Author: Will Geoghegan

LAST NIGHT

• More fog in Chatham kept John Schiffner’s chase on hold.
• Y-D won its sixth consecutive with a 3-0 decision over Brewster. In his second start for Y-D, Jerry Sullivan tossed seven shutout innings. Brewster’s playoff chances take a hit with the loss, though the Whitecapes aren’t out of it.
• Orleans and Harwich ended in a tie when the fog rolled in at Eldredge Field. Brett Jacobson turned in a dominant performance for the Mariners, striking out 15 and walking just one in six innings. If you’re doing the math, he recorded all but three outs by strikeout. I’ll try to look this up later, but I don’t remember that many strikeouts in a game this season.
• Falmouth beat Cotuit for the second night in a row and moved six points ahead of third-place Hyannis, which lost to Bourne. Falmouth’s David Adams went 3-for-5 and and had two steals to back Christian Friedrich, who allowed just one earned run in five innings. In Bourne’s victory, four relievers combined for seven shutout innings.

TONIGHT

• No games scheduled as the all-stars travel to Fenway Park to be recognized at a Red Sox game. Should be an awesome night for those guys.

An interesting topic has cropped up on the Cape League Insider Blog and on Codball. Russ Charpentier of the Cape Cod Times reported on the Insider blog that Matt Hall has decided to leave the Bourne Braves early, and that closer Jordan Flasher may soon take the same route.

These early departures seem to happen every year. With the all-star game in the books, a lot of scouts have packed up. The school year starts soon. It’s hot and humid. And with 60 college games and 40 Cape League games under their belts, the fatigue is really creeping in. Other reasons specific to individual players can motivate an early exit, as well.

All of it’s understandable, but it still kind of sucks. As fans, we want the Cape League season to mean something on a grand scale, and undoubtedly it means something to us. When a player skips out, it’s a reminder that, to some of the guys in uniform, it doesn’t mean as much.

I’m not saying Hall and Flasher are in that group. I don’t know them. They may have perfectly good reasons for leaving. It may be what’s best for them right now, and who can begrudge them that? But as players who are leaving early, they represent a larger issue.

It’s sort of an ever-present tug of war, I think. A summer league is about development. It’s about exposure. And it’s about showcasing yourself. With its tradition and prestige, the Cape League has always added winning to the list. Thousands of fans show up, and they care. Dozens of volunteers for each team devote countless hours to the cause, and they care, too. Coaches could have taken a summer off, but they’re on the Cape, and they care.

Unfortunately, there will always be players who don’t.

I’ll never forget a few years ago when I looked at the end-of-season awards list. The top prospect was a guy who had pitched for Chatham. I was shocked. I’d followed the A’s most of the summer, and I didn’t remember him at all. Did I just miss him? Well, no. He barely pitched. That’s the way he wanted it — give his arm some rest, pitch on the nights when the right people were watching, show the scouts just enough. His summer wasn’t about helping the team, it was about helping himself.

You can’t really blame him. You’ve got a million dollar arm, you do what you can to make sure you get a million dollars for it, even if it means being selfish and looking out only for yourself.

The question, though, is does that attitude ever fade? If that kind of player makes the Major Leagues — his ultimate destination — can he really change everything he’s always done? Can he sacrifice his own career goals for team goals? Or will he stick with what got him there? Always thinking about the next contract, working hard just so he can make more money.

I don’t know the answers. In some sense, you have to do what’s best for yourself. When Ricky Williams quit the Miami Dolphins, I had no problem with it. There were drug issues, obviously, but I still think his intentions were true. He didn’t want to play anymore. He wanted to live his life, and he didn’t want football to be a part of it.

I couldn’t blame him. He’s a free spirit who clearly didn’t feel like the NFL was where he was supposed to be. Yes, he had team obligations, but at some point, those have to take a backseat. It bothered me when Williams was so roundly criticized in the media. How could sports columnists say what was right for someone they didn’t really know. If I apply the same logic to the Cape League, I shouldn’t be the least bit upset that players want to skip out early.

But I am.

I think it goes back to the Cape League and its meaning. To me — and to all of us who follow it — the Cape League is something special. It’s bigger than the players, bigger than the teams, bigger than all of us. I saw my first baseball game in Chatham. I was six months old. I may have slept through it and we may have only stayed three innings, but still. That’s special. The top 19-and 20-year-old players in the world all want to play on a tiny stretch of land, on high school fields, for nothing. That’s special. Families welcome those players into their homes and end up with practially adopted sons. That’s special. Pepper games during fog delays. That’s special. Baseball, pure baseball. That’s special.

That’s why it hurts when some players don’t see that. They’ve been conditioned. To strive for greatness in athletics requires a constant eye to the future. It’s the destination, then the next destination and the next. The journey too often takes a backseat. Some players don’t realize that this one step on their journey — this one summer on the Cape — could be as great as any other step, maybe even better.

Some of them don’t realize that it’s special.

But as long as we keep believing that it is, keep showing up in droves, keep supporting the players, keep loving Cape League baseball, the players who get it — the ones who just want to play all day, the ones who sleep with their bats, the ones who love the smell of the glove and the sound their spikes make when they walk off the field, the ones who would give anything for one more day, one more game — they’ll believe it, too.

Every once in a while, the batting leaderboard in a Cape League summer will have some gaudy averages. And every once in a while, the batting average leaderboard will have some home run hitters.

Rarely, do the two happen in the same year.

It’s happening this year. Look at the top 10 hitters. All but two of them have at least three home runs.

With stats through Monday, July 30, the total number of home runs hit by the top 10 hitters was 37. I looked back through the archives on the Cape league’s official site, and that’s the highest number of the last eight years, which is as far back as the online archives go.

The numbers were close last year and in 2004, but it was deceiving. Both of those years, one player in the top 10 hit 11 home runs. The rest were hovering around two.

This year is unique because of the balance. Nearly everyone on the list is hitting home runs.

That might lead you to believe the average numbers are down. But they’re not. In fact, they’re way up from the last two seasons.

What’s to account for it? Who knows? Maybe the pitching depth isn’t quite there this year.

Or maybe there are some really good hitters wearing Cape League uniforms.

Hot start vs. strong finish

Players who start hot and cool down still draw more attention than a player who starts cold and heats up. You can remember when the player had the hot start and you can overlook the rough finish. In much the same way, you remember the other player’s bad start and sometimes, the hot finish isn’t enough to make you take notice. The stats were bad enough to start with.

So, to recognize a few guys who have done reasonably well lately but still won’t appear on leaderboards, here’s a look. The starting point for all these batting averages is July 15. So, essentially, we’re looking at two weeks.

Addison Maruszak, Bourne – 7-for-16 – from .227 to .268
Mitch Moreland, Bourne – 12 of 38 – from .237 to .276
Curtis Dupart, Cotuit – 6 of 15 – from .196 to .242
Josh Harrison, Cotuit – 9 of 29 – from .253 to .267
David Adams, Falmouth – 18 of 52 – from .245 to .292
Alex Avila, Harwich – 11 of 35 – from .189 to .223
Johnny Giavotella, Harwich – 14 of 43 – from .264 to .287
Joey Gonzales, Harwich – 12 of 37 – from .263 to .293
Brandon Crawford, Orleans – 9 of 38 – from .169 to .193
Nate Freiman, Orleans – 12 of 38 – from .250 to .267
Aaron Luna, Y-D – 8 of 21 – from .222 to .292
Joey Railey, Y-D – 7 of 25 – from .215 to .233

Looking at .300 hitters

A lot of people are talking about how many .300 hitters there are this year, so I thought I would count. Through Monday’s stats, there were 15. That doesn’t seem like that many in a league of 12o-some odd hitters, but it is. The top 10 hitters list often includes guys in the .280-.290 range.

Quickly

• Aaron Crow’s ERA went up yesterday. He allowed one run.
• The catching crop on the Cape really seemed to hit the dog days hard. All-star starters Robert Stock and Buster Posey — who, at the time of selection, had solid numbers — both had averages in the .240’s by the time the game rolled around. Others have struggled, too, and I think it’s reasonable to assume that a full summer of catching can take its toll more than a full summer of playing in the field. In the end, it may end up being a weak summer for catchers on the Cape, though I don’t think it will amount to a weak year. Posey and Stock are major prospects, and several other catchers are, too. The catchers on the Cape may not have as much luck as several of last year’s backstops — four Cape catchers were first-round or supplemental first-round picks — I think they’ll do alright for themselves.
• I just checked the Chatham A’s web site, and it appears they were fogged out for the second-straight night, once again putting John Schiffner’s chase for the all-time wins record on hold . . . it also is going to put the squeeze on the A’s in the stretch run, I would think. They may be rusty, too, whenever they finally get going. If they play Wednesday, the A’s will have had four days off, unheard of in a Cape League summer.

Name: Jason Castro
Class: 2009
College: Stanford
Cape Team: Yarmouth-Dennis ’07
Position: First Base/Catcher/Designated Hitter
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 215

Summer ’07:
July 31 – Castro has been a major surprise on the Cape this summer, not because he came out of nowhere, but because he struggled mightily in the spring, hitting just .167 for Stanford. But he has turned things completely around on the Cape. He leads the league in hitting with a .373 average and he has four home runs.

Looking Back:
Before the rocky season in ’07, Castro hit .283 with three home runs as a freshman. Last summer, he hit .286 in the Alaska League.

Links:
Scout’s honor: Talking prospects with the folks who know (Cape Cod Times – July 29, 2007)

LAST NIGHT

• Chatham manager John Schiffner’s quest for the league record in career victories will have to wait another night. Fog crept in to Veterans Field last night, postponing the Bourne-Chatham game until Thursday. Schiffner has 334 career victories, tied for first in the modern era.
• Y-D became the first team to clinch a playoff spot, winning its fifth straight with a 9-1 victory over Orleans. Scott Green was lights-out for Y-D, allowing two hits and striking out 10 in six shutout innings. Buster Posey went 3-for-4, with a home run, three RBI and two runs.
• Brewster did what it needed to keep its playoff hopes alive with a 3-2 victory over Wareham. The Whitecaps scored the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth when steals leader Blake Tekotte broke for second in a first-and-third situation. The throw to second got away, allowing Michael Marseco to score from third. Brewster is now four points back of Chatham for second.
• Hyannis beat Harwich and Falmouth bested Cotuit in 12 innings, keeping the race for second in the West exactly where it was. Jason Franzblau allowed one earned in 5.1 innings and the Mets scored six runs in the sixth for the 8-3 win. Falmouth’s Aaron Crow allowed one hit and one run in six innings and the Commodores got an RBI single by Chris Hopkins in the 12th to win it.
• Jason Castro took over the league batting average lead with a 2-for-4 night. He’s now hitting .372. Falmouth’s Conor Gillaspie took an 0-for-4, dropping his mark to .357.

TONIGHT

• Falmouth plays Cotuit for the second straight night while Hyannis hosts first-place Bourne
• Chatham goes against Wareham and starter Andy Oliver, who has the best opponents batting average in the league
• Brewster hosts Y-D and Orleans welcomes Harwich

Name: Aaron Crow
Class: 2009
College: Missouri
Cape Team: Falmouth ’07
Position: Right-handed pitcher
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 201

Summer ’07:
July 31 – Crow has been the most dominant pitcher on the Cape this summer. He has a .67 ERA with 36 strikeouts and nine walks in 40.1 innings. Crow also started the all-star game for the West and earned MVP honors after striking out the side in the first inning. With a mid-90s fastball, Crow is one of the top prospects on the Cape, and he has the stats to match his arm.

Looking Back:
Crow was the Friday starter and a workhorse for Missouri. He went 9-4 with a 3.59 ERA and struck out 90 in 117.2 innings.

Yes, that’s what I’m going to do. I was going to just post all this stuff together, but I may as well do it as I watch NESN’s tape delay of the all-star game. So, inning by inning.

First Inning

• I knew it must have been an impressive show for Aaron Crow to win the MVP award after pitching the first inning, and it was. He struck out the side and was in complete control of every at-bat. By my rough count, he needed just 15 pitches to do it.
• Eddie Burns touches 92, says Y-D manager Scott Pickler. Slider is his out pitch. His motion is really fluid for a guy that big (6’8″). Burns had surgery before this spring, and is just now getting healthy. I’ve got to think he’ll be a reasonably high draft pick next year.
• Reese Havens is a bigger kid than I realized. You can see why he’s got power. He just crushed a long single off the wall.
• Conor Gillaspie doesn’t use batting gloves, which is awesome. His swing reminds me of Chase Utley.
• Great sliding catch by Charlie Cutler, the starting left-fielder. He’s not really even an outfielder. Twenty games into the season, he had played 15 games at catcher and five in the outfield. He’s playing more in the outfield now, but he’s certainly versatile.

Second Inning

• Robert Stock, who skipped his senior year of high school to enroll at USC, does look pretty young, in terms of upper body size. He’ll grow.
• Aja Barto has an Alex Rios look about him. Maybe it’s the height.
• Mike Colla is a big kid.
• Gordon Beckham just made a solid play at shortstop. I’ve read that his defense could be a question, but he looked fine on that one. And if he keeps hitting, they’ll find a position for him.

Third Inning

• As NESN points out, Wareham last hosted the all-star game in 1999. Players in that game included Garrett Atkins, Chase Utley, Mark Teixeira, David DeJesus and Lance Niekro.
• Jason Castro apparently has a slight arm injury, which is why he didn’t get the start at catcher.
• You can really see that this is a pitchers’ game. They’re only going one inning so they really come out firing. You better swing or you’re falling behind.
• Nick Cassavechia looks like he has a lot of movement on his pitches. Coming from a sidearm angle, he’s got to be tough on righties. He sort of reminds me of Huston Street, though I don’t think he throws as hard as Street.
• Beckham makes another solid play.
• Havens really turned on an inside pitch for a hit-and-run single. He’s looked very good at the plate in two at-bats.
• Prediction: The East scores three runs in the top of the fourth.

Fourth Inning

• I know Christian Friedrich struggled in this game, but his curveball is a nice looking pitch. It’s true 12-to-6 like Barry Zito’s or Rich Hill’s.
• This is a solid broadcast from NESN but a radar gun reading would have been a nice addition.
• Yonder Alonso took the curveball the other way. In the one game I saw Alonso in person, he went the other way twice. That’s got to be a good thing.
• Alonso clearly would have been out on the throw home if Stock had handled it. It took one hop and he almost ended up blocking it.
• Things really unraveled in a short stretch for Friedrich. All of the happenings came on a series of seven pitches, and Friedrich was actually ahead of Raben 0-2 before throwing a wild pitch to let Beckham score. Raben homered on the next pitch.
• As the announcers say, this would have been a much different inning had the West gotten Alonso at home.
• That curveball is nasty. Allan Dykstra just looked real bad striking out on it. Friedrich, I’m sure, wasn’t happy that he struggled a bit on such a big stage, but I think he’ll be fine.
• T.J. Hose, we’ve been informed, has a high 80’s two-seam fastball, a changeup and a curve. Clearly, he’s a guy with a good feel for pitching to have the success he’s had.
• The color commentator, by the way, is Jim Beattie, the former Expos general manager
• Gillaspie flashed some speed on a ground ball to first. They may have called it an error on a bad toss from Alonso to the pitcher covering, but Gillaspie might have beaten it anyway.

Fifth Inning

• Cole Figueroa is definitely a good hitter. His average has dipped lately, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see him finish strong.
• Gillaspie has the arm to play third, I’d say. It should be clear by now that I think Conor Gillaspie is awesome. This opinion will not change, which is one of many reasons I would make a terrible scout. Things like hitting without batting gloves and wearing high socks are crucial in my evaluations.
• Kyle Gibson is certainly in that projectible category. At 6’5″, he’s very lanky and looks like he can definitely add some weight.
• Impressive inning for Matt Couch, who looks like he has real good stuff.
• Blake Tekotte can run, whether it’s on the bases or in the outfield.

Sixth Inning

• Interesting topic brought up by Beattie, who notes that the professional ranks use a baseball with lower seams than the one used in amateur ball. It makes a big difference, I guess, with pitchers suddenly not having breaking balls that are quite as sharp when they make the jump to the pros.
• Jordan Flasher doesn’t look imposing but he got the job done in this game, just as he has all year in the closer’s role for Bourne.
• James Darnell’s home run was an opposite field shot. He’s a guy who’s not hitting for average on the Cape — he has done it in college — but he’s definitely got the power stroke. I would venture a guess that some of his power comes from his legs, which are large.
• Evan Crawford hasn’t shaved all summer. Spectacular.

Seventh Inning

• Jason Castro has great numbers, of course, and he has the look of a big prospect. He’s taller than I thought and he got down the line very quickly on a groundout. I’m not sure if scouts think he projects as a catcher, but if he does, his value will skyrocket.
• With Wade Miley on the mound, it’s interesting to note that he and Friedrich –the league strikeout leaders — are both lefthanders.
• Corey Young has a real sidearm delivery, which is something you usually don’t see in starting pitchers.
• NESN did a quick interview with Cotuit manager Mike Roberts, who made an interesting comment. He said, “This is the best amateur baseball in the world.” And you know what? I never really thought about that, but he’s right. You think of the Cape league as the best college summer league, but in reality, it’s the best amateur league in the country. NCAA baseball could stake claim, certainly, but the talent is much more spread out. On the Cape, it’s all the best college players playing for 10 teams. As for Team USA, it might be the best amateur team in the country, but that’s not a league. The Cape league really is the best.

Eighth Inning

• Chris Hicks, the closer for Wareham, looks a lot like Jonathan Papelbon on the mound. He flashes a 94-mph fastball, too.
• Both of Beckham’s base hits came on the first pitch of the at-bat.
• Kevin Couture strikes out the first two batters he faces. Apparently, Couture has a changeup that can really make hitters look silly.

Ninth Inning

• Luke Burnett is gigantic and it’s easy to see why scouts love him. It’s also hard to imagine how his ERA is 5.03, with his fastball and his imposing presence. But for the season, he’s given up just over a hit an inning, which I guess will do it.
• The infield fly play was definitely a strange one. Bases were loaded on a popup. Infield fly was called. The ball was dropped. Figueroa was thrown out trying to advance to second. Jason Castro scored, but the run was waved off. It was essentially a double play, with the batter and Figueroa making outs. The call makes sense — sort of. When infield fly was called, the batter was automatically out. On infield flies, runners can advance at their own risk. It’s not a dead ball, so Figueroa would have been out at second. The problem, I think, is that there was no tag at second base, and because the batter was out, there was no force. Apparently, though, it is a force on an infield fly, otherwise the run would have counted.
• Ryan Perry is on and looking very good. I should mention that he has been putting up much better numbers of late, after I mentioned that he was a guy whose stats and tools didn’t quite match. The announcers are speculating that his fastball could be up around 98 on this night. He also has a very hard slider, that’s up around 87 to 89. Perry is big, too, listed at 6’4″. When you see a guy like Perry first-hand, it makes the stats vs. tools argument a bit of a moot point. There’s definitely a wow factor. You can’t teach a 98-mph fastball.

Some final thoughts

• Crow was as good as advertised, and I was most impressed with his mindset and confidence. This was his game. That’s a nice attitude for a pitcher to have.
• Some other players who were impressive: Colla, Hicks and Perry.
• The pitching was great in this game. I know some people are saying that pitching is down and using higher batting averages as proof. I don’t think that’s entirely the case. There may not be as much pitching depth, but there are plenty of great pitchers.
• It was good to see Ben Guez and T.J. Hose — two players who started the summer as temps — do well in their all-star appearances. Just getting named to the team should make a difference for the future, and even if it doesn’t, it’s quite an experience for the present.
• The post game interviews with the MVP’s revealed one of the great things about the Cape. Rob Souza asked both Crow and Raben about their playoff chances, and both knew exactly how things were shaking out. In some summer leagues, it’s all about individual development. That’s certainly a component on the Cape, but it’s not everything. Team goals are real, and players clearly buy into them.
  
• Here’s the recap from Baseball America’s Aaron Fitt
• And if you haven’t checked out Russ Chapentier’s Scout’s Honor column, please do. It’s excellent.
  

See? There’s no back because there were no games yesterday. Just a forth for the games tonight. Anyways . . .

TONIGHT

• In a good pitching match-up, Pat McAnaney and Orleans visit Y-D, which sends Scott Green to the mound . . . Neither of those pitchers were all-stars, but both have all-star numbers . . . Every game down the stretch is almost a must-win if Orleans is to make the playoffs
• Brewster will have Mike Colla on the mound in a visit to Wareham . . . The Whitecaps are in the same boat as Orleans, needing to win nearly every night — and still needing help — to get a spot
• Chatham controls its own destiny and starts the stretch run with Zach Putnam going against Bourne and Mitch Harris. . . In a start last week against Bourne — his first start of the season — Putnam struck out seven and went five shutout innings
• In the West race, Hyannis visits Harwich with Jason Franzblau on the mound . . . The Mets have won three straight
• Falmouth hosts Cotuit and stands a good chance to start the final stretch on the right foot as Aaron Crow gets the ball
  
• Also, if you live in the New England area, NESN will air a tape-delay broadcast of the all-star game tonight at 7 p.m.
  

And now the stretch run begins.

There are seven games left in the regular season. Barring a major collapse in those seven games, Yarmouth-Dennis and Bourne will win the East and West divisions, respectively. Y-D has been the best team in the league all summer, and really hasn’t slowed down. The Sox won four straight leading up to the all-star break, and lead second-place Chatham by eight points. Bourne hasn’t been quite as hot lately but still leads Falmouth by the same margin as Y-D leads Chatham.

The real races are for second place. The West tightened up in the final days before the all-star break as Hyannis won three straight to get within four points. Hyannis and Falmouth will play twice in the last week and a half of the regular season, including a match-up on Aug. 8, the season’s final day. That could be an interesting one, depending on how things play out.

I still like Falmouth. The top three in the starting rotation — Aaron Crow, Kyle Gibson and Christian Friedrich — are three of the best pitchers in the league, and assuming all three pitch in Falmouth’s final seven games, I can’t see the Commodores losing much ground. When you factor in a few key offensive players who are still hot, I think Falmouth has a good shot of securing the playoff spot.

But don’t count out Hyannis. In Dan Brewer and Shane Peterson, the Mets have two of the best hitters in the league, plus a major power source in James Darnell. And if the starting pitching does what it did during the three-game win streak — 8IP, 1 ER; 7IP, 0 ER; 9 IP, 0 ER (matt daly’s no-hitter) — then look out.

In the East, Chatham used a serious hot streak in the week leading up to the break to separate itself and got a crucial win on Friday night that — coupled with losses by Brewster and Orleans — put the A’s six points up. With seven games remaining, Brewster and Orleans will each get one game against the A’s, but they won’t come until the final two days of the regular season. By then, things may already be decided. Chatham does have to play both first-place teams in the next five days, but the A’s also take on Wareham and Cotuit, two teams that have struggled.

The A’s, of course, have not struggled. With a starting rotation that finally seems set and a lineup that’s delivering, Chatham is looking like one of the best teams in the league. Tom Milone, Charles Brewer and Alex White give the A’s a solid nucleus in the rotation, and the bullpen seems to have solved some of its early-season difficulties. At the plate, the A’s have speed at the top and two of the premier hitters on the Cape in Jermaine Curtis and Allan Dykstra.

Brewster and Orleans have their work cut out for them. From some quick math, it looks like the A’s will clinch at least a tie for second by winning four of their final seven games. That would put Chatham at 25-16-3. Brewster right now is 18-16-3 so the Whitecaps would have to win all of their last seven to force that tie.

But anything can happen. Brewster has some very solid arms at the top of its rotation. And Orleans — which needs Chatham to lose a few more than three — has the best pitching staff in the league. The Cardinals do have the advantage of playing last-place Harwich three times in the last seven. It should be interesting.

That’s how things stack up, team-wise. There are also plenty of individuals to watch.

• Can Falmouth’s Conor Gillaspie keep his average in the .370’s? If he can, he’ll finish with the best mark since J.C. Holt’s .388 in 2003
• Can Gillaspie even hold on to his lead? Y-D’s Jason Castro is closing fast.
• Will the number of players with .300 averages really stay so high?
• Can Y-D’s Gordon Beckham put a solid finishing touch on his remarkable season?
• Will Aaron Crow’s ERA ever go up?

Those are just a few of the storylines. I get a little sad this time of year, because all the stories will soon reach their endings. The all-star break means the summer’s almost over. Just a few games left, then a whirlwind postseason.

But though time may be short, it’s not over. There’s still a lot of baseball to be played, and best of all, there are still a lot of stories yet to be written.

Leaders among starters in strikeouts per nine innings.

PLAYER	TEAM	K/9
Christian Friedrich	Falmouth	13.78
Shooter Hunt	Falmouth	12.26
Alex White	Chatham	11.72
Dan Hudson	Harwich	10.35
Andy Oliver	Wareham	10.18
Clayton Shunick	Orleans	9.93
Ryan Hinson	Chatham	9.71
Jeremy Bleich	Wareham	9.69
Bryce Stowell	Hyannis	9.68
Kyle Gibson	Falmouth	9.68
Matt Daly	Hyannis	9.49
D.J. Mitchell	Bourne	9.44
Craig Bennigson	Orleans	9.24
Brett Jacobson	Harwich	9.20
T.J. Hose	Bourne	8.71
Pat McAnaney	Orleans	8.69
Matt Wright	Cotuit	8.57
Ryan Cook	Brewster	8.56
J.B. Shuck	Cotuit	8.50
Aaron Crow	Falmouth	8.45

Some of the top relievers:

PLAYER	TEAM	K/9
Luke Burnett	Falmouth	15.00
Rob Wooten	Chatham	14.90
Kyle Thebeau	Falmouth	13.85
Bryan Shaw	Chatham	13.76
Evan Crawford	Harwich	13.38
Ryan Perry	Orleans	13.35
Matt Frevert	Harwich	12.95
Jordan Flasher	Bourne	11.37
Sam Brown	Orleans	11
Ben Hornbeck	Brewster	10.86

Of note, a lot of the relievers on this list have very high ERA’s. K/9 clearly isn’t a telltale indicator of success out of the bullpen.