Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Heading For The Cape

As the season is over for all but sixteen college teams, it's time to turn our attention to the summer leagues. The annual wood bats circuits are where college players not only get to continue to develop their skills in the "off-season", but often get a chance to perform in front of Major League scouts.

The most noted of the summer leagues is, as you probably know, the Cape Cod League. Brought to the mainstream's attention in books and a bad movie, the Cape invites the top college talent in the country to compete in a setting without the ping of metal bats.

This season, ten players from the Big Ten Conference have been invited to play on the Cape. The list is made up of Alex Wimmers of Ohio State (Bourne), Seth Rosin of Minnesota (Hyannis), Ohio State's Dan Burkhart (Hyannis), Blake Monar, Alex Dickerson and Kipp Schutz of Indiana (Wareham), Michigan's Ryan LaMarre (Wareham), the Northwestern duo of Jake Goebbert and Eric Jokisch (Harwich) and Tyler Burgoon of Michigan (Yarmouth-Dennis).

Now, this is just the list I've been able to compile. If you are aware of any other players heading to the heart of Red Sox Nation, please note them in the comments or drop me an email. I'll be happy to update the list. (And, yes, I'm attempting to assemble lists for all the summer leagues, so if you know where a player will spend his summer, you can send me an email.)

You can take this opportunity to follow your favorite players all summer long. And not just the Cape Cod League, either. Nearly each summer circuit has a website and I've got a healthy list of links in the sidebar. You might even be able to watch a game or two right from you computer. Imagine how impressed your friends will be when you are able to spit out summer league stats this winter.

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