Aug

22

Who is College’s Best Summer Team (and League)?

Posted by Greg | Filed Under News | 12 Comments

The Santa Barbara Foresters of the California Collegiate League are ranked as the number one summer collegiate baseball team in America, according to PGCrosschecker.com.

Say what?

So, Santa Barbara would beat the Harwich Mariners or the Cotuit Ketleers of the Cape Cod Baseball League in head-to-head competition?  I’m not so sure.

Santa Barbara won the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, KS, this summer.  Their roster was filled with talent from top collegiate baseball programs.  And apparently their players were regular readers of PGCrosschecker, which Cape League players may not have been.

“In the end, our choice for the No. 1 position is Santa Barbara,” PGCrosschecker wrote.  “And the recognition isn’t likely to be lost on the Foresters players. ‘It was really interesting how the players on our club paid attention to the Crosschecker rankings, and don’t think they didn’t,’ said long-time Foresters manager Bill Pintard. ‘They were well aware of who a lot of the top teams were once we got to Wichita, and we were ready for them.’”

Adding insult to injury, the Cape League’s champion (the Harwich Mariners) only managed 3rd place in the national rankings.  The Maryland Orioles of the Cal Ripken League took second.

I can’t argue with the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League’s 5th place assignment.  The WCCBL’s Corvalis Knights (owned by Nike founder Phil Knight’s wife) just beat the Wenatchee Apple Sox in two games. Last year, if memory serves, the Cape League’s Y-D Red Sox and the WCCBL Champion Moses Lake Pirates topped the PGCrosschecker list.

Five of the top 32 teams were Cape League teams. Alaska barely cracked the top 10. 

What do you think?

Comments

12 Responses to “Who is College’s Best Summer Team (and League)?”

  1. Andrew on August 22nd, 2008 7:55 am

    I don’t know if I trust PG Crosschecker that much.

    Case in point:
    “Mariners run table in Cape playoffs, win 2-1 over Cotuit in deciding game on walk-off, 2-run single by North Carolina C Brian Fleury”

    Brian Fleury does not exist. It was Mark Fleury.

    It doesn’t seem like a lot of work goes into making the list. Allan Simpson seems to simply look at the top of the standings and try to fit as many leagues as he can in the list. Cape League teams traditionally finish 1st in his ranking. However, this year there weren’t any sexy records. Harwich’s 28-20 record doesn’t look that impressive next to Santa Barbara’s 44-16 and Maryland’s 54-8.

    It would be interesting to track these rankings over time to see how many players play professionally from each team. Of course, that’s far from a true measure of talent either. But, it might be the best we have.

  2. mikey d on August 22nd, 2008 11:05 am

    PG Crosschecker is not great in regards to ranking summer teams.

    How do you compare any CCBL team with the usually inferior remaining summer teams/leagues?

    There is no doubt that there are excellent players who go to the other leagues, in particular, the Northwoods, Valley and Coastal Plains Leagues. Usually these players wind up there first and then some “graduate” to the Cape their sophomore seasons.

    I doubt that in any head to head matchup, the other teams could hold a candle to any CCBL team in regards to overall talent and coaching levels.

  3. Grantham James on August 22nd, 2008 2:06 pm

    I think if they’d ranked summer LEAGUES and had called the CCBL inferior to any other league then we could all meet up at the Thompson’s Clam Bar parking lot with pick-up trucks full of angry Capers… but… to rank some team in Santa Bare-bra as a better summer league team than any one of the ten Cape teams is kind of like saying that spoons can stab better than forks. They are too different and two different things… On the one hand, a fork can mess you up, but on the other hand, the spoon can make a mess out of a bowl of pudding…

    None of the other leagues really matter…

    The other leagues are for guys whom are afraid to leave their mommy’s for the summer and potential Cathlic priests… Guys who don’t want to spend the summer impressing REAL scouts, playing and learning with REAL talent or chasing the fine wimmins the Cape attracts each summer…

    a perchance meeting Peter Gammons…

    to play and create relationships with potential future MLB Hall of Famers…

    be part of a great tradition…

    Santa Bare-bra can keep those players who don’t want any of those things… and that crappy title… Congratulations on the pudding…

  4. Andrew on August 22nd, 2008 8:15 pm

    One interesting quote I missed: “the Cape simply didn’t have a dominant team this summer and scouts and league managers generally agreed that the talent in the league was down considerably.”

    Any scouts or league managers reading this, that want to share your thoughts?

  5. mikey d on August 23rd, 2008 8:57 am

    So….is the parity that was evident and does that fact that the playoff races were not decided until the last game/playin indicate a lessening of talent or a more even dispersion of said talent?

    Believe me, the scouts act like they know it all but they are only a baby step above any of us who watch and coach baseball at lower levels. Just because they have radar guns and notebooks doesn’t make them better at evaluation of talent than an experienced fan of the game.

    The “scouts” aka “bird dogs” you see at the games are generally at the bottom of the scouting foodchain and submit reports that might entice the real scouts to actually come see that particular player on the Cape.

  6. CapeMan on August 23rd, 2008 9:20 am

    I think those of us that support and follow the Cape League need to look in the mirror. What do WE really know about the other leagues and how can we fairly proclaim that the there are not some other teams and players that ARE better? To me, it smacks of favoritism and these opinions are based upon what we want to believe rather than what may be the truth. The fact of the matter is that many other leagues are catching up and offering a competitive alternative to the Cape. The Texas League is keeping talent home more and more each season and word is that a NEW league in Northern California will compete with the Cape League unlike any other league in terms of the proximity of fields…short instead of long bus rides…the great location of the Sacramento area with wine country, San Fransisco, etc…and the ability, like the Texas League, to keep the California talent home. I’m sure this would also be attractive to kids in Oregon, Arizona and Washington.

  7. Backstop on August 23rd, 2008 3:07 pm

    I believe it. I also believe in Santa Claus and believe that the day Mike Roberts retires from Cotuit, that every former Kettleer will return to the Cape to honor him in appreciation…

  8. Backstop on August 23rd, 2008 3:09 pm

    Didn’t see this posted, but for those who don’t know, Hyannis manager Robinson is out and will be replaced by their pitching coach next year.

  9. mikey d on August 24th, 2008 11:46 am

    After looking in the mirror (yea right), a simple way to determine who is better is to:

    1. Look at the rosters of the other summer leagues and see what Div 2/3/JUCO colleges they mainly recruit from.

    2. Ask ANY player where they would rather be, the Cape wins 100% of the time.

    3. Check out the long list of former CCBL players who are presently playing in the majors vs. all the other leagues combined…not even close.

    4. There have been leagues out west for several years and yet look at all the CA, AZ, OR and WA players who still travel cross country to compete.

    BTW…the Texas League is terrible and have had issues with franchises folding, players coming and going, etc. Don’t be shocked if it goes away in the next couple of years.

    Just curious…any chance Robinson was fired over the way Hyannis choked its way out of the playoffs during the last week of the season?

    PS Whats up, Backstop!

  10. Backstop on August 24th, 2008 6:38 pm

    Hey Mikey D, good to see you are staying out of trouble (marginally :) My understanding is he “left on his own”, but the scuttlebut is his antics upset a major Division 1 program that had threatened to not send players to Hyannis anymore if Robinson was back.

    Hyannis did pretty well this year, so it does sound there’s more to this story then whats read in Al-Hyannizeera, err, the Cape Cod Times…:)

  11. Andrew on August 24th, 2008 8:47 pm

    The rumor (albeit a small one) down here is that the Texas League will be expanding to 8 teams next year. I will believe it when I see it, because the TCL drew horribly this season.

  12. Mike on August 27th, 2008 10:15 am

    Two things occur to me. First, wouldn’t a publication like Baseball America be a better judge of the quality of summer college leagues and individual teams?

    Secondly, if other leagues are getting started and represent competition, what can the Cape league do to improve itself? What are some of the newer leagues doing that we might learn from?

    I’ve been attending Kettleers games since 1968 and love that my son is now hooked on the league as well.

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