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 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: Craig Schlitter, RHP

The Cape Cod Baseball League is now chugging right along. As it enters its second month, the Falmouth Commodores stand atop the Western Division with a 10-6 record, looking to repeat last year’s run to the championship game and end the longest title drought in the league. And while center fielder Jared King is leading the offense, right handed pitcher Craig Schlitter is unquestionably the team’s ace.

Cape Cod League Interview: Jared King, CF

The Cape Cod League is now well under way, so it seemed like a good idea to get to know one of the league’s early standout players. Jared King is, as of this writing, second in the CCBL in batting average, as well as first in the Western Division at .464. In addition, The Falmouth Commodores’ center fielder is second in the league in OPS and first in the Western Division with a 1.224 mark. And all the while, he’s been raising his stock in the 2013 draft.

King just completed his sophomore year at Kansas State, where he finished the year with a .377/.453/.577 slash line (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage), 7 home runs, and 47 RBI through 56 games. That, along with his tools, made him one of ESPN writer Keith Law’s names to know for the 2013 draft.

The switch-hitting outfielder is originally from Columbus, Ohio; he graduated from Dublin Jerome High School in 2010 and attended Kansas State in part with the hope of playing again with his older brother, Jason.* He went on to have a strong freshman year that saw him hit .307/.365/.534 with 8 home runs and 40 RBI in 50 games. After his strong first year, his coach informed him that he had been invited to play for the Commodores in the Cape League.

*As a side note, Jason is playing with the Detroit Tigers’ A affiliate after being taken in the fourth round in the 2011 draft. 

King says he had a great time in his first year in Falmouth, and calls the Commodores’ run to the finals last year one of his favorite memories. He admitted that switching to wood bats for the league can be an issue at first. However, he said he has learned to adjust and accept that they can lead to more failures. Not that that has been the issue this year; the Commodores’ leadoff hitter is reaching base in more than half of his at-bats, with a .545 on-base percentage. And after Thursday’s 2-4 performance that saw him hit his third double and first home run of the season in a 10-4 over the Hyannis Harbor Hawks, King raised his slugging percentage to .679 on the year.

Despite being talked about as a first round pick for the 2013 draft, King wasn’t drafted out of high school. He says that he doesn’t listen to the draft buzz, though, saying he prefers to focus on the game each night. As an Ohio native, King is a fan of the Indians and Reds, and says he is unable to choose between the two. His favorite player, however, has been fellow center fielder Josh Hamilton, particularly after he read Hamilton’s autobiography Beyond Belief. King also said he has loved his time in Falmouth, and spends much of his down time at his host family’s beach.

If King can keep it up, he stands a strong chance at helping the Falmouth Commodores to their second consecutive championship appearance and their first league title since 1980, the longest active drought in the league, all while making his case to be the 2013 first overall pick in a draft class still without a consensus top choice. Look for big things out of the center fielder over the next few weeks.

Opening Day in the Cape Cod Baseball League

Thursday marked the official first day of Cape League games, so I decided to head to Red Wilson Field in Yarmouth to see the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox face the Falmouth Commodores. I couldn’t have chosen a better game to start the season off with.

The Red Sox scored a run in the first on a rally that featured a double by designated hitter Sam Travis (Indiana, Class of 2015) and an RBI single by first baseman Jake Schrader (Tampa 2013). From that point, the Sox didn’t look back, going on to win 3 to 1.

Yarmouth-Dennis’ other two runs came in the sixth and seventh. In the sixth, Travis led off the inning with another double (he went 3 for 4 with two doubles and two runs, by the way). He was moved up when the next batter, clean-up hitter and right fielder Sean Dwyer (Florida Gulf Coast 2014) singled, and both progressed on a wild pitch from Falmouth starter Craig Schlitter. The following inning, shortstop Zak Blair (Mercyhurst 2013) led off with a single, then scored on left fielder Robert Pehl’s (Washington 2015) double.

Falmouth’s lone run came in between those two runs, during the top of the seventh. Third baseman Brad Fieger (Miami 2014) led off with a single, moved up on a sac bunt, then came around to score on catcher Kaiana Eldredge’s (Kansas 2014) single between shortstop and third. Other than that, though, reliever Brian Gilbert (Seton Hall 2014) was shut down, striking out five of his final six batters faced. All in all, he gave up three hits, no walks, and struck out eight while earning the save for his four innings of work. Losing starter Craig Schiltter (Bryant 2014) even held his own, allowing three earned over six plus innings, good for a quality start.

However, Y-D starter Aaron Blair (Marshall 2014) was slightly better than both of them, throwing five shut out innings and striking out eight as well. He escaped a bases-loaded situation in the third by striking out two batters, then preceded to strike out four of his final six batters. The other two batters? Weak two-strike ground-outs.

In what I hope will be an ongoing feature, I got to ask him a few questions after the game to get to know him a little better. The 6’4” righty hails from the land of casinos and baseball phenoms, Las Vegas, Nevada. On that note, the Nationals are his favorite team, followed by the Cubs, while his favorite player is Josh Beckett. Currently a rising junior at Marshall, he was taken in the 21st round of the 2010 draft by the Houston Astros (as someone from Houston, I would say that was a wise choice to wait for them to be less awful). He throws a fastball, curve, and change-up, all of which he was locating particularly well against Falmouth. I must say, I can understand the need to pull him for pitch count purposes, but as a fan, it was thrilling to watch his run at the end against the Commodores, and it would have been fun to see him keep going. And, for a final, more fun/less serious question, he would like to add a cutter to his repertoire.*

*On a side note, I need to get to work brainstorming more questions in this vein. Any future interview question ideas are welcomed for consideration.

All in all, it made a solid first impression on me. And with that, the 2012 CCBL season begins!

Update: Blair was named Pitcher of the Week on the strength of his performance.