dream team, etc.

The 2007 Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox were perhaps the best offensive team of the Cape League’s modern era, and we don’t need much more proof of that. The numbers they put up were staggering.

Nonetheless, there is more proof. As the college season winds down, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Y-D was simply a special collection of talent. Here’s a look at the college statistics of last year’s Y-D starters.

C – Buster Posey – Florida State – .469, 16 HR, 66 RBI
1B – Sean Ochinko – LSU – .256, 3 HR, 17 RBI
2B – Joey Railey – San Francisco – .329, 4 HR, 36 RBI
3B – Nick Romero – San Diego State – .327, 11 HR, 59 RBI
SS – Gordon Beckham – Georgia – .402, 22 HR, 55 RBI
OF – Colin Cowgill – Kentucky – .378, 18 HR, 54 RBI
OF – Aaron Luna – Rice – .344, 8 HR, 48 RBI
OF – Matt Long – Santa Clara – .305, 9 HR, 36 RBI
DH – Jason Castro – Stanford – .366, 11 HR, 52 RBI
Util – Grant Green – USC – .386, 8 HR, 42 RBI

If your eyes glossed over when you read that, let me summarize.

Wow.

Ochinko is the only player who’s struggling. Everybody else is crushing the ball. Your typical Y-D starter’s college numbers: .356, 11 HR, 47 RBI.

If you did the same for every Cape team, you’d see good numbers across the board there, too. But these numbers are a little beyond good, just like that Y-D offense.

I imagine will get further proof come draft time. Both Posey and Beckham could be top-10 picks.

NOTES

• One top-flight prospect who apparently will never make it to the Cape is San Diego State’s Stephen Strasburg. The 6’4 righty has become one of the most talked about players in the nation this spring thanks to these numbers: 8-1 record, 1.28 ERA and 125 strikeouts against 11 walks in 84.1 innings. He’s likely to be one of the top picks in 2009, and he’ll be surrounded there by Cape League alums. But Strasburg won’t be one of them. He pitched last summer in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, and he isn’t on any Cape League rosters this year, which suggests that he’ll spend the summer with Team USA. It’s rare that a major college prospect doesn’t spend at least one summer on the Cape, but such is the case with Strasburg. In one sense, it speaks to the fact that bringing freshmen to the Cape is a bit of a crapshoot. Rosters are largely filled before the college season begins, so freshmen who make it to the Cape get there because of hype and potential. It’s possible that Strasburg didn’t have enough of either before his freshman season, which pushed him to the NECBL. Now that he’s become one of the top pitchers in college baseball, he’s almost gone beyond the Cape League.

• I just noticed that Tyler Ladendorf, who I wrote about at length in the Cotuit early look, is listed in the “Contract Released” section of Cotuit’s roster. I guess we won’t be seeing him.

• The Hyannis early look is almost done, then it’s on to the Eastern Division. Keep checking.

RELATED POSTS