July 11 for July 10 Update

I went to Bourne on Friday evening mainly to catch Bourne left-handed starter Bryan Morgado from the University of Tennessee, the Chicago White Sox' third-round pick in last month's draft.

Morgado was decent, and certainly showed in Bourne's 7-5 win over Y-D that he knows how to pitch. But, quite frankly, his stuff was a little disappointing compared to what I expected out of such a high pick.

Morgado is above-average height with a thin, athletic build at 6'3" 205. He looks very mechanical when he pitches and has a very slow and deliberate motion. He was painfully slow to the plate with runners on base, and Y-D stole off of him five times, including four steals by second baseman Blake Kelso from the University of Houston alone. Morgado's fastball sat in the 88-90 mph range with good tailing action and occasionally touched 91. He had pretty good command of it and was able to work both sides of the plate. Morgado also spun a 77 mph slider and showed an average changeup. He mixed his pitches well and did a decent job keeping hitters guessing, but none of his pitches really dazzled.

Y-D right-handed starter Michael Goodnight from the University of Houston was also not as good as his 1.06 ERA entering Friday advertised. Goodnight has good size at 6'4" 220 with a projectable frame. He opens up his front side a little early and his arm lags behind, and he also tends to fall off the mound toward first. Goodnight's fastball sat in the 90-93 mph range but his command was spotty. He threw a 74-75 mph curveball with sweeping break and a decent 80 mph changeup. Goodnight had easily his worst appearance of the summer Friday and couldn't make it out of the third inning. To be fair, both starters were getting squeezed by a small strike zone.

Y-D right-handed reliever Austin Ross from LSU was pretty effective in 3.2 innings of relief. Ross is above-average height with a thin, athletic build at 6'3" 190. He has slightly stiff mechanics, and looks a little awkward when he throws. Ross' fastball sat in the 89-91 mph range and he threw a very good 78-81 mph curveball with overhand break. He also showed a less-effective hard slider and an occasional changeup.

Undersized, max-effort right-handed reliever Seth Simmons from East Carolina, who I have already written about, showed a nasty slider for Y-D.

I was excited to get my first look at Y-D catcher Micah Gibbs from LSU, who as a switch-hitter at a premium position is one of the top Major League prospects on the Cape this summer. Gibbs has struggled at the plate so far, and is now just 2-for-17 in his first five games since arriving from the College World Series. But Gibbs has a really smooth stroke from the left side of the plate, and he is able to drive the ball with little effort. He also has really good balance at the plate, though he did look less comfortable from the right side of the plate. Gibbs also moves very well behind the plate and has a very strong arm. He is definitely a possible first-round pick next June.

I had heard good things about Bourne centerfielder Scott Woodward from Coastal Carolina, but he was hitting .130 entering Friday. Woodward walked twice Friday and has now walked 18 times this season in 66 plates appearances. Despite his heinous average, his on-base percentage is actually decent, and he has the speed to make things happen on the bases. Woodward has a compact stroke and he drove an outside fastball the opposite way for a triple Friday night. He's also a solid defensive centerfielder with a strong arm.

Bourne leftfielder Nick Schwaner from the University of New Orleans, San Francisco's 42nd round pick, crushed a no-doubt home run, and rightfielder Rob Segedin from Tulane impressed scouts with his smooth stroke even though he went 0-for-4. Bourne first baseman Kyle Roller, Oakland's 47th round pick showed some opposite field power with two doubles to leftfield and undersized, all-heart second baseman Pierre LePage made several extremely athletic plays in the infield. It's unfortunate LePage doesn't have more in his bat because he's the type of player who sparks a ballclub.

I will be at Bourne at Cotuit on Saturday.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Chatham 6 Brewster 4: Leftfielder Jeff Schaus from Clemson and designated hitter Joey Terdoslavich from Long Beach State each had two hits for Chatham. Third baseman Jedd Gyorko from West Virginia and second baseman Colin Walsh from Stanford each had two hits from Brewster.

Hyannis 6 Cotuit 3: Third baseman Zack Cox from Arkansas went 4-for-5 for Cotuit. First baseman Ryan Cuneo from Delaware went 3-for-4 for Hyannis.

Orleans 5 Harwich 2: Centerfielder Alex Hassan from Duke, Boston's 20th-round pick as a pitcher, and first baseman Jaren Matthews from Rutgers each had two hits for Orleans.

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June 28 for June 27 Update

I went to Brewster on Saturday evening for a rain-shortened game bewtween Brewster and Yarmouth-Dennis that was called because of lightning after the seventh inning. Y-D scored two runs in the top of the seventh and won 5-3.

Brewster left-handed starter Scott Alexander from Pepperdine had a good arm but was kind of difficult to figure out from a scouting perspective. He was average height for a pitcher with an unathletic build at 6'2" 190, and he has a strange motion and delivery where he just leans back and then flings the ball from a three-quarter arm angle. The first fastball Alexander threw was clocked at 88 mph, but then he sat in the 91-92 mph range for most of his start and even occasionally crept up to 93 and 94. His best pitch was his changeup, which was pretty deceptive and had some good downward movement. He also spun a 77-79 mph slider.

Y-D right-handed starter Darrin Campbell from the University of San Diego was apparently on a very short leash, and he didn't show too much before he was taken out in the third inning. Campbell had a big frame at 6-4 205, and he had good balance and body control when he threw. His fastball sat in the 89-91 mph range and looked pretty straight. His slider also wasn't very good, though he was able to get some hitters out in front of it. He showed an average changeup too. All in all this was one of the more lackluster starting pitching matchups I've seen so far.

Y-D right-handed reliever Seth Simmons had a good arm, but he doesn't have much projection to higher levels. Simmons is very undersized at just 5'9 150, he throws with some effort and he falls off the mound toward first base. His best pitch is his slider, which has really tight break and just darts out of the zone. He's somebody I would like to see again so I could get a better feel.

A few position players also stood out in this one. Brewster second baseman Colin Walsh from Stanford went 3-for-4, and really showed a smooth stroke from the left side of the plate. He also looked good in the field, showing good footwork and very nice range up the middle. Brewster designated hitter Jedd Gyorko from West Virginia also has a really nice and the ball comes off his bat well. He made his first appearance of the season yesterday and is somebody who is coming to the Cape with a lot of hype.

For Y-D, rightfielder Jonathan Jones from Long Beach State showed good speed and athleticism, and went back really well to cover a lot of ground on a deep fly ball to right.

AROUND THE LEAGUE:

Cotuit 3 Chatham 1: Chatham centerfielder Whit Merrifield from South Carolina went 3-for-5, second baseman Brian Harris from Vanderbilt went 2-for-5 and right fielder Steven Brooks from Wake Forest homered in the loss. Designated hitter Zach Maggard from Florida Southern went 2-for-4 for Cotuit.

Hyannis 6 Falmouth 5, 12 innings: Hyannis first baseman Cody Hawn from Tennessee went 2-for-4 with a home run and Falmouth left fielder Brian Fletcher from Auburn went 3-for-6. Hyannis right-handed starter Seth Rosin from the University of Minnesota struck out seven in five innings of work.

In the least surprising development ever, two more games were rained out. Wareham at Harwich and Bourne at Orleans were the most recent washouts.