2018 Summer Ball

This may have been stated earlier, but as someone who has followed the Cape League for more than 25 years,, the use of wooden bats has meant that pitching dominates the league. Don't know which other leagues use wooden bats but you can't dismiss their effect. And look what has happened to Big League hitting with the K dominating. Interestingly, there is a hid named Austin Shenton, from FIU who is leading the Cape League with an average of 400 and leading in HRs with 7.
 
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The wood bats help distinguish the good hitters from the average/below average hitters. No more getting fisted and pushing it out to the outfield for a single.
 
This may have been stated earlier, but as someone who has followed the Cape League for more than 25 years,, the use of wooden bats has meant that pitching dominates the league. Don't know which other leagues use wooden bats but you can't dismiss their effect. And look what has happened to Big League hitting with the K dominating. Interestingly, there is a hid named Austin Shenton, from FIU who is leading the Cape League with an average of 400 and leading in HRs with 7.

The lesson: a kid from FIU isn't having any problems using a wood bat.
 
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Canes Baseball Starring in Summer Leagues - University of Miami

This ventures into propaganda for a few of the struggling players, but worth noting that Veliz and Escala were selected as Cape Cod and Alaska Baseball League All Stars.

Sparber pitching is interesting. I don’t think much of the quality of that league, but it might be useful if we run out of pitching in a long extra inning game.
 
Aaron Fitt on Veliz:


My near the end of summer guess at next season’s pitching:
Fri McKendry
Sat McMahon
Sun Cecconi
MW Gates

LHP Setup: Cook
RHP Setup: Federman
Closer: Veliz
 
You think you can depend on Veliz to throw strikes consistently? Would be nice if his control develops, great stuff.
 
You think you can depend on Veliz to throw strikes consistently? Would be nice if his control develops, great stuff.
I was skeptical coming into the summer, but he has 27 Ks vs just 6 BBs in 12 Cape Cod League appearances. He has also picked up four saves.
 
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The summer leagues are beginning to wind down.

Jeremy Cook has finished his summer with at 4-2 with one save and a 3.51 ERA in 25.2 innings pitched. He made 22 appearances overall. He struck out 43 while walking 22. He had an opponents batting average of .183 and a WHIP of 1.39. He just needs to avoid the multi-game stretches where he walks a lot of batters. That was his main problem during the regular season and again this summer.

Joe Sparber finished the summer with a .135 batting average (5 for 37) in 20 games. On the mound, he went 0-1 with a 4.26 ERA and 6K/7BB.

Kam Lane finished with a .208 batting average (25 for 120) and 7 RBIs in 38 games. He struck out 24 times while earning 21 walks.

Gil, Escala, and Rivero are in their respective league's playoffs, and should wrap up in the next few days. Escala has really tailed off towards the end of the summer much like he did during the regular season. I'm holding off on them and the Cape Cod League players until their summers are over. The Cape is in the last week of its regular season.

The Northwoods League seems to never end, and won't wrap up the regular season until Aug 12. Toral continues his turnaround with his batting average up to .254 (44 for 173). He has added a couple doubles since the last update. He just snapped a nine game hitting streak last night. Quinones continues to struggle with a .151 batting average.
 
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Summer ball has wrapped up for all our players
Northwoods League
It was an up and down summer offensively for Toral. He finished with a .238 average (had reached .264 on August 1st before a mini slump to end the summer) with 7 HRs and 29 RBI. He was 50 for 210 overall with 37 Ks and 16 BBs. He seemed to cut down on his strikeouts towards the end of the summer, with just 5 in his last 61 ABs. His homerun total is encouraging given his HS Senior/College Freshman power outage, but his overall batting average and inconsistency is a question mark. A big red flag for his performance this summer was 14 errors in 56 games at first base. He wasn't good enough defensively to play first base last season, and that doesn't appear to have improved.

Quinones had a summer to forget, finishing at .157 (19 for 121) with 1 HR and 11 RBI. He had 38 Ks vs 20 BBs.

Alaska Baseball League
Escala really cooled off towards the end of the summer (not unlike his spring finish), ending up with a .228 BA (39 for 171) with 14 RBI. He had 42 K/15 BB. I'm a little bit surprised that he only had 3 stolen bases for the summer.

Daniel Rivero is one of the few players who exceeded expectations this summer. He finished 1-1 with a 2.73 ERA in 29.3 innings of work. He struck out 34 while walking just 11 batters. His WHIP was 1.21 and he had an OBA of .227. For comparison, his stats from the Coastal Plain League last summer: 2-1 30 IP 6.00 ERA 33 K 19 BB. I'm not sure how his Alaska summer translates to the spring, but he has certainly improved over last year.

Valley League
Gil was much improved towards the end of the summer following a nightmare on Cape Cod and a poor start in Winchester. His Valley League season finished at a .254 average (16 for 63) with 5 HR and 14 RBI. He stole six bases while recording 22K/6BB. In his four postseason games he hit .294 including 3 of his 5 HRs and half his RBI total in just those 4 games. As with Toral, there are a lot of question marks for Gil leaving the summer.

Cape Cod League
Veliz had a great summer going 2-1 with four saves and a 2.45 ERA. He struck out 33 while walking only eight batters in 22 innings of work (14 appearances). The question mark for Veliz was whether he could throw strikes, and it certainly looks like he did this summer.

Tyler Keysor finished the summer at 2-2 with a 4.95 ERA in 20 innings. He struck out 24 batters while walking only five. His OBA was .262. Based on his summer number,s he seems like a guy who throws strikes but is a little bit on the hittable side. It's hard to make a complete judgement though making the jump from JUCO to the Cape Cod League. Having faced that level of competition should help him transition into the ACC.

Gabe Rivera's numbers are pretty horrific. He finished with a .163 batting average (16 for 98). He struck out 38 times (in just 98 at bats!) while walking only twice. The only positive I can find is that he wasn't charged with any errors given his struggles last season in right field.

NECBL
Tyler Paige finished the summer with an .060 batting average (3 for 50) with 4 RBIs and 24K/10BB. As was the case at the end of the spring, I struggle to see him being able to hit at this level. I'll be concerned if he has any more than an emergency utility role this season.
 
Summer ball has wrapped up for all our players
Northwoods League
It was an up and down summer offensively for Toral. He finished with a .238 average (had reached .264 on August 1st before a mini slump to end the summer) with 7 HRs and 29 RBI. He was 50 for 210 overall with 37 Ks and 16 BBs. He seemed to cut down on his strikeouts towards the end of the summer, with just 5 in his last 61 ABs. His homerun total is encouraging given his HS Senior/College Freshman power outage, but his overall batting average and inconsistency is a question mark. A big red flag for his performance this summer was 14 errors in 56 games at first base. He wasn't good enough defensively to play first base last season, and that doesn't appear to have improved.

Quinones had a summer to forget, finishing at .157 (19 for 121) with 1 HR and 11 RBI. He had 38 Ks vs 20 BBs.

Alaska Baseball League
Escala really cooled off towards the end of the summer (not unlike his spring finish), ending up with a .228 BA (39 for 171) with 14 RBI. He had 42 K/15 BB. I'm a little bit surprised that he only had 3 stolen bases for the summer.

Daniel Rivero is one of the few players who exceeded expectations this summer. He finished 1-1 with a 2.73 ERA in 29.3 innings of work. He struck out 34 while walking just 11 batters. His WHIP was 1.21 and he had an OBA of .227. For comparison, his stats from the Coastal Plain League last summer: 2-1 30 IP 6.00 ERA 33 K 19 BB. I'm not sure how his Alaska summer translates to the spring, but he has certainly improved over last year.

Valley League
Gil was much improved towards the end of the summer following a nightmare on Cape Cod and a poor start in Winchester. His Valley League season finished at a .254 average (16 for 63) with 5 HR and 14 RBI. He stole six bases while recording 22K/6BB. In his four postseason games he hit .294 including 3 of his 5 HRs and half his RBI total in just those 4 games. As with Toral, there are a lot of question marks for Gil leaving the summer.

Cape Cod League
Veliz had a great summer going 2-1 with four saves and a 2.45 ERA. He struck out 33 while walking only eight batters in 22 innings of work (14 appearances). The question mark for Veliz was whether he could throw strikes, and it certainly looks like he did this summer.

Tyler Keysor finished the summer at 2-2 with a 4.95 ERA in 20 innings. He struck out 24 batters while walking only five. His OBA was .262. Based on his summer number,s he seems like a guy who throws strikes but is a little bit on the hittable side. It's hard to make a complete judgement though making the jump from JUCO to the Cape Cod League. Having faced that level of competition should help him transition into the ACC.

Gabe Rivera's numbers are pretty horrific. He finished with a .163 batting average (16 for 98). He struck out 38 times (in just 98 at bats!) while walking only twice. The only positive I can find is that he wasn't charged with any errors given his struggles last season in right field.

NECBL
Tyler Paige finished the summer with an .060 batting average (3 for 50) with 4 RBIs and 24K/10BB. As was the case at the end of the spring, I struggle to see him being able to hit at this level. I'll be concerned if he has any more than an emergency utility role this season.

Thanks for the updates. Sounds like it could be more of the same in Gino's first year - decent pitching but possibly another anemic offense.
 
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Hopefully the bit of power Gil and Toral showed over the summer sticks around into their 2019 college seasons.
 
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