Jul

2

Braves Add Three to Roster

Posted by Dave | Filed Under News | Leave a Comment

Jordan Wyckoff, assistant coach of the Bourne Braves, has announced that Alex Wimmers (RHP; Ohio State), Rob Segedin (INF/RHP; Tulane) and Adam Rice (INF/OF; Coastal Carolina) have joined the Braves.

Wimmers is coming off a very successful season for the Buckeyes. He started 16 games and compiled a record of 9-2 with a 3.27 ERA. Wimmers struck out 136 in 104.2 innings and allowed opposing batters just a .211 avg. Wimmers has been on the Braves roster for some time, but was invited to the Team USA trials.

Segedin entered this season as a preseason All-Conference USA utility player after batting .322 with 6 HR and 59 RBI as a freshman.  In addition to his offensive prowess, he finished the 2008 season as Tulane’s closer. Segedin was redshirted this year due to a “stress reaction” in his ribs after playing just five games for the Green Wave. Despite the limited playing time, Segedin attended the Team USA trials and USA (and Tulane) coach Rick Jones kept Segedin on the squad as an alternate. Due to injuries to some players, Segedin saw playing time in 5 of Team USA’s 6 games and was batting .412 (7 for 17) with a homerun and 7 RBI.

In addition to his 7 HR and 59 RBI, Rice was Coastal Carolina’s second leading hitter this spring with a .368 avg.

Jul

2

Rainy Day Notes

Posted by Dave | Filed Under News | 5 Comments

Surprise, surprise…..   another rainy day in southern New England. I’ll be very surprised if we don’t see more postponement notices soon for this evening’s schedule.

Here we are approximately a third of the way through the season. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where we are because of Mother Nature’s fickleness. Wareham has played only 12 games. Yarmouth-Dennis has played 16.

In the East, Chatham has come back to the pack as a result of a recent four game losing streak. Y-D has taken over second place after winning 5 of their last 6 contests. Orleans has evened their record at 7-7 after a 0-4 start to the season. Harwich has won 5 of their last 6 games and the Mariners (7-7) are tied with Orleans. In their last two games, Harwich has beaten Y-D and Brewster, both by a score of 1-0. Inconsistency has hurt Brewster. The Whitecaps are last in the East with a 4-7-3 record. Brewster has not been able to put together back-to-back wins. Their inconsistency has plagued the Whitecaps within individual games, not just over the course of the season. On June 19, Brewster led Cotuit 9-3 in the sixth inning but the Kettleers rallied for 10-9 win. On June 29, the Whitecaps held a 7-2 lead over Chatham before seeing the Anglers come back to tie the game at 8-8. Brewster eventually won 9-8, in a game that was shortened to 8 innings.

In the West, Bourne has been playing well, winning 4 of their last 5, to move into first place with 16 points. The Braves lead Cotuit by one point. The Kettleers haven’t been able to put together a streak of any kind. They have won two in a row twice, but they also have not lost more than two consecutive games. Wareham (6-5-1) sits in third place with 13 points, but they have played two fewer games than Bourne and Cotuit. The Gatemen should be bolstered by the recent addition of Arkansas’ Brett Eibner and Arizona State teammates Jordan Swagerty and Zach Wilson to their active roster. A recent three game losing streak has seen Hyannis fall off the pace. The Mets (5-8) lead last-place Falmouth (4-9-1) by one point.

Although still listed on Cotuit’s active roster, mlb.com is reporting that Clemson lefthander Chris Dwyer was in Kansas City on Tuesday for a tour of Kauffman Stadium and he threw a bullpen session while there. Contract talks have heated up between the Royals and their third round draft pick to the point where it is very unlikely Dwyer will be returning to the Cape. Dwyer made his one appearance for Cotuit a winning one as he pitched five innings of three-hit ball while striking out nine. Cotuit’s pitching looked a lot better on paper awhile ago than it does now. At one time, the Kettleers had Sean Gilmartin (Florida State), Drew Storen (Stanford) and Chance Ruffin (Texas) on their roster. Gilmartin didn’t come to the Cape and was later on the roster of the North Shore Navigators. He is no longer with the NECBL team. Storen was a first-round pick (10th overall) by the Washington Nationals. Ruffin won’t be reporting to Cotuit this year.

He has not appeared in a game yet, but Hyannis recently added North Carolina shortstop Ryan Graepel to their roster. In another move, the Mets have signed Brown’s Mark Gormley to a contract. Gormley, from Milton, MA., is a lefthanded pitcher who was with Brewster earlier this year.

Falmouth’s Ryan Jones (Wichita State) batted .255 for the Commodores last year and finished second in the league with 8 homeruns. After arriving late this year, Jones has gotten off to a slow start, batting just .129 while still looking for his first homerun after nine games.

Chris Bisson (Kentucky) is tied for the league lead in stolen bases with Cotuit teammate Rico Noel (Coastal Carolina). Bisson and Noel have swiped 13 bases but it is going to be difficult for Bisson to maintain that pace as he has seen his batting average plummet to .160.

Jun

30

Notes From Around the League

Posted by Dave | Filed Under News | 6 Comments

As mentioned yesterday, Texas’ Chance Ruffin has been dropped from Cotuit’s roster. Now Ruffin’s Longhorn teammate, freshman phenom RHP Taylor Jungmann, has been released by Wareham. The Gatemen have also released Arkansas outfielder Jarrod McKinney. Those moves have allowed Wareham to add Bourne native Keith Bilodeau (RHP; Maine) and Bruce Kern (RHP; St. John’s) to the full-time roster.

As expected, there are a few former Cape League “temp” players now playing in the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Somewhat surprisingly though, two players who were signed to “permanent” contracts have left their Cape League teams and are also performing in the NECBL.  Infielder Derek Ingui (Franklin Pierce) has left Y-D and is now playing for the Lowell All-Americans. RHP Erik Goeddel (UCLA) is no longer with Brewster. He is now playing for the New Bedford Bay Sox.

Nick Schwaner, IF/OF from the University of New Orleans has been added to Bourne’s roster after being released by Chatham.

Rob Catapano (LHP; Tennessee) has left Orleans after pitching only 2.1 innings over the course of 3 games. Catapano pitched for Orleans in 2007 and had returned after a one year absence.

Speaking of Orleans, despite a 6-7 record, I think they have a pretty good looking lineup. They are only batting .216 as a team but with Gary Brown (CS-Fullerton) and Alex Hassan (Duke) recently arriving, I expect to see more production from the Firebirds. Pitching remains a bit of a question mark, but Hassan’s presence at the back end of the bullpen should help immensely. Hassan picked up the save in his only pitching appearance to date.

Brewster’s league-worst ERA jumped from 4.15 to 4.33 after last night’s game. The good news for the Whitecaps is that the offense came alive in a 9-8 victory over Chatham. The loss was the Anglers fourth in a row. UNC’s Matt Harvey took the loss in his first appearance for Chatham this year. Harvey gave up a hit and walked two batters in one-third of an inning. Harvey is tentatively scheduled to start against Orleans on Saturday. It will be interesting to see how he fares because his stock is falling rapidly in the eyes of some. Although he was 7-2 at UNC this year, Harvey allowed 88 hits and walked 42 in 75 innings.

Wareham is looking much more formidable with the recent additions of Brett Eibner (Arkansas) and Arizona State teammates Zach Wilson and Jordan Swagerty. All three were late arrivals because their teams went deep into the College World Series.

Highly-touted Hunter Morris (Auburn) made his first appearance in a Falmouth uniform last night. Morris was 1 for 4 and had what proved to be the game-winning RBI in the Commodores 4-2 win over Orleans. Morris played for Team USA last summer.

Jun

29

Gov. Richardson: Coming to a Cape League Field?

Posted by Greg | Filed Under News | 3 Comments

RichardsonGov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, a candidate for president and former Cape League pitcher, is said to be headed to the Cape for vacation this week. Can a CodBall reader send us a photo or report if you see him? 

Here is today’s AP story:

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – Gov. Bill Richardson is heading to Cape Cod for a vacation.

The governor and first lady Barbara Richardson leave Tuesday for their getaway in Massachusetts.

Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for the governor, said Monday that a state police security detail will accompany the governor.

Richardson is to return to New Mexico late next week. Lt. Gov. Diane Denish acts as governor when Richardson is out of state.

No details were released about Richardson’s vacation plans, but he will be in San Diego on Friday to accept an award from the National Education Association.

The Richardsons vacationed on Cape Cod in 2006 and 2003. The governor attended college at Tufts University in the Boston area and played amateur baseball in the Cape Cod League.

Jun

29

A Few Observations

Posted by Dave | Filed Under News | 2 Comments

Much of the early focus has been on Chatham’s 9-1 start to the season. However, with a doubleheader sweep of Falmouth, the Y-D Red Sox have now won four in a row and sit just two points behind Chatham. The Red Sox streak has coincided with the Anglers  dropping three straight. Chatham has scored just two runs in those three games.

After beating Hyannis 2-1 yesterday, for the first time in three tries, Cotuit leads the West by three points over Bourne. The Braves split a doubleheader, beating Harwich 6-3 in the first game before the Mariners came back to win the nightcap 8-1.

The good news for Chatham’s Thomas Keeling?  He started last night’s game against Orleans and did not allow a hit. The bad news?  He lasted two-thirds of an inning, allowing both Firebirds runs after giving up four walks and throwing 5 wild pitches. That looks like a pitching line from Steve Blass, or maybe Rick Ankiel.

Chatham may have found a silver lining in the loss as Logan Verrett relieved Keeling and pitched 5.1 innings of one-hit ball, walking just one batter while striking out 7. This was Verrett’s first appearance on the Cape after arriving from the Team USA trials.

After getting a complete game from Chris Sale in the first game, Y-D pitchers John Leonard and Kevin Rhoderick combined to limit the Commodores to one hit in the second game. Sale’s seven inning complete games makes me wonder if the record book could be altered a bit if more pitchers go the distance in the shortened doubleheaders.

Mike Campbell has noted on the league website that the arrival of Louisiana State’s Austin Ross and Micah Gibbs will strengthen Y-D. The part I find interesting is that there was no mention of their highly-touted Tiger teammate, Anthony Ranaudo. I mentioned in an earlier post that if Ranaudo does come to the Cape, he will most likely be on a very strict pitch count since he threw 124.1 innings for the national champions.

Another player who starred in the College World Series, Texas’ Chance Ruffin, has been dropped from Cotuit’s roster. 

Need further proof that pitching is 70% (or more) of the game? Brewster and Falmouth are next-to-last and last in team ERA at 4.15 and 4.17 respectively. The Whitecaps are in last place in the East and the Commodores (3-8-1) are last in the West.

Brewster’s 3-6-3 record looks like something you would see in Major League Soccer.

Bourne’s Kyle Roller leads the league in batting with a .400 avg.

Y-D has three of the top seven hitters in Austin Wates (2nd; .391), Mickey Wiswall (4th; .360) and Blake Kelso (7th; .327).

Harwich has swiped 17 bases. They have been caught stealing 14 times. Not a very good percentage.

Y-D’s Leonard is another example of a player who finds success on the Cape after a less-than-stellar college season. Leonard was 1-5 with a 7.09 ERA at Boston College. In 12.1 innings over 4 appearances for the Red Sox, Leonard is 1-0 with a save and a 0.73 ERA.

Hoping to see a homerun hit at a game you are going to?  Go to a game involving an Eastern division team.   The five East teams have given up the most homeruns. Bourne, Cotuit and Wareham have each allowed just one homerun.

Bourne leads the league in team ERA at 2.00. They are closely folllowed by Cotuit at 2.02. Three Kettleers are in the top nine in individual ERA  -  Justin Grimm (2nd; 0.57), Ben Rowen (4th; 0.69) and Brandon Cumpton (9th; 0.75).

« Previous
Next Page »