The Decade’s Best: No. 13 Tim Norton

Tim Norton
Falmouth 2005
Pitcher
Connecticut

Some of my favorite Cape League stories have as their central characters the player who hooks onto a team as a temp and then turns into a star.

No story like that is better than Tim Norton’s.

In June of 2005, Norton was coming off a good– but not great — junior season at the University of Connecticut. His ERA was 3.07 and he had some good strikeout numbers, but he was still a swingman, pitching both as a starter and as a reliever.

Like a lot of New England players, Norton hoped to catch on with a Cape League team. He went to the annual tryout in Wareham. He did enough to get a temporary deal with Falmouth.

The next two months couldn’t have been scripted any better.

Norton went eight shutout innings in his first start, allowing just two hits and striking out nine. That probably would have been enough to earn Norton a full summer, but he continued to prove himself time and again. He struck out 11 in his next start and 12 after that.

Soon enough, he was picked for the all-star team, and he just kept turning in good start after good start. He finished the summer with a 5-1 record, a 1.77 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 61 innings. That strikeout total is tied for the third-best mark of the decade.

In a Cape class full of outstanding pitchers, Norton shared Pitcher of the Year honors with North Carolina and Chatham star Andrew Miller. He also won the John Claffey New England Top Prospect Award.

After the Cape

Norton was drafted in the seventh round of the 2006 draft by the Yankees. It hasn’t been smooth sailing since then. Norton had shoulder surgery that kept him out of most of the 2007 season and all of 2008. He finally worked his way back in May of 2009 and turned in a solid season for the High-A Tampa Yankees. In 23 relief appearances, Norton posted a 2.75 ERA.

RELATED POSTS