draft news

The deadline for players picked in the 2007 sraft to sign with major league clubs was yesterday at 11:59 p.m. After it looked for much of the day like several first-rounders wouldn't sign, all of them did. Had they not, it would have been the first time since 2004 that a first-rounder didn't sign.

According to Baseball America's Draft Blog, a deal with Tennessee's Julio Borbon is expected to be announced today, leaving former Yarmouth-Dennis closer Josh Fields as the highest unsigned pick. Fields pitched on the Cape in '06 and won the top reliever award. The righthander was a preseason all-america pick heading into this spring but didn't have his best campaign. He was still drafted with the 69th overall pick (third round) by the Braves. It looks like he'll be back with the Bulldogs for his senior season.

(By the way, I'm getting signed-unsigned info from the Baseball America draft database.)

The highest unsigned pick in last year's draft was pitcher Sean Black, who was taken 59th. Black ended up at Seton Hall and pitched briefly for Harwich this summer.

Some other draft tidbits with Cape League connections:

• It appears that Y-D's Scott Green did not sign with the Boston Red Sox. Green was a 15th-round pick after this his redshirt sophomore season, and the Cape Cod Times reported Tuesday that Green had taken a physical with Boston and that "There's a lot of interest on both sides right now." But as of this posting, Green is still listed as unsigned. From what I can gather, that's not entirely unexpected in baseball circles. This from a July 12 PG Crosschecker article by Allan Simpson: "The Red Sox took a flier on the University of Kentucky’s oft-injured righthander Scott Green in the 15^th round amidst speculation that Green has a chance to become a first-rounder in 2008 with another year in college." So there you go. The summer Green had can only help his cause in next year's draft.
  

• Green's rotation-mates in Y-D also went unsigned. As The College Baseball Blog reported early yesterday, Terry Doyle, who was a 21st round pick of the Dodgers, will be back for his senior year at Boston College. Eddie Burns, a 16th-round pick of the Braves, is listed as unsigned and will be back at Georgia Tech next year.

• A side note. Pretty amazing that Y-D had three draft picks in its starting rotation -- and three who will probably be higher picks next year. Sometime down the road, that Y-D team will have a lot of players in professional baseball.

• Dominic de la Osa, a 10th round pick by the Tigers, is expected back at Vanderbilt for his senior season. De la Osa had a big summer for Wareham in '06, upping his draft stock, but returned the Cape this summer and struggled mightily.

• Former Georgia tech star and Cape League Top Pro Prospect Matt Wieters received the largest up-front bonus in draft history. The catcher was the fifth overall pick in the draft by the Orioles and signed a $6 million bonus. Wieters hit .307 with eight home runs for Orleans last summer.

• The highest pick in the '07 draft who played on the Cape this summer was South Carolina pitcher Wynn Pelzer, who was drafted in the ninth round by San Diego. Pelzer made three starts for Orleans before getting hit with a line drive and fracturing his kneecap. Pelzer left the Cape but still ended up signing with the Padres.

• Falmouth's Matt Hague, an 11th-round pick of the Indians, did not sign and will be back on a college campus for his senior year. It's not clear where. Hague was at Washington but it has been reported that he will transfer.
  

Here's a list of some of the top high school players who went unsigned (or were still listed as unsigned on Thursday). A lot of these guys -- if they honor their committment to four-year colleges -- will end up on the Cape, possibly next summer:

Second Round

• Hunter Morris - OF - Auburn (Highest Unsigned High Schooler)
  

Third Round

• Tommy Toledo - RHP - Florida
• Brandon Workman - RHP - Texas
• Derek Dietrich - 3B - Georgia Tech
• Matt Harvey - RHP - North Carolina

Fourth Round

• Garrett Nash - SS/OF - Oregon State
• Brett Eibner - RHP - Arkansas

Fifth Round

• Kyle Blair - RHP -San Diego
• John Gast - LHP - Florida State
  

wrapping up y-d's title

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A few more notes on the Cape League championship.

• In looking at the team stats for the playoffs, the thing that stands out is Y-D's pitching. The Red Sox team ERA in four playoff games was exactly 1.00, by far the best mark of any playoff team. Y-D used seven pitchers. Only two of them gave up runs -- Terry Doyle and Eddie Burns -- and they gave up just two apiece in more than six innings. Trevor Holder and Scott Green started the other two games and neither allowed a run. The bullpen, which had been somewhat of a question mark during the season, shined when it counted. D.J. Mauldin pitched 4.1 scoreless innings and Nick Cassavechia went three scoreless innings, picking up one save.
  

• The best pitching performance, though, belongs to Holder. The sophomore from Georgia went eight innings in game two of the championship series, struck out 10, walked two and didn't allow a run. He earned playoff MVP honors, and they were well-deserved. I looked back at the pitching performances in championship series deciding games and Holder's is by far the best in the last four years (I wanted to go back further but earlier years don't have full playoff stats online). Holder's performance rivals any regular playoff start, too. Only Riley Boening can stake claim to a better game. Wareham's Boening struck out 14 in a complete-game shutout in last year's first round. For Holder, the playoff start capped a remarkable finish. After coming out of the bullpen most of the year, Holder made three starts near the end of the regular season and in those games, he allowed just two runs in 19.2 innings. When you add in the playoff start, Holder's numbers for the season look like this: 5-1, .71 ERA, 38 K, 10 BB, .167 OPP Avg., 1.06 WHIP. So maybe it wasn't a complete surprise that Holder dominated in the championship. But still amazing. As noted in the Cape Cod Times, Holder and Gordon Beckham -- his summer and college teammate -- planned to leave for Georgia right after Tuesday's game. It must have been a fun ride.
  

• The Y-D offense wasn't hitting quite as often as it did in the regular season, but it was just as powerful. Of Y-D's 26 post-season hits, six were home runs. Grant Green had two hits in 12 at-bats, but both were home runs. Beckham, Romero, Castro and Collin Cowgill also had home runs.
  

• When closer Nick Cassavechia struck out Aja Barto to end Tuesday's game, he must have known what the other dugout was feeling. Cassavechia pitched last year for Wareham, the team Y-D beat for the 2006 title. Cassavechia pitched late in game three of the '06 championship series, when Y-D already had a 5-1 lead.
  

• As commenter Colonel Sanders suggested on Codball, Y-D's Terry Doyle may someday be a Cape League Hall of Famer, with his performance in game one of the championship series further cementing that status. The big right-hander has pitched two summers on the Cape. Last year, he was the co-pitcher of the year after going 5-1 with a 2.89 ERA. After a so-so college season this spring and a lower-than-expected draft spot, Doyle returned to the Cape and started slow. But he finished strong and ended up with a better ERA than he had last year (2.33) to go along with six wins, which tied him for the league lead. In addition to those season numbers, Doyle also has a no-hitter to his name, which he threw last summer, and two playoff victories. He won game three of last year's championship series.
  

• With the deadline to sign fast approaching (the next hour, in fact), there's still no word on whether Y-D's Scott Green has inked a deal with the Boston Red Sox, who drafted him in the 15th round. If he doesn't sign, he'll head back to Kentucky and, based on his Cape summer, will be a much higher pick next year.

• Y-D had a lot of veterans but also eight guys coming off their freshman seasons, most notbaly Grant Green and Sean Ochinko. You can bet a lot of those eight will be back next summer, keeping the tradition going.
  

y-d wins cape league title

The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox put together one of the best offensive seasons in recent Cape Cod Baseball League history. They hit .278 as a team, an almost unheard-of number. They hit 41 home runs in the regular season, almost double any other team’s total. And they scored 241 runs in 44 games, an average of more than five a game.

Who knew they’d win their second consecutive league championship on a bunt?

With the bases loaded in the eighth inning of a scoreless game Tuesday night in Falmouth, Nick Romero put down a perfect suicide squeeze against flame-throwing closer Luke Burnett, scoring Buster Posey and sending Y-D on its way to a 2-0 victory and a championship series sweep.

In a way, it was strangely fitting. The team that did everything all season added one more thing to the list. Win a pitchers’ duel without a big hit? No problem.

The victory secured the 2007 Red Sox’ legacy as one of the best teams in Cape League history. They finished with 35 wins and just 12 losses. In the process, they built on the tremendous amount of success Y-D has had in recent years. The title is the Red Sox’ third in four summers.

Some people say Y-D can’t be called a dynasty because this is a summer league, because the turnover in players is so great. But that’s a narrow definition of a dynasty, one that applies to other leagues. If you tweak the definition and you believe a dynasty can happen on the Cape, then this? This is a dynasty.

The latest chapter closed with a flourish. The Red Sox were the most complete team on the Cape all summer, and if it’s possible to be something more than complete, that’s what the Red Sox were in the playoffs. The offense scored 18 runs in four games, hitting six home runs in the process. The pitching staff allowed just five runs and tossed two shutouts. And The defense made only two errors.

On the final night, the heroes represented exactly how this Y-D team – and all these Y-D teams – succeeded. Trevor Holder and Nick Romero – they were the solid players. Holder put up great numbers, yes, but he did it in a number of different roles. And Romero wasn’t one of the team’s top hitters, just an anchor in the lineup and a rock at third base.

For all the stars the Red Sox lineup boasts, it’s players like Holder and Romero who lay the foundation for the team’s success. Every team on the Cape has a handful of stars. Very few teams have solid players at every position.

The Red Sox did, and it’s why they finished off Falmouth with a sweep.

Holder was dominant from the get-go. A reliever-turned starter, the sophomore righty from Georgia was stretched out more than he had been all season and it suited him just fine. He allowed just one hit in eight innings, matching all-star Christian Friedrich scoreless frame for scoreless frame.

And thanks to Romero, Holder was a winner. After a walk to Buster Posey and a double by Jason Castro in the top of the eighth, Burnett struck out Gordon Beckham for the first out then intentionally walked Aaron Luna to load the bases. Y-D manager Scott Pickler called for the squeeze and Romero delivered, bunting a Burnett fastball to a perfect spot. Y-D added another run on a passed ball, but it was Romero’s bunt that won the game. It had to be gratifying for Romero – and for everyone in the dugout. Romero, a sophomore from San Diego State, is one of the guys you love. He plays every day. He won’t ever let you down with his glove. And every once in a while, he’ll come up very big with the bat. Romero was an unsung hero all year. He should be unsung no more.

With a 2-0 lead, Y- D turned to closer Nick Cassavechia, the league’s top reliever. He didn’t disappoint in the ninth, working around a one-out double and striking out two straight to end the game.

That launched the celebration, and it was undoubtedly a big one. In a summer league, where players are as concerned – and rightfully so – with showcasing their own skills as they are with team success, the Red Sox have separated themselves by establishing a tradition and challenging every season’s crop of players to live up to it. The entire organization gets players believing that winning a Cape League title means something. They assemble a talented group, certainly. You don’t win three titles in four years in a stacked league without talent. But getting players to buy into team success is a big part of the formula.

And that formula, it just keeps working.

(I’ll have more on this game and on Y-D’s season later this week. Also, the Cape League summer may be done but I am not. I’ve got tons of wrap-up things to do, including seasons in review for each team, my own all-league teams, some final extra stats, a final top 50 players list, a closer look at the award winners, final stats sorted by position and a lot more. So keep checking back in the coming weeks. I'll also be doing regular updates on various topics throughout the year.)

y-d vs. falmouth, game two

I'm listening online so here are some updates.

7:27 - Middle of the second inning, the score is 0-0. Christian Friedrich couldn't find the strike zone in the top of the second and loaded the bases but got out of it.

8:09 - Still scoreless (I think -- they haven't said a score in a while). Y-D starter Trevor Holder has struck out five and allowed only one hit.

8:19 - Christian Friedrich just got out of a tough jam in the top of the fifth by striking out Jason Castro and Gordon Beckham. Those are two very good hitters in a a very big spot, and Friedrich didn't blink. Still no score. Sounds like a great game.

8:20 - Brett Graffy on for Friedrich in the top of the sixth. Still 0-0.

8:44 - Top of the seventh. No score.

8:50 - Trevor Holder still on the mound for Y-D. He's allowed only one hit, and it was apparently a blooper.

9:00 - Falmouth put two on in the bottom of the seventh but Holder struck out Jeremy Farrell looking to end the inning.

9:04 - By the way, the link to listen is www.leaguestream.com

9:05 - A walk to Buster Posey and a double by Jason Castro puts runners on second and third for Y-D in the top of the eighth.

9:06 -Fireballer Luke Burnett on to face Gordon Beckham.

9:07 - Beckham strikes out. Still just one out. Intentional walk to Aaron Luna, loading the bases.

9:13 - Wow. A bases-loaded suicide squeeze against a gut with a 95-mph fastball. Nick Romero gets the bunt down. Buster Posey scores. 1-0 Y-D.

9:14 - Jason Castro scores on a passed ball. 2-0, top of the eighth.

9:20 - Falmouth gets out of the inning, but damage done. Y-D leads 2-0 and Holder is still pitching.

9:23 - 1-2-3 inning for Holder. To the ninth.

9:37 - No insurance. Still 2-0. Closer Nick Cassavechia on to finish it.

9:38 - Falmouth making things interesting. Phil Carey gets a one-out double.

9:40 - David Adams goes down swinging. Two outs. Aja Barto due up.

9:42 - Cassavechia strikes out Barto. Y-D wins it. Two straight titles. Three in four years. Recap coming very shortly.

y-d takes game one

It looks like the Y-D Red Sox moved one step closer to their second consecutive championship, beating Falmouth 8-2 today in game one of the finals series. I wasn't there and the score is about the only information I can find right now, but I'll have more when it becomes available.

Update (9:07 p.m.): Check out the codball.com recap. It looks like Y-D kept up the power display as Grant Green hit a pair of home runs. The victory is Y-D's 34th this season. What I'm not sure about is whether the playoff victories count in the record books. If they do, Y-D just set the new mark, but I'm thinking it might be a regular-season wins record. The 1979 Hyannis Mets hold the record with 33. I'm going to try to find out for sure whether playoff wins count, but if anybody knows, feel free to post a comment.

Game two is tomorrow in Falmouth at 7 p.m. Y-D will go with reliever-turned starter Trevor Holder and his .89 ERA. Falmouth counters with Christian Friedrich, one of the top strikeout pitchers in the league.

yd and falmouth sweep into finals

(Two very good games tonight and two sweeps. Falmouth beat Bourne 5-3 and Y-D bested Chatham 4-0. The finals begin Monday at Y-D at 3 p.m. Here's my recap of the Y-D vs. Chatham game.)

The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox only had four hits.

Three of them went a long way.

The dynamic Red Sox offense -- which led the league in home runs by a wide margin -- put its power on full display as Gordon Beckham, Nick Romero and Jason Castro homered to turn a pitchers' duel into a 4-0 victory. Scott Green, D.J. Mauldin and Nick Cassavechia combined to shut out Chatham and give the defending champion Red Sox a return trip to the title series.

Before the game, Chatham's Tom Milone was presented with the league's Outstanding Pitcher award, and the USC lefty showed why in six of the first seven innings.

But the first inning did him in. Milone struck out two but sandwiched in between was a base hit by Buster Posey. That put a man on for Beckham, who didn't waste the chance. He just had to be a little patient.

Beckham ripped the first pitch he saw from Milone down the left-field line. It would have been gone, but the ball hooked foul. Two pitches later, Beckham didn't hook it, this time crushing a two-run blast.

Milone was simply dominant from there, retiring 19 of the next 20 batters he faced and not allowing a hit until a solo home run by Romero in the eighth. He struck out nine, and his dominance kept Chatham in the game.

Green didn't let the A's any further in. The 6'8" righty from Kentucky allowed three hits and struck out seven in 6.1 innings. He got himself into a handful of jams, but worked through each and every one. In the first, Chatham put two men on before Green got three quick outs. In the fourth, Green stranded Jermaine Curtis at third, striking out Jeremy Synan to do it. And in the sixth, with runners on first and second, Green got Allan Dykstra to line out then struck out Tim Federowicz to end the inning. In the seventh, Green hit Zach Putnam with one out, the impetus for a call to the bullpen. Mauldin came in and after falling behind 3-1 to Sean O'Brien, he started a strike-'em-out, throw-'em-out inning-ending double play.

Chatham got another baserunner in the eighth when Addison Johnson lined a one-out single to right, but Mauldin struck out Kyle Seager and got a little help from his defense to get Curtis. Romero went to his left at third base to make a diving stop and came up firing to get Curtis for the final out of the inning.

Y-D added an insurance run on Castro's line-drive home run off Kevin Couture, but closer Nick Cassavechia didn't need the extra help. After hitting Federowicz with one out, Cassavechia got Synan to ground into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play.

NOTES

• The crowd in Chatham was huge. I would have taken a picture but I didn't have my camera. I can tell you the hill in right field was almost completely covered, the fences down both lines had people standing two-deep and everybody in the bleachers was squeezed in tight. I didn't hear a crowd estimate, but I'm going to guess 5,000. They didn't announce what the 50/50 prize was but it had to be way up there. I only know I did not win.

• Green and Milone were both completely dominant. They both flashed great control and consistently got ahead. The difference in the two was in what the hitters were doing. Against Green, they were flailing. He generated dozens of swings-and-misses. Against Milone, on the other hand, the hitters were frozen. He used his big curveball to get ahead and Y-D's hitters rarely swung at it. Since he almost always threw it for strikes, hitters were constantly in a hole.

• A draft-eligible sophomore, Green was a 15th-round pick of the Boston Red Sox this spring and he has until Wednesday to sign. If he was looking for a sweeter deal by pitching on the Cape, he may have gotten it. His performance Sunday was the finishing touch on a spectacular summer.
  

• As for Milone, I've got to think he'll be high on draft boards next year. I'm not sure he throws that hard, but he seems to have a great feel for pitching. His control was among the best in the league this summer -- 46 strikeouts and just 7 walks. Those numbers are similar to the ones put up by James Simmons last summer, and Simmons was a first-round pick. Milone has the added advantage of being a lefty.

• Sean Ochinko didn't play tonight. He apparently has an elbow bruise. Not sure if he'll miss any more time, but if anybody can make up for the loss of a .300 hitter with eight home runs, it's Y-D. The Red Sox have some ridiculous depth. Grant Green, who's been the ultimate utility-man this year while hitting .291, started at first in Ochinko's place.
  

• Speaking of depth, it's amazing how much Y-D manager Scott Pickler juggles the lineup. In trying to put together those previews earlied in the week, I looked back through old box scores to figure out Y-D's probable starters. I failed. The lineups were never the same, which is unusual for a very good team. But Pickler, I guess, pushes all the right buttons.

• The Cape Cod Times is reporting on its Insider Blog that Falmouth's Conor Gillaspie is heading home tomorrow and won't play in the finals. That really hurts Falmouth's chances, but honestly, I'm not sure those chances were that great anyway. This was my first chance to see Y-D, and they are impressive in every facet of the game. A complete team if there ever was one. I can't see them losing two out of three, even against Falmouth's starting pitchers.
  

playoffs today

Y-D and Falmouth will take the field looking for a first-round sweep, with two of the league's best starters on the mound in Scott Green and Kyle Gibson. But the guys on the other side are no slouches either. Lefty Tom Milone and his 46:7 strikeout-to-walk ratio goes for Chatham while Rick Zagone -- who threw a complete-game shutout in his last start -- takes the ball for Bourne.

Should be a fun night.

Y-D at Chatham, 7 p.m., Veterans Field
Bourne at Falmouth, 7 p.m., Guv Fuller Field

I'll be at the Chatham game so if you want a recap check back late tonight.