sunday wrap: week two

The second full week of the season was a bit of a strange one. Seven games were postponed because of rain. Two more were called early because of rain or fog. On top of that, dozens of players started arriving from Team USA and the College World Series, adding to the unsettled feeling.

But for everything that was in flux, plenty of things stayed the same. And as we start to get more settled, those are the things that may come to define the real trends, real team identities and real standouts that will mark the summer. We’re through roughly one-fourth of a 44-game season, so I feel like we’ve got a pretty good idea of how the landscape looks.

Of course, things are bound to change, and considering how good I thought Orleans’ offense would be and how good Chatham’s pitching would be (both have not been good), I will probably be wrong. But for the moment, I feel the need to lay some things out, to address the state of the summer so far and how it relates to what comes next.

So, since I’m not completely sure, here are “Four Things I Think I Think.”

Cotuit Can and Will Hit
The fact that they can hit isn’t up for debate. The Kettleers played five games this week and scored 40 runs. They still lead the league in batting average and runs scored, leaving no doubt that they’ve got some serious hitters. Is it just a fast start, though? I really don’t think so. Sure, a lot of the regular starters have gotten off to torrid starts and things will probably revert back to the mean at some point. But for this team, I think the mean will still be pretty good. With hitters like Mike Bianucci, Robbie Shields, Jason Kipnis, Kevin Patterson and Brett Jackson, the Kettleers have as much hitting depth as any team in the league.

The Pitching is Thin Again
Last season, for the first time in a long time, the Cape League was dominated by offense. There were good pitchers around, very good ones, in fact, but most observers agreed that the depth wasn’t there. This season, it may be missing again. A couple of pitchers have turned in great starts, but in the first two weeks, it’s been a lot easier to find slugfests than gems. In terms of statistics, things look very similar to last year, when the highest team ERA was 4.83 and when there were seven teams with ERA’s over three. So far this year, the high is 4.51, and there are again seven teams over three. By comparison, the 2004 season — a particularly strong one for pitching — had just one team with an ERA over three.

Old is Good
A lot of times in the Cape League, the freshmen have the most hype. They’re the ones who got an invite based purely on reputation. With not many of them on the Cape, only the best freshmen make it. As for the sophomores, they’re the emerging prospects, the ones who will dominate the draft board the next year. And the juniors? In general, they don’t have much of the hype. Some of them have been drafted, but not that high, so they haven’t signed. Others were off the radar when their college careers began, so they’re just now drawing attention. Either way, juniors on the Cape are generally a different breed. But this summer, they’ve been a good breed. Every leaderboard features a junior or two, with Cotuit’s Mike Bianucci and Hyannis’ Andrew Carraway carrying the torch. Bianucci is hitting .286 with four home runs and 16 RBI. Carraway is 2-1 with a .55 ERA and 18 strikeouts. Together, they’re helping prove that having a few juniors isn’t a bad thing.

MVP Numbers May Have a Different Look
Last year, all the top hitters in the league showed power, too. Conor Gillaspie, Jason Castro, Yonder Alonso, Sean Ochinko — all those MVP candidates hit well over .300 and also had at least four home runs. But this year, if things go the way they’ve been going, the MVP might go to a a different kind of player. Players with average-power combos have been noticeably absent this summer. Among the top 10 hitters, no one has more than one home run. And among the top five home run hitters, only one has an average above .300. If that trend continues, a player like Grant Green or Nick Liles, high-average guys who also steal bases, might carry the day.

That’s about all I’ve got. That was originally going to be “Ten Things…” but I couldn’t come up with that many. So I guess a lot of things are still uncertain, after all.

Anyway, a few random notes:

• Orleans’ offense has been pretty bad this season, but when you focus on that, you miss the fact that the Cardinals are still 5-6. Somehow, despite scoring 25 runs — an average of 2.5 per game, the Cardinals have managed to stay afloat. That means that if the bats can come alive even a little bit, Orleans might turn into a contender.

• Chatham’s pitching staff is about to get as big a boost as you can get. Four starting pitchers are expected to arrive this week — Louisville’s Justin Marks and the entire North Carolina weekend rotation of Alex White, Adam Warren and Matt Harvey. Marks was with Team USA, while the UNC trio was playing in the College World Series. All four figure to be major parts of Chatham’s rotation, a rotation that has been shaky so far.

• Cotuit, Harwich, Hyannis and Orleans will all play makeup games tomorrow, on what was originally a scheduled off day for the entire league. As a result, those teams won’t get a day off until July 14. By then, Cotuit and Harwich will have played on 19 consecutive days. It’ll be 18 for Hyannis and Orleans.

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