start than even the 2007 juggernaut Y-D Red Sox, who were 7-2 through nine games.

Last night, they wasted no time jumping on top. They batted around in the first inning and chased Y-D starter Greg Holle (TCU) before he could record an out. Mike Murray (Wake Forest) had an RBI single, with three of the other runs coming home on bases-loaded walks or hit-batsmen.

Staked to a big lead, Chatham pitcher Pete Kennelly (Fordham) was just as dominant in his first start as he has been in relief. He went four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out four. Kennelly now hasn't allowed a run in four appearances. Parker Bangs (South Carolina) picked up the win in relief.

Murray went 3-for-3 to lead the offense, while Tom Belza (Oklahoma State) went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.

Elsewhere

Chris Dwyer (Clemson) made his first start on the Cape, and it was a great one. A fourth-round pick this year as a draft-eligible freshman, Dwyer struck out nine in five scoreless innings to lead Cotuit past Falmouth 2-0. Greg Schimmel
breaks down Dwyer's performance on his blog, saying that Dwyer is the most impressive pitcher he's seen this summer. Daniel Tillman (Florida Southern), Chad Bell (Walters State CC) and Drew Gagnier (Oregon) came out of the pen to preserve the shutout, with Tillman striking out five in 2.2 innings and Gagnier striking out the side in the ninth to pick up his first save. Tony Plagman (Georgia Tech) had an RBI double and Brian Guinn (California) hit an RBI single to power a two-run fifth.

Brewster has played five home games and tied three of them, including last night's 2-2 result against Bourne. Braves starter Eric Cantrell (George Washington) was strong again, striking out eight in five innings. Brewster's Kyle Blair struck out four and walked four in 4.1 scoreless innings. Stefan Romero (Oregon State) hit a two-run home run to power Bourne's attack. Mark Canha (California) drove in both of Brewster's runs with a sixth-inning single. He's tied for the league lead in RBI with seven. Raynor Campbell (Baylor), a 31st-round pick who was an all-star for Wareham last summer, was in the lineup for Bourne and went 2-for-4.

Orleans scored four runs in the top of the ninth to rally past Harwich 6-4. Kevin Muno (San Diego State) knocked in a run to get the rally going before an error allowed the tying and go-ahead runs to score. Jaren Matthews (Rutgers) knocked in two to lead Orleans.

What to Watch For Tonight
Chris Sale (Florida Gulf Coast), who has struck out 20 and hasn't allowed a run in 14 innings, will make his third start of the year as Y-D hosts Orleans. The Firebirds will counter with Casey Gaynor (Rutgers), who allowed one run in six innings in his first start.

Team USA Releases Final Roster

With its trials complete, USA baseball announced its final roster today. You can read the release here.

Here's the breakdown, starting with the good news. Eight players on Cape League rosters were left off the final USA roster:

Micah Gibbs - C - Y-D
Thomas Girdwood - RHP - Hyannis
Jedd Gyorko - IF - Brewster
Anthony Ranaudo - RHP - Y-D
Logan Verrett - RHP - Chatham
Alex Wimmers - RHP - Bourne
Kyle Winkler - RHP - Falmouth
Ross Wilson - IF - Harwich

Though that's not as high a number as last year, when 11 Cape Leaguers didn't make the final roster, it's still a good group. Ranaudo and Wimmers could be the two most highly-touted pitchers on the Cape if they do indeed make it. Same goes for Gibbs at the catcher spot, and Wilson and Gyorko on the infield.

The bad news is that 15 of the 22 who did make the final roster were slated for the Cape. That list includes Christian Colon, Bryce Brentz, Tyler Holt, Blake Forsythe, Gerrit Cole and Drew Pomeranz. It would have been cool to see all those guys in Cape League uniforms.

There are three names floating out there that I'm not sure about -- Hunter Morris (Falmouth), Deck McGuire (Orleans) and Danny Hultzen (Hyannis). All three were/are on Cape League rosters and were on the initial USA invite list. But the most recent trials roster -- even before the final roster came out -- did not include them. I'm not sure what that means for their summer destinations, but I suppose we'll find out soon enough. Morris and McGuire are still listed on the Falmouth and Orleans rosters, but Hultzen hasn't been on the Hyannis roster since the Team USA invites went out.

Update (11:29): Just realized I missed Casey Harman, as well. He was not on the most recent trials list either and isn't on the final roster. He's slated for Hyannis.

And Another Update (11:53): The fact that their trial roster kept changing is killing me. There's another name that falls into the unknown category, and it's a big one -- Fullerton pitcher Daniel Renken. He's on the Harwich roster and was, at one point or another, a Team USA invite. I hope I'm not missing anybody else.

Why not another one? (11:55): I'm losing it over here. Jarrett Parker. Brewster. Also a one-time invite who disappeared from the trials roster. Though I'm quietly going crazy, this is actually looking better and better for the Cape League if all these guys make it.

And We're Back

The weekend got away from me and I had to work a super long day today, so I've missed a few things. But as lost weekends go, I guess this wasn't a bad one to lose. I'm sure everyone has noticed: it's raining a bit. In the last four days, only eight of the 20 scheduled games have been played. It's kind of terrible.

With the entire slate getting washed out tonight, there will be nothing to recount tomorrow, but I'll try to catch up on a few things that may have slipped through the cracks the last few days. For now, I leave you with some marginally coherent ramblings. Proceed.

If you look at team stat rankings, you can get a pretty good idea why Chatham has the best record in the league. The Anglers lead the league in hitting at .252 and are second in ERA, sitting at 2.19. They're also coming through in the clutch: they've won half their games with late-inning rallies, including Sunday's dramatic victory over Orleans. The Anglers trailed 7-1 before scoring four in the eighth and five in the ninth to win 10-7. I'd call that the craziest game of the summer so far. It moved Chatham to 7-1, a full six points ahead of Y-D in the East. That's a nice little cushion to have this early in the season.

The league named Bourne's Eric Cantrell and Kyle Roller the Pitcher and Player of the Week for the season's first week. I can't disagree with either of those. Roller, a solid Cape Leaguer who lasted deep into the draft, could become one of the stories of the summer if he continues to shine. I'll be eager to see what Cantrell does in his second start after eight dominant innings his first time out.

So my pick for pitcher of the year, Max Russell? Yeah, he's got an X by his name on the stat sheet, which presumably means he's done. Is it too late to change my pick? I swear I was leaning toward Chris Sale all along.

Orleans' Michael Olt (Connecticut) was tabbed by Baseball America as the NECBL's top prospect last summer and he's well on his way to making a mark in the Cape League, too. Olt leads the league in extra-base hits, RBI, runs scored and he's tied for the lead in home runs. Orleans teammate Jaren Matthews is also off to a really nice start, with a .321 average, a home run and five RBI.

Tomorrow

Just a quick note. The Daily Fog will not be up tomorrow until late in the day. I'm not going to be around in the morning.

Daily Fog: Pitcher's Delight

At some point, the ERA leader board will not have 10 guys with 0.00 ERA's.

But this is not that point.

Cape League starting pitchers have been dominant so far this season, and the trend continued in a big way last night. I count five legitimately dominant starts:

Mike Dennhardt, Chatham - 8 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 4 K, 1 BB
Rob Rasmussen, Orleans - 6 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 10 K, 1 BB
Eric Pfisterer, Wareham - 7 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 7 K, 1 BB
Sean Hoelscher, Brewster - 6.2 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 8 K, 3 BB
Chris Sale, Y-D - 8.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 12 K, 1 BB

A little math tells you that those five combined to allow two runs on seven hits in 35.2 innings. They struck out 41.

Pfisterer (Duke) and Sale (Florida Gulf Coast) get special mention. This wasn't their first time at the rodeo.

Pfisterer made a splash on the second day of the season when he went didn't allow a hit in a five-inning outing. With seven more innings under his belt, he still hasn't allowed a hit. He's got 17 strikeouts and three walks. His performance Thursday helped send Wareham to a 7-0 victory over Harwich. It sounds like sloppy field conditions kept him from making a run at a full no-hitter.

Sale doesn't have the no-hit thing going, but he's been just as dominant. In 14 innings, he hasn't allowed a run. He's struck out a league-high 20 and walked only two. Thought he took a no-decision Thursday when the Y-D bullpen blew a lead, he's been perhaps the best starter in the league.

The other three pitchers on the above list were new to the party but no less impressive. Dennhardt (Boston College) needed just 81 pitches to toss his eight-inning gem. Rasmussen (UCLA), who had an up-and-down season with Orleans last year, started his new summer with a huge performance. After one start, he already leads the Firebirds in strikeouts. Hoelscher (TCU) also made his first start a very strong one.

Elsewhere

• Of course, on the day I talk about the pitching, we've also got a slugfest to discuss. Hyannis scored a league season-high in runs in a 13-5 victory over Falmouth. Tennessee's Cody Hawn made his first start and powered the offense with a grand slam. He finished 2-for-5, while Nick Crawford (UAB) and Dustin Harrington (East Carolina) also had two hits each. Seven Mets drove in runs, with Crawford and Eddie Rohan (Winthrop) knocking in two. Hyannis did most of its damage against Falmouth starter Mitch Mormann (Des Moines Area CC), who allowed seven earned in two innings after pitching four perfect innings in his first start. For the Mets, Austin Hudson (Central Florida) picked up his second win with five strong innings. In the lineup for Falmouth was a new addition -- Wichita State's Ryan Jones. He hit eight home runs for Falmouth last year and got drafted in the 38th round this year.


• Dennhardt and Russell Brewer (Vanderbilt) combined on the shutout for Chatham over Bourne, with Brewer working a scoreless ninth to seal the 2-0 win. Jeff Schaus (Clemson) went 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Anglers.


• Behind Rasmussen, Orleans posted a 6-1 victory over Cotuit. Michael Olt (Connecticut) drove in two runs, as did new arrival and familiar face Alex Hassan (Duke), who was a 20th round pick of the Red Sox this year. The Kettleers got four more steals -- though Chris Bisson (Kentucky) was shut out for the first time because he didn't get on base.


• Wareham had a big night from Derek Dietrich (Georgia Tech), who went 3-for-5 with two home runs, becoming the first player this season to hit two home runs in a game. Alex Dickerson (Indiana) drove in two. Harwich has now been shut-out two nights in a row.


• Sale's big effort went to waste when Brewster rallied from a 1-0 deficit with four in the ninth to win 4-1 over Y-D. The Whitecaps orchestrated their rally without getting a hit. Three errors were the biggest culprits for Y-D.

What to Watch For Tonight
Oklahoma State's Tyler Lyons, a 10th-round pick of the Yankees earlier this month, will make his first start for Chatham as the Anglers visit Falmouth. The Commodores will counter with Nick Tepesch (Missouri), who struggled his first time out. In Cotuit, a pair of 15th-round picks will duke it out, with Mike Nesseth (Nebraska) going for Cotuit and Casey Schmidt (San Diego) getting the ball for Brewster.

Another CCBL Blog

I just stumbled on a new Cape League blog that you should check out. Simply titled "Cape Cod League Blog," it's written by Greg Schimmel, a freelance scout who's following the league this summer. It looks he's catching a game every night and giving a scout's perspective on the proceedings. There's a lot of great stuff on there already.

You can find the site at http://capecodbaseballleague.blogspot.com

Two years ago, the Cape Prospects site was a real nice compliment to Cape League coverage, but it wasn't around last year. This new blog looks like it will fill the void and then some.

Daily Fog: The Total Package

I wrote about Cotuit's speed yesterday, and so did the Cape Cod Times today.

Then the Kettleers went and did it all.

They were still running loose on the base paths, stealing six bases against Harwich last night, led by three from Rico Noel (Coastal Carolina). But that's not the only thing they were doing. Cory Vaughn (San Diego State) hit a grand slam and Brandon Cumpton (Georgia Tech) tossed eight shutout innings as the Kettleers posted a 7-0 victory over the Mariners, the most lopsided win of the season for any Cape League team.

It was a season-high in runs and it tied a season-high in hits for the Kettleers, who now haven't lost since opening night. But as impressive as they've been, this one probably takes the cake.

Vaughn, the son of former Major League and Cape Leaguer Greg Vaughn, had been struggling mightily, with just one hit in his first 13 at-bats. But he broke out in a big way on Wednesday, going 3-for-4 with two singles and the grand slam. Vaughn was the top prospect in the Northwoods League last year. If he continues to bust out this year, he could emerge as one of the Cape's top prospects and as a key middle-of-the-order bat for a team that's going to have a lot of runners in scoring position.

Vaughn wasn't the only piece to the offensive puzzle last night. In addition to his three steals, Noel went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and a home run of his own. Like Vaughn, Noel had also been struggling but he's now hitting .278 with nine steals. Jeff Rowland (Georgia Tech) and Zach Cone (Georgia) also drove in runs for the Kettleers.

All the offense was more than enough for Cumpton. The Georgia Tech sophomore pitched for Cotuit last summer and did some good things, striking out 20 in 20.1 innings. He also had some problems with walks and his ERA was up over four. But last night, Cumpton shined. Making his first appearance of the summer, Cumpton allowed just three hits in eight innings. He only struck out three but Harwich couldn't sustain anything against him. The Mariners stranded seven runners.

All in all, a really impressive night for the Kettleers. And as if they needed a boost, Clemson's Chris Dwyer, a fourth-round pick as a draft-eligible freshman, has decided to come to the Cape.

Elsewhere

In the only other game of the night, Chatham improved to 4-1 with a 5-4 extra-innings victory over Wareham. The Gatemen led 4-1 much of the way before Chatham tied the game with three in the seventh. A two-run double by Dean Green (Oklahoma State) was the big blow.

The game stayed knotted at four until the 10th. Nick Schwaner (New Orleans) and Matt Duffy (Vermont) singled to start the inning. Brian Harris (Vanderbilt) pinch ran for Schwaner and moved to third on a bunt single by Joey Terdoslavich (Long Beach State). With the bases loaded and nobody out, Wareham reliever Keith Bilodeau (Maine) got the strikeout he needed, but the ball got away and Harris scampered home with the winning run.

Taylor Hill (Vanderbilt) picked up the win for Chatham with two scoreless innings of relief.

The game was the seventh one-run game of the season in the league. There's been at least one every night.

What to Watch For Tonight

We're back to the beginning of a few pitching rotations, with several early standouts set to make their second starts. Mitch Mormann (Des Moines Area CC) will go for Falmouth against Hyannis and Austin Hudson (Central Florida). Y-D's Chris Sale (Florida Gulf Coast) will be pitching at home against Brewster, while Wareham's Eric Pfisterer (Duke) will go against Harwich. Also of note, Cotuit's Max Russell (Florida Southern) will make his first start.

Inside the Boxes

As I mentioned the other day, I couldn't get into quite as much detail as usual in the Daily Fog because of a lack of box scores in the morning. That ended up being the case Monday, Tuesday and today. I don't know if they're going to be up late like that all year, but if they are, I'll try to do something like this most days to kind of catch up on things.

I think I eventually tracked most things down from Monday but I missed some stuff Tuesday. So let's get to some notes.

• Parker Bangs (South Carolina) batted cleanup for Chatham last night and pitched a scoreless inning of relief. It'll be interesting to see how many innings Bangs gets this year. You don't often see a true two-way player in the league. Usually they're spending the summer focusing on one thing. I believe Y-D's Mike Belfiore is the only one who saw significant time on the mound and at the plate last year.


• Devin Harris (East Carolina) and Tony Plagman (Georgia Tech) are pretty big additions in Cotuit, and it looks like they'll certainly be counted on. They hit three-four in the lineup last night against Chatham.


• Some strong relief performances around the league, headed by Brewster's Steven Maxwell (TCU), who allowed one hit in four shutout innings. He struck out seven and didn't walk anybody. Other standouts: Hyannis' Kevin Moran (2 IP, 0 R, 4 K's), Wareham's Josh Slaats (2 IP, 0 R, 3 K's), Bourne's Logan Billbrough (2 IP, 0 R, 3 K's), and Falmouth's Chad Sheppard (1 IP, 0 R, 3 K's).


• Also of note in the relief department, Y-D's Tyler Burgoon (Michigan) picked up his league-leading third save. Burgoon hasn't yet allowed a hit this summer in 4.1 innings of work. He has struck out eight and walked just one.


• Tennessee's Cody Hawn, my pick for MVP, made his first appearance of the last year, pinch-hitting for Hyannis. He did not get a hit, which was par for the course for the Mets. They managed just two all night against four Orleans pitchers.


• He hasn't had a hit yet so you might not have noticed, but Florida State's Stephen Cardullo, the only Baseball America first-team All-American on the Cape, is now in the lineup for Harwich. Cardullo hit .376 with 10 home runs and 51 RBI for the Seminoles this spring, but went undrafted.


• Seriously, what's with all the stealing? Cotuit's thefts are well-known, but Bourne's Pierre LePage did the same thing Chris Bisson did opening night and stole four bases last night against Falmouth. I don't know this for sure, but I'm pretty sure nobody stole four bases in a game all of last year, and now it's happened twice. LePage is also hitting .389 for Bourne.


• Falmouth's Murray Watts (Arkansas State), a temporary player who was signed out of the invitational tryout, went 2-for-3 last night to up his average to a team-best .357. Watts is a 6'7, 250-pound redshirt freshman who hit .305 with 10 home runs this spring.


• Wareham's Derek Dietrich (Georgia Tech) broke out of a mini slump with a 2-for-5 day. Dietrich had just one hit in the first three games.

Daily Fog: Running Wild

Last year's Cotuit Kettleers finished second in the league in home runs but only fifth in steals.

That's a rare feat for a Mike Roberts-coached team. In Roberts' previous seasons at the helm in Cotuit, the Kettleers led the league in stolen bases twice, finished second once and third the other time. When Roberts managed Wareham in 2000, the Gatemen tied the all-time league record for stolen bases with 134.

So last year was an anomaly. It was a down year for speed all across the board, with the individual league leader getting only 15. The Kettleers finished with 46, less than one a game.

These days, things are back to normal.

If this can be called normal.

Roberts' Kettleers have gone crazy on the base paths so far this summer. In five games, they've stolen 23 bases. Yes, that's halfway to last year's total. In five games.

It may be the normal approach, but there's nothing normal about the results.

Chris Bisson has been the ring-leader. The sophomore from Kentucky leads the league with 10 steals. He has swiped at least two in every game, and he stole four in the season opener. You know that saying that if a certain fast guy gets a single, it's basically a triple? That's not the slightest exaggeration for Bisson. Heading into last night's game, Bisson had stolen eight bases despite having a .231 on-base percentage. He really hasn't been on base very much. Every time he gets on, though, he's stealing second and third.

I thought someone from Cotuit would win the stolen base title this year. There was a lot of speed, and when you couple that with Roberts' approach, you're going to see a lot of steals. But I thought the champ would be Rico Noel, who stole 46 bases for Coastal Carolina. Noel does have six steals, but right now it's Bisson who's stealing the show.

A sophomore who's originally from Ontario, Bisson was a second-team all-SEC pick this season after hitting a team-best .362. But he only stole 13 bases, a sign that perhaps he didn't have the green light very often.

This summer, it looks like he and the rest of the Kettleers have it all the time. In a 5-3 victory over Chatham last night, they stole seven bases. The victory moved them to 2-1-1. They're playing fairly well, and if they can get some clutch hits to go with the steals, they'll be a real tough team to beat.

Could they set a few records in the process? The league's individual record for stolen bases is 48, set by Wareham's Roy Marsh in 1993. No one's been close to that since 2005, when current San Francisco Giant Manny Burriss of Orleans stole 37. Right now, Bisson is on pace for 88. You'd think the pace would have to slow down, but even if Bisson only averages one steal per game the rest of the way, he would still get 49.

The team mark could also be challenged. The Kettleers are on pace to steal more than 200 bases, which would demolish the current record. That pace, too, will probably slow down as teams make a concerted effort to limit the running game. They'll have to, or they'll find themselves in trouble.

Either way, you can bet the Kettleers will keep running.

Elsewhere

• Cotuit's Chad Bell (Walters State CC) struck out four in five strong innings, and Craig Fritsch (Baylor), who played for Y-D last year, picked up his first save. The loss was the first of the season for the Anglers, which means there are no more undefeated teams.


• In Hyannis, Orleans' Elliott Glynn (Connecticut) struck out five and allowed one hit in six scoreless innings as the Firebirds earned their first victory of the season, 2-0 over the Mets. Jaren Matthews (Rutgers) provided all the offense with a two-run home run, his first of the year. He's now hitting .333.


• Michael Goodnight (Houston) carried a no-hitter into the fifth and ended up with a solid six-inning, three-hit line as Y-D beat Harwich 6-5. Tyler Burgoon (Michigan) notched his league-leading third save of the season to hold off a Mariners rally and Jordan Casas (Long Beach State) went 4-for-4, the league's best offensive performance of the season.


• Making his first appearance in a Bourne uniform, Stefan Romero (Oregon State) tripled to knock in the go-ahead run then scored an insurance run in the seventh inning as the Braves rallied to beat Falmouth 4-2.


• Wareham and Brewster played to a 2-2 tie, the third tie in five days of action. Wareham led 1-0 and 2-1, but Brewster came back both times, netting the second tying run on a safety squeeze by Lyle Allen.

What to Watch For Tonight

Originally an off day, two rescheduled games will be played tonight as Cotuit visits Harwich and Wareham travels to Chatham. There's no fog or rain in the forecast.

Daily Fog: The Junior Circuit

Falmouth has more junior-college players than any team in the league, and all of them are pitchers who figure to be key parts of the staff.

They certainly made an impact Monday night.

Tommy Collier (San Jacinto) and Patrick Cooper (Des Moines Area CC) combined for eight shutout innings to lead Falmouth to a 4-0 victory over Orleans in a battle of winless teams.

I said before the season that it would be interesting to see how the juco guys would do against much tougher competition. So far, so good for Falmouth's trio. Mitch Mormann, also of Des Moines CC, tossed four perfect innings in the Commodores' opener.

But until Monday, the Commodores hadn't found the win column. They tied the game Mormann pitched, then lost on Saturday and Sunday.

Collier, Cooper and another reliever, Georgia Tech's Mark Pope, finally turned things around.

Collier, a freshman who got drafted in the 29th round out of high school, had a fantastic season at San Jacinto, a juco baseball powerhouse. He finished with 13 wins, a 2.67 ERA and 128 strikeouts in 91 innings. Among pitchers who are currently on the Cape, that strikeout total ranks at the top.

Monday night, Collier picked up where he left off, allowing just two hits in six shutout innings. He struck out nine and didn't walk anybody.

In relief, Cooper also shined. He got himself into some early trouble but responded nicely to preserve the shutout. Cooper had great numbers at Des Moines this year -- 106 Ks in 72.1 IP -- and was a 34th-round pick of the Diamondbacks.

The performance by Collier and Cooper set the stage, and Pope made sure to finish it off. The Georgia Tech freshman had a high ERA this spring but also struck out a batter an inning. He worked a 1-2-3 ninth to pick up his first save.

Falmouth's offense was led by Todd Cunningham (Jacksonville State), who hit a home run, and Scott Lawson (Florida), who went 3-for-5 and stole four bases. He's the second player already to steal four bases in a game this season. Chris Bisson did it for Cotuit.

Elsewhere

• Falmouth's win dropped Orleans to 0-4, which is a surprising start considering how solid the offense looks on paper right now. But the Firebirds have a team ERA close to five, by far the worst in the league.


• If I told you one of the two pitchers who went for Brewster Monday night had a dominant performance, you'd probably pick Kyle Blair (San Diego), right? Blair was good -- three shutout innings -- but the real star was Mark Gormley. Brown's top starter this spring, Gormley came on in relief for Brewster in the fourth inning last night and turned in one of the top pitching performance of the night. He ended up going six scoreless innings and striking out six. The offense didn't provide much support but he didn't need it anyway. The Whitecaps scored a pair of runs on errors. Gormley has now made two appearances and has struck out 10 in nine innings.


• There was a great story playing out for Bourne last night, and I hope someone will tell it in more detail at some point. According to the Bourne broadcast crew, Braves pitcher Stephen Porlier (Oklahoma) was making perhaps the last start of his career before he enlists in the Marines. And what a start it was. Porlier, who decided to join the Marines in part because injuries were derailing his baseball career, allowed one run in six innings, struck out four and didn't walk anybody. He didn't get a decision as Bourne and Cotuit ended in a 2-2 tie, but he still went out in style. If this is indeed the end of the line for Porlier's baseball career, best of luck to him.


• For Cotuit, newcomers Devin Harris (East Carolina) and Tony Plagman (Georgia Tech) each had RBI. Chris Bisson (Kentucky) stole two more bases to bring his league-leading total to eight.


• Yesterday, there was one 3-0 team. Today, there's a different one. Chatham, who's played one fewer game than most of the rest of the teams, moved to 3-0 by knocking off previously unbeaten Y-D 3-2. Former Y-D player Whit Merrifield (South Carolina), who's now with Chatham, scored what proved to be the winning run when he scampered home from third when Nick Schwaner (New Orleans) got caught in a rundown between first and second. Kaleb Fleck (Pitt-Johnston) went five shutout innings for Chatham and Russell Brewer (Vanderbilt) picked up his first save. Brewer led the league in saves last year while pitching for Hyannis.


• Wareham topped Hyannis 4-2 thanks to a late rally. Ryan Pineda (Cal State Northridge) scored the go-ahead run in the eighth on a throwing error, and Eric Pfisterer (Duke) made it a 4-2 game with an RBI single. Reliever Jack Armstrong (Vanderbilt) made his first appearance for Wareham and picked up the win in relief with 3.2 shutout innings.

What to Watch For Tonight
Looks like a good pitching match-up in Chatham as Cotuit's Chad Bell (Walter State CC) goes against Chatham's Jake Thompson (Long Beach State). Bell was a 14th-round pick in last week's draft. He'll be making his first Cape appearance.

More Dominance and Another Name

A few Monday night notes . . .

Junior-college standout Tommy Collier made his first start for Falmouth tonight and it doesn't look like the step up in competition hurt him. Collier tossed six shutout innings and struck out nine, continuing the trend early-season of dominant starting pitching.

Over in Cotuit, a highly-touted player showed up on the lineup card. Devin Harris, a draft-eligible sophomore from East Carolina who wasn't on Cotuit's original roster, was in the lineup tonight and delivered an RBI. Harris, an outfielder, was an eighth-round pick by Baltimore last week, so I believe he's the highest-picked player who's currently on the Cape.

Harris was a breakout prospect for ECU this year, hitting .344 with 14 home runs, to go with 13 steals. Here's a snippet from Baseball America's draft scouting report: "Sophomore-eligible outfielder Devin Harris has big tools and looks the part of a prototypical right fielder. He's an average runner at 6-foot-3, 227 pounds, with a plus arm suited for right field. Harris has massive raw power as well and the athletic ability to make adjustments . . . Harris fits in the first five rounds for a team that believes in his bat, but could fall because of the signing leverage he has as a sophomore."

His arrival in Cotuit means he might be looking for a little more leverage. He's definitely a player to keep an eye on this summer.

More on all of this and the rest of Monday's happenings tomorrow morning. Hopefully, we'll have some box scores.

Daily Fog: Another Gem

At this rate, we're going to get a no-hitter tomorrow.

On the first night of the season, Hyannis' Austin Hudson (Central Florida) and Y-D's Chris Sale (Florida Gulf Coast) turned in dominant starts. Saturday, it was Wareham's Eric Pfisterer (Duke), who struck out 10 in five no-hit innings.

On the third day of the season, Bourne's Eric Cantrell topped them all.

The sophomore from George Washington tossed eight shutout innings, allowed two hits, struck out 12 and didn't walk anybody in leading Bourne to a 5-1 victory over Wareham. Two singles in the second were all the Gatemen could muster against Cantrell, who at one point, struck out six in a row and retired 16 in a row.

Cantrell wasn't on my radar for the top pitchers in the preseason. In fact, when I highlighted this game yesterday, I made special mention of the other half of this pitching match-up, Scott Rembisz.

Cantrell's numbers at GW weren't overwhelming. He had an ERA just a shade under five, and he struck out 60 while walking 26 in 72.2 innings. Cantrell actually had a slightly better freshman year, when his ERA was 4.02.

But for pitchers, college stats aren't the best predictors of Cape League success. Clearly, Cantrell is a good one, and he's getting the chance to really show it. The Bourne broadcast team last night noted that he was pounding the zone, something he probably couldn't do quite as much at school.

Cantrell's performance helped Bourne post its first victory of the year after two straight losses to open the season. Cody Freeman (Mississippi State) had an RBI single to stake Bourne to a lead and Carlos Alonso (Delaware) had a two-run double in the seventh to break it open.

Elsewhere
These might be a little lighter in detail than usual, because box scores haven't been posted yet. I'm going off the Cape Cod Times and team web sites.

• Pitching was also the story in Brewster, where Chatham's Shawn Tolleson (Baylor) picked up where he left off last summer. Tolleson pitched for Y-D last year and ranked fourth in the league in strikeouts. He's in Chatham now, and after a shaky spring -- he had one win -- he must be happy to be back on the Cape. Tolleson tossed seven one-hit innings to lead the Anglers to a 3-0 victory. Pete Kennelly (Fordham), a 38th-round pick last week who's working his way back after Tommy John Surgery, struck out four in two innings to pick up the save.


• The only two teams to start last season with three straight wins were Harwich and Cotuit, who ended up playing for the championship. This year, Y-D stands alone. The Red Sox improved to 3-0 last night with a 3-1 victory over Hyannis. Darrin Campbell (San Diego) allowed three hits in six innings to pick up the win. Blake Kelso (Houston) and Steven Chatwood (San Diego) drove in runs for the Red Sox.


• It was a rally that might have ended the game either way. With darkness creeping in, Cotuit got two runners on base in the 10th inning of their game against Falmouth. They might not have gotten to the 11th, but they didn't have to. Cody Stanley (UNC Wilmington) doubled home Kevin Patterson (Auburn) with the winning run as Cotuit posted a 3-2 victory. Justin Grimm (Georgia) was the other star for the Kettleers, going six shutout innings and allowing just one hit. Chris Bisson (Kentucky) stole two bases to bring his league-leading total to six after just two games.


• In another extra-innings thriller, Trent Mummey (Auburn) hit a walk-off home run to give Harwich a 2-1 victory over Orleans. Mummey, a sophomore who hit 15 home runs in the spring, scored both the Mariners' runs and also he had a double. He was one of the few offensive stars in a game dominated by the pitching staffs. Brian Dupra (Notre Dame) picked up the win in relief for Harwich, whose pitchers struck out 13. Harwich moved to 2-0.

What to Watch For Tonight
A familiar name gets the start for Bourne as Ricky Bowen (Mississippi State) makes his return in Cotuit. Bowen had a 3.53 ERA as a regular starter for the Braves last year and was a 43rd-round pick last year. He was not on initial rosters. In Harwich, San Diego's Kyle Blair will start for Brewster.

My head is spinning, etc.

Notes written while wishing I could revise my Outstanding Pitcher watch list to include Eric Pfisterer . . .

So we're off and running. What do we know so far? Not much.

It's always funny this time of year. I get all geared up for the season, counting down the days, doing everything I can to be prepared, to know what to expect and then all of a sudden they're playing baseball, and half the players are guys I've never heard of. But I guess that's the fun part. The beauty of a Cape League season is that when it starts, you never know which team will shine or which players will turn into stars. It's fitting that the season starts with a giant jolt of uncertainty.

I'm actually working on a list of new and temporary players (basically, guys who weren't on preseason rosters) with some brief bios, so that we can have an idea of who we're watching, even if they don't stick around for long. That should be going up in the next day or two.

For now, let's talk about a few names we've heard of, but maybe didn't expect to hear.

As I mentioned in today's Daily Fog, Brewster had Jim Klocke in its lineup last night. The Southeast Missouri State junior catcher played for the Whitecaps, and though he struggle with them, he's had a fantastic college career. Much of this year's draft, though, went by without his name popping up. He went in the 46th round.

Listening to the Bourne game tonight, I heard a familiar name who's in the same boat. East Carolina junior Kyle Roller hit .270 for Bourne last year and was one of the league's leaders in doubles last year. Roller hit .336 with 16 home runs this spring but didn't get drafted until the 47th round. He was in the Bourne lineup tonight for the first time this season. For a Bourne team that's been hit hard by Team USA, Roller could provide a big boost.

Over on Codball, Dave relayed some info he heard on WEEI. Boston Red Sox ninth-round pick Kendal Volz, a big arm who pitched for Wareham in '07 and USA in '08, will be playing on the Cape this summer, according to Jason McLeod, the Red Sox Director of Amateur Scouting. I'm assuming the Red Sox will keep an eye on him then decide what to offer based on his performance. If that is indeed the case, it'll be interesting to see where he goes. Wareham's roster is looking pretty full, so a return to the Gatemen might not be possible. We'll see.

Finally, the Georgia Tech site Beesball is reporting that Tony Plagman will play for Cotuit. A junior, Plagman hit .364 this spring with 16 home runs and a team-best 73 RBI. Like Klocke and Roller, he didn't get picked until the late rounds, so it sounds like he'll be trying to raise his stock with the Kettleers. Last year, Plagman played briefly for Orleans.

In other news, Cotuit can run. You never want to get carried away defining teams after a few games, but I think this one is going to be a safe bet. The Kettleers stole seven bases in their opener against Wareham and a few more tonight against Falmouth. Chris Bisson (Kentucky) now has six steals in two games, which is pretty close to half as many as league-leader Tim Wheeler had all of last year. I thought this year might be a return to normal in the stolen base department -- there were no true speedsters last year -- and it looks like Bisson and fellow Kettleer Rico Noel will lead the charge.

How about those Whitecaps? Mark Canha was the only player in the league to hit a home run on opening night, and he hit another one Saturday. Teammates Bobby Coyle and Tim Freguson also went yard, giving Brewster four of the eight home runs that were hit in the season's first two days.

Making an appearance for Orleans last night was one Jared Bard. A junior at Richmond, Bard is the brother of former North Carolina and Cape League star Daniel Bard. Daniel was called up to the Boston Red Sox in early May.

I made mention of this on Twitter and Dave also noted it on Codball: Rice star Anthony Rendon will not play this summer. The only freshman among the Golden Spikes Semifinalists, Rendon was signed up to play for Bourne or Team USA, but he suffered an injury in Rice's Super Regional loss to LSU.

Third-round pick Robbie Shields was on the Cape for some preseason action, but he has since moved off the active section of Cotuit's roster. If he's signing, best of luck to Shields, who's a real Cape League success story. He wasn't fully on the radar until last year, when he was an early-season star with Cotuit before an injury ended his summer. It's a shame he didn't get to play all summer, but he played enough to make people take notice.

I've written about Wareham's stability, but out in Orleans, the Firebirds are in pretty good shape, too. Guys like Devin Lohman, Michael Olt, Kevin Muno, Danny Muno, Michael Lang and Jaren Matthews -- all of whom looked like key players in the preseason -- have been in the lineup since day one. The Firebirds are still waiting for CWS participants Gary Brown, Matt Newman, Matt Packer and Riccio Torrez. Newman has also been invited to Team USA.

The start of the Cape League season is kind of the first official date on the next year's draft calendar. Over the next two months, a lot of preliminary perceptions will be established. For now, there's a little bit of talk out there about the 2010 draft. ESPN's Keith Law has an article up (for Insiders only) detailing some early thoughts, and he mentions quite a few '09 Cape Leaguers, most of whom haven't yet arrived because of the CWS or Team USA. The guys that Law mentions who have arrived: Wareham's Derek Dietrich, Y-D's Josh Rutledge, Cotuit's Justin Grimm and Falmouth's Nick Tepesch. MLB's Jonathan Mayo has also thrown out a few names for 2010: Christian Colon, Matt Harvey, Drew Pomeranz, Anthony Ranaudo and Victor Sanchez. Colon, Harvey and Ranaudo are on Cape rosters but are currently in Omaha. Pomeranz is on Team USA's trial roster, while Sanchez is out with an injury. He played in Chatham last summer.

If you're not on Twitter or at least checking CCBL Twitter pages, you should be. Several teams are on there, with broadcast teams doing most of the updates. That means lots of in-game updates, which is really nice to see. In the past, if you weren't watching or listening to the online broadcast, it was tough to know what was going on. The Cape Cod Times is also on Twitter, as is Bourne assistant Jordan Wyckoff, who apparently is posting updates from the dugout. If you want to find all these, click here for my Twitter page. I'm following all of them.

I haven't forgotten about the Chatham and Orleans not-so-early looks. They will be up this week. I feel blind when I look at those rosters, so I'll get them done.

Daily Fog: Quick and Steady

They might have to work on the finish a little, but the start was about as good as any we've seen in the young season.

Eric Pfisterer (Duke) tossed five no-hit innings with 10 strikeouts, Wareham's veteran lineup scored four runs in the first and the bullpen held off a late charge by Cotuit to seal a 5-3 victory in the season opener for both teams.

Though the game turned into a bit of a nail-biter, the first few innings were all Wareham, and the Gatemen were doing exactly what they hoped to do this season. It appears that they're the only team in the league currently fielding a lineup without any temporary players, so their lineup looks a lot like it'll look in a few weeks. That's particularly true of the middle of the order. Assuming everyone hits pretty well, it's entirely possible that the top five of Ryan LaMarre (Michigan), Derek Dietrich (Georgia Tech), Ryan Pineda (Cal State Northridge), Alex Dickerson (Indiana) and George Springer (Connecticut) won't change much all season.

After last night, that's a reason to think big. Those five combined to go 8-for-19 with two RBI and all five of the runs. A double by Dietrich sparked the four-run first inning rally. Pineda, Dickerson and Springer also had hits, and the Gatemen proceeded to capitalize on a passed ball and a key error to chase home a few more runs. Springer added an RBI single in the eighth.

Pfisterer did the rest, and for five innings, he was a bigger story than the offense. Though he allowed base runners in each of the first two innings, he had unhittable stuff. He ended up getting 10 of the 15 outs he recorded via the strikeout, and he now leads the league in strikeouts.

This early in the season, it's not surprising that he wasn't sent back out to chase the no-hitter: you want to be careful with the arm. Especially when it's one that's this good. Pfisterer, a 15th-round pick out of high school last year, had an ERA of 5.00 at Duke this year, but he also struck out 45 in 45 innings. That kind of stuff plays well on the Cape, where the ERA is bound to go down. I wasn't sure how much Pfisterer would factor into Wareham's pitching plans -- he's also a hitter -- but clearly, he'll play a big role.

He's certainly off to the right kind of start.

For a game story with a focus on John Wylde, read Ed Collins' article on South Coast Today.

Elsewhere

• Two notes on Cotuit from that game. Mike Nesseth (Nebraska), a 15th-round pick this year, didn't pitch all that badly. Three of the four runs he allowed were unearned. On the offensive side, the Kettleers ran wild. They're always one of the more aggressive teams in the league, and this year, it looked in the preseason like they would have the perfect mix of players to play that way. Cotuit ended up stealing seven bases last night, with Chris Bisson (Kentucky) swiping four, Rico Noel (Coastal Carolina) getting two and Zach Cone (Georgia) stealing another. If they can keep that up, the Kettleers are going to put a lot of pressure on people


• They had lights, so they could have played all night, but this time, the Brewster Whitecaps took care of business in the ninth. A night after their game went to 10 innings but ended in a tie because of darkness, the Whitecaps played under the lights in Orleans and rallied from an 8-6 deficit with four in the ninth to win 10-8 in probably the most dramatic game of the young season. The Whitecaps sent nine to the plate in the ninth and got all the runs home with two outs. Lyle Allen (Georgia) plated the first run with a single, Davy Wright (TCU) worked a bases-loaded walk for the second run and Jim Klocke (Southeast Missouri) hit a single that ended up bringing in two, with the help of a throwing error. Bobby Coyle (Arizona) and Tim Ferguson (Ole Miss) each had three hits and a home run, and Mark Canha (California) added his second home run in as many games. Michael Olt (Connecticut) had a home run for Orleans.


• Klocke is an interesting name to see in the lineup. He's a junior catcher who wasn't on Brewster's initial roster, but he played on the Cape last year and hit .189. He had a huge spring, hitting .394 with nine home runs, but when the draft came around, he lasted until the 46th round. It would appear he's trying to show his stuff this summer.


• Y-D is the only team in the league with two victories, as the Red Sox posted their second one-run victory last night, this one a 4-3 decision over Bourne. The Red Sox trailed 2-1 until the eighth, when Mickey Wiswall (Boston College) knocked in a run with a single and Brian Hernandez (UC Irvine) drew a bases-loaded walk for the go-ahead run. Tyler Burgoon (Michigan) struck out five in two hitless innings of relief.


• The fog rolled into Chatham again last night, but this time, the Anglers at least got to make their game official. After playing one inning last night before a fog postponement, the Anglers posted a 4-1 victory over Hyannis in a game that was called in the seventh. Mike Dennhardt (Boston College), Russell Brewer (Vanderbilt) and Taylor Hill (Vanderbilt) combined for seven strong innings, allowing just an unearned run. Tom Belza (Oklahoma State) led the offense with a 3-for-3 night that included a fog-aided inside-the-park home run. The game was the second fog-shortened contest in as many games for Hyannis.


• Playing their first game two days after they were supposed to, the Harwich Mariners must have been chomping at the bit. They scored 10 runs on 10 hits in beating Falmouth 10-5. Chris Wade (Kentucky) went 3-for-5, Trent Mummey (Auburn) had two hits and David Herbek (James Madison) and Ryan Lockwood (South Florida) each drove in two runs. Matthew Price (Virginia Tech) worked four strong innings of relief to pick up the win.

What to Watch For Tonight

• Scott Rembisz, who put up some good numbers at Florida International (90 K's in 94 innings), makes his first start of the year for Wareham as the Gatemen visit Bourne. The Braves will counter with George Washington's Eric Cantrell.

Daily Fog: Just Like Old Times

Nobody wants weather postponements wreaking havoc on the league schedule, but I've got to say: fog, our old friend, it was nice to see you again.

Fog wasn't around much last year. Its regular appearances in Chatham didn't even happen. But last night, the Chatham game got postponed when the fog rolled in, and the Bourne-Hyannis game got called after seven innings. Disappointing, for sure, but getting a quintessential Cape League night -- with all the trappings -- isn't the worst thing in the world on opening night.

And fog wasn't the only old friend hanging around.

Back for his third year in the Cape League, it looks Hyannis' Austin Hudson (Central Florida) is happy to be in a Mets uniform, happy to be seeing a little fog, and maybe most of all, happy to be seeing those wooden bats.

Hudson has had kind of a strange college career. He has never put up great numbers at Central Florida. His career ERA there is 7.15. This year, it was over 10. But something about the Cape turns Hudson completely around. In two summers, his career Cape ERA is 2.70. Last year, he led the league in ERA.

On Friday, Hudson got the opening night start for Hyannis.

And he did what he always does on the Cape. Hudson allowed one run in six strong innings and picked up the win as Hyannis beat Bourne 4-2 in seven innings.

His ERA after last night? It's 1.50, exactly the same as his league-leading mark last year.

Welcome back, Mr. Hudson.

You too, fog.

Elsewhere

• The Hyannis offense was powered by Kenny Swab (Young Harris) and Ryan Cuneo (Delaware), who each had two hits and an RBI. Swab, whom manager Chad Gassman is really high on looked poised for a big summer from the start after hitting .342 this spring. Cuneo wasn't on Hyannis' original roster, but hit .285 this spring with 17 home runs. Also for Hyannis, Will Weidig (Brown) picked up the save when the seventh inning turned into the last inning. Jamal Austin (UAB) had two hits and stole two bases.


• Bourne's Turner Phelps (James Madison) allowed three earned runs in four innings.


• Y-D got a dominant performance by Chris Sale (Florida Gulf Coast) and used two squeeze plays to score runs in a 4-3 victory over Orleans. Steven Chatwood (San Diego) and Blake Kelso (Houston) delivered the key bunts, and Mickey Wiswall (Boston College) went 3-for-4 with an RBI, the league's best opening night line. Sale also shined, striking out eight and walking none in six shutout innings. Orleans got two hits each from Ross Heffley (Western Carolina), Michael Olt (Connecticut) and Jaren Matthews (Rutgers), though a ninth-inning rally fell one-run short. Jimmy Reyes (Elon) allowed two runs and struck out four in five innings.


• Falmouth and Brewster played 10 innings before the game was called due to darkness, ending in a 2-2 tie. Mitch Mormann (Des Moines Area CC) worked four perfect innings for Falmouth and Casey Schmidt (San Diego) was almost as strong for Brewster, allowing three hits in five scoreless innings. Schmidt hasn't pitched a college game since 2007 -- injuries and a transfer year have kept him out -- but he was a 15th-round pick this year. Brewster's offense was led by Mark Canha (California), who hit the only home run of the night. Conner Mach (Missouri) and Murray Watts (Arkansas State) drove in runs for Falmouth.

What to Watch For Tonight

• Well, the weather looks alright now, with just scattered showers in the forecast for tonight, so Chatham, Cotuit, Harwich and Wareham might actually get to play. Nick Tepesch (Missouri), an interesting pitcher to watch, is scheduled to get the start for Falmouth at Harwich.

Stumbling out of the Gate

Cotuit and Harwich were supposed to be the first teams to play, but now it looks like they might be the last. Their game at Whitehouse Field that was pushed to tonight from last night has been postponed again, according to the Mariners' twitter page.

I haven't seen news of any other postponements yet, so hopefully the season will actually start tonight.

Falmouth at Brewster and Orleans at Y-D are both scheduled to go off at 5 p.m.

Wareham is scheduled to play in Chatham at 7 p.m. Hyannis visits Bourne at 7.

Play ball? Maybe?

Stop Any Time, Team USA

Initially, USA baseball said 36 players would be invited to national team trials. Today, the final trials roster was announced and it has 41 players. Maybe they needed a few more because of the College World Series.

Either way, there are three more with Cape League connections: Falmouth's Brad Miller (Clemson) and Kyle Winkler (TCU) and Hyannis' Casey Harman (Clemson). That brings the total number of Cape Leaguers on the trials roster up to 28.

The final 22-man roster will be announced June 24.

Season Preview: The Teams

When you're previewing Cape League teams it's hard to draw conclusions. Take last year, for instance.

I thought Wareham was the league's most talented team. Then Team USA raided the roster and the Gatemen finished with the worst record in the league.

I thought Chatham had a fantastic pitching staff and just needed a little offense. The A's had an ERA of 4.03.

I thought Orleans would have a powerful offense. The Cardinals hit .234, ninth in the league.

So, yeah, it's tough. Or I'm just wrong in everything I say, which is possible. I prefer to think it's just tough. When you get a league full of all-star teams with players in unfamiliar situations -- wooden bats, playing every day -- you just never know.

For a team to have success, a lot has to go right. They need to get the players they thought they'd get, or if they don't, get big contributions from temporary players turned regulars. They need good players to have good summers. Plenty of good players don't. And, if Harwich is any indication, that they need that extra something, chemistry or desire or whatever it is, to get over the top.

You could apply those conditions to every team. When I previewed the season last year, I tried to tailor them to each team but I felt like I kind of missed the mark, as you can see above. I thought Chatham just needed to hit a little and I thought Orleans just needed to pitch a little. I was way off.

This year, I was thinking about doing a best-case, worst-case scenario for each team, but as I started to do it, everyone's was the same. So instead of that, I'm going to offer up a general feeling for each team. At the end of the post, a prediction.

West
Bourne Braves
I like them a lot, but they're treading on the dangerous Wareham '08 territory with six Team USA invitees. Two years ago, though, the Braves went through some serious roster shuffling but ended up making the playoffs with several temporary players carrying a big load. This year, there's a lot of offensive depth, which should help the cause. Starters Robert Morey, Seth Maness and Turner Phelps will need to pick up the slack if Drew Pomeranz, Cody Wheeler and Alex Wimmers go with Team USA.

Cotuit Kettleers
Potentially the most talented team in the league, and though they've got some USA invitees, they still look strong. The pitching staff has a ton of potential, with Max Russell and Justin Grimm looking like aces who also happen to be free of CWS and USA commitments. I like the offense, too, with Cory Vaughn and Cody Stanley leading the way. There's also a ton of speed, and I'd be shocked if Rico Noel didn't lead the league in stolen bases.

Falmouth Commodores
Can I say I have no idea? There are now 41 players listed on their roster. That means at least sixteen of them will not be in a Falmouth uniform, so it's tough to make predictions. I will say that the pitching staff is going to have an interesting look, with three junior-college players who had great stats last year and two Wichita State freshmen who I like for the best freshman pitcher label. If a couple of drafted players go to Falmouth anyway, the Commodores could be a really veteran team.

Hyannis Mets
I think they're a little off the pace of the three aforementioned teams -- the three who might be the league's most talented -- but the more I look at their roster, the less I'm sure about that. I picked Cody Hawn for MVP and I think Eddie Rohan will have a big year, as well. Jackie Bradley, Jr., Trent Whitehead and Dan Burkhart also had great college seasons, giving the offense the makings of a strong nucleus. It could get a little dicey in the pitching staff. Some guys are going to have to step up.

Wareham Gatemen
Holy role reversal. Last year, the Gatemen were the Team USA-stole-everybody poster boys. Not this year. One player will be at Team USA trials, and he's a non-roster player. Derek Dietrich was on the initial invite list but he decided he'd rather be in Wareham. His presence should only add to a lineup with veterans and talent. The outfield of Ryan LaMarre, George Springer and Alex Dickerson is second-to-none, and Ryan Pineda has a Cape League track record. The pitching staff has a couple of potential aces in Scott Rembisz, Brandon Workman and Taylor Jungmann.

East
Brewster Whitecaps
Like Bourne, the Whitecaps might have some shuffling to do, with three key players at Team USA trials and a few more in Omaha. The offense doesn't look as deep as some other teams, particularly if Jarrett Parker, Jedd Gyorko and Yasmani Grandal go with Team USA. Another potential star, Tobias Streich, was a fifth-round pick earlier this week. I do think Mark Canha looks poised for a big summer, but he'll need some help. The pitching staff needs some starters to step up.

Chatham Anglers
New name and a new look. The Anglers ended up with a bunch of players who played for other Cape League teams last year. They also have quite a few small-school guys, as well as players from some schools that haven't had a big Chatham presence in the past, namely Oklahoma State. I think offensive production might hinge on some players making a leap, like Holy Cross' Matt Perry, Vermont's Matt Duffy and USC freshman Rick Oropesa. Jeff Schaus, Whit Merrifield and Tom Belza should be good Cape League hitters who can help carry the load. The pitching staff will need some rebounds from shaky springs, but Russell Brewer, Jake Thompson, Matt Harvey and Shawn Tolleson have had Cape League success before.

Harwich Mariners
Is a title repeat in the cards? There's no reason to think it isn't. The Mariners look plenty of good enough to make a run, with their offense poised to lead the way. In terms of spring production, Harwich players combined for 147, an average of almost ten per player. Bryce Brentz skews those numbers a little, but in general there is a lot of power. If Brentz doesn't go to Team USA, there's even more. The pitching staff needs to develop some starters.

Orleans Firebirds
On paper, I think they might be the most talented team in the East. The lineup features several players who had big springs, including Michael Lang, Jaren Matthews, Danny Muno, Michael Olt and Ross Heffley. The pitching staff could take a hit if Deck McGuire goes with Team USA, but I like Jimmy Reyes, Rob Rasmussen and Josh Poytress as potential aces. Orleans has had consistently strong pitching staffs over the years, and I don't think that'll change.

Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox
Two of the top returning hitters in the league, Josh Rutledge and Andy Wilkins, lead the charge for a team that should be able to score runs. I'd also expect Mickey Wiswall to be a key cog, and he's a prime candidate to win the New England top prospect award. I like the pitching staff a lot even if superstar Anthony Ranaudo goes with Team USA. Chris Sale and Austin Ross are coming off great springs, while two highly-touted freshman -- Brett Mooneyham and Michael Palazzone look like breakout candidates.

And for the prediction . . .

This might be even harder than usual. With the new playoff format, six teams will be in, which increases the odds that somebody just gets hot at the right time and rolls to the finals. Apparently, we could also end up with two teams from the same division playing each other for the championship.

But enough hemming and hawing. I'm taking the Wareham Gatemen. You take nine returning players, lose nobody to Team USA and mix in top-shelf talent like Dietrich, Dickerson, LaMarre and Springer and you have the makings of something special. I worry a little about the pitching staff, but I think there are enough good arms there to do the trick. Really, the stability and experience just stands out. The ifs with this team are about performance not arrivals. I think that counts for a lot.

Season Preview: The Players

It can be a little bit of a grind to write bios for more than 250 players, like I've done the last two years. By no means am I complaining. If I didn't want to do it, I wouldn't.

But still: it's a grind. The thing that gets me through is the sight of a player who's having a big year, who looks like he's a future Cape League star. I think every player who's invited to the league has that potential, but some have many more credentials than others. Every year, probably a third of the players in the league, maybe more, are coming off college seasons that they weren't too happy with. From my perspective, it's the other guys that spark the excitement. It's like playing a shaky round of golf, but hitting one or two great shots that make you want to come back.

This year, there were a ton of great shots.

That's what led me to hint a few days ago that the talent in the league might be up this year. Proclaiming something like that might be over-stating it a little bit, because production doesn't always equal talent, and vice versa.

But I think it's safe to say that the spring production from the 2009 Cape League class was off the charts.

I realized this gradually, and it started as a feeling more than a fact. For nearly every team I wrote about, I found myself plugging in another .320 hitter, another double-digit home run guy, another strikeout-an-inning pitcher. The list just kept growing. It never felt like a grind. I kept running into players with great numbers, players I wanted to know more about. Last year, that didn't happen nearly as much.

Now, I think some of the facts back it up. Check out the college stats files a few posts down, and you can see for yourself.

For comparison's sake:

• At this time last year, there were 22 players on Cape League rosters who hit double-digit home runs, and the high was 18. This year: 38 players hit double-digit home runs and the high is 28.


• Last year, there was one pitcher who had over 100 strikeouts. Even the vaunted arms that went with Team USA weren't over 100. This year: 11 pitchers struck out more than 100.

Of course, two stat categories do not a trend make, and some of the stats are similar. In fact, the number of .350-plus hitters is exactly the same from last year to this year.

But still, I can't shake the feeling.

In the end, I have no idea what it'll mean. This year's draft kind of reflected the fact that the league's overall level was down a bit last year. It was considered a light year for college hitters. Seven still went in the first round, and interestingly, all of them played on the Cape. But of the eight college pitchers who went in the first round, only one -- Drew Storen -- played on the Cape last year. That might have had something to do with the high batting averages and the high ERA's that marked last season.

The thing is, last season was one of the more interesting ones the league has had in recent years. There was ridiculous parity. This year, we might revert to typical form. And even with the supposed increase in production, we might not actually see it reflected in any statistics. If the pitching is better, then it all might even out again.

Who knows? But for now, it's a reason to get a little more excited than usual about the Cape's boys of summer.

Names, Numbers, Trends, Etc.

• On current published rosters, there are 34 juniors, 191 sophomores and 83 freshmen. That's about average all around.


• Some years, it's the freshmen that really pique my interest. If they're only freshmen and they're on the Cape, you know they're good. This year, there are plenty of freshmen to be excited about, but I feel like the sophomore class will not be taking a back seat. Lots of emerging talents ready to make a splash on the big stage.


• One of the more interesting storylines last summer was the high number of players who got drafted in June and used the Cape to leverage nice deals. There were seven of them, and one of them -- Jimmy Cesario -- was actually the league's batting champ, even though he was playing in the minors when the Cape League season ended. This year, the number of drafted players is pretty high, so we may see some similar scripts. It'll be particularly interesting if some of the early-round sophomore-eligible players decide to head for the Cape.


• In doing the early looks, one thing that stood out was the quality of the catchers on Cape League rosters. Of the 27 currently listed, 13 hit over .300 and five finished with double-digit home run totals. The production is spread out, too, with eight of the 10 teams having at least one of the catchers who hit over .300. Two Team USA invites -- Yasmani Grandal and Blake Forsythe -- lead the way statistically, but there are plenty of other guys who aren't far behind.


• Anybody who likes a good small-school-kid-makes-it-big story should keep an eye on the pitching leaderboards. Several of the guys coming off the best springs aren't from major programs. Chris Sale had a huge year for Florida Gulf Coast, a program that's reclassifying to D-I. Jimmy Reyes had a fantastic season at Elon, a strong baseball program, but not a major-conference powerhouse. Max Russell and Daniel Tillman are coming from D-II Florida Southern. Tommy Collier, Patrick Cooper and Mitch Mormann are all ticketed for Falmouth after big junior-college seasons, while fellow juco star Chad Bell is on the Cotuit roster. It'll be interesting to see how these guys fare against tougher competition.


• Like always, Team USA will have its say on who we get to see this summer. Twenty-five players have been invited to the trials -- 12 pitchers and 13 hitters. Of the 36 players at the trials, 22 will make the team. The final roster will be announced on June 24. Last year, Team USA took nearly all the power arms that were ticketed for the Cape, and that had a pretty big impact on the season. I think there's a little more depth on Cape rosters this year, so the inevitable USA selections might not hurt as much.


• It looks like there are three '09 Cape Leaguers whose fathers played in the big leagues. Hyannis' Cam Seitzer is the son of Kevin Seitzer, Cotuit's Chance Ruffin is the son of Bruce Ruffin, and Cotuit's Cory Vaughn is the son of Greg Vaughn, who was recently selected to the Cape League Hall of Fame.

MVP Watch List

In an effort to put some names out there, I'll take a page out of the college awards playbook. I did this last year, and though my predictions for MVP and Pitcher of the Year were incorrect, some of the guys I listed had good summers. Others did not. So take this for what it's worth. It's fun, and I like having an idea of who the stars might be.

These are listed by team. Asterisks by Team USA invitees.

*Anthony Rendon - Bourne
*Blake Forsythe - Bourne
Ben Klafczynski - Bourne
*Tyler Holt - Bourne
*Jedd Gyorko - Brewster
Mark Canha - Brewster
*Jarrett Parker - Brewster
Jeff Schaus - Chatham
Cody Stanley - Cotuit
Cory Vaughn - Cotuit
Rico Noel - Cotuit
Kevin Keyes - Cotuit
Josh Adams - Falmouth
*Bryce Brentz - Harwich
*Ross Wilson - Harwich
Cody Hawn - Hyannis
Jackie Bradley, Jr. - Hyannis
Dan Burkhart - Hyannis
Michael Lang - Orleans
Derek Dietrich - Wareham
Alex Dickerson - Wareham
George Springer - Wareham
Ryan LaMarre - Wareham
Mickey Wiswall - Y-D
Andy Wilkins - Y-D

Prediction: I would pick Bryce Brentz, but I think he'll stay with Team USA, so I'm going with Hyannis' Cody Hawn. Two years ago, he was a potential early-round pick but an injury cost him that chance. After a big year in junior college last year, he didn't miss a beat while a making the huge step to Tennessee and the SEC.

Outstanding Pitcher Watch List

This is probably tougher to predict than anything involving the hitters. Plenty of good pitchers see their numbers balloon in the college game, so it's tough to get a feel for things. Changing roles also make it difficult. Many relievers turn into starters on the Cape, and vice versa. Last year's award winner was Nick McCully, who was a closer in the spring and a starter in Bourne.

*Alex Wimmers, Bourne
*Drew Pomeranz, Bourne
*Cody Wheeler, Bourne
Robert Morey, Bourne
Matt Harvey, Chatham
*Gerrit Cole, Cotuit
Max Russell, Cotuit
Chance Ruffin, Cotuit
Seth Blair, Cotuit
Justin Grimm, Cotuit
Jordan Cooper, Falmouth
Patrick Cooper, Falmouth
Tommy Collier, Falmouth
*Daniel Renken, Harwich
Aaron Meade, Harwich
Casey Harman, Hyannis
*Deck McGuire, Orleans
Jimmy Reyes, Orleans
Taylor Jungmann, Wareham
Brandon Workman, Wareham
Scott Rembisz, Wareham
*Trevor Bauer, Y-D
Chris Sale, Y-D
Austin Ross, Y-D
*Anthony Ranaudo, Y-D

Prediction:Any Team USA guys who come to the Cape would be good picks. I'll stay away from them when it comes to predictions and I'm also going to shy away from the Omaha crew. I think I'll go a little bit off the board for this one and take a flyer on Florida Southern lefty Max Russell. His numbers were really, really good this spring, and though he put them up against D-II competition, he seems to be a legitimate prospect who should be ready for a step up.

Or It's Not That Time

The season opener has been postponed to Friday. 

It's About That Time

So I kind of missed my target on some of the preseason stuff I was working on, but that's beside the point today. It should all be up soon.

For now, it's baseball time. Cotuit visits Harwich tonight at 7 p.m. for the season opener. It's a rematch of last year's championship, and it's got the stage all to itself tonight, with every other team opening up tomorrow.

I'm not going to be around tonight, so I won't be able to keep tabs on the game, but I'll recap it tomorrow with the first 2009 edition of Daily Fog.

If you're going to the game, enjoy, and don't forget your umbrella. Hopefully the rain will hold off.

For those not making it to Harwich, I think you can listen to the Harwich broadcast here. It looks like Cotuit is doing a one-hour special before their broadcast, beginning at 4 p.m.

College Stats Galore

Alright, so I put the last two early (late?) looks on hold for a bit and spent last night getting college statistics together for every player who's on a Cape League roster. Below are the results of my labor, and you better enjoy them because it took like four hours and, by the end, I had taken to singing home run totals.

But I really like having these stats. Below are all the links. Ideally, it would be one page and you could sort the stats however you want, but I don't know how to do that. So, you get a bunch of pages. And since Blogger doesn't let you have additional files, these are on a webs.com page. It should be fine.

So here they are. The first two categories are all players, sorted by school and Cape team. Then all players sorted by various statistics, and finally, pages with the pitchers and hitters from each team.

I should note that my spreadsheet program automatically puts zeroes in front of decimals, so people are hitting 0.322 instead of .322. Also, if it ends in a zero, that goes away, so 0.32 is .320. I put asterisks by the names of players who have been invited to Team USA and asterisks in the stats columns of players who sat out this season.

That should do it. Go.

Sorted By School
Hitters
Pitchers

Sorted By Cape Team
Hitters
Pitchers

Sorted By Statistic
Strikeouts
ERA
Wins

Batting Average
Home Runs
RBI
On-Base Percentage

Cape Teams
Bourne
Brewster
Chatham
Cotuit
Falmouth
Harwich
Hyannis
Orleans
Wareham
Y-D

Draft Tidbits

In terms of all the former Cape Leaguers who got picked, we can wrap all that stuff up soon. For now, let's focus on the draftees who are on 2009 rosters. With 30 rounds complete (20 to go), it looks like 27 28 Cape Leaguers have been drafted. I may have missed somebody, so if you notice an omission let me know.

I think we'll end up seeing a good number of these players this season. Others were probably a long shot to begin with, but had the Cape League as a backup plan. Drew Storen has already signed with the Nationals. Tyler Townsend has been taken off Cotuit's roster.

The list, with the number corresponding to the round they were selected in:

1 - Drew Storen, Cotuit
1S - Kentrail Davis, Falmouth
1S - Mike Belfiore, Y-D
2 - D.J. LeMahieu, Harwich
3 - Tyler Townsend, Cotuit
3 - Robbie Shields, Cotuit
4 - Chris Dwyer, Cotuit
4 - Dan Mahoney, Bourne
5 - Tobias Streich, Harwich
9 - Trevor Coleman, Falmouth
9 - Brock Holt, Cotuit
10 - Nick Santomauro, Y-D
10 - Tyler Lyons, Chatham
11 - Chris Wade, Harwich
13 - Jake Goebbert, Harwich
14 - Chad Bell, Cotuit
15 - Mike Nesseth, Cotuit
15 - Casey Schmidt, Brewster
19 - Kipp Schutz, Wareham
20 - Mitch Mormann, Falmouth
20 - Kevin Nolan, Falmouth
20 - Thomas Keeling, Chatham
20 - Alex Hassan, Orleans
21 - Jeff Rowland, Cotuit
23 - Mike Mooney, Bourne
24 - Joey Wong, Falmouth
27 - Austin Hudson, Hyannis
28 - Aaron Meade, Harwich

After Thursday, I'll post this list with updates from the final day.

Drafty

I've got some brief draft updates on my twitter page.

More details to come.

Early Look: Harwich

HARWICH MARINERS
Manager: Steve Englert
2008 Record: 24-20

The 2008 Harwich Mariners didn't have a ton of players on leaderboards and didn't really separate themselves in any of the team statistics.

And yet.

In a season filled with parity, the Mariners were the last team standing. They won the franchise's first league championship since 1987. They got hot at the right time, won a ridiculous 18-inning game over Orleans in the semis and rode the momentum to the title.

While getting hot was a big part of the run, for sure, Harwich manager Steve Englert wanted everybody to know that it wasn't the only part. All year, he said his Mariners had tremendous chemistry. In a league with essentially 10 all-star teams, how those teams fit together is as important as anything else. Harwich made things fit perfectly.

The hard part will be doing it again. When you're building a team at any level, chemistry is a tough attribute to quantify. For a summer league squad, a good place to start is taking players from successful programs. If they fit on a College World Series team, chances are they'll fit on a lot of other teams, too.

But you can have too much of a good thing, and that might be the case for Harwich in '09. The thing that stands out right now about Harwich's roster is this: nine players are on their way to Omaha, not on their way to Harwich. It's great for them. But it means the first few weeks of the season will be a little hectic in Harwich. Hopefully for the Mariners, that won't be a defining aspect of the season, but it's certainly something to keep an eye on.

Aside from the Omaha flavor, Harwich has some potential. The starting pitching would get a big lift from Fullerton's Daniel Renken, who's got the Team USA-College World Series double whammy. If he doesn't make it to Harwich, look for big things from guys like Aaron Meade, John Gast, Eric Jokisch, Justin Wright and Chase Reid. Geoff Parker and Glenn Troyanowski have been relievers all spring, and they should play big roles as well.

Five of the nine in Omaha are position players, so the lineup will probably be mixed and matched in the early going. If Bryce Brentz somehow doesn't go with Team USA, Harwich will have perhaps the best sophomore hitter in the country. There's enough depth to fill the hole, though, even if he does stick with Team USA. Twelve of Harwich's 15 position players hit over .300 this year and two who didn't -- Levi Michael and Trent Mummey -- hit double-digit home runs. There's also a veteran flavor to the offense, with four juniors.

As always, we'll have to wait and see how it fits together, but on paper, the Mariners can make a pretty good case to be called the best team in the East.

They just hope it all fits together at the right time.


Roster Rundown
Returning Players: 2
Juniors: 4
Sophomores: 21
Freshmen: 4

Notable

• The nine CWS-bound players come from four different teams -- North Carolina, LSU, Cal State Fullerton and Virginia. Off the top of my head, I'd call those teams four of the top six who are in Omaha, so we may not see many early exits.


• I should note that, this time last year, Harwich had six players on its roster who were headed to Omaha. I guess that worked out alright.


• I'm hoping Daniel Renken will make it to Harwich and not Team USA. He has been one of the nation's best sophomore pitchers, and has been particularly good lately. After a Super Regional loss to him, Louisville coach Dan McDonell called Renken the best pitcher his team had faced all year.


• Like a couple of other teams, Harwich doesn't have a ton of weekend starters, but I think one of them, Aaron Meade, could turn into a potential ace, based on what he did this year. He struck out around a batter an inning for Missouri State and had a 3.39 ERA.


• I'm sure Vandy's Chase Reid is looking forward to a return to New England. He pitched for the Newport Gulls in the NECBL last year and struck 11 for every batter he walked.


• We'll see how things shake out with starters and relievers, but Harwich could have some lights-out guys in the bullpen -- Daniel Bradshaw, Nate Striz, Geoff Parker and Glen Troyanowski.


• Harwich continues an '09 league trend that I'll probably touch on soon: really productive catchers. Anthony Sosnoskie had a great season for Virginia Tech, while Jeff Vigurs put up huge numbers for Bryant. Every team seems to have good offensive catchers, and Harwich should be right there.


• D.J. LeMahieu is certainly a guy to keep an eye on in the coming days. As I'm writing this at 10:00 on Tuesday, he hasn't been drafted, but he could go in the first few rounds. He's also in Omaha. From everything I've read, he didn't flash as much power as scouts hoped this year and he also got moved off shortstop. As a draft-eligible sophomore, he's a prime candidate to head to the Cape and look for some leverage. UPDATE (6/9 10:21 p.m.): He literally got drafted two minutes after I posted this. He goes to the Cubs in the second round, with the 79th overall pick. That's pretty high. He might not need leverage.


• Virginia has a ton of good hitters this season, and Harwich-bound Phil Gosselin and Dan Grovatt are two of the best.


• Since I'm sure he'll be with Team USA if he wants to be -- he's not going to get cut -- I'm going to do my best to not get over-excited about Bryce Brentz. But I really hope he somehow ends up in Harwich. If you're not familiar with him, he led the nation in batting average and tied for the lead in home runs.


• Team USA updated its invite list today and Ross Wilson was one of two new additions. He's coming off a real good sophomore season at Alabama.


• Even without Brentz and Wilson, this offense has the potential to be really good.

Five Players I'm Excited to See
1. Bryce Brentz
2. Daniel Renken
3. D.J. LeMahieu
4. Levi Michael
5. Trent Mummey

Pitchers

Daniel Bradshaw - RHP - 6'1 208 - LSU - Sophomore
Garrett Davis - RHP - 6'4 215 - North Carolina - RS Freshman
*Brian Dupra - RHP - 6'3 205 - Notre Dame - Sophomore
John Gast - LHP - 6'2 215 - Florida State - Sophomore
Mike Gipson - RHP - 6'1 195 - Florida Atlantic - Sophomore
Eric Jokisch - LHP - 6'2 180 - Northwestern - Sophomore
Aaron Meade - LHP - 6'3 185 - Missouri State - Sophomore
Nate Striz - RHP - 6'2 240 - North Carolina - Sophomore
Geoff Parker - RHP - 6'3 240 - Florida State - Sophomore
Matthew Price - RHP - 6'2 165 - Virginia Tech - Freshman
Justin Wright - LHP - 5'9 170 - Virginia Tech - Sophomore
Chase Reid - RHP - 6'3 205 - Vanderbilt - Sophomore
Daniel Renken - RHP - 6'4 200 - Cal State Fullerton - Sophomore
Glen Troyanowski - RHP - 6'1 165 - Florida Atlantic - Sophomore


Daniel Bradshaw - RHP - 6'1 208
LSU
Sophomore

Bradshaw put up pretty solid numbers as a freshman reliever, and he's been even better this year for the Omaha-bound Tigers. Nineteen of his 23 appearances have come out of the bullpen, and he's been one of the team's best relievers. He's got a 4-0 record, a 3.38 record and 32 strikeouts against 11 walks in 45.1 innings of work.

Garrett Davis - RHP - 6'4 215
North Carolina
RS Freshman

A North Carolina high school star, Davis didn't get much of a chance to make a splash last year in Chapel Hill. After two appearances, he had Tommy John surgery and took a redshirt. This season, Davis has made nine appearances, posting a 4.50 ERA.

Brian Dupra - RHP - 6'3 205
Notre Dame
Sophomore

Dupra was a pretty solid reliever for Harwich last summer, posting a 3.40 ERA while tying for the team lead in appearances. His second year at Notre Dame was a struggle. Dupra pitched in the weekend rotation and put up a 7.13 ERA. He struck out 48 and only walked 16, but opponents hit over .300 against him.

John Gast - LHP - 6'2 215
Florida State
Sophomore

Gast was a fifth-round pick out of high school in 2007, but Tommy John surgery kept him out for much of his freshman season at Florida State. He eventually worked his way back and posted a 2.70 ERA in 14 appearances. This season, Gast made 28 appearances with three starts. He ended up with a 5.82 ERA.

Mike Gipson - RHP - 6'1 195
Florida Atlantic
Sophomore

Gipson hasn't registered great ERA's in his two years at Florida Atlantic -- 6.10 last year and 5.93 this year -- but some of his peripheral numbers have been pretty good. He struck out 58 in 62 innings last year and 64 in 71 innings this season.

Eric Jokisch - LHP - 6'2 180
Northwestern
Sophomore

Jokisch was a 39th-round pick out of high school, and he made an immediate impact last year in Evanston. His 8-2 record and 4.17 ERA earned him Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. His seven wins in conference play were the most-ever by a freshman in Big Ten history. This year, Jokisch went 4-7 with a 5.48 ERA.

Aaron Meade - LHP - 6'3 185
Missouri State
Sophomore

Joining former Brewster Whitecaps Buddy Baumann and Tim Clubb in the Missouri State weekend rotation, Meade delivered a fantastic sophomore season. He went 9-2 with a 3.39 ERA and he struck out 89 in 90.1 innings. All his numbers put him just behind Baumann's pace, and Baumann is projected as a fifth or sixth-round pick this year.

Nate Striz - RHP - 6'2 240
North Carolina
Sophomore

Striz has been one of North Carolina's best relievers this season. He's third on the team in appearances and he boasts a 3.42 ERA. He has struck out 27 in 23.2 innings. Opponents have hit just .216 against him, second-best on the team. Striz played for Falmouth last summer, posting a 5.63 ERA in seven relief appearances. Striz was a fifth-round pick out of high school.

Geoff Parker - RHP - 6'3 240
Florida State
Sophomore

A Freshman All-American last year, Parker was a workhorse for the Seminoles this season, and he had a fair amount of success. He led the team with 31 appearances, going 6-2 with a 4.82 ERA. He struck out 65 in 65.1 innings of work.

Matthew Price - RHP - 6'2 165
Virginia Tech
Freshman

Price was a 34th round pick out of high school last year, and he showed some flashes this season in Blacksburg. Though his ERA climbed to 6.90, he struck out 53 in 58.2 innings.

Justin Wright - LHP - 5'9 170
Virginia Tech
Sophomore

As a freshman, Wright worked his way into a starting role and had a great season. This year, he went 7-2 with a 3.95 ERA. He struck out 59 and walked only 17 in 66 innings.

Chase Reid - RHP - 6'3 205
Vanderbilt
Sophomore

Reid posted a 4.30 ERA last year for Vandy then became one of the best pitchers in the NECBL last summer. Pitching for the Newport Gulls, he went 4-0 with a 1.88 ERA, 55 strikeouts in 38.1 innings and just five walks. This spring, he pitched mostly out of the bullpen for the Commodores, finishing with a 4.46 ERA, 38 strikeouts and 10 walks in 34.1 innings.

Daniel Renken - RHP - 6'4 200
Cal State Fullerton
Sophomore

Renken was a 35th-round pick out of high school and he turned in a solid freshman season last year. This year, he's been far better than solid as he has turned into one of the nation's best pitchers. He has gone 11-2 with a 2.36 ERA and 98 strikeouts in 118 innings. Renken has been invited to Team USA.

Glen Troyanowski - RHP - 6'1 165
Florida Atlantic
Sophomore

Troyanowski served as Florida Atlantic's closer this season and though he had an ERA above five, he tallied a team-best six saves. He also struck out 50 in 40.1 innings, which gave him the team's best K/9 ratio. Opponents hit just .234 against him.


Position Players

Anthony Sosnoskie - C - 5'11 193 - Virginia Tech - Junior
Jeff Vigurs - C - 6'0 190 - Bryant - Junior
Stephen Cardullo - IF - 6'0 200 - Florida State - Junior
Phil Gosselin - IF - 6'1 185 - Virginia - Sophomore
Daniel Grovatt - IF - 6'2 187 - Virginia - Sophomore
*D.J. LeMahieu - IF - 6'4 200 - LSU - Sophomore
Levi Michael - IF - 5'10 175 - North Carolina - Freshman
Joe Loftus - IF - 6'4 200 - Vanderbilt - Freshman
Stuart Tapley - IF - 5'10 200 - Florida State - Sophomore
Chris Wade - IF - 6'0 160 - Kentucky - Sophomore
Ross Wilson - IF - 5'11 185 - Alabama - Sophomore
Bryce Brentz - OF - 6'0 187 - Middle Tennessee State - Sophomore
Jacob Goebbert - OF - 6'1 205 - Northwestern - Junior
Leon Landry - OF - 6'0 200 - LSU - Sophomore
Trent Mummey - OF - 5'11 185 - Auburn - Sophomore


Anthony Sosnoskie - C - 5'11 193
Virginia Tech
Junior

Sosnoskie has put up consistent numbers throughout his career at Virginia Tech. After hitting .292 as a freshman and .315 as a sophomore, he hit .314 this year with a career-high seven home runs and 51 RBI. He upped his on-base percentage almost 50 points from last year. BA ranked Sosnoskie as the fourth-best prospect in the Southern Collegiate League last year.

Jeff Vigurs - C - 6'0 190
Bryant
Junior

Bryant is making the transition to Division I, and Vigurs has been one of the program's biggest building blocks. He had a fantastic junior season, finishing with a .389 average, nine home runs, 23 doubles and 70 RBI. He also struck out just 15 times in 203 at-bats. Among players whose teams were reclassifying like Bryant, Vigurs was the nation's leading hitter and RBI man.

Stephen Cardullo - IF - 6'0 200
Florida State
Junior

Cardullo only played in 12 games as a freshman and only made 10 starts as a sophomore. But his patience was rewarded in a big way this season. As the Noles' starting shortstop and No. 2 hitter, Cardullo hit .376 with 10 home runs, 20 doubles and 51 RBI. He also had a .479 on-base percentage and stole 20 bases.

Phil Gosselin - IF - 6'1 185
Virginia
Sophomore

Gosselin has been a key part of Virginia's dynamic offense this season. After hitting .305 as a freshman, he has started every game this season. As the Cavaliers head to Omaha, Gosselin is hitting .314 with six home runs and 63 RBI.

Daniel Grovatt - IF - 6'2 187
Virginia
Sophomore

Along with Gosselin, Grovatt is part of a tremendous sophomore class at Virginia, and among his peers, he has had one of the best seasons. He's currently hitting a team-best .365 with seven home runs, 50 RBI and 14 stolen bases.

D.J. LeMahieu - IF - 6'4 200
LSU
Sophomore

LeMahieu was one of the most intriguing freshman prospects in the nation last year and he lived up to the hype with a great first season in Baton Rouge. After hitting .290 for Harwich last summer, LeMahieu has hit a team-best .340 for the Tigers this season, with four home runs and 19 extra-base hits. He's a draft-eligible sophomore and a potential high pick, so that'll definitely have an impact on his summer plans.

Levi Michael - IF - 5'10 175
North Carolina
Freshman

Six months ago, Michael was in high school. Now he's the starting second baseman for North Carolina as it heads into the College World Series. Michael graduated from high school in January and immediately enrolled at North Carolina. Though that's a pretty huge step without much time in between, Michael didn't miss a beat. He has .298 this season with 13 home runs and 56 RBI.

Joe Loftus - IF - 6'4 200
Vanderbilt
Freshman

Loftus was a 29th-round pick out of high school last year, and he made immediate contributions at Vandy. Emerging as the team's starting left-fielder, Loftus hit .263 with four home runs and 28 RBI.

Stuart Tapley - IF - 5'10 200
Florida State
Sophomore

Tapley had a fantastic freshman season in Tallahassee, hitting .383, which was good for fifth in the ACC. His average went down a bit this year, but he still had a strong season. He finished at .316 with 13 home runs, 18 doubles and 60 RBI.

Chris Wade - IF - 6'0 160
Kentucky
RS 3Sophomore

Wade led the SEC in doubles last year and earned several Freshman All-America nods. After hitting .228 in the Northwoods League, he batted .314 for Kentucky this season, hitting 10 doubles and six home runs. Wade played shortstop and made only six errors.

Ross Wilson - IF - 5'11 185
Alabama
Sophomore

The brother of Alabama quarterback John Parker Wilson, Ross has made his mark on the baseball field. After hitting .295 with 15 home runs as a freshman, Wilson headed to Bourne last summer and hit .218. This spring, he was one of Alabama's top hitters, finishing at .353 with nine home runs and 47 RBI. Wilson is a late addition to Team USA's invite list.

Bryce Brentz - OF - 6'0 187
Middle Tennessee State
Sophomore

Based on production this season, it might be safe to call Brentz the nation's best sophomore. He has been invited to Team USA, so we might not get to see him, but if we do: wow. He led the nation with a .465 batting average and tied for the national lead with 28 home runs. He had 73 RBI. He was also a weekend starter for the Blue Raiders, and he went 5-3 with a 4.57 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 88.2 innings. Brentz was a 30th-round pick out of high school.

Jacob Goebbert - OF - 6'1 205
Northwestern
Junior

Goebbert finished his first two years at Northwestern with a career batting average of .343. It dipped a bit this year down to .280, but he didn't have a chance to bring it up. Playing against Minnesota this spring, he crashed into the wall at the Metrodome and lacerated a kidney. He missed the rest of the season, but should be ready for the summer.

Leon Landry - OF - 6'0 200
LSU
Sophomore

A 36th-round pick out of high school, Landry made a big impact as a freshman in Baton Rouge, helping lead the Tigers to last year's College World Series. This season, he's hitting .305 with 12 home runs and 41 RBI. Landry was tabbed by BA as the Cal Ripken Sr. League's top prospect last summer.

Trent Mummey - OF - 5'11 185
Auburn
Sophomore

Mummey was Auburn's leadoff hitter this season, but he put up numbers that could play in the middle of just about any order. He hit .289 with 15 home runs, 12 doubles and 42 RBI. His .409 OBP was second among the team's starters, and he also stole 17 bases.

Best Week Ever?

I think it might be. I realized this tonight as I was (a) doing research for the Harwich early look, (b) watching a Super Regional, (c) keeping tabs on draft rumors and (d) taking a nap. The nap is beside the point, but the other stuff: a perfect representation of a fantastic time of year.

After Thursday, the Cape League season will speed to August like a runaway train, one night of games blurring into the next. Players whose names I've already forgotten will become stars. Teams will create identities. Stories will be told. And then, in a blink, it'll all be over. But now, now we have endless possibilities. We'll have Omaha soon, too, and that's always fun to watch. Then you've got the draft, where you can look at your buddy who doesn't know know who Grant Green is and laugh.

So, yeah, this is kind of an awesome week.

I'll see what I can do to make it a little better. The draft is set to start tomorrow, so I'll be posting some updates on that. We've got a lot of former Cape Leaguers ticketed for the first round. There are also some names on '09 rosters that could go pretty high.

I will also be trying my hardest to get all the early looks done. I have three left and three days left before the season starts. Perfect timing, if I didn't have to still write them. I'll give it a go, and even if they're not all done by Thursday, they will be very soon. Also, I posted college stats for every player in the league last year, and I am planning on doing that again. That, too, might have to wait a little bit, but it'll be there.

I'm planning on posting some general preview stuff, too, and I can tell you right now what the angle's going to be: we've got some talent coming. I'll go into detail later, but I really feel like the overall depth of talent in the league is going to be up from last year.

For now, I think you should check out the Wareham Gatemen twitter page, if you haven't already. The Gatemen have already played two exhibition games, and that page has some nice updates. If I may make a ridiculously premature proclamation, Alex Dickerson, Ryan LaMarre and George Springer are looking like the best outfield in the league.

Also on the subject of the Gateman, there was a real interesting article on South Coast Today detailing "Life after a legend."

Finally, I stumbled across some good stuff on PG Crosschecker. They posted mid-season All-American picks for each class in April, and from a Cape League perspective, the freshman and sophomore lists are both worth reading. With so much focus on draft-eligibile players, it's sometimes hard to get a pre-summer feel for which Cape Leaguers are getting the most attention. This helps.

Alright. That is all I have. Yahoo for baseball. It's almost here.

Early Look: Brewster

BREWSTER WHITECAPS
Manager: Tom Myers
2008 Record: 19-21-4

It's a year of fresh starts in Brewster, where the Whitecaps welcome a new manager, and potentially, an entirely new roster. Tom Myers, the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at UC Santa Barbara, takes over as manager for Bob Macaluso, who was at the helm for seven years. Myers inherits a team with one player who played in Brewster last year, and that's Yasmani Grandal, who could end up with Team USA.

But while there's a shortage of Cape League experience, there's no shortage of college experience. With only four freshman -- two of whom are redshirt freshmen -- Brewster appears to have the oldest team in the league.

And a lot of their sophomores will be out to prove something.

Out of all the teams I've previewed so far, Brewster had the most players who went through sub-par 2009 seasons. If you read through the bios, you can see it. There are pitchers who were Freshman All-Americans last year and charted ERA's above five this year. There are hitters who hit over .300 in their first year and dipped well below that this year. If this is really is a year of fresh starts in Brewster, there will be a long list of guys looking for their own. How it turns out for them could say a lot for Brewster's season.

There are several players who won't need fresh starts, but a lot of them might not be making it to Brewster, either. Jarrett Parker and Jedd Gyorko, the hitters who had the best seasons, have both been invited to Team USA, and Grandal isn't far behind those two in terms of '09 success. It also looks like four players will be in Omaha when the Cape season begins.

So a lot will fall to the players in need of big summers, and it'll be interesting to see what they deliver.

The pitching staff is a little light on weekend starters, but that was the case this time last year, too, and Brewster ended up having solid starting pitching. Guys like Sean Hoelscher, Matt Lujan and Danny Sandbrink will need bounce-back summers. Guys who had success out of the pen this spring like David Goforth and Tyler Thornburg will also be key.

As for the offense, it looks like the Whitecaps should be stronger there. Even if Parker, Gyorko and Grandal end up with Team USA, there's a decent nucleus with Mark Canha, Tobias Streich, Tim Ferguson and Harold Martinez.

All in all, I don't think Brewster has the depth of Cotuit, Bourne or Falmouth, and there are certainly a lot of players who struggled this spring.

But I wouldn't be shocked to see Brewster have success this year. You never know how the roster will shake out, and the chance for those fresh starts can't be entirely ignored. If the Cape League is a proving ground, I'll gladly take a bunch of players with a little extra to prove.


Roster Rundown
Returning Players: 1
Juniors: 1
Sophomores: 22
Freshmen: 4

Notable

• To get an idea of the how the pitching staff shakes out, take a look at the Five Players I'm Excited to See section, which includes no pitchers. That doesn't mean there's no talent. Just that there aren't many guys who had good numbers this spring. But I'll say this: in the Cape League, I'd rather have a group of pitchers who struggled than a group of hitters who struggled. Wooden bats change everything.


• One guy who could give Brewster's staff a big lift is San Diego ace Kyle Blair. People are hearing that he'll be added to the roster, and that's good news for the Whitecaps. Blair was a fifth-round pick out of high school and pitched briefly for Chatham last year. He had a 3.13 ERA this year and struck out 62 in 54.2 innings.


• If Blair indeed comes to Brewster, you can bet he won't be the only addition. The Whitecaps haven't updated their roster in quite some time, so it will almost certainly look a little different when the season opens.


• Keep an eye on Erik Goeddel this spring. As I wrote below, he has a long track record in the scouting world, but he just hasn't been able to add to it much because of injury. Depending on how he's holding up these days, this could be a prime opportunity for Goeddel to re-establsih himself.


• I wouldn't discount the impact of experience on the Brewster roster. Freshmen often struggle on the Cape. Plenty of sophomores do too, of course, but the extra year can be a big one.


• The fact that Virginia is heading for Omaha means the Whitecaps will be waiting for the services of Jarrett Parker, John Barr and Neal Davis. In the case of Parker, that might not be a bad thing. If the Cavaliers can make a deep run, Parker is less likely to go with Team USA.


• As I wrote the bios, I was getting a little nervous about Brewster's offense. The players with the best numbers were all Team USA invites. But the list saved the best for last. Mark Canha was Cal's best hitter this season, hitting for average and power.


• Grandal could potentially be the best catching prospect on the Cape, but even if Team USA takes him, Tobias Streich would be a pretty good consolation prize. He's one of the best catchers in the Big East.

Five Players I'm Excited to See
1. Jarrett Parker
2. Jedd Gyorko
3. Mark Canha
4. Harold Martinez
5. Yasmani Grandal

Pitchers

Scott Alexander - LHP - 6'2 200 - Pepperdine - Sophomore
Sean Bierman - LHP - 6'0 190 - Vanderbilt - Sophomore
Neal Davis - LHP - 6'6 210 - Virginia - Junior
Erik Goeddel - RHP - 6'3 180 - UCLA - RS Freshman
David Goforth - RHP - 5'11 184 - Ole Miss - RS Freshman
Sean Hoelscher - RHP - 6'3 196 - TCU - Sophomore
Matt Lujan - LHP - 6'1 205 - San Francisco - Sophomore
Casey Schmidt - RHP - 6'3 205 - San Diego - RS Sophomore
Danny Sandbrink - RHP - 6'2 200 - Stanford - Sophomore
Sean Tierney - LHP - 6'5 190 - James Madison - Sophomore
Stayton Thomas - RHP - 5'11 175 - Texas - Sophomore
Tyler Thornburg - RHP/OF - 5'11 175 - Charleston Southern - Sophomore


Scott Alexander - LHP - 6'2 200
Pepperdine
Sophomore

A 37th-round pick out of high school, Alexander has a solid career at Pepperdine. This year, he went 4-5 with a 4.11 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 65.2 innings pitched. Opponents hit .230 against him and he didn't allow a home run all year. Pepperdine's web site has a list of summer placements and Alexander isn't on it, so I'm not sure what the deal is there.

Sean Bierman - LHP - 6'0 190
Vanderbilt
Sophomore

Bierman, a late-round pick out of high school, did not have a great first season in Nashville, but his second one was much better. One of the team's most improved pitchers in the fall, Bierman carried it over to the spring by posting a 4.57 ERA while pitching mostly in relief. He struck out 37 and walked 15 in 43.1 innings.

Neal Davis - LHP - 6'6 210
Virginia
Junior

Davis has been a key part of Virginia's bullpen the last two seasons. Last year, he posted a 1.58 ERA, second-best among Cavalier relievers. He also had a streak of 27.2 scoreless innings. This year, Davis hasn't been quite as good, with an ERA of 4.63.

Erik Goeddel - RHP - 6'3 180
UCLA
RS Freshman

Goeddel was on the Y-D roster last summer but didn't make it, just another part of a lost year for the highly-touted Goeddel. He was originally rated as the second-best pitcher in the class of 2007 by Baseball America, but an injury in his senior season kept him from getting drafted. He then missed all of his freshman season. This spring, Goeddel finally saw some time on the mound, posting a 3.38 ERA in nine relief appearances.

David Goforth - RHP - 5'11 184
Ole Miss
RS Freshman

Goforth has been lights out in his first season in Oxford, putting up a 2.80 ERA while making 25 appearances out of the pen, the second-highest total on the team. He has struck out 36 in 35.1 innings.

Sean Hoelscher - RHP - 6'3 196
TCU
Sophomore

Hoelscher had an ERA over five as a freshman, but his 7-3 record and good strikeout numbers earned him some Freshman All-America nods. This year, Hoelscher has gone 2-2 with a 7.03 ERA. He struck out 22 in 24.1 innings, but walked 20.

Matt Lujan - LHP - 6'1 205
San Francisco
Sophomore

Like Hoelscher, Lujan was a Freshman All-American last year on the strength of a 7-2 record and a 3.17 ERA. His second season with the Dons hasn't been as good. Lujan finished 5-7 with a 5.74 ERA. He struck out 52 in 80 innings.

Casey Schmidt - RHP - 6'3 205
San Diego
RS Sophomore

Schmidt hasn't pitched in a college game since 2007, when he went 6-1 with a 3.12 ERA in his freshman season at Creighton. After that, he missed all of 2008 with an injury and transferred to San Diego, where he sat out this season due to NCAA transfer rules.

Danny Sandbrink - RHP - 6'2 200
Stanford
Sophomore

Sandbrink surged to a strong freshman season in Palo Alto last year, finishing with a 2.81 ERA. This year, he had his share of trouble, going 1-1 with a 7.09 ERA. He struck out 22 and walked 16 in 33 innings.

Sean Tierney - LHP - 6'5 190
James Madison
Sophomore

Tierney, like Schmidt, will be playing this summer after not pitching at all this spring. Tierney transferred from Virginia and sat out this season. At Virginia, Tierney made only two appearances, finishing with a 6.75 ERA. He was a 35th-round pick out of high school.

Stayton Thomas - RHP - 5'11 175
Texas
Sophomore

Thomas was lights-out as a reliever last season, leading the team in appearances and finishing with a 3.82 ERA. He has been even better this year, with a 2.11 ERA and a 4-0 record out of the pen.

Tyler Thornburg - RHP/OF - 5'11 175
Charleston Southern
Sophomore

After making solid contributions in two spots as a freshman, Thornburg became a standout at those spots these season. As a pitcher, he made 16 relief appearances and put up a 3.73 ERA with 35 strikeouts in 31.1 innings. As a hitter, he finished with a .292 batting average and a team-high 12 home runs.


Position Players

*Yasmani Grandal - C - 6'2 210 - Miami - Sophomore
Zach Jones - C - 6'0 185 - Stanford - Sophomore
Tobias Streich - C - 6'0 210 - West Virginia - Sophomore
Lyle Allen - OF/1B - 6'3 210 - Georgia - Sophomore
Tim Ferguson - IF - 6'1 184 - Ole Miss - Sophomore
Niko Gallego - IF - 5'11 165 - UCLA - Sophomore
Jedd Gyorko - IF - 5'10 195 - West Virginia - Sophomore
Harold Martinez - IF - 6'3 200 - Miami - Freshman
Tant Shepherd - 3B/OF - 5'11 210 - Texas - Sophomore
Colin Walsh - IF - 6'1 200 - Stanford - Sophomore
Davy Wright - UTIL - 6'1 195 - TCU - Freshman
Stephen Yarrow - IF - 6'4 205 - San Francisco - Sophomore
John Barr - OF - 6'2 190 - Virginia - Sophomore
Mark Canha - OF - 6'2 195 - California - Sophomore
Jarrett Parker - OF - 6'4 205 - Virginia - Sophomore


Yasmani Grandal - C - 6'2 210
Miami
Sophomore

A 27th-round pick out of high school who was projected to go much higher, Grandal split time behind the plate last year but still lived up to much of the hype. Last summer, he played 20 games for Brewster and hit .279. He followed that up with a strong sophomore season, finishing at .299 with 16 home runs and 45 RBI. Grandal has been invited to Team USA.

Zach Jones - C - 6'0 185
Stanford
Sophomore

Jones started every game for Stanford this year but didn't have a great season at the plate. He ended up hitting .239 with three home runs and 26 RBI. Jones was a 45th-round pick out of high school and hit .249 as a freshman.

Tobias Streich - C - 6'0 210
West Virginia
Sophomore

Last year Streich became just the second freshman to serve as West Virginia's everyday catcher and he delivered a solid season. This year, he emerged as one of the top catchers in the Big East, hitting .322 with six home runs and 57 RBI.

Lyle Allen - OF/1B - 6'3 210
Georgia
Sophomore

Allen had a good first season at Georgia and by the end of it, he was the starting left fielder for the Bulldogs in Omaha. This year, Allen hit .255 with five home runs and 23 RBI.

Tim Ferguson - IF - 6'1 184
Ole Miss
Sophomore

Ferguson has had to fight for time in each of his first two years in Oxford but he has made an impression, even without an everyday job. After hitting .289 last year, he led the team with a .358 average this year. He also added 12 extra-base hits, 21 RBI and 18 stolen bases.

Niko Gallego - IF - 5'11 165
UCLA
Sophomore

The son of former Major Leaguer Mike Gallego, Niko has put together two pretty good seasons as UCLA's shortstop. After hitting .317 as a freshman, he hit .279 this season. Though he didn't hit a home run, he knocked in 27, stole six bases and committed just nine errors.

Jedd Gyorko - IF - 5'10 195
West Virginia
Sophomore

Gyorko was a star as a freshman, finishing with a .409 average and eight home runs. He didn't miss a beat this season and even out-did himself. He hit .421 with eight home runs, 28 doubles and 58 RBI, all while dealing with the switch from second base to shortstop. That doubles total was second-best in the country. Gyorko has been invited to Team USA.

Harold Martinez - IF - 6'3 200
Miami
Freshman

Like Grandal last year, Martinez will come to Brewster as a highly-touted Miami freshman. Once thought of as a potential first-round pick, Martinez had some struggles in his senior year of high school and slipped to the 19th round. Miami was happy to welcome him to campus, and he delivered a pretty good freshman season. He hit .270 with nine home runs, 11 doubles and 47 RBI.

Tant Shepherd - 3B/OF - 5'11 210
Texas
Sophomore

Shepherd has been a versatile performer since day one, and he hit .357 as a freshman. This year, his average went down to .264 but he did total 17 extra-base hits.

Colin Walsh - IF - 6'1 200
Stanford
Sophomore

Walsh only got nine starts as a freshman on Stanford's 2008 CWS team, but he was a key player off the bench and he delivered a .323 average. This year, he grabbed a starting job and led the team with a .320 average. He didn't hit a home run but he did have 11 doubles.

Davy Wright - UTIL - 6'1 195
TCU
Freshman

A high-school standout on the hill and at the plate, Wright was rated as one of Texas' top 100 prospects, but he only played in one game this season. Perhaps there was an injury. I haven't been able to find anything.

Stephen Yarrow - IF - 6'4 205
San Francisco
Sophomore

Yarrow didn't see a ton of action as a freshman but was an honorable mention all-league pick last summer in the West Coast Collegiate League. This year, he hit .277 with a team-best 13 home runs and 44 RBI.

John Barr - OF - 6'2 190
Virginia
Sophomore

Barr had a great 2008 season in Charlottesville, leading the Cavaliers in both batting average and on-base percentage. This year, he is hitting .305 for the Omaha-bound Cavaliers.



Jarrett Parker - OF - 6'4 205
Virginia
Sophomore

Parker didn't have as good a freshman season as his teammate Barr, but he has been out-of-this-world this season. A surefire All-Conference and All-America pick, Parker has hit .369 with 16 home runs, 42 extra-base hits, 65 RBI and 19 stolen bases. A potential five-tool talent, Parker has been invited to Team USA.

Mark Canha - OF - 6'2 195
California
Sophomore

After a decent but not spectacular freshman season, Canha burst onto the scene this year in a big way. He ended up leading the Bears in every major offensive category. He hit .366, blasted 12 home runs, totaled 17 doubles and drove in 43. He also led the team with a .444 on-base percentage.

Good news, bad news

The twitter page for Beesball.com, a Georgia Tech baseball web site, is reporting that sophomore shortstop Derek Dietrich will go directly to Wareham this summer, rather than Team USA. The Gatemen twitter page has confirmed the news. Dietrich was on Wareham's roster last year but played for Team USA. He was again on the invite list this year, but apparently has opted for Wareham.

Team USA has added a few more players to the list with Cape connections: Ohio State's Alex Wimmers (Bourne) and Texas Tech's Chad Bettis (Falmouth). That brings the total of invites up to 36, which I think is the final number. If someone replaces Dietrich, then I guess there would be one more.

By my count, 23 of the 36 are on Cape League rosters.

Early Look: Yarmouth-Dennis

YARMOUTH-DENNIS RED SOX
Manager: Scott Pickler
2008 Record:18-25-1

We all knew it had to end at some point. We didn't know it would end like it did last year for the Y-D Red Sox.

After winning back-to-back league championships, the Red Sox never got off the ground last summer and finished with the worst record in the Eastern Division. It shouldn't have been all that surprising. In a summer league with heavy turnover, one year means very little for the next. For a Y-D team with few returnees, that was especially true.

But as unsurprising as it was, I'm guessing it was still jarring for the Y-D camp.

You can bet Scott Pickler and Co. are geared up for a return to form.

Five players are set to come back from last year's squad and they'll team up with a deep group of productive sophomores and some highly-touted freshman. Though the four Team USA invites could take some of the luster off, I think right now, the Red Sox are in better position than they were last year.

The pitching staff struggled last year, with Y-D's best starter posting a 3.43 ERA. If Anthony Ranaudo and Trevor Bauer don't go to Team USA, you've got two potential aces who should be able to better that number. Even if those two are gone, sophomores Chris Sale, Greg Holle, Austin Ross and returnee Tyler Waldron are primed to step in. A couple of big-name freshman, Brett Mooneyham and Michael Palazzone, could also make a big splash.

At the plate, the Red Sox return Josh Rutledge and Andy Wilkins, two players who would have made last year's Cape all-freshman team, if there was such a thing. For all the big bats ticketed for the Cape this summer, few teams have two hitters coming back with solid Cape League track records like Rutledge and Wilkins. When you mix in great seasons from guys like Austin Wates, Derek Ingui, Mickey Wiswall and Nick Santomauro, with the potential for breakout seasons from freshmen like Ben McMahan and Chase Davidson, you've got the makings of a solid lineup.

As is the case for every team, how it all comes together will be the key. In Y-D's championship seasons, the fact that things came together perfectly was as important to the equation as talent.

The Red Sox will be hoping the 2009 equation can yield a similar product.

Roster Rundown
Returning Players: 5
Juniors: 2
Sophomores: 18
Freshmen: 10

Notable

• I think Anthony Ranaudo was one of my five to be excited about last year, but this year, I'm more excited -- and hopeful that he doesn't go to Team USA. Ranaudo has been a prospect for awhile, but he has truly broken out this season. His strikeout numbers alone -- 138 in 102 innings -- make him perhaps the top-performing sophomore pitcher in the country. With those numbers in the book and his 6'7 frame, he'll be one of the most-talked about prospects on the Cape this year if he makes it.


• Ranaudo's teammate Austin Ross is also set to come to Y-D, and he's had a great sophomore season as well. Ross is part of a real solid-looking group of starters on the Y-D roster.


• One member of that group is Chris Sale, who looks like a pretty intriguing prospect. A 6'6 lefty, he put up really good numbers for Florida Gulf Coast this season. I'm sure he's already drawn plenty of attention from scouts, but with a big summer, he'll get even more looks.


• In Trevor Bauer, Brett Mooneyham and Michael Palazzone, the Red Sox have three highly-touted freshman who are currently on different places in the spectrum. Bauer was still in high school for last year's draft but graduated early and promptly became the Pac 10 Freshman of the Year. Mooneyham was a major name in last year's draft and he showed some great flashes this year, with 72 strikeouts in a starting role. Palazzone, another big name for the draft, has sort of been eased in at Georgia, where he didn't make a single start.


• Come draft time, watch for Mike Belfiore's name. From what I've read, Belfiore has some draft helium, so he's likely to go pretty early. If he doesn't sign right away, Y-D will be getting an elite closer.


• Whether Belfiore comes or not, the closer spot should be taken care of. Kevin Rhoderick has been Oregon State's closer for two years, with a lot of success.


• If Cal State Fullerton keeps rolling in the tournament, that probably increases the chance that Christian Colon would end up with Y-D, rather than Team USA. Go Titans? I think so. I saw Colon with Team USA last summer, and he's fun to watch.


• Nick Santomauro will be an interesting player to watch. He's the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year, and by all accounts, he can flat-out hit.


• Chase Davidson was a third-round pick last year, but he didn't have a huge impact in his first year at Georgia. I always like freshman hitters as breakout candidates more than hitters, but a prospect like Davidson could be the exception.


• I wasn't familiar with the names Mickey Wiswall and Austin Wates before I wrote all this up, but maybe I should have been. Both were big-time performers in the ACC.


• Since I haven't finished all the previews, I can't say this for sure, but I think we can pencil in Andy Wilkins as the top returning power hitter in the league.

Five Players I'm Excited to See
1. Anthony Ranaudo
2. Trevor Bauer
3. Andy Wilkins
4. Chris Sale
5. Brett Mooneyham


Pitchers
Trevor Bauer - RHP - 6'1 170 - UCLA - Freshman
*Mike Belfiore - LHP - 6'3 220 - Boston College - Junior
Tyler Burgoon - RHP - 5'10 165 - Michigan - Sophomore
Darrin Campbell - RHP - 6'4 205 - San Diego - RS Sophomore
Danny Coulombe - LHP - 5'11 180 - USA - Freshman
Anthony DeSclafani - RHP - 6'2 175 - Florida - Freshman
Tyler Hess - RHP - 6'5 240 - Pepperdine - Sophomore
Greg Holle - RHP - 6'8 225 - Texas Christian - Sophomore
Brett Mooneyham - LHP - 6'5 230 - Stanford - Freshman
Michael Palazzone - RHP - 6'3 180 - Georgia - Freshman
*Anthony Ranaudo - RHP - 6'7 235 - LSU - Sophomore
Kevin Rhoderick - RHP - 6'0 190 - Oregon State - Sophomore
Austin Ross - RHP - 6'3 190 - LSU - Sophomore
Chris Sale - LHP - 6'6 185 - Florida Gulf Coast - Sophomore
*Tyler Waldron - RHP - 6'1 190 - Oregon State - Sophomore


Trevor Bauer - RHP - 6'1 170
UCLA
Freshman

Bauer came to UCLA without the post-draft hype of fellow freshman pitcher Gerrit Cole, but that's mostly because he wasn't eligible for it: He had just completed his junior year in high school at last year's draft. Bauer was on pace to graduate from high school early, and he took his baseball career with him, enrolling at UCLA in January after graduating high school in December. Now, he'll head to the Cape this summer -- or Team USA -- with his own share of buzz. Bauer ended up with better numbers than Cole in most every category this year, going 9-3 with a team-best 2.99 ERA. He struck out 92 and walked 27 in 105.1 innings, and also finished off four complete games. Those numbers earned Bauer Pac 10 Freshman of the Year honors.

Mike Belfiore - LHP - 6'3 220
Boston College
Junior

Belfiore played for Y-D last year but is listed as a temp this year, probably because he's likely to get drafted in the early rounds. After striking out 21 and walking just four in 14 innings for Y-D last summer, Belfiore served as BC's closer and put up great numbers. He saved nine games and struck out 59 in 48.1 innings. Baseball America has him ranked 89th in the country for the upcoming draft.

Tyler Burgoon - RHP - 5'10 165
Michigan
Sophomore

Burgoon pitched in relief for Michigan this season, turning in a 4-2 record, a 4.86 ERA and three saves. He struck out 32 in 37 innings of work. Burgoon was also a reliever last year, when he finished with an identical 4.86 ERA and five saves.

Darrin Campbell - RHP - 6'4 205
San Diego
RS Sophomore

After redshirting his freshman year, Campbell compiled a 4.08 ERA last year while pitching mostly out of the bullpen. He went for more of a swing role this year, with eight of his 14 appearances coming as starts. He finished the year with a 5.16 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 52.1 innings.

Danny Coulombe - LHP - 5'11 180
USC
Freshman

Coulombe was a 17th-round pick last year who was considered a tough sign. He did indeed honor his commitment to USC, but an injury kept him out for a good chunk of his freshman year. He finished the year with just four appearances. He struck out 13 in eight innings.

Anthony DeSclafani - RHP - 6'2 175
Florida
Freshman

DeSclafani got picked by the Red Sox in the 22nd round of last year's draft, but stuck with Florida, where he's had a decent first season for the Super Regional-bound Gators. Pitching both in relief and in a starting role, DeSclafani went 6-3 with a 4.98 ERA. He struck out 47 and walked 16 in 65 innings.

Tyler Hess - RHP - 6'5 240
Pepperdine
Sophomore

Hess posted good strikeout numbers in his freshman year then was tabbed as the Central Illinois Collegiate League's top prospect last summer, showing off electric stuff. This year, his ERA was high again for the Waves, but he struck out 29 in 24.2 innings. He also walked 21, which goes a long way in explaining the plus-seven ERA.

Greg Holle - RHP - 6'8 225
Texas Christian
Sophomore

As imposing a presence as there is in college baseball, Holle has turned in two solid seasons in Fort Worth. After posting a 4.50 ERA last year, Holle has gone 5-2 with a 3.89 ERA this year, while pitching mostly as a starter. He has tallied 26 strikeouts in 41.2 innings. Holle was a 35th-round pick out of high school.

Brett Mooneyham - LHP - 6'5 230
Stanford
Freshman

Mooneyham was rated by Baseball America as the 78th best prospect in the nation for last year's draft, but his initial scouting report that he might be considered an impossible sign. On draft day, Mooneyham dropped to the 15th round, where San Diego took a shot. Mooneyham did indeed stick with his commitment to Stanford, and he turned in pretty good numbers this season. He finished with a 6-3 record, a 4.14 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 67.1 innings. On the negative side, Mooneyham walked 54.

Michael Palazzone - RHP - 6'3 180
Georgia
Freshman

Palazzone wasn't too far behind Mooneyham in the rankings last year, coming into the draft as the nation's 139th-best prospect, according to Baseball America. He ended up going in the 18th round but opted to head for Georgia. This season, Palazzone pitched exclusively out of the bullpen, and though he finished with a 5.13 ERA, he struck out 43 and walked only 15 in 33.1 innings.

Anthony Ranaudo - RHP - 6'7 235
LSU
Sophomore

An 11th-round pick in 2007, Ranaudo came to LSU with as much hype as any pitcher in the country last year, but he didn't get much of a chance to show off: an injury limited him to 12 innings last season. After LSU's postseason run ended, Ranaudo joined Y-D and didn't have a great summer, finishing with a 6.63 ERA. But this spring, everything has clicked for Ranaudo. With the Tigers heading to a Super Regional, Ranaudo is 9-3 with a 3.09 ERA and 138 strikeouts against 42 walks in 102 innings. That's the third-highest total in the nation, behind Stephen Strasburg and Mike Leake. Pretty good company. Ranaudo has been invited to team USA.

Kevin Rhoderick - RHP - 6'0 190
Oregon State
Sophomore

Rhoderick was on Y-D's roster last summer before making Team USA. He didn't pitch for either team, though, because of an injury. An 18th-round pick in 2007 who earned Freshman All-American honors last year, Rhoderick reprised his role as Oregon State's closer this year and finished with nine saves. He struck out 33 and walked 15 in 23.2 innings.

Austin Ross - RHP - 6'3 190
LSU
Sophomore

Ross had a very good freshman season while pitching out of the bullpen last year, and over the summer, he was picked as the second-best prospect in the Central Illinois Collegiate League. He got off to fantastic start in LSU's rotation, and he's currently toting a 4.94 ERA with 72 strikeouts and 20 walks in 78.1 innings.

Chris Sale - LHP - 6'6 185
Florida Gulf Coast
Sophomore

With his build, Sale certainly carries that projectable tag, and he's got the production to match in his college career, particularly this season. After putting up big strikeout numbers in a relief role as a freshman, Sale moved into the rotation this year and went 7-4 with a 2.72 ERA. He struck out 104 and walked just 27 in 89.1 innings. Last summer, Sale was ranked by PG Crosschecker as the 12th-best prospect in the Northwoods League.

Tyler Waldron - RHP - 6'1 190
Oregon State
Sophomore

After spending his freshman year at Pacific, Waldron pitched for Y-D last year and had a pretty good summer for himself. He ended up making four starts and four relief appearances and finished the season with a 2.92 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 37 innings. He transferred to Oregon State for his sophomore season and went 6-4 with a 4.15 ERA as a weekend starter. He struck out 70 in 93.1 innings.


Position Players

Micah Gibbs - C/1B - 5'11 200 - LSU - Sophomore
Ben McMahan - C - 6'0 201 - Florida - Freshman
Christian Colon - SS - 6'0 180 - Cal State Fullerton - Sophomore
Chase Davidson - INF - 6'5 225 - Georgia - Freshman
Tyler Hanover - 2B/3B - 5'7 165 - LSU - Freshman
Derek Ingui - 3B/OF - 6'2 200 - Franklin Pierce - Sophomore
*Josh Rutledge - INF - 6'1 190 - Alabama - Sophomore
Jake Schlander - INF - 6'2 190 - Stanford - Sophomore
Austin Wates - INF - 6'1 186 - Virginia Tech - Sophomore
Jerico Weitzel - INF - 5'11 185 - Florida - Freshman
*Andy Wilkins - 1B/3B - 6'1 225 - Arkansas - Sophomore
Mickey Wiswall - INF - 6'1 205 - Boston College - Sophomore
Jonathan Jones - OF - 5'11 185 - Long Beach State - Sophomore
Nick Santomauro - OF - 6'2 205 - Dartmouth - Junior
Steven Selsky - OF/3B - 6'1 200 - Arizona - Freshman


Micah Gibbs - C/1B - 5'11 200
LSU
Sophomore

Gibbs was one of the best freshmen in the country last year and he helped carry the Tigers to Omaha, hitting .322 with two home runs and 35 RBI. Last summer, he went with Team USA and hit .264. This spring, Gibbs has batted .291 with six home runs and 38 RBI.

Ben McMahan - C - 6'0 201
Florida
Freshman

McMahan was one of the top prep catchers in the country last year and he got drafted in the 30th round by the Yankees. He decided to head to Florida, where he hasn't had much of a chance to make an impact. He has played in only 18 games and has put up three hits.

Christian Colon - SS - 6'0 180
Cal State Fullerton
Sophomore

A 10th-round pick out of high school, Colon was ticketed for Orleans last summer, but he joined Team USA instead and was the only player to start every game. A defensive wiz, Colon is getting his bat in gear as well. After hitting .263 for Team USA, Colon has hit .351 this spring with seven home runs and 35 RBI. He has been invited to Team USA again.

Chase Davidson - INF - 6'5 225
Georgia
Freshman

Part of a very highly-touted recruiting class, Davidson made it to campus in Athens despite getting picked in the third round of last year's draft. A big left-handed swinger with a high ceiling, Davidson wasn't a regular for the Bulldogs this year. He got 31 starts and hit .231 with three home runs.

Tyler Hanover - 2B/3B - 5'7 165
LSU
Freshman

Hanover was the Gatorade Player of the Year in North Carolina last year and he has made an immediate impact in Baton Rouge. Starting 52 games, Hanover has hit .315 with four home runs and 44 RBI.

Derek Ingui - 3B/OF - 6'2 200
Franklin Pierce
Sophomore

A native of Sterling, Mass., Ingui started college at the University of Tampa but transferred to Franklin Pierce before last season. He has had two very good years for the Ravens. This season, he hit .356 with nine home runs and 47 RBI. He also legged out seven triples and stole 16 bases.

Josh Rutledge - INF - 6'1 190
Alabama
Sophomore

After posting the second-highest average by a freshman in Alabama history, Rutledge delivered a steady summer with Y-D last year. He ended up hitting .294 with a home run and 10 RBI. He had 12 extra-base hits. This spring, Rutledge hit .305 with five home runs and 44 RBI.

Jake Schlander - INF - 6'2 190
Stanford
Sophomore

For the second year in a row, Schlander started every single one of Stanford's games and, also for the second year in a row, he finished with a .232 average. He had 14 extra-base hits, and in the field, made just nine errors.

Austin Wates - INF - 6'1 186
Virginia Tech
Sophomore

After hitting .324 as a freshman, Wates put together a fantastic sophomore season. He hit .397, second on the team, with five home runs, 28 extra-base hits and 42 RBI. He also stole 16 bases and got caught just once. Listed as a utilityman on the Hokies' roster, Wates generally played first base this season.

Jerico Weitzel - INF - 5'11 185
Florida
Freshman

Weitzel was a 27th-round pick out of high school, but like his Gator teammate McMahan, he's had a tough time grabbing a starting job in Gainesville. Weitzel has started only 15 games, though he has become a regular defensive replacement at third base and has seen action in 54 games. He's hitting .208.

Andy Wilkins - 1B/3B - 6'1 225
Arkansas
Sophomore

After getting drafted in the 25th round out of high school, Wilkins delivered a real solid freshman season and carried it over to the Cape, where he hit .271 and led Y-D in home runs and RBI. This spring, Wilkins has been Arkansas' top hitter, with a .329 average, 17 home runs and 51 RBI. All of those are team-bests.

Mickey Wiswall - INF - 6'1 205
Boston College
Sophomore

Boston College's lineup featured '08 Y-D star Tony Sanchez, a likely early-round pick in June, but Wiswall wasn't far behind him in terms of production. While starting at third base, Wiswall hit .320 with 14 home runs, 31 extra-base hits and a team-high 63 RBI. Wiswall is a native of Stoneham, Mass.

Jonathan Jones - OF - 5'11 185
Long Beach State
Sophomore

As a freshman last year Jones posted Long Beach's second-best average and was honorable mention All-Big West. This season, Jones hit .307 with a home run, 23 RBI and 15 stolen bases. Jones is the nephew of Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard.

Nick Santomauro - OF - 6'2 205
Dartmouth
Junior

Santomauro added another chapter to a great career at Dartmouth by taking home Ivy League Player of the Year honors this spring. He hit .372 for the Big Green with eight home runs and 40 RBI. Last summer, Santomauro hit .286 and was an all-star for the Newport Gulls of the NECBL.

Steven Selsky - OF/3B - 6'1 200
Arizona
Freshman

Selsky was a sought-after recruit and he delivered a great first season for the Wildcats. He finished with a .318 average, seven home runs, 17 extra-base hits and 21 RBI.