Jun

5

Cape League Dominates 2008 Baseball Draft

Posted by Greg | Filed Under News | 3 Comments

Around 3:30 this afternoon, the Cape Cod Baseball League’s public relations and broadcast director, John Garner, emailed me to say that the league was cleaning up in the 2008 professional baseball draft.  Six of the top 11 picks this year played in the Cape Cod Baseball League, Garner pointed out.

The good news for the CCBL had only started.  #12 turned out to be Justin Smoak and #13 was Brett Wallace.  The list of Cape All-Stars and Greats continued throughout Round 1.

The Cape League clearly dominates, but Luke Winn over at Sports Illustrated was assigned to feature the Alaska Baseball League in this week’s edition.  The nice five-page spread on the Alaska League is followed by a summer road trip fantasy that includes a stop at the Cape Cod Baseball League (see Stop #11).

Here’s a roundup of Round 1 from today’s draft.

1  Pittsburgh Pirates
Justin Wilson LHP Fresno State Calif.

2  Tampa Bay Rays
Tim Beckham SS Griffin (Ga.) HS Ga.

3  Pittsburgh Pirates
Pedro Alvarez 3B Vanderbilt Tenn.  — See my post below

4  Kansas City Royals
Eric Hosmer 1B American Heritage HS, Plantation, Fla. Fla.

5  Baltimore Orioles
Brian Matusz LHP San Diego Calif.
 
6  San Francisco Giants
Buster Posey C Florida State Fla. — Posey tore up the Cape league for two seasons
 
7  Florida Marlins
Kyle Skipworth C Patriot HS, Rubidoux, Calif.

8  Cincinnati Reds
Yonder Alonso 1B Miami Fla.  — Alonso was a CCBL All-star last season

9  Chicago White Sox
Gordon Beckham SS Georgia Ga. — Cape League home run king
 
10 Washington Nationals
Aaron Crow RHP Missouri Mo. — who can forget his stunning performance for Falmouth at the All-Star game last season?
 
11 Houston Astros
Jason Castro C Stanford Calif.  — Baseball America named him one of the best from the Cape League last year

12 Texas Rangers
Justin Smoak 1B South Carolina S.C.  — check out our CodBall Conversation with Justin Smoak

13 Oakland Athletics
Jemile Weeks 2B Miami Fla.

14 St. Louis Cardinals
Brett Wallace 1B Arizona State Ariz. — best hitter I’ve ever seen.  I got to see him up close in Falmouth, where he also was great with kids at the day camp
 
15 Minnesota Twins
Aaron Hicks OF/RHP Wilson HS, Long Beach Calif.

16 Los Angeles Dodgers
Ethan Martin RHP/3B Stephens County HS, Toccoa, Ga. Ga.

17 Milwaukee Brewers
Brett Lawrie OF/IF Brookswood SS, Langley, B.C.

18 Toronto Blue Jays
David Cooper 1B California Calif.

19 New York Mets
Ike Davis 1B Arizona State Ariz.

20 Chicago Cubs
Andrew Cashner RHP Texas Christian Texas

21 Seattle Mariners
Joshua Fields RHP Georgia Ga.

22 Detroit Tigers
Ryan Perry RHP Arizona Ariz.
 
23 New York Mets
Reese Havens SS South Carolina S.C. — another Cape League all-star
 
24 San Diego Padres
Allan Dykstra 1B Wake Forest N.C. – Shouldn’t he have scored in the last all-star game?
 
25 Philadelphia Phillies
Anthony Hewitt SS/OF Salisbury (Conn.) School Conn.
 
26 Colorado Rockies
Christian Friedrich LHP Eastern Kentucky Ky.  — started the final game of the Cape League championship game last season for Falmouth.

27 Arizona Diamondbacks
Daniel Schlereth LHP Arizona Ariz.
 
28 Minnesota Twins
Carlos Gutierrez RHP Miami Fla.

29 New York Yankees
Gerrit Cole RHP Orange (Calif.) Lutheran HS Calif.
 
30 Cleveland Indians
Lonnie Chisenhall 3B Pitt (N.C.) CC North Carolina — Chisenhall was scheduled to play in Cotuit last season but ran into a little trouble back in South Carolina.

31 Boston Red Sox
Casey Kelly RHP/SS Sarasota (Fla.) HS Fla.

Comments

3 Responses to “Cape League Dominates 2008 Baseball Draft”

  1. Greg on June 6th, 2008 1:27 am

    Two addenda:

    1. The Sports Illustrated story I cite about the Alaska Baseball League trots out the same old Alaska to Cape critique: the Cape is a show league and the Alaska league is a fiercely competitive league.

    2. Dennis Raben, the guy who blasted home run after home run over the left field bleachers in Wareham last summer at the All-Star game, was picked up in the second round by the Seattle Mariners (which trust me needs some power)!

  2. CapeMan on June 6th, 2008 8:49 am

    The first round compensations picks were also full of Cape Leaguers…

    Connor Gillaspie, Wade Miley, Jeremy Bleich, Ryan Flaherty

  3. KoyoKoyo » Blog Archive » Cape League Dominates 2008 <b>Baseball</b> Draft on July 11th, 2008 2:45 am

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