Posted on

Day 1 Draft Notes

The Major League Baseball draft may never have the cache of the NFL or NBA drafts, but it’s grown by leaps and bounds the last few years. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the coverage last night.

Eleven Cape Leaguers were taken in the first round. The list:

1 – Astros – Mark Appel – Y-D ’11
2 – Cubs – Kris Bryant – Chatham ’11
6 – Marlins – Colin Moran – Bourne ’11 & ’12
12 – Mariners – D.J. Peterson – Hyannis ’12
18 – Dodgers – Chris Anderson – Y-D ’12
19 – Cardinals – Marco Gonzales – Falmouth ’12
23 – Rangers – Alex Gonzalez – Y-D ’11 & ’12
26 – Yankees – Eric Jagielo – Harwich ’12
27 – Reds – Phillip Ervin – Harwich ’12
29 – Rays – Ryne Stanek – Bourne ’11
32 – Yankees – Aaron Judge – Brewster ’12

In all, 23 Cape Leaguers went on the first day, with three going in the Competitive Balance Round A, seven in the second round and two in Competitive Balance B:

Competitive Balance A

34 – Royals – Sean Manaea – Hyannis ’12
36 – Diamondbacks – Aaron Blair – Y-D ’12
38 – Reds – Michael Lorenzon – Brewster ’12

Second

40 – Astros – Andrew Thurman – Y-D ’11
43 – Twins – Ryan Eades – Bourne ’11
44 – Marlins – Trevor Williams – Orleans ’12
49 – Mariners – Austin Wilson – Harwich ’11 & ’12
53 – Phillies – Andrew Knapp – Chatham ’12
56 – Dodgers – Tom Windle – Brewster ’12
58 – Tigers – Kevin Ziomek – Cotuit ’12

Competitive Balance B

71 – Athletics – Chad Pinder – Chatham ’12
73 – Marlins – Colby Suggs – Wareham ’12

A few more notes on the proceedings:

  • Even in the minutes leading up to the draft, nobody seemed sure if the Astros would take Appel or Oklahoma’s Jonathan Gray. By taking Appel, they gave the Cape League its first No. 1 overall pick since Luke Hochevar in 2006. Interestingly, Hochevar and Appel both were first-round picks that didn’t sign. Appel returned to Stanford before going No. 1 this year. Hochevar pitched in independent ball before taking the top spot the next year. Hochevar played for Cotuit in 2003.

  • Appel and Hochevar share another characteristic – they went first overall at least one year after playing on the Cape. For Appel, it was a two-year gap and for Hochevar a three-year gap. It’s a surprising note because a majority of players are on the Cape the year before they’re draft eligible. The last Cape League alum to go No. 1 overall in the year immediately after his Cape League season was Matt Anderson in 1997. He played for Chatham in 1996.

  • Phillip Ervin, who went 27th to the Reds, is the third straight Cape League MVP to go in the first round or supplemental first round.

  • The Y-D Red Sox led the first-round charge for the second straight year. Three Y-D alumni went in the first.

  • Sean Manaea slipped out of the first round because of injury concerns, but he didn’t last too long. Manaea was the first pick of Competitive Balance Round A by the Royals. If he gets healthy, he’s an absolute steal at this spot, as a lot of Cape League fans can attest.

    • Posted on

    Cape Leaguers Await Draft Calls

    The Major League Baseball draft begins tonight at 7 p.m. with the first and second rounds. They’ll be televised live on MLB Network and MLB.com. The draft continues Friday at 1 p.m. with rounds three through 10, and the final 30 rounds will go off Saturday at 1 p.m. Live audio of the second and third days will air on MLB.com.

    As usual, hundreds of former Cape Leaguers will hear their names called. Two-hundred twenty nine were selected last year after 258 went in 2011. Those numbers are major increases over the 148 that were selected just 11 years ago in 2002.

    Baseball America’s latest mock draft has 11 CCBL alums projected to go in the first round:

    2 – Cubs – Mark Appel (Y-D ’11)
    3 – Rockies – Kris Bryant (Chatham ’11)
    5 – Indians – Colin Moran (Bourne ’11 & ’12)
    11 – Mets – Ryne Stanek (Bourne ’11)
    14 – Pirates – D.J. Peterson (Hyannis ’11)
    17 – White Sox – Alex Gonzalez (Y-D ’11 & ’12)
    22 – Orioles – Chris Anderson (Y-D ’12)
    24 – Athletics – Aaron Judge (Brewster ’12)
    26 – Yankees – Eric Jagielo (Harwich ’12)
    27 – Reds – Phillip Ervin (Harwich ’12)
    28 – Cardinals – Marco Gonzales (Falmouth ’12)

    Some of those guys will be very familiar to Cape League fans, like Moran, Jagielo and Ervin. Others made cameos, like Appel, who made only three starts for Y-D in 2011.

    One name missing from the first-round list is reigning CCBL Pitcher of the Year and Top Prospect Sean Manaea, who opened the spring as a projected top-three pick. Injuries have created question marks, and those have sent him tumbling. He could still sneak into the first round – and won’t last much beyond it – but it appears he’s not enough of a sure thing to break into the top 10.

    A few other notes:

  • Baseball America currently has Oklahoma pitcher Jonathan Gray going as the No. 1 overall pick. So does SB Nation’s Consensus Mock Draft, which combines data from five mocks. If Gray is the pick, it’ll be the seventh consecutive year without a Cape Leaguer in the top spot. The last was Luke Hochevar in 2006.

  • Both Mark Appel and Kris Bryant could certainly make a run at the top spot. Appel was a possible No. 1 overall pick last year, went eighth and didn’t sign. He returned to Stanford and had a dominant senior season to remain near the top of draft boards. As for Bryant, who hit .223 with three home runs for Chatham in 2011, he’s always been a big time prospect but wasn’t in top-five territory when the college season began. Thirty-one home runs later and he’s in the conversation.

  • If Phillip Ervin gets picked in the first round as projected, he’ll be the third straight Cape League MVP to go in the first round or the supplemental first round, joining Travis Jankowski and Kolten Wong. Six of the last seven have MVPs have gone in the first round or the supplemental first round, with eighth-round pick Kyle Roller the only exception. The other members of the group are A.J. Pollock, Conor Gillaspie, Justin Smoak and Evan Longoria.

  • The Cape League has had an average of about 10 players drafted in the first round over the last 10 years, with a high of 14 in 2008 and a low of six in 2010. The 2006 draft also stands out – the first six picks were all CCBL alums and the 10th pick was Tim Lincecum.

    • Posted on

    Wrapping Up The Draft

    mlb-logo.jpgThe 2012 Major League Baseball Draft is in the books and, as always, plenty of names from Cape League summers had their names called. The league will have the official number for all 40 rounds at some point (I’ll let them count), but we know at this point that the first round was full of Cape Leaguers. Twelve of 31 picks — and 12 of 14 collegiate players — selected in the first round spent some amount of time on the Cape. Some just made cameos, like Mark Appel, Mike Zunino and Kevin Gausman, but there were also some Cape League veterans like Andrew Heaney, Kyle Zimmer and Victor Roache.

    The 12 players in the first round was up significantly from the last two years. Eight went last year and only six the year before. Twelve was the most in the first round since the banner year of 2008, when 14 CCBL’ers were picked, including future Major Leaguers Buster Posey, Gordon Beckham and Justin Smoak.

    Zunino, who played briefly with Y-D last summer, was drafted third overall, the highest for a Cape Leaguer since 2009, when Dustin Ackley went second. Mark Appel, who also played for Y-D, was in the running for the top overall pick but dropped to eighth. He would have been the first Cape Leaguer to go 1-1 since Luke Hochevar in 2006.

    Here’s the first-round list:

    3 – Mike Zunino – Y-D ’11 – Seattle
    4 – Kevin Gausman – Harwich ’11 – Baltimore
    5 – Kyle Zimmer – Cotuit ’11 – Kansas City
    8 – Mark Appel – Y-D ’11 – Pittsburgh
    9 – Andrew Heaney – Falmouth ’11 – Miami
    20 – Chris Stratton – Harwich ’11 – San Francisco
    22 – Marcus Stroman – Orleans ’10 & ’11 – Toronto
    23 – James Ramsey – Y-D ’11 – St. Louis
    24 – Deven Marrero – Cotuit ’10 & ’11 – Boston
    25 – Richie Shaffer – Chatham ’11 – Tampa Bay
    28 – Victor Roache – Cotuit ’11 – Milwaukee
    31 – Brian Johnson – Y-D ’11 – Boston

    Eight other former Cape Leaguers were selected in the supplemental first round, bringing the total to 20 of 60 picks. Reigning MVP Travis Jankowski went in the supplemental round, 44th overall to San Diego.

    A few other notes on the draft:

  • Y-D had four first-round picks, just as they did in 2008, when they were coming off the 2007 CCBL championship. The difference this time was that only one of the four was a real mainstay. — James Ramsey. Brian Johnson, Mark Appel and Mike Zunino only made brief stops.

  • It was interesting to see trends develop in this the first draft since the new draft rules were introduced. The one that stood out the most was that several teams opted to take college seniors and easy signs in the fourth-to-10th round range in an effort to save money and be sure they could sign those picks. Baseball America has a good rundown of the situation.

  • The new signing deadline is July 13, so we won’t know for sure how the new rules affect how much talent gets to college fields, but people are speculating that the new rules will end up being good for college baseball. Teams just aren’t going to be able to sign players away from college with out-of-slot deals like they used to.

  • In recent years, quite a few college juniors came to the Cape to improve their draft stock. That may not be as common now because of the earlier signing deadline, but those guys are typically late additions to rosters anyway, so we’ll have to see how it plays out.

  • One big-name junior who is already on a roster is NCAA batting champ Raph Rhymes of LSU, who’s slated for Cotuit. I thought Rhymes would go relatively early but he didn’t get picked until the 30th round by the Yankees. Rhymes has said that he plans to return to school, which probably means he plans to play on the Cape as well. Junior teammate Mason Katz, who played for Y-D last summer, wasn’t drafted at all, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him pop up on a Cape roster soon.

    • Posted on

    12 CCBL Alums Picked on First Night of Draft

    As usual, the Cape League was well-represented in the first round and supplemental first round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. A total of 12 players went in the first 60 picks. The draft continues Tuesday, starting with the second round.

    George Springer was the first Cape Leaguer to go, coming off the board at No. 11 to the Astros. Eight alums went in the first round, as opposed to six last year.

    The list:

    First Round
    11 – George Springer – Wareham ’09 & ’10 – Houston Astros
    15 – Jed Bradley – Wareham ’10 – Milwaukee Brewers
    17 – C.J. Cron – Cotuit ’10 – Los Angeles Angels
    19 – Matt Barnes – Wareham ’09 & ’10 – Boston Red Sox
    22 – Kolten Wong – Orleans ’10 – St. Louis Cardinals
    29 – Joe Panik – Y-D ’10 – San Francisco Giants
    30 – Levi Michael – Harwich ’09 & ’10 – Minnesota Twins
    31 – Mike Mahtook – Harwich ’10 – Tampa Bay Rays

    Supplemental First Round
    34 – Brian Goodwin – Harwich ’10 – Washington Nationals
    37 – Zach Cone – Cotuit ’09 & ’10 – Texas Rangers
    40 – Jackie Bradley – Hyannis ’09 – Boston Red Sox
    59 – Grayson Garvin – Falmouth ’09 & ’10 – Tampa Bay Rays

    Posted on

    Wrapping up the Draft: 2010 Players

    By my rough count, 24 players who are on Cape League rosters for 2010 were drafted earlier this week. I would expect a lot of the late-round picks and probably a few of the early picks to come to the Cape anyway. I didn’t include him on this list because he’s not officially on a roster, but supplemental first-rounder Anthony Ranaudo is reportedly heading to the Cape too.

    The list (the number is the round):

    2 – Ryan LaMarre – Wareham*
    2 – Jordan Swagerty – Wareham
    3 – Rob Brantly – Brewster
    3 – Dan Klein – Chatham
    5 – Tommy Kahnle – Orleans
    8 – Matt Price – Harwich
    8 – Lance Ray – Y-D
    12 – Josh Richmond – Wareham
    12 – Daniel Burawa – Harwich
    13 – Pierre LePage – Bourne
    15 – Drew Maggi – Orleans
    16 – Rob Kral – Wareham
    18 – Garrett Buechele – Hyannis
    22 – Matt Koch – Orleans
    22 – Aaron Westlake – Chatham
    24 – Erik Goeddel – Chatham
    29 – Stewart Ijames – Harwich
    32 – Mike Palazzone – Brewster
    32 – Tommy Toledo – Y-D
    34 – Steve Selsky – Orleans
    35 – Tyler Wilson – Hyannis
    36 – Dean Kiekhefer – Wareham*
    43 – Tom Belza – Chatham
    49 – Paul Hoilman – Cotuit

    * – non-roster invitee

    Posted on

    Wrapping up the Draft: CCBL Alumni

    mlb-logo.gifThe Major League Baseball draft came to an end on Wednesday. It lasted three days this year, longer than normal, but it still felt like a blur.

    Six former Cape Leaguers went in the first round, the fewest number in the last nine years, which is as far back as the league’s web site draft info goes. I think that reflects two things: (1) the college crop for 2010 wasn’t that strong and (2) a lot of the top players never made it to the Cape, for one reason or another. Only 14 of the 32 first-round picks were four-year college players, and only seven of them played on the Cape. The top two college picks, Christian Colon and Drew Pomeranz, were both Team USA guys.

    I’m still sorting everything else out. Later today, I’ll get a post up about drafted players who are on 2010 rosters. For now, some notable alumni draft tidbits:

  • A total of 12 Cape Leaguers went in the second round.

  • San Diego’s Sammy Solis (Chatham ’08) was the first pick in the second round. He’s a guy who would have been one of the top prospects in the Cape League last year had he not missed the spring and summer with an injury. Solis was fun to watch as a freshman.

  • Todd Cunningham (Falmouth ’09) went one pick after Solis in the second round. Cunningham was the batting champ and the league’s top prospect last year. Most Cape League top prospect award-winners go in the first round. Had Chris Sale won the award, which was what a lot of people expected, the trend would have continued. Still, Cunningham was way up there as one of the top college bats in the draft.

  • Daniel Tillman (Cotuit ’09) was dominant out of the bullpen last summer and it wasn’t a fluke. The Angels took him with the 81st overall pick, late in the second round.

  • Austin Wates (Y-D ’09) was really solid last year for the Red Sox and he went in the third round to the Astros. He’s listed as a second baseman. He spent most of his time in the outfield for Y-D.

  • Like Tillman, Kevin Munson (Bourne ’09) was a small-school guy who made a big impression as a reliever last year. Arizona took him in the fourth round.

  • Hunter Morris (Falmouth ’09) was probably the best power hitter on the Cape last summer. After a huge college season, he was drafted in the fourth round by Milwaukee.

  • Tennessee lefty Bryan Morgado (Bourne ’09) was picked in the third round last year, didn’t sign and delivered a big summer on the Cape. After a so-so college season, Morgado was drafted in the fourth round this year.

  • Virginia Tech’s Jesse Hahn (Chatham ’09) had the best velocity on the Cape last year and he shot up draft boards early in the spring. An injury sent him tumbling back down, though, and he ended up in the sixth round.

  • 2009 League MVP Kyle Roller (Bourne ’08 & ’09) went in the eighth round to the Yankees. I’m sure he was hoping to go a little higher, but the eighth round is a lot better than the 47th, which is where he went last year, before his enormous summer.

  • Whit Merrifield (Chatham ’09), the guy in the banner at the top of the site, went in the ninth round to Kansas City. If any Royals blogger needs a new banner for his or her site, I can provide a recommendation.

  • Fan favorite Pierre LePage (Bourne ’08 & ’09) was drafted in the 13th round by the Cubs. LePage is on the Bourne roster again this summer.
    • Posted on

    Ranaudo Back to the Cape?

    According to Jim Kleinpeter of the New Orleans Times Picayune, Red Sox supplemental first-round pick Anthony Ranaudo is planning to come to the Cape this summer.

    Ranaudo said he plans to pitch “a few” innings in the Cape Cod wooden bat league since the injury set him back this season.
    “I feel like I’m just hitting my stride, ” said Ranaudo, who pitched effectively in his last five outings. “I reassured everybody that I’m feeling 100 percent healthy and I think I proved that the last four or five or six times out that I pitched.
    “That’s another reason I’m going to Cape Cod this summer from the development and arm standpoint, get in shape, prove I’m healthy and that I’m still the same pitcher that I was.”

    Ranaudo played for Y-D in 2008 and took last summer off because of a heavy workload. He came into the college season as a potential top-five pick but an injury and some shaky outings sent his stock slipping.

    No word on which team Ranaudo will play for, or how long he’ll be there. But it’ll be interesting to see him back on the Cape.

    Posted on

    Three More in Supplemental Round

    The first night of the MLB draft is over, with the first round and supplemental first round complete. Six Cape Leaguers went in the first round, and three more were picked in the supplemental round:

    39 – Anthony Ranaudo (Y-D ’08) – Boston Red Sox
    46 – Seth Blair (Cotuit ’08 & ’09) – St. Louis Cardinals
    49 – Mike Olt (Orleans ’09) – Texas Rangers

    So that’s a total of nine in the first 50 picks. Last year, the total was 20. The year before it, it was 18. That’s a reflection of a draft class that was a bit light on top-shelf college talent.

    Posted on

    Cape Leaguers in the First Round

    The first round of the Major League Baseball draft just came to an end. Six Cape Leaguers went in the first round, which is down pretty significantly from last year, when 11 went in the first round. The supplemental first round is getting underway now.

    The first rounders:

    7 – Matt Harvey (Chatham ’08 & ’09) – New York Mets
    12 – Yasmani Grandal (Brewster ’08) – Cincinnati Reds
    13 – Chris Sale (Y-D ’09) – Chicago White Sox
    21 – Alex Wimmers (Bourne ’09) – Minnesota Twins
    24 – Gary Brown (Orleans ’08 & ’09) – San Francisco Giants
    25 – Zack Cox (Cotuit ’09) – St. Louis Cardinals

    Posted on

    Sale Goes to White Sox at 13

    Every year, it seems a prospect becomes a big-time prospect thanks to a strong summer on the Cape. In 2009, it was Florida Gulf Coast lefty Chris Sale, who dominated for Y-D. He was named the league’s top prospect by Baseball America, and his profile only grew with an outstanding junior season. Sale was picked tonight by the White Sox with the 13th overall pick in the draft.

    In discussing Sale on MLB Network’s coverage of the draft, Peter Gammons referenced his Cape summer right away. Later, Sale joined the broadcast on the phone, and Gammons asked him what his summer on the Cape meant. Sale’s response: “I did well that summer and had a really good time up there. I think that’s what really put me on the map and put me where I am.”