Summer baseball league thoughts

[Todd4State]

The Cape Cod League playoffs start today, I believe, and so it is about time for the summer leagues to end.

Some people want to know what the stats of our players, both good and bad, really mean. To be honest, all it really means for the most part is some of our guys can hit with wood bats and some can't, when it gets down to it. To me, that's why we can't get all upset if someone doesn't do too well- because of course, in college, they use metal, and even now, it is totally different.

You may be thinking, "Gee, we've had some guys that must have had some really crappy summers". But, actually, that's not the case at all- Hunter Renfroe hit 8 home runs, which was a league record, and he also is hitting .288. Wes Rea hit 4 home runs, and has hit over .300. That is really encouraging because it means that he is healthy. Adam Frazier is hitting over .300, and Nic Amaritti is hitting .298 for the same team. Also, Chris Stratton has an ERA of 1 something in the Cape Cod League.

Now, it wasn't all totally good either- CT Bradford hit .200, Daryl Norris hit .215, Demarcus Henderson is hitting .207, and Brayden Jones hit .128 and Taylor Stark hit .194. Even those players- CT, Norris, and Demarcus all got off to really slow starts, and they were all able to get their batting averages up above the Mendoza lines, so they improved as the summer went on. I hope that they take what they learned this summer and use it to become even better in the spring- and that their averages are better since they all start off with a clean slate. Demarcus getting off to a slow start wasn't surprising because he was coming off of eye surgery.

Kendall Graveman also had a very good summer in the Cape Cod League, but Nick Routt and Caleb Reed struggled a little bit. Daryl Norris also had a good summer pitching wise. Andrew Busby also had a dominating summer in a lesser league, which brings me to my next point.

Some of the summer leagues are better from a talent standpoint than the others. Honestly, the Cape Cod League is the best. It's like an All-Star league. The fact that we had six players invited to play in it is encouraging in and of itself- that's the most we've had in years. (Stratton, Reed, Graveman, Routt, Norris for a short time, and Bradford) So, what does happen sometimes is you have a player that is maybe more advanced for the league that they are in, and they dominate. That is good in that that is what is "supposed" to happen, but the bad thing is, it doesn't mean that they will be All-SEC when the season starts.

What I really want to see from our players in the summer is that they get playing time and they get at bats, and innings pitched and they get better by the time they come in for the spring.

 

[croomsgone]

been dying for a baseball post from you for a while. i agree with everything you said - the most important thing to me is that the guys who struggled still improved as the season went along. lookin for big things out of everybody. the guys who maybe needed to be humbled after strong freshman years (bradford, norris, stark) got humbled a bit and guys who needed confidence (rea, renfroe, frazier - didnt hit well for us this year,henderson - he drastically improved as the summer went along and he fielded very well) probably gained some.

 

[Tds & Beer]

I see where his era is .39, but only three appearances. .39 is still awesome though because he pitched 23 innings. That means he averaged over 7 innings too. But why's he not playing much? This might be really really old news. I haven't kept up with any baseball this summerexcept when they post statistics.

 

[Todd4State]

because he broke a rib.

He will be back more than likely by fall practice and definately will be back in time for the season to start.

That's the thing about Evan- he has some really weird injuries like this in the past. Like in high school he got hit in the face by a baseball while he was playing shortstop and that ended his season as a senior. That's why he was so under the radar coming out of high school.

 

[Todd4State]

because we are going to be counting on some of those guys next year. Especially Hunter Renfroe, Wes Rea, and Demarcus Henderson. I want to see Taylor Stark step it up at the plate as well.

As it is, Adam Frazier, Daryl Norris, CT Bradford, and Brent Brownlee are our veterans. I'm always concerned about Brownlee just because he is injury prone, but he is a very solid player.

The two true freshmen that I am really looking for to make a big contribution at the plate are Brandon Woodruff and Nick Flair.

We're going to be a totally different team next year. We'll be younger, but we'll be more talented. I think we will still be "scrappy" though- but I think that's going to be a trademark for us as long as Cohen is our coach. That's not to say that we won't have talent or will be a small ball team. Just that we're going to be aggressive and try to make things happen and we are going to play hard. Depending on how guys like Flair and Woodruff adjust to SEC pitching and how much of an adjustment Rea and Renfroe make, we might have more power next year than we did last year. They've retooled Daryl Norris's batting stance- and that's a good thing in my opinion- his hands were too low and his stance was too open- so hopefully he will hit with some more power as well.

Our pitching should be the strongest it has been in awhile- I think they will carry us next year. I think Stratton takes a big step forward next year, and I feel good about Routt. Evan Mitchell has shown a lot of promise, and I really like Woodruff, Lindgren, and Fitts- I think they will all compete for weekend rotation spots. Our bullpen will be even stronger than it was last year with Pollorena, Reed, and now Ben Bracewell, who I think is going to make a huge difference for us next year. Graveman is solid and will be in the mix as a starter and/or in the bullpen. We also have our dual position guys to give us some quality bullpen depth like Stark, Norris, Bradford, maybe Wes Rea, Renfroe, and then Holder and Will Cox may come in and help us out some as well in some limited relief roles. I also think Girodo could take a big step forward as well. He was up and down, but he had some games where he looked really good. But, he has a lot of experience now, and he was working on some pitches and refining them a little bit last year. If someone were to step up like Caleb Reed, I think it could be him. Andrew Busby is a guy I like as well in a long relief role. He is just learning how to pitch. I'm not a huge fan of Tim Statz, but he had some decent outings, especially in mop up roles. I wouldn't be surprised to see Cody Abraham moved to the bullpen. Just because he may serve us better there than as an outfielder.

Trey Porter is interesting to me- he is a walk-on who is left handed bat with some power. We'll also see what Brayden Jones can do as well- I think he will be valuable to us as a pinch-hitter. I have no confidence in Sam Frost as a hitter. We can use him to pinch run and as a late inning defensive replacement, though. We'll also see if Matthew Britton, Philip Casey, and Tyler Fullerton can help us out as well. Britton will surprise some people, I think. I think Amiratti and Slauter will battle it out to see who the back-up catcher is. I'm not sure that we have enough innings for both of them to go around. I like Amiratti better than Slauter, but I'll give both a fair shot to see what they can do.

 

[Duckmandawg]

Thanks for updates Todd.

 

[hotdigitydog]

current player (Tanner Gaines) are tearing it up this summer with the Tupelo 49er's (American Legion). Tupelo wonState and last night won their opening game in the Mid South regional being played this weekend in Louisiana. They were up in their second game 13-3 last I saw and it was only in the 4th inning. Cox has been ripping the cover off the ball. Had 3 hits night with a HR and so far is 3-3 tonight with a couple of doubles.