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Orleans’ Eldridge Park (Photo by Simon M Bruty/AnyChance Productions/Getty Images)
This weekend marks the start of the Cape Cod Baseball League’s 102nd season. Founded in 1923, the Cape League features 10 teams broken into two divisions and has long been known as the nation’s premier wood bat summer collegiate league. Each summer, it is chock-full of high-end prospects and has produced over 1,600 big leaguers.
This year is no different. Today’s preview will serve as a brief primer, while the inimitable Geoff Pontes and myself will produce a few Cape League scouting notebooks throughout the summer that will go far more in-depth on prospects to know.
It’s important to keep in mind that in today’s preview, I have refrained from including anyone who is likely to leave before the draft or receive an invitation to Team USA’s Collegiate National Team.
East Division
Brewster Whitecaps
- Best Player: Carson Tinney, C, Transfer Portal
- Best Pitcher: Elijah Foster, RHP, South Carolina
Last summer was a rare “off” season for the Whitecaps, who missed the playoffs for the first time since 2019. Since taking over in 2015, head coach Jamie Shevchik has guided the ‘Caps to two Cape League titles in 2017 and 2021, three championship series and six playoff appearances. At least on paper, this year’s Brewster squad looks like a playoff team and then some.
Chatham Anglers
This summer will mark the start of the Dennis Cook era in Chatham. A former pitching coach for the Anglers—including during the 2018 season in which they reached the championship series—Cook returns to Chatham as head coach looking to get his Anglers back on track. The Anglers have missed the playoffs in three of the last four seasons, though with a talented roster and brand new coaching staff, it feels as if new life has been breathed into a storied franchise.
Harwich Mariners
The Mariners are the defending Cape League champions, and head coach Steve Englert and company return to Whitehouse Field looking to defend their title. The Mariners have enjoyed plenty of success under Englert, including three Cape League championships and 13 playoff appearances. Expect the ‘Ners to not only be back in the postseason for the seventh-straight summer, but to again compete for a championship.
Orleans Firebirds
Head coach Kelly Nicholson, known to those both inside and…