After three straight days of rainouts, we finally got to see some action Wednesday night. I went to Falmouth and saw several very impressive young arms in Cotuit's 2-0 win over the Commodores.
Cotuit's left-handed starter Chris Dwyer from Clemson was the best pitcher I've seen so far this summer. Dwyer was Kansas City's fourth round draft pick earlier this month, and a high-ranking member of the Royals' front office was in attendance Wednesday to see Dwyer's first Cape League appearance. Despite a 17-day layoff, the draft-eligible freshman did not disappoint. Dwyer has a very athletic build at 6'4" 200, and he has such smooth mechanics and does everything with such ease that it looks like he is hardly working on the mound. His best pitch is his 76 mph curveball--which has very sharp, tight break--even though he occasionally doesn't follow through with it and leaves it up in the zone. His fastball sat in the 90-91 mph range and he threw a very good 80-82 mph changeup. Dwyer pitched five shutout innings Wednesday night, allowing two hits and striking out nine. The Royals' brass had to be impressed.
Falmouth's right-handed starter Tommy Collier from San Jacinto Community College was also pretty good. Collier had some trouble with his mechanics, as he opened up his front side and ended up falling way off the mound toward first base, but he threw well and showed some potential. Collier's fastball sat in the 87-90 mph range, and he threw a good overhand 79-80 mph curveball which he could throw for strikes. He also showed the occasional 83 mph changeup. Collier shut down Cotuit for four innings, then looked like he got tired in the fifth inning and got touched up for two runs.
Cotuit's right-handed reliever Daniel Tillman from Florida Southern hit 94 mph and sat between 91-93 mph with his fastball, a pitch that had some nice heavy sinking action. Tillman was just average size at 6'1" 185, and he threw with a lot of effort, but he was blowing his fastball by hitters. Tillman needs to find some kind of secondary stuff, though, as both his curveball and changeup were not up to par. He threw nearly all fastballs.
Falmouth reliever Cecil Tanner from Georgia also had a good arm, and also touched 94 with his fastball. Tanner is huge at 6'6"240, and he throws hard with little effort. His fastball also had some nice tailing action in on right-handed hitters. Tanner made quick work of three hittters, so I didn't see as much of him as I would like, but he is certainly a name to watch.
In a game that featured 32 strikeouts and just eight hits, nobody really stood out at the plate for any positive reason. Cotuit's left fielder Cory Vaughn from San Diego State did however stand out for his futility. Former Major Leaguer Greg Vaughn's son struck out in all four of his plate appearances, feebly waving at so many breaking pitches out of the strike zone that it became ridiculous. He literally swung at least a foot over the ball several times in his various at-bats. When Falmouth reliever Patrick Cooper inexplicably decided to throw Vaughn a fastball down the middle in the top of the eighth inning, and Vaughn even more inexplicably took it for strike three to complete the Golden Sombrero, one National League scout shook his head and laughed out loud in disbelief. Vaughn has now struck out in 16 of his 29 at-bats this summer.
AROUND THE LEAGUE:
Bourne 2 Brewster 2, 10 innings: Bourne right-handed starter Eric Cantrell from George Washington allowed one run on one hit and struck out eight over five innings, and Brewster right-handed starter Kyle Blair from the University of San Diego allowed no runs on two hits in 4.1 innings pitched in a game called by darkness. Designated hitter Stefan Romero from Oregon State hit a two-run home run for Brewster.
Chatham 8 Y-D 3: Catcher Mike Murray from Wake Forest went 3-for-3 for Chatham, and catcher Ben McMahan from the University of Florida went 2-for-4 with a home run for Y-D.
Orleans 6 Harwich 4: Orleans scored four runs in the top of the ninth inning to beat Harwich. Second baseman Danny Muno from Fresno State and first baseman Jaren Matthews from Rutgers each had two hits for Orleans. Center fielder Trent Mummey from Auburn and right fielder Dan Grovatt from the University of Virginia each had two hits for Harwich.
Wareham at Hyannis: Rained out. Because it's not a day at the Cape without something getting postponed.
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do you know if Chris Manno is pitching in the cape thsi year. Last year he was the most impressive Lefty in the Cape. Something like 4-0 with a 1.3 ERA . I saw him again in the all star game and I think he struck oout 5 fo 6 batters. I thought he would be back with Harwich
ReplyDeleteI'm not 100 percent sure I'm remembering this correctly but I thought I saw in the "Transactions" section of the print version of the Cape Cod Times today that Manno was just released by Harwich. He hadn't pitched for them, and I don't think he was even up here, but he must have been on their roster before today. I usually just read the Cape Cod Times coverage online and just happened to glance at the print edition this afternoon at Box Lunch, so if you have a copy of it you can check it out to make sure I'm being accurate.
ReplyDeleteI liked Manno last summer too, and remember that All-Star Game performance, but I think he was one of those guys who is considered more of a good college pitcher than a legitimate Major League prospect. Washington took him in the 38th round of the draft this year.