RIGHT FIELD FOG

Initially, USA baseball said 36 players would be invited to national team trials. Today, the final trials roster was announced and it has 41 players. Maybe they needed a few more because of the College World Series.

Either way, there are three more with Cape League connections: Falmouth’s Brad Miller (Clemson) and Kyle Winkler (TCU) and Hyannis’ Casey Harman (Clemson). That brings the total number of Cape Leaguers on the trials roster up to 28.

The final 22-man roster will be announced June 24.

When you’re previewing Cape League teams it’s hard to draw conclusions. Take last year, for instance.

I thought Wareham was the league’s most talented team. Then Team USA raided the roster and the Gatemen finished with the worst record in the league.

I thought Chatham had a fantastic pitching staff and just needed a little offense. The A’s had an ERA of 4.03.

I thought Orleans would have a powerful offense. The Cardinals hit .234, ninth in the league.

So, yeah, it’s tough. Or I’m just wrong in everything I say, which is possible. I prefer to think it’s just tough. When you get a league full of all-star teams with players in unfamiliar situations — wooden bats, playing every day — you just never know.

For a team to have success, a lot has to go right. They need to get the players they thought they’d get, or if they don’t, get big contributions from temporary players turned regulars. They need good players to have good summers. Plenty of good players don’t. And, if Harwich is any indication, that they need that extra something, chemistry or desire or whatever it is, to get over the top.

You could apply those conditions to every team. When I previewed the season last year, I tried to tailor them to each team but I felt like I kind of missed the mark, as you can see above. I thought Chatham just needed to hit a little and I thought Orleans just needed to pitch a little. I was way off.

This year, I was thinking about doing a best-case, worst-case scenario for each team, but as I started to do it, everyone’s was the same. So instead of that, I’m going to offer up a general feeling for each team. At the end of the post, a prediction.

West
Bourne Braves
I like them a lot, but they’re treading on the dangerous Wareham ’08 territory with six Team USA invitees. Two years ago, though, the Braves went through some serious roster shuffling but ended up making the playoffs with several temporary players carrying a big load. This year, there’s a lot of offensive depth, which should help the cause. Starters Robert Morey, Seth Maness and Turner Phelps will need to pick up the slack if Drew Pomeranz, Cody Wheeler and Alex Wimmers go with Team USA.

Cotuit Kettleers
Potentially the most talented team in the league, and though they’ve got some USA invitees, they still look strong. The pitching staff has a ton of potential, with Max Russell and Justin Grimm looking like aces who also happen to be free of CWS and USA commitments. I like the offense, too, with Cory Vaughn and Cody Stanley leading the way. There’s also a ton of speed, and I’d be shocked if Rico Noel didn’t lead the league in stolen bases.

Falmouth Commodores
Can I say I have no idea? There are now 41 players listed on their roster. That means at least sixteen of them will not be in a Falmouth uniform, so it’s tough to make predictions. I will say that the pitching staff is going to have an interesting look, with three junior-college players who had great stats last year and two Wichita State freshmen who I like for the best freshman pitcher label. If a couple of drafted players go to Falmouth anyway, the Commodores could be a really veteran team.

Hyannis Mets
I think they’re a little off the pace of the three aforementioned teams — the three who might be the league’s most talented — but the more I look at their roster, the less I’m sure about that. I picked Cody Hawn for MVP and I think Eddie Rohan will have a big year, as well. Jackie Bradley, Jr., Trent Whitehead and Dan Burkhart also had great college seasons, giving the offense the makings of a strong nucleus. It could get a little dicey in the pitching staff. Some guys are going to have to step up.

Wareham Gatemen
Holy role reversal. Last year, the Gatemen were the Team USA-stole-everybody poster boys. Not this year. One player will be at Team USA trials, and he’s a non-roster player. Derek Dietrich was on the initial invite list but he decided he’d rather be in Wareham. His presence should only add to a lineup with veterans and talent. The outfield of Ryan LaMarre, George Springer and Alex Dickerson is second-to-none, and Ryan Pineda has a Cape League track record. The pitching staff has a couple of potential aces in Scott Rembisz, Brandon Workman and Taylor Jungmann.

East
Brewster Whitecaps
Like Bourne, the Whitecaps might have some shuffling to do, with three key players at Team USA trials and a few more in Omaha. The offense doesn’t look as deep as some other teams, particularly if Jarrett Parker, Jedd Gyorko and Yasmani Grandal go with Team USA. Another potential star, Tobias Streich, was a fifth-round pick earlier this week. I do think Mark Canha looks poised for a big summer, but he’ll need some help. The pitching staff needs some starters to step up.

Chatham Anglers
New name and a new look. The Anglers ended up with a bunch of players who played for other Cape League teams last year. They also have quite a few small-school guys, as well as players from some schools that haven’t had a big Chatham presence in the past, namely Oklahoma State. I think offensive production might hinge on some players making a leap, like Holy Cross’ Matt Perry, Vermont’s Matt Duffy and USC freshman Rick Oropesa. Jeff Schaus, Whit Merrifield and Tom Belza should be good Cape League hitters who can help carry the load. The pitching staff will need some rebounds from shaky springs, but Russell Brewer, Jake Thompson, Matt Harvey and Shawn Tolleson have had Cape League success before.

Harwich Mariners
Is a title repeat in the cards? There’s no reason to think it isn’t. The Mariners look plenty of good enough to make a run, with their offense poised to lead the way. In terms of spring production, Harwich players combined for 147, an average of almost ten per player. Bryce Brentz skews those numbers a little, but in general there is a lot of power. If Brentz doesn’t go to Team USA, there’s even more. The pitching staff needs to develop some starters.

Orleans Firebirds
On paper, I think they might be the most talented team in the East. The lineup features several players who had big springs, including Michael Lang, Jaren Matthews, Danny Muno, Michael Olt and Ross Heffley. The pitching staff could take a hit if Deck McGuire goes with Team USA, but I like Jimmy Reyes, Rob Rasmussen and Josh Poytress as potential aces. Orleans has had consistently strong pitching staffs over the years, and I don’t think that’ll change.

Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox
Two of the top returning hitters in the league, Josh Rutledge and Andy Wilkins, lead the charge for a team that should be able to score runs. I’d also expect Mickey Wiswall to be a key cog, and he’s a prime candidate to win the New England top prospect award. I like the pitching staff a lot even if superstar Anthony Ranaudo goes with Team USA. Chris Sale and Austin Ross are coming off great springs, while two highly-touted freshman — Brett Mooneyham and Michael Palazzone look like breakout candidates.

And for the prediction . . .

This might be even harder than usual. With the new playoff format, six teams will be in, which increases the odds that somebody just gets hot at the right time and rolls to the finals. Apparently, we could also end up with two teams from the same division playing each other for the championship.

But enough hemming and hawing. I’m taking the Wareham Gatemen. You take nine returning players, lose nobody to Team USA and mix in top-shelf talent like Dietrich, Dickerson, LaMarre and Springer and you have the makings of something special. I worry a little about the pitching staff, but I think there are enough good arms there to do the trick. Really, the stability and experience just stands out. The ifs with this team are about performance not arrivals. I think that counts for a lot.

It can be a little bit of a grind to write bios for more than 250 players, like I’ve done the last two years. By no means am I complaining. If I didn’t want to do it, I wouldn’t.

But still: it’s a grind. The thing that gets me through is the sight of a player who’s having a big year, who looks like he’s a future Cape League star. I think every player who’s invited to the league has that potential, but some have many more credentials than others. Every year, probably a third of the players in the league, maybe more, are coming off college seasons that they weren’t too happy with. From my perspective, it’s the other guys that spark the excitement. It’s like playing a shaky round of golf, but hitting one or two great shots that make you want to come back.

This year, there were a ton of great shots.

That’s what led me to hint a few days ago that the talent in the league might be up this year. Proclaiming something like that might be over-stating it a little bit, because production doesn’t always equal talent, and vice versa.

But I think it’s safe to say that the spring production from the 2009 Cape League class was off the charts.

I realized this gradually, and it started as a feeling more than a fact. For nearly every team I wrote about, I found myself plugging in another .320 hitter, another double-digit home run guy, another strikeout-an-inning pitcher. The list just kept growing. It never felt like a grind. I kept running into players with great numbers, players I wanted to know more about. Last year, that didn’t happen nearly as much.

Now, I think some of the facts back it up. Check out the college stats files a few posts down, and you can see for yourself.

For comparison’s sake:

• At this time last year, there were 22 players on Cape League rosters who hit double-digit home runs, and the high was 18. This year: 38 players hit double-digit home runs and the high is 28.
• Last year, there was one pitcher who had over 100 strikeouts. Even the vaunted arms that went with Team USA weren’t over 100. This year: 11 pitchers struck out more than 100.

Of course, two stat categories do not a trend make, and some of the stats are similar. In fact, the number of .350-plus hitters is exactly the same from last year to this year.

But still, I can’t shake the feeling.

In the end, I have no idea what it’ll mean. This year’s draft kind of reflected the fact that the league’s overall level was down a bit last year. It was considered a light year for college hitters. Seven still went in the first round, and interestingly, all of them played on the Cape. But of the eight college pitchers who went in the first round, only one — Drew Storen — played on the Cape last year. That might have had something to do with the high batting averages and the high ERA’s that marked last season.

The thing is, last season was one of the more interesting ones the league has had in recent years. There was ridiculous parity. This year, we might revert to typical form. And even with the supposed increase in production, we might not actually see it reflected in any statistics. If the pitching is better, then it all might even out again.

Who knows? But for now, it’s a reason to get a little more excited than usual about the Cape’s boys of summer.

Names, Numbers, Trends, Etc.

• On current published rosters, there are 34 juniors, 191 sophomores and 83 freshmen. That’s about average all around.
• Some years, it’s the freshmen that really pique my interest. If they’re only freshmen and they’re on the Cape, you know they’re good. This year, there are plenty of freshmen to be excited about, but I feel like the sophomore class will not be taking a back seat. Lots of emerging talents ready to make a splash on the big stage.
• One of the more interesting storylines last summer was the high number of players who got drafted in June and used the Cape to leverage nice deals. There were seven of them, and one of them — Jimmy Cesario — was actually the league’s batting champ, even though he was playing in the minors when the Cape League season ended. This year, the number of drafted players is pretty high, so we may see some similar scripts. It’ll be particularly interesting if some of the early-round sophomore-eligible players decide to head for the Cape.
• In doing the early looks, one thing that stood out was the quality of the catchers on Cape League rosters. Of the 27 currently listed, 13 hit over .300 and five finished with double-digit home run totals. The production is spread out, too, with eight of the 10 teams having at least one of the catchers who hit over .300. Two Team USA invites — Yasmani Grandal and Blake Forsythe — lead the way statistically, but there are plenty of other guys who aren’t far behind.
• Anybody who likes a good small-school-kid-makes-it-big story should keep an eye on the pitching leaderboards. Several of the guys coming off the best springs aren’t from major programs. Chris Sale had a huge year for Florida Gulf Coast, a program that’s reclassifying to D-I. Jimmy Reyes had a fantastic season at Elon, a strong baseball program, but not a major-conference powerhouse. Max Russell and Daniel Tillman are coming from D-II Florida Southern. Tommy Collier, Patrick Cooper and Mitch Mormann are all ticketed for Falmouth after big junior-college seasons, while fellow juco star Chad Bell is on the Cotuit roster. It’ll be interesting to see how these guys fare against tougher competition.
• Like always, Team USA will have its say on who we get to see this summer. Twenty-five players have been invited to the trials — 12 pitchers and 13 hitters. Of the 36 players at the trials, 22 will make the team. The final roster will be announced on June 24. Last year, Team USA took nearly all the power arms that were ticketed for the Cape, and that had a pretty big impact on the season. I think there’s a little more depth on Cape rosters this year, so the inevitable USA selections might not hurt as much.
• It looks like there are three ’09 Cape Leaguers whose fathers played in the big leagues. Hyannis’ Cam Seitzer is the son of Kevin Seitzer, Cotuit’s Chance Ruffin is the son of Bruce Ruffin, and Cotuit’s Cory Vaughn is the son of Greg Vaughn, who was recently selected to the Cape League Hall of Fame.

MVP Watch List

In an effort to put some names out there, I’ll take a page out of the college awards playbook. I did this last year, and though my predictions for MVP and Pitcher of the Year were incorrect, some of the guys I listed had good summers. Others did not. So take this for what it’s worth. It’s fun, and I like having an idea of who the stars might be.

These are listed by team. Asterisks by Team USA invitees.

*Anthony Rendon – Bourne
*Blake Forsythe – Bourne
Ben Klafczynski – Bourne
*Tyler Holt – Bourne
*Jedd Gyorko – Brewster
Mark Canha – Brewster
*Jarrett Parker – Brewster
Jeff Schaus – Chatham
Cody Stanley – Cotuit
Cory Vaughn – Cotuit
Rico Noel – Cotuit
Kevin Keyes – Cotuit
Josh Adams – Falmouth
*Bryce Brentz – Harwich
*Ross Wilson – Harwich
Cody Hawn – Hyannis
Jackie Bradley, Jr. – Hyannis
Dan Burkhart – Hyannis
Michael Lang – Orleans
Derek Dietrich – Wareham
Alex Dickerson – Wareham
George Springer – Wareham
Ryan LaMarre – Wareham
Mickey Wiswall – Y-D
Andy Wilkins – Y-D

Prediction: I would pick Bryce Brentz, but I think he’ll stay with Team USA, so I’m going with Hyannis’ Cody Hawn. Two years ago, he was a potential early-round pick but an injury cost him that chance. After a big year in junior college last year, he didn’t miss a beat while a making the huge step to Tennessee and the SEC.

Outstanding Pitcher Watch List

This is probably tougher to predict than anything involving the hitters. Plenty of good pitchers see their numbers balloon in the college game, so it’s tough to get a feel for things. Changing roles also make it difficult. Many relievers turn into starters on the Cape, and vice versa. Last year’s award winner was Nick McCully, who was a closer in the spring and a starter in Bourne.

*Alex Wimmers, Bourne
*Drew Pomeranz, Bourne
*Cody Wheeler, Bourne
Robert Morey, Bourne
Matt Harvey, Chatham
*Gerrit Cole, Cotuit
Max Russell, Cotuit
Chance Ruffin, Cotuit
Seth Blair, Cotuit
Justin Grimm, Cotuit
Jordan Cooper, Falmouth
Patrick Cooper, Falmouth
Tommy Collier, Falmouth
*Daniel Renken, Harwich
Aaron Meade, Harwich
Casey Harman, Hyannis
*Deck McGuire, Orleans
Jimmy Reyes, Orleans
Taylor Jungmann, Wareham
Brandon Workman, Wareham
Scott Rembisz, Wareham
*Trevor Bauer, Y-D
Chris Sale, Y-D
Austin Ross, Y-D
*Anthony Ranaudo, Y-D

Prediction:Any Team USA guys who come to the Cape would be good picks. I’ll stay away from them when it comes to predictions and I’m also going to shy away from the Omaha crew. I think I’ll go a little bit off the board for this one and take a flyer on Florida Southern lefty Max Russell. His numbers were really, really good this spring, and though he put them up against D-II competition, he seems to be a legitimate prospect who should be ready for a step up.

The season opener has been postponed to Friday. 

So I kind of missed my target on some of the preseason stuff I was working on, but that’s beside the point today. It should all be up soon.

For now, it’s baseball time. Cotuit visits Harwich tonight at 7 p.m. for the season opener. It’s a rematch of last year’s championship, and it’s got the stage all to itself tonight, with every other team opening up tomorrow.

I’m not going to be around tonight, so I won’t be able to keep tabs on the game, but I’ll recap it tomorrow with the first 2009 edition of Daily Fog.

If you’re going to the game, enjoy, and don’t forget your umbrella. Hopefully the rain will hold off.

For those not making it to Harwich, I think you can listen to the Harwich broadcast here. It looks like Cotuit is doing a one-hour special before their broadcast, beginning at 4 p.m.

Alright, so I put the last two early (late?) looks on hold for a bit and spent last night getting college statistics together for every player who’s on a Cape League roster. Below are the results of my labor, and you better enjoy them because it took like four hours and, by the end, I had taken to singing home run totals.

But I really like having these stats. Below are all the links. Ideally, it would be one page and you could sort the stats however you want, but I don’t know how to do that. So, you get a bunch of pages. And since Blogger doesn’t let you have additional files, these are on a webs.com page. It should be fine.

So here they are. The first two categories are all players, sorted by school and Cape team. Then all players sorted by various statistics, and finally, pages with the pitchers and hitters from each team.

I should note that my spreadsheet program automatically puts zeroes in front of decimals, so people are hitting 0.322 instead of .322. Also, if it ends in a zero, that goes away, so 0.32 is .320. I put asterisks by the names of players who have been invited to Team USA and asterisks in the stats columns of players who sat out this season.

That should do it. Go.

Sorted By School
Hitters
Pitchers

Sorted By Cape Team
Hitters
Pitchers

Sorted By Statistic
Strikeouts
ERA
Wins

Batting Average
Home Runs
RBI
On-Base Percentage

Cape Teams
Bourne
Brewster
Chatham
Cotuit
Falmouth
Harwich
Hyannis
Orleans
Wareham
Y-D

In terms of all the former Cape Leaguers who got picked, we can wrap all that stuff up soon. For now, let’s focus on the draftees who are on 2009 rosters. With 30 rounds complete (20 to go), it looks like 27 28 Cape Leaguers have been drafted. I may have missed somebody, so if you notice an omission let me know.

I think we’ll end up seeing a good number of these players this season. Others were probably a long shot to begin with, but had the Cape League as a backup plan. Drew Storen has already signed with the Nationals. Tyler Townsend has been taken off Cotuit’s roster.

The list, with the number corresponding to the round they were selected in:

1 – Drew Storen, Cotuit
1S – Kentrail Davis, Falmouth
1S – Mike Belfiore, Y-D
2 – D.J. LeMahieu, Harwich
3 – Tyler Townsend, Cotuit
3 – Robbie Shields, Cotuit
4 – Chris Dwyer, Cotuit
4 – Dan Mahoney, Bourne
5 – Tobias Streich, Harwich
9 – Trevor Coleman, Falmouth
9 – Brock Holt, Cotuit
10 – Nick Santomauro, Y-D
10 – Tyler Lyons, Chatham
11 – Chris Wade, Harwich
13 – Jake Goebbert, Harwich
14 – Chad Bell, Cotuit
15 – Mike Nesseth, Cotuit
15 – Casey Schmidt, Brewster
19 – Kipp Schutz, Wareham
20 – Mitch Mormann, Falmouth
20 – Kevin Nolan, Falmouth
20 – Thomas Keeling, Chatham
20 – Alex Hassan, Orleans
21 – Jeff Rowland, Cotuit
23 – Mike Mooney, Bourne
24 – Joey Wong, Falmouth
27 – Austin Hudson, Hyannis
28 – Aaron Meade, Harwich

After Thursday, I’ll post this list with updates from the final day.

I’ve got some brief draft updates on my twitter page.

More details to come.

HARWICH MARINERS
Manager: Steve Englert
2008 Record: 24-20

The 2008 Harwich Mariners didn’t have a ton of players on leaderboards and didn’t really separate themselves in any of the team statistics.

And yet.

In a season filled with parity, the Mariners were the last team standing. They won the franchise’s first league championship since 1987. They got hot at the right time, won a ridiculous 18-inning game over Orleans in the semis and rode the momentum to the title.

While getting hot was a big part of the run, for sure, Harwich manager Steve Englert wanted everybody to know that it wasn’t the only part. All year, he said his Mariners had tremendous chemistry. In a league with essentially 10 all-star teams, how those teams fit together is as important as anything else. Harwich made things fit perfectly.

The hard part will be doing it again. When you’re building a team at any level, chemistry is a tough attribute to quantify. For a summer league squad, a good place to start is taking players from successful programs. If they fit on a College World Series team, chances are they’ll fit on a lot of other teams, too.

But you can have too much of a good thing, and that might be the case for Harwich in ’09. The thing that stands out right now about Harwich’s roster is this: nine players are on their way to Omaha, not on their way to Harwich. It’s great for them. But it means the first few weeks of the season will be a little hectic in Harwich. Hopefully for the Mariners, that won’t be a defining aspect of the season, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on.

Aside from the Omaha flavor, Harwich has some potential. The starting pitching would get a big lift from Fullerton’s Daniel Renken, who’s got the Team USA-College World Series double whammy. If he doesn’t make it to Harwich, look for big things from guys like Aaron Meade, John Gast, Eric Jokisch, Justin Wright and Chase Reid. Geoff Parker and Glenn Troyanowski have been relievers all spring, and they should play big roles as well.

Five of the nine in Omaha are position players, so the lineup will probably be mixed and matched in the early going. If Bryce Brentz somehow doesn’t go with Team USA, Harwich will have perhaps the best sophomore hitter in the country. There’s enough depth to fill the hole, though, even if he does stick with Team USA. Twelve of Harwich’s 15 position players hit over .300 this year and two who didn’t — Levi Michael and Trent Mummey — hit double-digit home runs. There’s also a veteran flavor to the offense, with four juniors.

As always, we’ll have to wait and see how it fits together, but on paper, the Mariners can make a pretty good case to be called the best team in the East.

They just hope it all fits together at the right time.

Roster Rundown
Returning Players: 2
Juniors: 4
Sophomores: 21
Freshmen: 4

Notable

• The nine CWS-bound players come from four different teams — North Carolina, LSU, Cal State Fullerton and Virginia. Off the top of my head, I’d call those teams four of the top six who are in Omaha, so we may not see many early exits.
• I should note that, this time last year, Harwich had six players on its roster who were headed to Omaha. I guess that worked out alright.
• I’m hoping Daniel Renken will make it to Harwich and not Team USA. He has been one of the nation’s best sophomore pitchers, and has been particularly good lately. After a Super Regional loss to him, Louisville coach Dan McDonell called Renken the best pitcher his team had faced all year.
• Like a couple of other teams, Harwich doesn’t have a ton of weekend starters, but I think one of them, Aaron Meade, could turn into a potential ace, based on what he did this year. He struck out around a batter an inning for Missouri State and had a 3.39 ERA.
• I’m sure Vandy’s Chase Reid is looking forward to a return to New England. He pitched for the Newport Gulls in the NECBL last year and struck 11 for every batter he walked.
• We’ll see how things shake out with starters and relievers, but Harwich could have some lights-out guys in the bullpen — Daniel Bradshaw, Nate Striz, Geoff Parker and Glen Troyanowski.
• Harwich continues an ’09 league trend that I’ll probably touch on soon: really productive catchers. Anthony Sosnoskie had a great season for Virginia Tech, while Jeff Vigurs put up huge numbers for Bryant. Every team seems to have good offensive catchers, and Harwich should be right there.
• D.J. LeMahieu is certainly a guy to keep an eye on in the coming days. As I’m writing this at 10:00 on Tuesday, he hasn’t been drafted, but he could go in the first few rounds. He’s also in Omaha. From everything I’ve read, he didn’t flash as much power as scouts hoped this year and he also got moved off shortstop. As a draft-eligible sophomore, he’s a prime candidate to head to the Cape and look for some leverage. UPDATE (6/9 10:21 p.m.): He literally got drafted two minutes after I posted this. He goes to the Cubs in the second round, with the 79th overall pick. That’s pretty high. He might not need leverage.
• Virginia has a ton of good hitters this season, and Harwich-bound Phil Gosselin and Dan Grovatt are two of the best.
• Since I’m sure he’ll be with Team USA if he wants to be — he’s not going to get cut — I’m going to do my best to not get over-excited about Bryce Brentz. But I really hope he somehow ends up in Harwich. If you’re not familiar with him, he led the nation in batting average and tied for the lead in home runs.
• Team USA updated its invite list today and Ross Wilson was one of two new additions. He’s coming off a real good sophomore season at Alabama.
• Even without Brentz and Wilson, this offense has the potential to be really good.

Five Players I’m Excited to See
1. Bryce Brentz
2. Daniel Renken
3. D.J. LeMahieu
4. Levi Michael
5. Trent Mummey

Pitchers

Daniel Bradshaw – RHP – 6’1 208 – LSU – Sophomore
Garrett Davis – RHP – 6’4 215 – North Carolina – RS Freshman
*Brian Dupra – RHP – 6’3 205 – Notre Dame – Sophomore
John Gast – LHP – 6’2 215 – Florida State – Sophomore
Mike Gipson – RHP – 6’1 195 – Florida Atlantic – Sophomore
Eric Jokisch – LHP – 6’2 180 – Northwestern – Sophomore
Aaron Meade – LHP – 6’3 185 – Missouri State – Sophomore
Nate Striz – RHP – 6’2 240 – North Carolina – Sophomore
Geoff Parker – RHP – 6’3 240 – Florida State – Sophomore
Matthew Price – RHP – 6’2 165 – Virginia Tech – Freshman
Justin Wright – LHP – 5’9 170 – Virginia Tech – Sophomore
Chase Reid – RHP – 6’3 205 – Vanderbilt – Sophomore
Daniel Renken – RHP – 6’4 200 – Cal State Fullerton – Sophomore
Glen Troyanowski – RHP – 6’1 165 – Florida Atlantic – Sophomore

Daniel Bradshaw – RHP – 6’1 208
LSU
Sophomore

Bradshaw put up pretty solid numbers as a freshman reliever, and he’s been even better this year for the Omaha-bound Tigers. Nineteen of his 23 appearances have come out of the bullpen, and he’s been one of the team’s best relievers. He’s got a 4-0 record, a 3.38 record and 32 strikeouts against 11 walks in 45.1 innings of work.

Garrett Davis – RHP – 6’4 215
North Carolina
RS Freshman

A North Carolina high school star, Davis didn’t get much of a chance to make a splash last year in Chapel Hill. After two appearances, he had Tommy John surgery and took a redshirt. This season, Davis has made nine appearances, posting a 4.50 ERA.

Brian Dupra – RHP – 6’3 205
Notre Dame
Sophomore

Dupra was a pretty solid reliever for Harwich last summer, posting a 3.40 ERA while tying for the team lead in appearances. His second year at Notre Dame was a struggle. Dupra pitched in the weekend rotation and put up a 7.13 ERA. He struck out 48 and only walked 16, but opponents hit over .300 against him.

John Gast – LHP – 6’2 215
Florida State
Sophomore

Gast was a fifth-round pick out of high school in 2007, but Tommy John surgery kept him out for much of his freshman season at Florida State. He eventually worked his way back and posted a 2.70 ERA in 14 appearances. This season, Gast made 28 appearances with three starts. He ended up with a 5.82 ERA.

Mike Gipson – RHP – 6’1 195
Florida Atlantic
Sophomore

Gipson hasn’t registered great ERA’s in his two years at Florida Atlantic — 6.10 last year and 5.93 this year — but some of his peripheral numbers have been pretty good. He struck out 58 in 62 innings last year and 64 in 71 innings this season.

Eric Jokisch – LHP – 6’2 180
Northwestern
Sophomore

Jokisch was a 39th-round pick out of high school, and he made an immediate impact last year in Evanston. His 8-2 record and 4.17 ERA earned him Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. His seven wins in conference play were the most-ever by a freshman in Big Ten history. This year, Jokisch went 4-7 with a 5.48 ERA.

Aaron Meade – LHP – 6’3 185
Missouri State
Sophomore

Joining former Brewster Whitecaps Buddy Baumann and Tim Clubb in the Missouri State weekend rotation, Meade delivered a fantastic sophomore season. He went 9-2 with a 3.39 ERA and he struck out 89 in 90.1 innings. All his numbers put him just behind Baumann’s pace, and Baumann is projected as a fifth or sixth-round pick this year.

Nate Striz – RHP – 6’2 240
North Carolina
Sophomore

Striz has been one of North Carolina’s best relievers this season. He’s third on the team in appearances and he boasts a 3.42 ERA. He has struck out 27 in 23.2 innings. Opponents have hit just .216 against him, second-best on the team. Striz played for Falmouth last summer, posting a 5.63 ERA in seven relief appearances. Striz was a fifth-round pick out of high school.

Geoff Parker – RHP – 6’3 240
Florida State
Sophomore

A Freshman All-American last year, Parker was a workhorse for the Seminoles this season, and he had a fair amount of success. He led the team with 31 appearances, going 6-2 with a 4.82 ERA. He struck out 65 in 65.1 innings of work.

Matthew Price – RHP – 6’2 165
Virginia Tech
Freshman

Price was a 34th round pick out of high school last year, and he showed some flashes this season in Blacksburg. Though his ERA climbed to 6.90, he struck out 53 in 58.2 innings.

Justin Wright – LHP – 5’9 170
Virginia Tech
Sophomore

As a freshman, Wright worked his way into a starting role and had a great season. This year, he went 7-2 with a 3.95 ERA. He struck out 59 and walked only 17 in 66 innings.

Chase Reid – RHP – 6’3 205
Vanderbilt
Sophomore

Reid posted a 4.30 ERA last year for Vandy then became one of the best pitchers in the NECBL last summer. Pitching for the Newport Gulls, he went 4-0 with a 1.88 ERA, 55 strikeouts in 38.1 innings and just five walks. This spring, he pitched mostly out of the bullpen for the Commodores, finishing with a 4.46 ERA, 38 strikeouts and 10 walks in 34.1 innings.

Daniel Renken – RHP – 6’4 200
Cal State Fullerton
Sophomore

Renken was a 35th-round pick out of high school and he turned in a solid freshman season last year. This year, he’s been far better than solid as he has turned into one of the nation’s best pitchers. He has gone 11-2 with a 2.36 ERA and 98 strikeouts in 118 innings. Renken has been invited to Team USA.

Glen Troyanowski – RHP – 6’1 165
Florida Atlantic
Sophomore

Troyanowski served as Florida Atlantic’s closer this season and though he had an ERA above five, he tallied a team-best six saves. He also struck out 50 in 40.1 innings, which gave him the team’s best K/9 ratio. Opponents hit just .234 against him.

Position Players

Anthony Sosnoskie – C – 5’11 193 – Virginia Tech – Junior
Jeff Vigurs – C – 6’0 190 – Bryant – Junior
Stephen Cardullo – IF – 6’0 200 – Florida State – Junior
Phil Gosselin – IF – 6’1 185 – Virginia – Sophomore
Daniel Grovatt – IF – 6’2 187 – Virginia – Sophomore
*D.J. LeMahieu – IF – 6’4 200 – LSU – Sophomore
Levi Michael – IF – 5’10 175 – North Carolina – Freshman
Joe Loftus – IF – 6’4 200 – Vanderbilt – Freshman
Stuart Tapley – IF – 5’10 200 – Florida State – Sophomore
Chris Wade – IF – 6’0 160 – Kentucky – Sophomore
Ross Wilson – IF – 5’11 185 – Alabama – Sophomore
Bryce Brentz – OF – 6’0 187 – Middle Tennessee State – Sophomore
Jacob Goebbert – OF – 6’1 205 – Northwestern – Junior
Leon Landry – OF – 6’0 200 – LSU – Sophomore
Trent Mummey – OF – 5’11 185 – Auburn – Sophomore

Anthony Sosnoskie – C – 5’11 193
Virginia Tech
Junior

Sosnoskie has put up consistent numbers throughout his career at Virginia Tech. After hitting .292 as a freshman and .315 as a sophomore, he hit .314 this year with a career-high seven home runs and 51 RBI. He upped his on-base percentage almost 50 points from last year. BA ranked Sosnoskie as the fourth-best prospect in the Southern Collegiate League last year.

Jeff Vigurs – C – 6’0 190
Bryant
Junior

Bryant is making the transition to Division I, and Vigurs has been one of the program’s biggest building blocks. He had a fantastic junior season, finishing with a .389 average, nine home runs, 23 doubles and 70 RBI. He also struck out just 15 times in 203 at-bats. Among players whose teams were reclassifying like Bryant, Vigurs was the nation’s leading hitter and RBI man.

Stephen Cardullo – IF – 6’0 200
Florida State
Junior

Cardullo only played in 12 games as a freshman and only made 10 starts as a sophomore. But his patience was rewarded in a big way this season. As the Noles’ starting shortstop and No. 2 hitter, Cardullo hit .376 with 10 home runs, 20 doubles and 51 RBI. He also had a .479 on-base percentage and stole 20 bases.

Phil Gosselin – IF – 6’1 185
Virginia
Sophomore

Gosselin has been a key part of Virginia’s dynamic offense this season. After hitting .305 as a freshman, he has started every game this season. As the Cavaliers head to Omaha, Gosselin is hitting .314 with six home runs and 63 RBI.

Daniel Grovatt – IF – 6’2 187
Virginia
Sophomore

Along with Gosselin, Grovatt is part of a tremendous sophomore class at Virginia, and among his peers, he has had one of the best seasons. He’s currently hitting a team-best .365 with seven home runs, 50 RBI and 14 stolen bases.

D.J. LeMahieu – IF – 6’4 200
LSU
Sophomore

LeMahieu was one of the most intriguing freshman prospects in the nation last year and he lived up to the hype with a great first season in Baton Rouge. After hitting .290 for Harwich last summer, LeMahieu has hit a team-best .340 for the Tigers this season, with four home runs and 19 extra-base hits. He’s a draft-eligible sophomore and a potential high pick, so that’ll definitely have an impact on his summer plans.

Levi Michael – IF – 5’10 175
North Carolina
Freshman

Six months ago, Michael was in high school. Now he’s the starting second baseman for North Carolina as it heads into the College World Series. Michael graduated from high school in January and immediately enrolled at North Carolina. Though that’s a pretty huge step without much time in between, Michael didn’t miss a beat. He has .298 this season with 13 home runs and 56 RBI.

Joe Loftus – IF – 6’4 200
Vanderbilt
Freshman

Loftus was a 29th-round pick out of high school last year, and he made immediate contributions at Vandy. Emerging as the team’s starting left-fielder, Loftus hit .263 with four home runs and 28 RBI.

Stuart Tapley – IF – 5’10 200
Florida State
Sophomore

Tapley had a fantastic freshman season in Tallahassee, hitting .383, which was good for fifth in the ACC. His average went down a bit this year, but he still had a strong season. He finished at .316 with 13 home runs, 18 doubles and 60 RBI.

Chris Wade – IF – 6’0 160
Kentucky
RS 3Sophomore

Wade led the SEC in doubles last year and earned several Freshman All-America nods. After hitting .228 in the Northwoods League, he batted .314 for Kentucky this season, hitting 10 doubles and six home runs. Wade played shortstop and made only six errors.

Ross Wilson – IF – 5’11 185
Alabama
Sophomore

The brother of Alabama quarterback John Parker Wilson, Ross has made his mark on the baseball field. After hitting .295 with 15 home runs as a freshman, Wilson headed to Bourne last summer and hit .218. This spring, he was one of Alabama’s top hitters, finishing at .353 with nine home runs and 47 RBI. Wilson is a late addition to Team USA’s invite list.

Bryce Brentz – OF – 6’0 187
Middle Tennessee State
Sophomore

Based on production this season, it might be safe to call Brentz the nation’s best sophomore. He has been invited to Team USA, so we might not get to see him, but if we do: wow. He led the nation with a .465 batting average and tied for the national lead with 28 home runs. He had 73 RBI. He was also a weekend starter for the Blue Raiders, and he went 5-3 with a 4.57 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 88.2 innings. Brentz was a 30th-round pick out of high school.

Jacob Goebbert – OF – 6’1 205
Northwestern
Junior

Goebbert finished his first two years at Northwestern with a career batting average of .343. It dipped a bit this year down to .280, but he didn’t have a chance to bring it up. Playing against Minnesota this spring, he crashed into the wall at the Metrodome and lacerated a kidney. He missed the rest of the season, but should be ready for the summer.

Leon Landry – OF – 6’0 200
LSU
Sophomore

A 36th-round pick out of high school, Landry made a big impact as a freshman in Baton Rouge, helping lead the Tigers to last year’s College World Series. This season, he’s hitting .305 with 12 home runs and 41 RBI. Landry was tabbed by BA as the Cal Ripken Sr. League’s top prospect last summer.

Trent Mummey – OF – 5’11 185
Auburn
Sophomore

Mummey was Auburn’s leadoff hitter this season, but he put up numbers that could play in the middle of just about any order. He hit .289 with 15 home runs, 12 doubles and 42 RBI. His .409 OBP was second among the team’s starters, and he also stole 17 bases.

I think it might be. I realized this tonight as I was (a) doing research for the Harwich early look, (b) watching a Super Regional, (c) keeping tabs on draft rumors and (d) taking a nap. The nap is beside the point, but the other stuff: a perfect representation of a fantastic time of year.

After Thursday, the Cape League season will speed to August like a runaway train, one night of games blurring into the next. Players whose names I’ve already forgotten will become stars. Teams will create identities. Stories will be told. And then, in a blink, it’ll all be over. But now, now we have endless possibilities. We’ll have Omaha soon, too, and that’s always fun to watch. Then you’ve got the draft, where you can look at your buddy who doesn’t know know who Grant Green is and laugh.

So, yeah, this is kind of an awesome week.

I’ll see what I can do to make it a little better. The draft is set to start tomorrow, so I’ll be posting some updates on that. We’ve got a lot of former Cape Leaguers ticketed for the first round. There are also some names on ’09 rosters that could go pretty high.

I will also be trying my hardest to get all the early looks done. I have three left and three days left before the season starts. Perfect timing, if I didn’t have to still write them. I’ll give it a go, and even if they’re not all done by Thursday, they will be very soon. Also, I posted college stats for every player in the league last year, and I am planning on doing that again. That, too, might have to wait a little bit, but it’ll be there.

I’m planning on posting some general preview stuff, too, and I can tell you right now what the angle’s going to be: we’ve got some talent coming. I’ll go into detail later, but I really feel like the overall depth of talent in the league is going to be up from last year.

For now, I think you should check out the Wareham Gatemen twitter page, if you haven’t already. The Gatemen have already played two exhibition games, and that page has some nice updates. If I may make a ridiculously premature proclamation, Alex Dickerson, Ryan LaMarre and George Springer are looking like the best outfield in the league.

Also on the subject of the Gateman, there was a real interesting article on South Coast Today detailing “Life after a legend.”

Finally, I stumbled across some good stuff on PG Crosschecker. They posted mid-season All-American picks for each class in April, and from a Cape League perspective, the freshman and sophomore lists are both worth reading. With so much focus on draft-eligibile players, it’s sometimes hard to get a pre-summer feel for which Cape Leaguers are getting the most attention. This helps.

Alright. That is all I have. Yahoo for baseball. It’s almost here.