My head is spinning, etc.

Notes written while wishing I could revise my Outstanding Pitcher watch list to include Eric Pfisterer . . .

So we’re off and running. What do we know so far? Not much.

It’s always funny this time of year. I get all geared up for the season, counting down the days, doing everything I can to be prepared, to know what to expect and then all of a sudden they’re playing baseball, and half the players are guys I’ve never heard of. But I guess that’s the fun part. The beauty of a Cape League season is that when it starts, you never know which team will shine or which players will turn into stars. It’s fitting that the season starts with a giant jolt of uncertainty.

I’m actually working on a list of new and temporary players (basically, guys who weren’t on preseason rosters) with some brief bios, so that we can have an idea of who we’re watching, even if they don’t stick around for long. That should be going up in the next day or two.

For now, let’s talk about a few names we’ve heard of, but maybe didn’t expect to hear.

As I mentioned in today’s Daily Fog, Brewster had Jim Klocke in its lineup last night. The Southeast Missouri State junior catcher played for the Whitecaps, and though he struggle with them, he’s had a fantastic college career. Much of this year’s draft, though, went by without his name popping up. He went in the 46th round.

Listening to the Bourne game tonight, I heard a familiar name who’s in the same boat. East Carolina junior Kyle Roller hit .270 for Bourne last year and was one of the league’s leaders in doubles last year. Roller hit .336 with 16 home runs this spring but didn’t get drafted until the 47th round. He was in the Bourne lineup tonight for the first time this season. For a Bourne team that’s been hit hard by Team USA, Roller could provide a big boost.

Over on Codball, Dave relayed some info he heard on WEEI. Boston Red Sox ninth-round pick Kendal Volz, a big arm who pitched for Wareham in ’07 and USA in ’08, will be playing on the Cape this summer, according to Jason McLeod, the Red Sox Director of Amateur Scouting. I’m assuming the Red Sox will keep an eye on him then decide what to offer based on his performance. If that is indeed the case, it’ll be interesting to see where he goes. Wareham’s roster is looking pretty full, so a return to the Gatemen might not be possible. We’ll see.

Finally, the Georgia Tech site Beesball is reporting that Tony Plagman will play for Cotuit. A junior, Plagman hit .364 this spring with 16 home runs and a team-best 73 RBI. Like Klocke and Roller, he didn’t get picked until the late rounds, so it sounds like he’ll be trying to raise his stock with the Kettleers. Last year, Plagman played briefly for Orleans.

In other news, Cotuit can run. You never want to get carried away defining teams after a few games, but I think this one is going to be a safe bet. The Kettleers stole seven bases in their opener against Wareham and a few more tonight against Falmouth. Chris Bisson (Kentucky) now has six steals in two games, which is pretty close to half as many as league-leader Tim Wheeler had all of last year. I thought this year might be a return to normal in the stolen base department — there were no true speedsters last year — and it looks like Bisson and fellow Kettleer Rico Noel will lead the charge.

How about those Whitecaps? Mark Canha was the only player in the league to hit a home run on opening night, and he hit another one Saturday. Teammates Bobby Coyle and Tim Freguson also went yard, giving Brewster four of the eight home runs that were hit in the season’s first two days.

Making an appearance for Orleans last night was one Jared Bard. A junior at Richmond, Bard is the brother of former North Carolina and Cape League star Daniel Bard. Daniel was called up to the Boston Red Sox in early May.

I made mention of this on Twitter and Dave also noted it on Codball: Rice star Anthony Rendon will not play this summer. The only freshman among the Golden Spikes Semifinalists, Rendon was signed up to play for Bourne or Team USA, but he suffered an injury in Rice’s Super Regional loss to LSU.

Third-round pick Robbie Shields was on the Cape for some preseason action, but he has since moved off the active section of Cotuit’s roster. If he’s signing, best of luck to Shields, who’s a real Cape League success story. He wasn’t fully on the radar until last year, when he was an early-season star with Cotuit before an injury ended his summer. It’s a shame he didn’t get to play all summer, but he played enough to make people take notice.

I’ve written about Wareham’s stability, but out in Orleans, the Firebirds are in pretty good shape, too. Guys like Devin Lohman, Michael Olt, Kevin Muno, Danny Muno, Michael Lang and Jaren Matthews — all of whom looked like key players in the preseason — have been in the lineup since day one. The Firebirds are still waiting for CWS participants Gary Brown, Matt Newman, Matt Packer and Riccio Torrez. Newman has also been invited to Team USA.

The start of the Cape League season is kind of the first official date on the next year’s draft calendar. Over the next two months, a lot of preliminary perceptions will be established. For now, there’s a little bit of talk out there about the 2010 draft. ESPN’s Keith Law has an article up (for Insiders only) detailing some early thoughts, and he mentions quite a few ’09 Cape Leaguers, most of whom haven’t yet arrived because of the CWS or Team USA. The guys that Law mentions who have arrived: Wareham’s Derek Dietrich, Y-D’s Josh Rutledge, Cotuit’s Justin Grimm and Falmouth’s Nick Tepesch. MLB’s Jonathan Mayo has also thrown out a few names for 2010: Christian Colon, Matt Harvey, Drew Pomeranz, Anthony Ranaudo and Victor Sanchez. Colon, Harvey and Ranaudo are on Cape rosters but are currently in Omaha. Pomeranz is on Team USA’s trial roster, while Sanchez is out with an injury. He played in Chatham last summer.

If you’re not on Twitter or at least checking CCBL Twitter pages, you should be. Several teams are on there, with broadcast teams doing most of the updates. That means lots of in-game updates, which is really nice to see. In the past, if you weren’t watching or listening to the online broadcast, it was tough to know what was going on. The Cape Cod Times is also on Twitter, as is Bourne assistant Jordan Wyckoff, who apparently is posting updates from the dugout. If you want to find all these, click here for my Twitter page. I’m following all of them.

I haven’t forgotten about the Chatham and Orleans not-so-early looks. They will be up this week. I feel blind when I look at those rosters, so I’ll get them done.

RELATED POSTS