Oct

7

Rock-tober: The Rockies and the Cape Cod Baseball League

Posted by Greg | Filed Under News | 

Cory SullivanWith eight former Cape league players on their roster, the Colorado Rockies go to the National League Championship Series for the first time in their franchise history.

They will play the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS — another organization with a tradition of drafting players with Cape league experience.

A couple of possible October heroes who enjoyed success on the Cape during their college years are pictured here — Cory Sullivan (Y-D Red Sox and now Colorado) and Chad Tracey (Orleans and now Arizona).

Ironically, Major League Baseball has been promoting the youth movement in the playoffs with an unprecdentented post-season marketing campaign – “There’s only one October.” In one commercial MLB highlights the fact there are a lot of young players in the postseason for the first time. The ad talks about “stars of the future,” which sounds a little like the Cape league’s own slogan — “stars of tomorrow come out tonight.”

The Colorado Rockies are loaded with former Cape Cod Baseball League talent, including the following:

Garret Atkins (Cotuit ‘98-99) Todd Helton (Orleans ‘94), Brad Hawpe (Y-D ‘99), Chris Iannetta (Chatham ‘02), Josh Fogg (Hyannis ‘96), Omar Quintanilla (Cotuit ‘02), Ryan Speier (Bourne ‘01), Cory Sullivan (Y-D ‘00), [see photo].

Chad Tracey (center)The Diamondbacks, with eleven former CCBL players listed have just a few former Cape players on their active roster, including Chad Tracey (Orleans ‘00), pictured here, Eric Byrnes Chatham ‘95, Hyannis ‘96-97).

You can follow their progress in the post-season at this MLB website. Former Hyannis pitcher Fogg, for example, has a win now in the playoffs.

I will try to highlight the American League later, once it becomes clearer. But it’s also true that the Cleveland Indians also are loaded with former Cape players:

Casey Blake (Hyannis ‘93), Ryan Garko (Hyannis ‘01-02), Kelly Shoppach (Harwich ‘00), Jason Michaels (Orleans ‘96), Jensen Lewis (Falmouth ‘03-’04).

And of course the Red Sox also have former Cape league greats such as Kevin Youkillis (Bourne ‘00), Mike Lowell (Chatham ‘94), Doug Mirabelli (Hyannis ‘90)

I’ve already written about the Yankees and their Cape players.

More later.

Comments

6 Responses to “Rock-tober: The Rockies and the Cape Cod Baseball League”

  1. CapeMan on October 7th, 2007 12:22 pm

    Great research Greg! If I’m not mistaken, both Arizona and Colorado drafted many more CCBL players this year. The Yankees also drafted a couple that I know of …. Andrew Brackman and Bradley Suttle.

  2. Joseph F. Cavanaugh III on October 8th, 2007 7:32 pm

    Great piece, Greg. I was driving back to Cape Cod last night listening to Game 3 between the Indians and Yankees. At one point, Cleveland had a relief pitcher on the mound who struck out the side in the 8th inning. I didn’t catch the Cleveland pitcher’s name, but the ESPN Radio announcers went on about how well he had pitched in the Cape Cod Baseball League. The announcers also pointed out that the pitcher had a CCBL teammate, Jacoby Elsbury, who is also an emerging star in the Bigs. Great exposure for the Cape League on a National network during post-season coverage!

  3. Dave B. on October 9th, 2007 10:01 am

    The Indians pitcher is Jensen Lewis. He pitched for Falmouth in 2003 and 2004. In ‘03 with the Commodores, Lewis was 0-1 with a 3.80 ERA. In ‘04, he was a key contributor to the Falmouth team that lost to Y-D in the championship series. That year, Lewis was 4-0 with an ERA of 1.73.
    He certainly has been impressive in two playoff appearances for Cleveland this year. Lewis has pitched two perfect innings while striking out four batters, including all three batters he faced in the game Joseph referenced.

  4. CapeMan on October 9th, 2007 11:02 am

    Jeremy Sowers who pitched on the Cape is on the 40 man roster for the Indians but didn’t make the roster for the first series. After a great rookie year, he really tailed off in ‘07.

  5. Greg on October 9th, 2007 10:38 pm

    Nice article about Jacoby Elsbury in a New Mexico newspaper — http://www.powwows.com/gathering/native-news-issues/41033-navajo-baseball-player-makes-his-mark-boston.html

    Speaking of Native American baseball players, read Sports Illustrated’s article this week about Joba Chamberlain. Amazing story.

  6. Andrew G. on October 10th, 2007 10:30 pm

    Coming from Cleveland, I have enjoyed watching the impact of former Cape Cod Leaguers succeed and grow for the Indians.

    Watching Ryan Garko develop into a slugger, Casey Blake turn into one heck-of-a ball player and Kelly Shoppach becoming a solid catcher, further emphasizes the success of the Cape Cod League.

    No one hit the ball harder than Garko in the Cape and he tore his way up through the Indians farm system, and burst into the Major League scene in three years.

    Heck, Garko held the Cape Cod League record for most hits-by-pitch in a game until Bourne Brave 3B Kevin Hoef got “beamed” four times in one game.

    Not only are former Cape Cod Leaguers having tremendous success in the Major Leagues, but many former Codders’ are big reasons why their respective team is making it far into the post-season.

    Just another reason why the Cape is the most prolific and prestigious summer league in baseball.

    Not only do many Cape Cod Leaders make it to the bigs, but many have a shot to win the ring!

    Great Article guys!

    Go Tribe! (Indian Fever Starts in the First Inning)

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