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Bregman Setting the Pace for LSU

With LSU sitting at 23-2 and ranked in the top five, you’d think one of the team’s veterans would be its leading hitter. Someone like Mason Katz, or – I don’t know – Raph Rhymes, that guy who almost hit .500 last spring.

Katz and Rhymes are certainly doing well, but nobody’s been better than freshman shortstop Alex Bregman, who is on the Harwich roster for this summer.

Bregman is hitting .443, best on the team and good for 21st in the nation. He’s also hit two homers, two triples and eight doubles, while driving in 23 runs. His on-base percentage is a team-best .496 and he’s slugging .613.

He’s doing all of this, of course, while starting at shortstop and anchoring the middle of the order for perhaps the most storied program in college baseball. And he’s replacing Austin Nola, a four-year starter who was beloved by the Tiger Faithful.

Bregman has thrived all the same. He was a 29th-round pick of the Red Sox out of high school in New Mexico last year, and he’s living up to every bit of the hype.

It’s also worth noting, from a Cape League perspective, that Bregman is slated to join North Carolina star freshman Skye Bolt in Harwich. Bolt is hitting above .400 as well. A third Harwich freshman, Texas infielder C.J. Hinojosa was a 26th-round pick out of high school and is rated as one of the top freshmen in the nation. Quite a trio.

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Breaking Out

The summer belonged to Sean Manaea. Pre-draft talk revolved around the big three – Manaea, Mark Appel and Ryne Stanek. Kevin Ziomek was there the whole time, not even really under the radar, just not quite turning every head.

Now he’s officially crashing the party.

The Vanderbilt junior and former Cotuit Kettleer has been the best pitcher in the country through the first month of the college baseball season, and I’m not sure it’s close. Ziomek is tied for the national lead in strikeouts with North Carolina State sophomore Carlos Rodon, but Rodon’s ERA sits at 5.14. Ziomek’s ERA? Try 0.87.

Ziomek has struck out 46 and walked only seven in 31 innings. He’s 4-0 and has allowed 12 hits in four starts, for a nice little average of three per game. Opponents are hitting .118 against him.

And that’s not even everything.

Ziomek has hurled two absolutely dominant complete games. In a 9-0 win over Illinois-Chicago on March 1, he struck out 15 and didn’t allow a runner past second base on his way to the shutout. The very next week – on the road, against a much tougher Oregon team – Ziomek went nine again, this time allowing just two hits while striking out 13.

It’s been an amazing start to the season, one that even prompted former Vanderbilt ace and Tampa Bay Rays star David Price to talk of “Nintendo Numbers” on Twitter in response to Ziomek’s stats.

When you’re getting David Price’s attention, you’re doing something right.

This level of success has always seemed like a possibility for Ziomek. He starred in high school in Amherst, Mass., and was a 13th-round pick of the Diamondbacks. At Vandy, he pitched mostly out of the bullpen as a freshman and did well.

Since then, it’s been about waiting for the breakout.

After his freshman season, he was in Cotuit and flashing his potential. He finished the summer with a 4.35 ERA, though, and almost as many walks as strikeouts. In his sophomore season at Vandy, he struck out a batter an inning but carried an ERA over five.

This summer, though, while Manaea was dominating, Ziomek showed a few hints of what was to come. He pitched in only five games for the Kettleers, but struck out 36 in 28.1 innings and posted an ERA of 1.27.

Now, the break-out is happening, in a pretty enormous way. Ziomek’s next start will come this weekend, when Vanderbilt opens up SEC play against Auburn.

Will it be more of the same? Based on what’s happened so far, I wouldn’t put it past him.

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Freeland on a Familiar Path

A tall left-hander from a mid-major baseball program in Indiana signs on with the Hyannis Harbor Hawks. Sounds familiar, right?

That was the profile of Sean Manaea, the Indiana State lefty who became one of the biggest breakout stars the Cape Cod Baseball League has ever seen when he dominated for Hyannis last season. Manaea’s performance vaulted him into the conversation for the No. 1 overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft.

It would be unfair to compare Kyle Freeland with Manaea or to predict the same success, but the similar circumstances are worth mentioning. Freeland is a 6’3 southpaw who attends Evansville, and he’ll play for Hyannis this summer.

Those are not the only similarities. Freeland has some serious credentials.

Freeland was a late-round draft pick out of high school, and he brought a little more hype to college than Manaea. He’s the record holder for strikeouts in the state of Colorado.

He had some ups and downs in his freshman season with the Purple Aces but flashed plenty of potential and led the team with 70 strikeouts. Last summer, he headed north to Alaska and was named the league’s second-best prospect by Baseball America. His season included 35 consecutive scoreless innings.

So far this season, Freeland has picked up where he left off. He owns a 3.00 ERA and has struck out 31 while walking just three in 27 innings of work. If he keeps it up, he’ll become one of the top pitchers in the nation.

What happens after that is anybody’s guess, but I’m thinking Hyannis is very happy to have another lefty from Indiana on the way.

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Ducks Welcome ‘Dores

College baseball’s best weekend match-up is also one Cape League fans will want to keep an eye on. No. 2 Vanderbilt is heading west to take on No. 11 Oregon in Eugene. It’s one of the bigger series the Ducks have hosted in the four years since the program was revived, although several ranked teams have come to town, including No. 2 Arizona State in 2010. Those teams have left unhappy, with the Ducks owning a 13-4 home record against ranked teams.

At this point, Oregon has three players on Cape rosters for 2013, while Vanderbilt has seven, which is among the highest of any school.

Schedule
Friday, 6 p.m.
Saturday, 2 p.m.
Sunday, 12 p.m.

Oregon
Steven Packard – OF – Brewster
Scott Heineman – C/INF – Falmouth
Cole Irvin – LHP – Falmouth

Vanderbilt
Tyler Beede – RHP – Cotuit
Carson Fulmer – RHP – Cotuit
Brian Miller – RHP – Cotuit
Rhett Wiseman – OF – Cotuit
Jared Miller – LHP – Orleans
Philip Pfeifer – LHP – Orleans

Big Z
Vandy junior Kevin Ziomek spent part of two seasons with Cotuit and though he made only five appearances last summer, he emerged as one of the top arms in the league. So far this season, he’s been one of the best in the country, a status that was cemented last weekend. Ziomek fired a one-hit, complete game shutout with 15 strikeouts against Illinois-Chicago. For the year, Ziomek has a 0.82 ERA with 33 strikeouts in 22 innings pitched. He’ll get the ball in Friday’s opener.

Aces
Vanderbilt’s weekend rotation is shaping up to be one of the nation’s best, and the two pitchers who follow Ziomek are both slated to be on the Cape this summer. Sophomore Tyler Beede, a former first-round pick, has a 1.45 ERA this season and is on the Cotuit roster. Sophomore Philip Pfeifer actually has a better ERA than Ziomek at 0.45, and he’s been the SEC Pitcher of the Week already this year, as well. Pfeifer is on the Orleans roster.

Kettleer vs. Firebird
Pfeifer is scheduled to start Sunday against Oregon freshman Cole Irvin, who is on the Orleans roster for the summer. Irvin was a 29th-round pick out of high school and has jumped right into the weekend rotation for the Ducks. He’s 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA.

Wise
Vandy’s Rhett Wiseman, who’s also slated for Cotuit, is a Massachusetts native and is one of the most highly-touted freshmen in the country. He’s started only two of the team’s 12 games, but he hit a walk-off home run against Illinois-Chicago last weekend.

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Gatemen Still Scorching

Momentum isn’t supposed to last very long in baseball. It’s as good as the next day’s starting pitcher, they say.

For several members of the 2012 Wareham Gatemen, momentum seems to have held strong for a good six months.

Kyle Schwarber, Daniel Palka, Mott Hyde and Tyler Horan were four of the biggest reasons why the Gatemen put together their magical run to the 2012 Cape Cod Baseball League Championship. They combined for six playoff home runs and delivered big hit after big hit in leading Wareham past Y-D in the championship series.

Six months later, that quartet continues to rake on fields far and wide.

Schwarber, a sophomore at Indiana, is batting .378 with two homers, three doubles and nine RBI. Horan, a junior at Virginia Tech, is hitting at a .365 clip with two homers, three doubles and 14 RBI. Hyde, a Georgia Tech junior, is a little off the pace at .267 but he’s got five extra-base hits and eight RBI.

And few in the country have been better than Palka. The Georgia Tech junior is mashing the ball to the tune of a .489 average, three home runs, five doubles and 20 RBI. He’s slugging .800.

At some point, they might cool off, but the way last summer went, I wouldn’t count on it. The boys of Wareham’s summer are still shining in the spring.

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Bolt off to Fast Start for Heels

His name would catch your eye regardless, but North Carolina freshman Skye Bolt has wasted no time making a name for himself on the field.

The 6’2, 175-pound outfielder is bound for Harwich this summer, and if he keeps up what he’s done in the first three weeks of the college baseball season, he’ll head to the Cape with a lot of accolades. Bolt went 2-for-3 in his collegiate debut and 4-for-5 in his next game. He hasn’t slowed down much since, with a hit – and usually more than one – in eight of UNC’s 10 games.

For the season, Bolt is hitting a team-best .472, which is good for fifth in the ACC.

The fast start isn’t a huge surprise. Bolt was drafted in the 26th round but was ranked among the nation’s top 50 high school players by both Baseball America and Perfect Game.

UNC stars have found a home on Cape Cod for many years, from Andrew Miller to Colin Moran. Bolt may be the next Tar Heel star, and the Cape awaits.

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A New Look for Right Field Fog

From the terrible white text on black background days at its first home to the comfy confines it’s had for the last several years, every stop’s been a fun one for Right Field Fog. I hate change as much as anyone (I held my mouse over the “Activate Theme” link for a solid 10 seconds), but here we are.

The new look.

I’m still figuring some things out and working out some kinks, but the basics are in place to bring Right Field Fog to the next level. You can expect all the content you’re grown accustomed to, but there’s plenty of room to stretch out and see what happens. The biggest change is that photos will be featured prominently, and I’m excited to announce that Joe Cavanaugh will be sharing his fantastic photography with us this summer.

My only regret is that Whit Merrifield, the official right fielder of Right Field Fog, hasn’t made the trip with us, but he might find his way in here somehow.

Anyway, have a look around and let me know what you think if you’re so inclined. I’ll be figuring it all out over the next few months, and it’ll be full speed ahead come June.

Welcome.

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2013 Spotlight: Daniel Mengden

Few two-way college players pull full-time double duty when they get to Cape Cod. If the first few weeks of the 2013 college baseball season are any indication, Texas A&M’s Daniel Mengden might be hard to keep off the field.

Mengden, who is on the Cotuit roster for 2013, is off to a roaring start for the Aggies. At the plate, the sophomore is hitting .348 with a .484 on-base percentage. He’s been even better on the mound, where he’s started two games and is 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA. Mengden has struck out 10 and walked only one in 12.2 innings of work.

Mengden pitched in various roles for A&M as a freshman last year, starting the year as a closer before finishing strong as a starter. He then pitched out of the bullpen and delivered a strong showing as a catcher in the California Collegiate League last summer. Baseball America tabbed him as the league’s second-best prospect.

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2013 Spotlight: Trevor Megill

The first weekend of the college baseball season in the books, and plenty of impressive showings have been turned in around the country. One of the best pitching performances belongs to Loyola Marymount’s Trevor Megill, who’s slated to play for Orleans this summer.

Megill, a WCC all-freshman performer last year, he didn’t disappoint in his 2013 debut. Facing Utah on Saturday, Megill tossed seven innings of two-hit, shutout baseball in a 1-0 win. He struck out 11 while walking just two.

Megill checks in at 6’8, 235 pounds. Out of high school, he was ranked 76th in his class and he enrolled early at Loyola Marymount. As a freshman last year, he went 5-8 with a 3.57 ERA while leading the Lions in strikeouts. He finished the year with a K/9 rate of 8.14.

If Saturday is any indication, Megill may be well on his way to even bigger things this season.

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It’s Baseball Season

Baseball fields in New England still look like this one at the University of Rhode Island, but a little further south, there’s a green light for baseball. The college baseball season gets underway today.

I’ll be keeping tabs as we go along here and get closer to the summer. For your first weekend of the baseball season, there’s plenty to watch — I’ll be eager to see how Sean Manaea performs in his first start, which comes tonight at 7 p.m. when his Indiana State team takes on IPFW. If his spring starts like his summer ended, Mr. Manaea will be striking a few people out tonight. Continuing in that vein, we can go ahead and expect Phil Ervin to hit three home runs when Samford takes on Youngstown State, and we’ll see Wareham Gatemen across the country doing magical things.

If you want to watch some college baseball, you’re in luck like you’ve never been before this season, with ESPN set to broadcast 151 games across its various platforms. Here’s the list.

Enjoy.