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Day One

Former Orleans Firebird Marcus Stroman is the Opening Day starter in Toronto.

 
Former Orleans Firebird Marcus Stroman is the Opening Day starter in Toronto.
Past and future Cape Leaguers in the college baseball ranks have been playing meaningful games for more than month. Their Big League counterparts are finally back to action today with MLB’s opening day. Some notes on the proceedings and what’s to come:

  • Five former Cape Leaguers will be Opening Day starters for their clubs, headed by reigning American League Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel for the Astros and Matt Harvey for the Mets in a World Series rematch with the Royals. Keuchel, a former Wareham standout, is coming off a fantastic season and will be looking to cement his place as one of the game’s best pitcher. As for Harvey, with the Opening Day nod, he officially leads the Mets’ stable of talented young arms. The other Cape Leaguers who will start things off for their teams are former Y-D star Chris Sale for the White Sox, Cotuit’s Garrett Richards with the Angels and Orleans’ Marcus Stroman with the Jays. Last season was supposed to be the fulfillment of the prospect hype for Stroman, but an injury derailed most of the year. When he came back for a brief stint at the end of the regular season, he was dominant, and it looks like the Jays have tabbed him as their ace for this season.

  • One of the Cape League’s newest alumni stars will have to wait a while to pick up where he left off. Arizona’s A.J. Pollock, who hit .315 with 20 home runs and 39 stolen bases last season, broke his elbow Friday in a headfirst slide during an exhibition game against the Royals. Surgery will keep him out for several months and potentially for the entire season.

  • Pollock’s Arizona teammate Nick Ahmed had a huge spring. The former Bourne Brave hit .419 and continues to fight for a playing time in a middle infield rotation for the Diamondbacks.

  • If you’re looking for the next Cape League breakout candidate, former Cotuit Kettleer C.J. Cron is being counted as a big part of the Angels’ plans. Cron is expected to be the everyday first baseman.

  • Cron and Nick Tropeano played on the same Cotuit team in the summer of 2010 and may both be in Anaheim this summer. While Cron spent limited time in Cotuit thanks to Team USA, Tropeano had a huge summer and credits it with being a turning point in his career. He will open the 2016 season in Triple A.

  • Matt Duffy made an Opening Day roster for the first time in his career, getting the nod from the Astros and, in the process, securing another season with two Matt Duffys in the majors. Both are Cape League alumni, too. Houston’s Matt Duffy played for Chatham in 2009 and was a 20th round pick out of Tennessee. He played in eight games for the Astros last year. San Francisco’s Matt Duffy, a former Orleans Firebird, is looking for a big season after hitting .295 with 12 homers last season.

  • Former Bourne Brave and Cape League MVP Travis Jankowski has made the Padres’ Opening Day roster. The speedy Jankowski was rated San Diego’s seventh-best prospect this offseason.

  • David Ross had a fun spring embracing his status as the Cubs’ resident old man in what he has announced as his final season. He’ll also be happy to know that he’s one of the Cape League’s resident old-timers in the bigs. Ross played for Wareham in 1996, and is one of only two Cape Leaguers from that year – of any year before – on a MLB roster at this point. The other is Atlanta reliever Jason Grilli, who played for Brewster in ’96.

  • As for the other end of the spectrum, here are some prospects with Cape League ties who could make a splash this year, pending promotions to the bigs or opportunities if they’re already there: A.J. Reed (Houston), Brandon Finnegan (Cincinnati), Bradley Zimmer (Indians), Aaron Judge (Yankees) and Sean Manaea (Athletics).

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    The New Aces

    Almost since the day he made his debut in 2007, Tim Lincecum has been the unquestioned king of Cape Cod Baseball League alumni. His career took off immediately. He was 25 when he won his second Cy Young Award. He’s a four-time all-star and a two-time World Series Champion.

    And he might be abdicating his throne.

    Lincecum struggled last year (although his move to the bullpen in the playoffs helped the Giants win the World Series), and he hasn’t quite put it all back together yet this season.

    But that’s only part of the story. Chris Sale and Matt Harvey – two players who were on Cape League fields four years after Lincecum and who are rising just as quickly as he did – are handling the other half.

    Sale starred for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in 2009, earning top prospect honors from Baseball America. For him, the Cape League was everything – he was on the radar before. After, he was a star. It launched him. He was drafted 13th overall the next June by the White Sox, with the expectation that he would move swiftly through the system, and did he ever. Sale played in all of 11 minor league games before he made his Major League debut in August of 2010, just two months after the draft.

    In the beginning, he was a dominant reliever. Then last year, he became an ace, going 17-8 with a 3.05 ERA and striking out a batter an inning. He’s poised to cement his status as one of the game’s best young pitchers this season.

    Harvey joined Sale on the Cape in 2009 after also playing in 2008. He spent both summers with Chatham, but the Cape was different for him than it was for sale. Harvey was already highly-touted, a third round pick out of high school. In 2008, on the heels of a heavy workload at North Carolina, he pitched out of the bullpen and was named the league’s third best prospect by Baseball America. The next year, he struggled with the Tar Heels and didn’t fare much better in a cameo on the Cape, posting a 6.00 ERA in 18 innings.

    But the talent was in there somewhere, and the next spring, Harvey unearthed it. In the 2010 draft, he was selected seventh overall by the Mets. One more college pitcher – Deck McGuire – went before the White Sox tabbed Sale.

    Harvey didn’t move quite as quickly as Sale, but he was in New York to stay late last year, when he shined in 10 starts. This season, he’s been one of the biggest stories in baseball. He carried a 0.93 ERA and 32 strikeouts into Wednesday’s start with the Dodgers.

    If you’re making a list of the best young arms in baseball, Sale and Harvey both have to be on it. And if you’re making a Cape League list, they have to be at or near the top. Only a handful of 2009 Cape Leaguers have made it to the bigs. Sale and Harvey have made it – and they’ve made it.

    Tim Lincecum may yet regain his spot as the Cape League’s best. Either way, it’s going to be crowded up there.