Cape Cod League Update: The 2014 MLB Draft

With this, I suppose it really is the end of my Cape League series. The 2014 Draft marks the last time pre-Majors that I’ll hear about this large of a group of players from the 2012 Cape League (some of them still might be in the draft next year, but not on this overall scale). So, just like I did last year, here’s a list of the 2012 alumni who were taken in this year’s draft:


Player: Kyle Schwarber
Pick: Round 1, Pick 4
Position: C (LF on the Cape)
Cape League Team: Wareham Gatemen
College: Indiana
Major League Team: Chicago Cubs
I didn’t get to see a lot of eventual champion Wareham, but Schwarber was impressive the few times that I did see them. I featured him in my team write-up.


Player: Aaron Nola
Pick: Round 1, Pick 7
Position: RHP
Cape League Team: Harwich Mariners
College: LSU
Major League Team: Philadelphia Phillies


Player: Jeff Hoffman
Pick: Round 1, Pick 9
Position: RHP
Cape League Team: Hyannis Harbor Hawks
College: East Carolina
Major League Team: Toronto Blue Jays
Hoffman was the second half of Hyannis’s 1-2 punch that also featured last year’s first round pick Sean Manaea.

Player: Michael Conforto
Pick: Round 1, Pick 10
Position: OF
Cape League Team: Brewster Whitecaps
College: Oregon State
Major League Team: New York Mets

The 2013 Franchise Player Draft

Now that I’m back from my short hiatus, I can start to catch up on the stories from the past few weeks. For example, the third annual ESPN Franchise Player Draft was held last week. There’s something about the concept of the Franchise Draft that I just find appealing. Maybe it’s appreciating all of the game’s young talent, maybe it’s because I like projecting the future. Either way, I want to look at it and offer my take.

For those who aren’t familiar with it, the Franchise Player Draft asks a simple question: you can draft any player to start a team with the guarantee you will get that player for the next ten years. Who do you take?

Cape Cod League Update: The 2013 MLB Draft

As you may remember, a year ago, I was working in the Cape Cod League, attending games and covering the numbers and players. Well, with the arrival of this year’s draft, some of those players are now entering into major league systems. Going through the first twenty rounds (this should cover most of the the draftees, although if I missed any to that point, I apologize), here are the Cape League Class of 2012 alumni moving on to the pros:


Player: Colin Moran

Pick: Round 1, Pick 6

Position: 3B

Cape League Team: Bourne Braves

College: University of North Carolina

Major League Team: Miami Marlins

I didn’t see Bourne as much as some other teams, but I did do a write-up of Moran’s summer in my team review.


Player: Marco Gonzales

Pick: Round 1, Pick 19

Position: LHP

Cape League Team: Falmouth Commodores

College: Gonzaga

Major League Team: St. Louis Cardinals

Gonzales was only at the Cape for a few games, but he was solid while there (10 innings, 2.70 ERA, 0.900 WHIP, 13/0 K/BB ratio).



Player: Eric Jagielo

Pick: Round 1, Pick 26

Position: 3B

Cape League Team: Harwich Mariners

College: Notre Dame

Major League Team: New York Yankees

Jagielo was one of the members of the Harwich Mariners’ Murderers’ Row last season, ultimately finishing second in the league in home runs. I also wrote about him in the team wrap-up. As a side note, I tried to talk to him after a game to write a player profile, but I missed him while talking to someone else. This doesn’t really help now, but I want to bring it up either way.



Player: Phil Ervin

Pick: Round 1, Pick 27

Position: CF

Cape League Team: Harwich Mariners

College: Samford

Major League Team: Cincinnati Reds

Another Harwich Mariner, Ervin cooled off after his unbelievably hot start, but still had a good season overall. His write ups can be found with Jagielo’s



Player: Aaron Judge

Pick: Round 1, Pick 32

Position: CF

Cape League Team: Brewster Whitecaps

College: Fresno State

Major League Team: New York Yankees

I didn’t go to many Brewster games, but I saw Judge’s first game, which I mentioned in their team article. The man has serious power.



Player: Sean Manaea

Pick: Competitive Balance Round A, Pick 1 (34 overall)

Position: LHP

Cape League Team: Hyannis Harbor Hawks

College: Indiana State

Major League Team: Kansas City Royals

Manaea had the best summer of anyone in the league, winning both the top pitcher and top prospect awards. I covered him not only in my Hyannis review, but also in an entire profile.



Player: Aaron Blair

Pick: Competitive Balance Round A, Pick 3 (36 overall)

Position: RHP

Cape League Team: Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox

College: Marshall

Major League Team: Arizona Diamondbacks

Blair was the ace of the runner-up Red Sox, as well as the first player that I profiled.

2012 Cape Cod League Standouts: Wareham Gatemen, 2012 Champions

And, at long last, we have the 2012 Cape Cod League Champions, the Wareham Gatemen. After finishing second in the Western Division with a 21-23 record (tied with Falmouth, but with the advantage in the tiebreaker), they proceeded to sweep the Falmouth Commodores in the first round and the Bourne Braves in the second. The finals pitted them against the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. The Gatemen took games one and three, both comeback victories. The winning run in game one came in the top of the ninth, while game three saw Wareham score three runs in the top of the tenth. It marked Wareham’s first title since 2002.

2012 Cape Cod League Standouts: Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox

And now, we are onto the final two. The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox were arguably the best team during the regular season of the Cape Cod League. They finished second in the Eastern Division with a 25-19 record; only Harwich and Cotuit were better. On top of that, they scored the most runs out of any team, and had the second best team strikeout-to-walk ratio. Their playoff run consisted of sweeps of Chatham and Orleans, followed by a heartbreaking extra-inning loss to the Wareham Gateman in game three of the finals. While their season may not have ended the way they would have wanted, Y-D had a lot to be proud of this season.

2012 Cape Cod League Standouts: Bourne Braves

Just as the Orleans Firebirds were the number four seed in their division that upset the top seed in round one but lost in the semifinals, so too were the Bourne Braves. They finished in a tie with the Hyannis Harbor Hawks at 17-27 and won the tiebreaker by going 4-2 against them during the season. The Braves made the most of their opportunity in the postseason, taking the team with the best record in the entire CCBL, the Cotuit Kettleers. The eventual champion Wareham Gatemen ended their run the round after that, though, by sweeping them.

2012 Cape Cod League Standouts: Orleans Firebirds

There was some interesting symmetry to the Cape League playoffs this season. The first round saw the end of the line for both divisions’ number one and number three seeds. In the Eastern Division, Orleans played the part of surprising fourth-seed upset, as they not only knocked off top team Harwich, but swept them in two games. In the regular season, Orleans jumped out to an early lead, but fell back in a tough division. They were one of four teams to finish at a .500 record or better in the East alone, going 22-22 (Chatham, who went 21-21-2, won the tie breaker by going 4-2 against Orleans during their regular season series, giving them third place). After sweeping Harwich, they were themselves swept by Yarmouth-Dennis in the second round.

2012 Cape Cod League Standouts: Cotuit Kettleers

The Cotuit Kettleers claimed the spot of best team in the Cape Cod League during the regular season, going 30-14 in an effort to win their second championship in the past two years. However, that wasn’t to be; the team lost to the Bourne Braves in a best of three season, making them the second top seed unseated and the fourth overall elimination from the playoffs. They were the only first-round exit that wasn’t swept out, too. Who were the stars on what was arguably the best team on the Cape this year?

2012 Cape Cod League Standouts: Harwich Mariners

The Harwich Mariners were a strong first seed in the playoffs from the Eastern Division, and for good reason. They had great pitching. They had historic hitting on top of that-they hit 60 home runs, topping the all-time team record of 59 set by Yarmouth-Dennis way back in 1981 (back when they used aluminum bats). All of that led to a 27-16-1 record, second-best in the CCBL behind Cotuit. However, the team was still swept by the Orleans Firebirds in the first round of the playoffs (one of three sweeps in the first round, along with Falmouth and Chatham). Now, it’s time to look back at the star Mariners from this summer.

2012 Cape Cod League Standouts: Chatham Anglers

While the Falmouth Commodores were probably my home team this past season, the Chatham Anglers were a close second. Nine of the 27 games I attended were at Chatham's Veteran's Field, and the Anglers played in twelve of my total games. Like the Commodores, the Anglers were the third seed in their division; Chatham went 21-21-2, tying them with the Orleans Firebirds (Chatham won the season series between the two, 4 games to 2, giving them the edge in the tiebreaker). And, like the Commodores, despite being swept in the first round, plenty of players demonstrated their talent for the team this year.

2012 Cape Cod League Standouts: Falmouth Commodores

The Falmouth Commodores were more or less my home team this year. I attended 26 games this season; twelve of them were Commodore home game. Fourteen had Falmouth as one of the two teams. Part of it was their position as underdogs; they haven’t won a Cape League title in 32 seasons now, eleven years longer than the next longest drought. The Commodores got off to a strong start, and it looked like this might be the year they finally changed that. Unfortunately, injuries hit them at the wrong time; they fell to third place in the Western Division on the final day of the season (finishing 21-23), and were swept by the Wareham Gatemen in the first round of the playoffs. They definitely had bright spots in 2012, though.

Cape Cod League Award News

Hyannis Harbor Hawks lefty and Indiana State sophomore Sean Manaea has won both the league's Top Pitcher Award and the Outstanding Pro Prospect Award. Congratulations to him, and good luck over the next year!

As a side note, Fangraphs has already looked and determined that Manaea's chances of making the Majors now sit at around 70%, even a year before the draft.

2012 Cape Cod League Standouts: Hyannis Harbor Hawks

The Cape League Playoffs start this evening, so before I move on to that, let’s take another look at the other team that was eliminated.

Yesterday, I covered the Brewster Whitecaps, who finished last in the Eastern Division. Their counterparts in the West were the Hyannis Harbor Hawks. At 17-27 (good for 34 points), the Harbor Hawks actually tied for last place in the division. However, the Bourne Braves had the advantage in the tiebreaker, and moved on to face the top-seeded Cotuit Kettleers.

2012 Cape Cod League Standouts: Brewster Whitecaps

The Cape League Season is starting to wrap up; playoffs start on Thursday, with eight teams proceeding into a three best-of-three round tournament to determine the champion. To finish off the season, I thought it would be good to take a final look around the league and the stand-out players. I’ve been covering stars throughout the summer, but there’s only so much I can do looking at players one by one. So, I figured the best thing would be to go over each roster and the players on each team that made a name for themselves in 2012.

I’m going to try and cover each team as they drop from contention. The end of the regular season spells the end of the line for two teams: the Brewster Whitecaps and the Hyannis Harbor Hawks. I’ll be starting with the Whitecaps, the first team that was eliminated.

Cape Cod League Profile: Tyler Horan, OF/DH

History was made Sunday night in the Cape Cod League. The Wareham Gatemen and Falmouth Commodores were engaged in a slugfest in Falmouth’s Guv Fuller Field. In all, the two teams combined for seven home runs, including a go-ahead one in the top of the ninth by reliever and eventual winning pitcher Daniel Palka.* However, that one may not have even been the biggest home run of the night. That honor belongs to Gateman and Virginia Tech outfielder/designated hitter Tyler Horan.

Cape Cod League Profile: Sean Manaea, LHP

The Hyannis Harbor Hawks stand a game and a half behind the Bourne Braves in the standings. Whichever one finishes on top continues on to the the playoffs. And there are only four (for Hyannis) or five (for Bourne) games left in the Cape Cod League season. Thankfully, the team had their ace on the mound for the second game of a double header on Friday.

And not just any ace; Indiana State University left hander Sean Manaea. Manaea* has been making a bit of a buzz in the draft world recently. Baseball America just ranked him third in the 2013 draft class in their first rankings.** And for good reason; despite pitching in what’s been the best year for Cape League hitters anyone can remember, Manaea’s been absolutely dominant.

Cape Cod League Profile: John Simms, RHP

The Falmouth Commodores continued their four game win streak on Monday evening with a 6-1 win at home over the Harwich Mariners. Drew Dosch homered, singled, and drove in three. The bullpen pitched three 1-2-3 innings with three strikeouts. But, for the second night in a row, the starting pitcher was the star of the game.

Cape Cod League Profile: Drew Dosch, 3B/DH

The Falmouth Commodores currently sit in third place in the Cape Cod League’s Western Division, half a game behind the Wareham Gatemen. Jared King, one of the team’s best hitters for the first part of the season, returned home recently to rest an injured back. The team was in the midst of an eight game losing streak.

Thankfully, that changed on Thursday, as the team cruised to an 8-2 victory over the Hyannis Harbor Hawks. Plenty of players contributed; Craig Schlitter turned in a strong start (7 innings, 6 strikeouts, 2 earned runs, 0 walks, 3 hits). Michael O’Neill added a big RBI double, and started off the scoring with an incredible string of plays in the second: a hit by pitch, a steal of second, an advance to third on the overthrow, and a run on a shallow sac fly to left field that involved him leaping past the catcher’s tag and diving back to the plate. However, the Commodores’ leading hitter Drew Dosch led the way, going 3 for 4 with a home run.

Cape Cod League Profile: Chad Pinder, 3B

On Saturday night, the Chatham Anglers continued their three-game winning streak* that started during this game as they handily defeated the Hyannis Harbor Hawks, 9-4. There were several strong performances, on both teams, including Chatham’s starter Thomas Lawrence (who only left after 6.2 innings because of a line drive off of his foot). However, the clear star of the game was third baseman Chad Pinder, who homered twice and drove in four.

Cape Cod League Profile: Andrew Knapp, C

Thursday night at their home park, Veterans Field, the Chatham Anglers broke a three game losing streak by beating the Falmouth Commodores 5-0. The game, number 23 on the season, marked the start of the Cape Cod Baseball League second half. The win also moves the team into a tie for third place in the Eastern Division with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. The win was capped off with a two-run homer by catcher Andrew Knapp in the fifth inning, the latest in what is proving to be an impressive season.