February 2016 – RIGHT FIELD FOG

February 18, 2016February 18, 2016

Opening Weekend

Eric Lauer led the Cape League in strikeouts last summer and will be part of a marquee pitching match-up on college baseball's opening day. — Eric Lauer led the Cape League in strikeouts last summer and will be part of a marquee pitching match-up on college baseball’s opening day.

Friday is a major milestone on the march to a Cape League summer – and a great day in its own right.

Division I college baseball opens with 137 games on the schedule. Cape League stars past and future will be on diamonds across America. If you’re in the mood to watch, Watch ESPN has 13 games streaming Friday, beginning at 4 p.m.

Without further ado, some Cape League-centric notes on the opening weekend proceedings . . .

Friday’s game between Virginia and Kent State at the Caravelle Resort Tournament in Myrtle Beach could be one of the highlights of the weekend. The Cavaliers are the defending national champs, while the Golden Flashes are a perennial mid-major contender and aren’t far removed from a 2012 trip to Omaha.Friday, the Golden Flashes will send former Orleans Firebird Eric Lauer to the hill, and he figures to give them a chance. Lauer had a terrific sophomore season last year, putting up a 1.98 ERA with 103 strikeouts. He didn’t slow down much on the Cape, leading the league with 50 strikeouts while posting a 2.04 ERA. MLB Pipeline lists Lauer as the 38th-best prospect for the 2016 Major League Baseball draft.His opponent Friday is Virginia’s Connor Jones, MLB Pipeline’s 11th-best prospect. Interestingly, Lauer and Jones were slated to be teammates in Orleans, but Jones sat out the summer after a heavy workload for the CWS champ Cavaliers. (Also an initial member of the Orleans pitching staff? No. 2 draft prospect A.J. Puk of Florida. Just a crazy collection of arms had it panned out).
Lauer says he’s more confident than ever after his summer on the Cape, and he’ll need to be confident against the Cavaliers.

Lauer’s Orleans teammate Mitchell Jordan gets the start for Stetson Friday at 6:30 p.m. against Delaware. In a Stetson uniform last spring, Jordan was solid, with a 3.28 ERA. For the Firebirds, he was transcendent, posting a 0.21 ERA on his way to Cape League Pitcher of the Year honors. It’ll be interesting to see what Jordan’s big summer means for him this season. The Atlantic Sun named him a preseason all-conference pick.

The Volunteer State gets a cool baseball showcase when Tennessee and Memphis square off in Chattanooga this weekend. Tennessee will be led by a pair of 2015 Cape League standouts in infielder Nick Senzel and pitcher Kyle Serrano. Senzel earned league MVP and top prospect honors for Brewster and is projected to be one of the top players in the country this year, as well as a first-round pick. Serrano, another Orleans pitcher, will be an anchor for the Vols’ pitching staff.

Oklahoma State is ranked as high seventh in national preseason polls, and a guy who won big on the Cape is a major reason why. Donnie Walton, a key part of Y-D’s championship club, is one of seven starters back for the Cowboys. They face UT Arlington and Stephen F. Austin this weekend.

Matt Krook’s comeback started in Wareham, and it will continue Saturday when Oregon faces San Diego State. Krook was a supplemental first-round pick in 2013 who had Tommy John surgery. He missed all of the college season last spring before getting back on the mound for the first time with the Gatemen. And it could prove to be the beginning of a great comeback. Krook is MLB Pipeline’s 23rd-ranked prospect for the 2016 draft, and he was reportedly at the top of his game in Oregon’s final preseason scrimmage.

Andrew Calica’s season for UC Santa Barbara begins Friday at 5 p.m. against San Francisco, as the former Gatemen tries to build on hitting .400 on the Cape. As with the aforementioned Jordan, it’ll be very interesting what a terrific Cape League season will mean.

The series between Arizona and Rice shapes up as a good one. We’ll see if Bobby Dalbec’s ridiculous Cape League home run rate carries over to the spring.

Few players on the Cape last summer helped themselves more than Dakota Hudson in Hyannis. The Mississippi State flame-thrower delivered the production to match his projection and will be a big prospect to watch this spring. He’ll start for the Bulldogs Friday against Florida Atlantic.

Some future Orleans Firebirds will be on opposite sides when San Diego and Vanderbilt get together this weekend. San Diego catcher Riley Adams and Vandy’s Chandler Day, Donny Everett and Ethan Paul are all set to play in Orleans. Day was recently named the top freshman prospect in America by D-1Baseball.com. With a crowded staff that includes Cape playoff hero Ben Bowden, Day is likely to pitch out of the bullpen for the Commodores. Vanderbilt’s roster also features some future Cotuit Kettleers, including standout pitcher Kyle Wright and freshman infielder Alonzo Jones.

Consensus preseason No. 1 Florida is a little light on Cape League flavor after a ton of their rising juniors played for Team USA last summer. As for popular No. 2 pick Louisville, the Cards have plenty of Cape League roots. Brendan McKay and Nick Solak, who played for Bourne last summer, are poised for big years. Kyle Funkhouser, a Chatham Angler in 2013, is back after he was drafted in the first round by the Dodgers but didn’t sign. Louisville faces Southern Illinois-Edwardsville to open its season.

February 16, 2016February 16, 2016

Encore Performance?

A.J. Pollock was the Cape League MVP in 2008 and is coming off a breakout season with the Diamondbacks.

It was July 2, 2008 when Falmouth’s A.J. Pollock had one of the best games of his Cape League MVP season and Wareham’s Dallas Keuchel went eight strong innings in spite of it.

It’s always cool to look back at match-ups like that when you know what has happened since. In the case of Pollock and Keuchel, a lot has happened – they’re leading the way for a new generation of Major League stars with Cape League roots.

Keuchel emerged as one of the best pitchers in baseball for the Astros last year, a status that was solidified when the left-hander won the American League Cy Young award.

Pollock, in his fourth year in the bigs, earned an All-Star nod for the Diamondbacks and hit .315 with 20 homers and 39 stolen bases. He’s one of the game’s top emerging power-speed combos.

So what can they do for an encore?

Keuchel is eager for postseason success and figures to be a key part of it. The former Arkansas standout – who spent two summers with the Gatemen – had a steady rise through the Houston system. After a solid, under-the-radar season in 2014, he surged to 20 wins, a 2.48 ERA and 216 strikeouts last season. The K rate saw a significant uptick from 146 the year before.

Whenever a player has a big breakout, it’s tough to be sure what comes next, but FanGraphs, for one, believes Keuchel will come close to a repeat. The K rate may go down, but he still profiles as one of the best pitchers in baseball.

As for Pollock, his breakout campaign included big increases in home runs and extra-base hits. As with Keuchel, projections favor a bit of a regression, but with a young player like Pollock, there’s also the possibility that what came before – two partial seasons and one with 137 games – was just the beginning, as opposed to the mean for him. The former Notre Dame and Falmouth Commodore star could be poised to solidify himself as one of the league’s best outfielders.

Whatever happens, Keuchel and Pollock will continue carrying the torch for the Cape League in the Big Leagues.

February 11, 2016February 11, 2016

Appreciating 2015

Andrew Calica's .425 season was one of the highlights of 2015. — Andrew Calica’s .425 season was one of the highlights of 2015.

In making some lists on 2015 Cape League alumni to watch this college season, I was struck by some of the standout performances of last summer. The season goes so fast and ends so abruptly that it’s easy to lose track of the season that was. And postseason top prospect lists tend to focus on the talent level, not on what the players, fans and organizations experience on the Cape’s sandy shores.

For a brief trip down memory lane, start with Andrew Calica. The Wareham outfielder didn’t qualify for the batting title until late in the season, but when he did, history was made. Calica hit .425, becoming the first Cape Leaguer to hit the .400 mark since 1990. Several had come close over the years, but no one finished it off until Calica.

Bobby Dalbec hit four home runs in the first week of the season for Orleans, left for Team USA, came back in July and hit eight more home runs, plus two in the playoffs. Dalbec hit a home run every 8.2 at-bats. And in a two-year career with Orleans, the Arizona slugger hit 19 home runs in 62 games. From that perspective, he’s a Cape League all-timer.

On the mound, Mitchell Jordan finished with a 0.21 ERA for Orleans, matching Eric Milton’s 1996 Cape League record. He allowed two earned runs the entire season. And Y-D’s Ben Bowden had a remarkable run for the Red Sox after his July arrival. In 17.1 regular season innings out of the bullpen, he didn’t allow a single run. The first time anyone scored off him was in game three of the Cape League championship series – and it didn’t much matter. The Red Sox won 8-1 and Bowden finished it off.

There were plenty more great moments, of course, but those performances really stick out. It was a fun year.

Notes

Three former Cape Leaguers spent part of their winter in the Australian Baseball League, a relatively new venture that aims to grow the game Down Under and also serve as a winter destination for players in MLB systems. Former Orleans Firebird Maxx Tissenbaum, a Tampa Bay farm-hand, was on the Brisbane team that won the ABL championship. That squad beat Dallas Gallant (Hyannis) and the Adelaide Bite in the title series. Falmouth alum Rhys Hoskins hit eight home runs for the Sydney Blue Sox.

One week before the Division I season opens, the D-II ranks will treat baseball fans to a terrific pitching match-up in California this Friday. Former Wareham Gatemen pitcher Ryan Olson of Cal Poly Pomona will square off with Tyler Wells of Cal State San Bernardino. Both hurlers will get some draft buzz. Baseball America projected as the D-II national pitcher of the year.

Cool read on Kevin Costner’s connection to Cal State Fullerton baseball.

The Southern Conference tabbed 2015 Orleans star Kyle Lewis to repeat as the league’s Player of the Year. Lewis’ Mercer team is also atop the preseason poll.

Cape Leaguers Carmen Benedetti, Brett Adcock and Evan Hill lead a Michigan team that’s been picked as the Big Ten favorite.

Wareham announced the addition of new assistant coach Don Sneddon, the longtime coach at Santa Ana College and a former manager in the Rockies’ system. He joins a new-look staff that will be headed by first-year manager Gerry Weinstein, who was hired in September.

And lastly, the 2016 season begins in 119 days. Plan accordingly.

February 9, 2016February 9, 2016

Judge key in Yankees plans

Aaron Judge hit five home runs for Brewster in 2012 and is now one of the Yankees' top prospects. — Aaron Judge hit five home runs for Brewster in 2012 and is now one of the Yankees’ top prospects.

Aaron Judge is pretty good with first impressions. In the summer of 2012, he hit a home run in his first game as a Brewster Whitecap. Last year, he was invited to Yankees spring training and blasted a home run on the first day of exhibition games.

Soon enough, the Yankees hope Judge will be making a good first impression in the Bronx.

The Fresno State product and former Whitecap ranks among the best prospects in baseball. He’s the third-best in the Yankees’ system, according to Baseball America, and ESPN’s Keith Law has him at 13th among all MLB prospects. With another invite to spring training this year, Judge is knocking on the door and has been mentioned as a likely big-league starter in 2017, as a key part of the Yankees’ youth movement.

Back in 2012, Judge was still raw, but he cut an imposing figure in the Brewster lineup. His 6-foot-7, 250-pound frame drew comparisons to Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton.

Judge hit five home runs in 32 games for the Whitecaps. His summer in Brewster was the juiced-ball summer, so that total only ranked 20th in the league. It was a year in which Tyler Horan hit 16 home runs, after all.

But scouts suspected that Judge’s power – perhaps more than anybody else’s – would play best at the next level, and they’ve been proven right. Judge was selected by the Yankees in the first round of the 2013 draft. In 255 minor league games, he has hit 37 home runs.

Between two levels last year, Judge hit 20 home runs, including eight at Triple A. He’ll likely be back there to start the 2016 season, but that first impression isn’t too far off.

February 7, 2016February 7, 2016

Warming Up

Devin Smeltzer pitches for Hyannis last summer.

Baseball season doesn’t hit the Division I ranks until Feb. 19, but bats are already pinging for Division II and junior-college teams.

And for a pair of 2015 Cape Leaguers, it’s already been a good start.

Former Hyannis Harbor Hawks Devin Smeltzer is 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA for JUCO powerhouse San Jacinto while Chatham Angler Brandon Miller dazzled in 6.2 shutout innings for D-II Millersville University in its season opener.

Smeltzer arrived in Hyannis last summer from Florida Gulf Coast and announced his presence on the Cape League scene with a no-hitter against Harwich June 20. It was the first single-pitcher no-hitter in the league since 2010, and it validated what scouts knew but hadn’t necessarily seen in the rising sophomore’s collegiate career to that point. Smeltzer had an ERA over six for FGCU, but the potential was there.

Smeltzer had a few ups and downs on the Cape the rest of the way, finishing with a 3.48 ERA, but his summer was good enough to land him on several league top prospect lists.

He also left the Cape with a new destination. Smeltzer transferred from FGCU to San Jacinto. He has committed to attend Texas Tech next year, but as a junior-college player, he will be eligible for the 2016 draft.

This spring, Smeltzer is part of a San Jacinto team that looks to be raising a bar that was already quite high. The preeminent power in junior college baseball has an alumni list that includes Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite.

Smeltzer is 1-0 for the Gators in two starts. He has struck out 13 and walked three in 9.1 innings of work. Friday, he out-dueled LSU commit Kyle Weatherly and his powerhouse Grayson CC team.

As for Miller, Baseball America tabbed him as the 10th-best prospect in the small college ranks (D-II, D-III, NAIA). Folks in Chatham would agree, after Miller quietly delivered a terrific season in the Angler bullpen. Miller had a 1.50 ERA and struck out 27 while walking just a single batter the entire summer. Also from the remarkable stat department, the Anglers were 13-0 in games in which Miller pitched.

Miller started the opening game for Millersville Thursday and struck out nine in 6.2 scoreless innings as the team beat Winston-Salem State. Baseball America has a scouting report from the win.

February 1, 2016January 31, 2016

Reed, the hitter, poised for big things

Stuff lasts forever on the Internet. Like this:

That’s A.J. Reed’s Cape League bio. Note the position — P.

He was a two-way guy at Kentucky and did both on the Cape in two years with Harwich, but he pitched better than he hit. On the Mariners’ 2012 home run bashing team, he was but a bit player for the offense, batting .176 in 34 at-bats. On the mound, he made seven starts and had a 2.20 ERA. The next year, Reed — still with that pesky P beside his name — batted .218 while delivering a 3.60 ERA on the mound.

While much of what is lamented as lasting forever on the Internet would be deemed embarrassing or worse, the P is mostly just a funny footnote for Reed.

He’s now one of the game’s best hitting prospects.

It was after his second summer in Harwich, in the spring of 2014, when Reed became one of the best players in college baseball. Still pitching and hitting, he had a 2.09 ERA and a .336 batting average to go with 23 home runs.

Despite his gaudy pitching numbers, scouts liked Reed more as a hitter, and they’ve been proven right. A second-round pick of the Astros in 2014, Reed hit 12 home runs in 68 games in short-season ball later that year. Then last year — probably his first full year as a hitter since T-Ball — Reed officially cemented himself as one of the best prospects in baseball. Between Class A Advanced and Double A, he hit .340 with a .432 on-base percentage and 34 home runs.

Baseball America ranked Reed the best prospect in Houston’s system and Astros fans are clamoring for him to be the starter at first base sooner rather than later.

Not bad for A.J. Reed, P.