It’s the year of the bat in the Cape Cod Baseball League.
Every time Sean Manaea (Indiana State) pitches, the bats get a little bit quieter.
The Hyannis lefty has been dominant all summer, and almost every start has been better than the one before. Last night, Manaea struck out a season-high 13, didn’t walk anybody and allowed just a run on two hits in seven innings as Hyannis beat Wareham 8-2.
Manaea now leads the league in strikeouts with 51 in 30.2 innings. We’ve focused on the home run record books this season, but Manaea has now surpassed the end-of-season strikeout totals of the last two Cape League strikeout kings. Joe Bircher had 48 last year and Nick Tropeano had 44 the year before.
With seven more strikeouts, Manaea would pass Chris Sale, who K’d 57 for Y-D in 2010. He’s now a star with the Chicago White Sox.
It’s fitting that Sale is next on the list because he and Manaea have followed similar paths. Neither was drafted out of high school and neither ended up at a college powerhouse. Sale was at Florida Gulf Coast. Manaea is at Indiana State.
In the 2010 preseason, I had never heard of Sale until I did the Early Look. It was the same for Manaea this year. In both cases, though, I thought the same thing: tall lefty with a lot of strikeouts — this guy might be pretty good.
Like Sale, Manaea has lived up to every bit of the promise.
Early in the year, he gave up a few more runs than you’d expect, putting his ERA above three for a while, but even then, his opponents batting average was really low. Now, that batting average is .151 and Manaea has pretty much stopped giving up runs. He’s also walked just six all summer — and none in his last two starts.
Last night, he struck out the side twice and retired the last 12 batters he faced. Only one runner got past first base.
There’s a long way to go for Manaea to match the next steps that Chris Sale took — first-round pick and a meteoric rise to the majors.
But for his Cape League summer, Manaea is right on track.
Plenty of Help
Manaea got two no-decisions and a loss in his first three starts, but has had a lot of support in his last two, with Hyannis winning one 9-2 and last night’s game 8-2. Brandon Trinkwon (Cal) continued to shine, with his fifth multi-hit performance in his last eight games. He went 4-for-6 with a home run last night. Dominic Jose (Stanford) and Blake Austin (Auburn) each had a home run and three RBI, while Brett Michael Doran (Stanford) had three hits.
Elsewhere
What to Watch
More good pitching should be on the docket tonight. Aaron Blair (Marshall) and his league-leading 0.37 ERA will go for Y-D at home against Bourne at 5 p.m. In Falmouth at 7 p.m., Dylan Covey (San Diego) will make his first start for Orleans after spending the first half of the year in the bullpen.
Should be a good one in Harwich as well, with Michael Wagner (San Diego) going for Chatham against David Whitehead (Elon). Both have been good.
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