The Rundown: Catching up with CCBL Alums

A quick look around the web at some CCBL alums:

• Jacob May, a 2012 Cotuit Kettleer now playing for the Kannapolis Indimidators (White Sox Class A affiliate), and 2011/2012 Harwich Mariner Austin Wilson, coming up through the Seattle system (currently on the Everett AquaSox, a Class A Short Season affiliate), were both named players of the week last week. May had a 13-game hitting streak and bat .383/.429/.638 in August, and nearly hit for the cycle last Thursday–falling a triple shy. Wilson hit three of his five career home runs last week, and plated at least one run in all six games.
• You have to be a subscriber to Boston Globe for this next one for the whole story, but former Kettleer (and Vandy Boy) Michael Yastrzemski (Aberdeen IronBirds) celebrated a homecoming of sorts last week against the Lowell Spinners.
• Former Y-D Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale (2009) has been making his presence known pitching for the White Sox this season. He racked up 12 Ks in a win against Houston on August 28th. He probably deserves a little more recognition than he’s getting, but with poor run support from the AL Central last-place team, he’s not exactly in Cy Young conversation circles.
• Dustin Ackley, who played for the Harwich Mariners a few years back, is hitting well for the Seattle Mariners. His performance last Friday illustrated why he was drafted by Seattle in 2009, despite some struggles at the plate.

My All Star Predictions

This Saturday, the CCBL will select their All Star rosters. Being selected is an honor, as these 50 players represent what the ten field managers believe are the best of the best college players here on the Cape this summer. Past All Stars include Tim Lincecum (Harwich 05) and Buster Posey (YD 06,07), who made news with Lincecum’s 148 pitch no-no against the Padres last week.

The selection process typically takes place in a hot classroom at some local school (the past few years, it’s been at Pope John Paul II in Hyannis), with the ten coaches meeting in gym clothes or surf shorts–a far cry from their buttoned up appearance at the fields.

The teams were expanded to include 25 players this year, and will be broken down like this:
9 pitchers
6 outfielders
2 catchers
7 infielders
1 designated hitter

Players have to have played at least one inning in the position they’re selected for; hitters must have two plate appearances per team game by the time of the selection meeting; starting pitchers must have 0.6 innings pitched per team game by the time of the meeting; and relief pitchers must have 0.3 innings of work per team game by the meeting.

Here’s a peak at what I think the All Star rosters will look like when we publish them tomorrow (and they are in no particular order…I’ve actually just randomly been inserting them as I drop players off and re-add them. Yes, I’ve gone over this list every day for two weeks before I decided to post it):

West Division
C: Pentecost (Bou) & Stein (Fal) … (Ewing was another choice for catcher here but I put him in INF here)
INF: Caputo (Bou), Cron (Fal), Baum (Hya), Ewing (Hya), Newman (Fal), Byrd (Fal), and Spoon (Hya) or Gillaspie (Fal)
OF: Hoskins (Fal), Davis (Fal), Freeman (Bou), Boyd (Bou), Robbins (Bou), Wiseman (Cot)
P: J. Long (Bou)*, J. Walsh (Cot), Ellis (Cot), Riga (War), Simpson (War), Kubat (Bou), Freeland (Hya) Kellogg (Bou), Eck (Hya)…Seddon (Cot), B. Miller (Cot), Means (Fal) are also on my radar, as was Thome (Hya), though he dropped off a bit last week.

*potential starting pitcher

Many of these players were shoe-ins in my mind. And of course, Mike Ford (Cot) was my top pick, and he just signed with the Yankees. I digress, but only because I lost two of my predictions on the East side.

East Division
C: Joe (Cha), Slaybaugh (Orl)
INF: Flores (Cha), Happ (Har), Blandino (YD),  Mitsui (Bre), Davidson (Orl), Pehl (YD),…and in 7th I’ve split between Brizeula (Bre), Gunsolus (Cha), and Kivett (Orl), who somehow snuck up there with his avg this week
OF: Fisher (Har), Heineman (Bre), Marconcini (Orl), Stewart (YD), Luplow (Orl), Fish (Orl)
P: Bummer (Har)*, Szkutnik (Orl), Shepherd (Har), Kamplain (Bre), Poyner (Orl), Schiraldi (Cha), Savas (YD), Troupe (Orl), Hunter (YD), and I’ll keep Fedde (YD) in the wings in case the promise of him coming back from Team USA earns him a spot in absentia (he has the innings and as long as he stays active on the roster, he’ll be eligible).

*potential starting pitcher

Barbosa (Har) was another guaranteed outfield pick in my mind, until he signed with Seattle on Thursday.

All that said, these predictions are total conjecture, and if I bat .300 I will be pretty excited. For the record, the reason I didn’t place these in order of who would be picked in what order is the coaches won’t do it that way tomorrow.

CCBL’ers Who Will Go In The Second Round of the 2013 MLB Draft

The other day, I looked at the players projected to go in the first round of this year’s MLB Amateur Draft that played on the Cape, so I figured today I’d look at the second round now before the draft starts today!

There are potentially 11 CCBL alums who will go in the second round of the draft this week (give or take a few…there are some who could go in the third, or some in the third who may go in the second). This grouping includes four Cape League All Stars–Aaron Blair (Marshall, YD 2012), Tom Windle (Minnesota, Brewster 2012), Trey Masek (Texas Tech, Hyannis 2011, Falmouth 2012), and Andrew Knapp (Cal Berkeley, Chatham 2012). Knapp put up impressive numbers for Chatham last summer, hitting .293 overall with 8 home runs and 13 doubles in 40 games–considerable power. Blair’s 8-0 record, 1.05 ERA, and 60 SO more than earned him the trip to the All Star Game, where he got the starting nod for the East Squad. Then there’s Masek, who was already good his first summer in Hyannis, and who built on that to his earn a trip to the All Star Game as a member of the Falmouth Commodores in 2012.

There are a couple two-year CCBL veterans in this round as well. Masek, for one, played for Hyannis in 2011 and Falmouth in 2012. Then there’s Vanderbilt’s Kevin Ziomek, who played for Cotuit in 2011 and 2012, and Kansas State’s Jared King, who played for Falmouth both years. I’m a little biased thinking that Ziomek should go higher in the draft (I’ve seen big strides in his performance since the first year with Cotuit, and I worked with him at Vanderbilt, so I’m definitely biased). Zo went from a 2-3 record and 4.35 ERA in 20.2 innings of work 2011–with 16 strikeouts and 12 walks–to a 3-0, 1.27 ERA, 36 SO, 6 BB 28.1 innings of work, showing improved control and command. King was another player who made huge strides from his first to second year on the Cape. His batting average jumped from .202 to .308 as he adjusted to the wood bats and highly competitive playing field.

The rest of the projected second rounders had mediocre performances on the Cape; Andrew Thurman (UC Irvine, YD 2011), Chris Anderson (Jacksonville, YD 2012), Michael Lorenzen (Cal St Fullerton, Brewster 2012), Kent Emanuel (UNC, Falmouth 2011), and Tyler Skulina (Kent State, Bourne 2012).