The summer baseball season is an interesting time for the collegiate calendar. The NCAA Tournament is winding down with the completion of the Super Regionals round. Eight teams remain awaiting trips to Omaha, Nebraska for the College World Series, a double-elimination bracket and eventual best-of-three series to determine the national champion.
While those eight teams decide their collective fate, the summer leagues around the nation begin kicking into gear. Throughout the nation, dozens of leagues - both metal bat and wooden bat - start up with the intention of providing players with further development. Instead of playing alongside college teammates, they'll be authorized to play for teams throughout the nation, both close to and far away from home, both with and against players both familiar and unfamiliar.
While leagues aren't affiliated by any particular talent level, they do tend to have an informal, unwritten hierarchy - the best players play in the same leagues year-after-year as talent breeding grounds typically draw the most scouts, and teams are limited as to how many players they can send to one particular league. As the MLB Draft approaches, eligibility illustrates how a player's summer can sometimes make or break what was a good or bad college season.
In plain English, the season doesn't end just because the college season is over.
In the summer of 2015, Boston College will send 26 players to leagues across the nation. Among those players are six incoming freshmen to the class of 2016 and 13 draft-eligible players. They'll play in about a dozen (a little under that number) different leagues for different teams. That means this summer may be one of the most interesting yet in terms of analyzing how the Eagles perform.
Among some of the notes:
-Three Eagles will have full-time summer contracts to play in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League. Widely recognized as the premier summer leagues, BC's opened up a pipeline in recent years to the Chatham installation after having a number of different players play for Yarmouth-Dennis in the late 2000s. This season, both Jesse Adams and Nick Sciortino will play for the Anglers, while Justin Dunn will pitch for the Cotuit Kettleers.
-Two other Eagles (Johnny Adams and Mike King) will participate in the CCBL on temporary contracts. Being a temp in the Cape League allows players to strut their goods in front of the scouts and in front of other teams while their franchise awaits the arrival of player coming into the league. Once the player arrives from the collegiate season, the temp is released from their contract and free to sign for the rest of the summer with any other team. More than likely, they already have a deal lined up in one of the secondary leagues, such as the New England Collegiate Baseball League or the Futures Collegiate Baseball League. Adams will play with Harwich to start, while King is with Hyannis.
Temp contracts can be a huge deal. Bobby Kielty infamous started the 1998 season as a temp before catching on with full-time with the Brewster Whitecaps. He was the league MVP that season and went onto play for the Minnesota Twins, Oakland A's, and Boston Red Sox, hitting what would be the game-winning, pinch hit home run in the 2007 World Series on the only pitch he saw.
-Elsewhere, BC will send the majority of their players to the locally-based Futures Collegiate Baseball League. Roughly 10 players will play in the FCBL, including all six incoming freshmen. The Futures League requires half of the 30 players on each team's roster to have a local connection, either by attending a high school or college based in New England. As a result, the number of Division 1 athletes isn't as high as other leagues, but it provides good repetition and developmental opportunities since it is a wood-bat league.
-Logan Hoggarth will ply his trade with the Woodstock River Bandits in the Valley Baseball League. The Valley League, like the Cape League, is part of the National Alliance of Collegiate Summer Baseball. 11 leagues make the alliance, including the New England Collegiate Baseball League, where Carmen Giampetruzzi, Geoffrey Murphy, and Jake Palomaki will play.
-A couple of Eagles are playing in what's called the "MINK Collegiate Baseball League." Just for reference, that's a summer league based out of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. It's an eight-team league with roots dating back to MLB affiliations in the early 20th century. Those affiliations are long since dissolved, but the teams at least remain to give players development opportunities.
Here is the full rundown of summer baseball entries for the Eagles:
Player | Year (as of 2016) | Team | League |
Jesse Adams | Sr. | Chatham Anglers | Cape Cod Baseball League |
Johnny Adams | Jr. | Harwich Mariners (temp.) | Cape Cod Baseball League |
Jake Alu | Fr. | Wachusett Dirt Dawgs | Futures Collegiate Baseball League |
Austin Batchelor | Fr. | North Shore Navigators | Futures Collegiate Baseball League |
Scott Braren | So. | St. Joseph Mustangs | MINK Collegiate Baseball League |
Chris Balogh | Jr. | Dodge City A's | Jayhawk Baseball League |
Donovan Casey | So. | Martha's Vineyard Sharks | Futures Collegiate Baseball League |
Kevin Connor | R-So. | Nashua Silver Knights | Futures Collegiate Baseball League |
Justin Dunn | Jr. | Cotuit Kettleers | Cape Cod Baseball League |
Carmen Giampetruzzi | So. | Keene Swamp Bats | New England Collegiate League |
Gabriel Hernandez | Sr. | Alexandria Blue Anchors | Northwoods League |
Logan Hoggarth | Sr. | Woodstock River Bandits | Valley Baseball League |
Mike King | Jr. | Hyannis Harbor Hawks | Cape Cod Baseball League |
Gian Martellini | Fr. | Nashua Silver Knights | Futures Collegiate Baseball League |
Anthony Maselli | So. | St. Joseph Mustangs | MINK Collegiate Baseball League |
Trevor Massey | So. | North Shore Navigators | Futures Collegiate Baseball League |
Daniel Metzdorf | Fr. | North Shore Navigators | Futures Collegiate Baseball League |
Geoffrey Murphy | R-Sr. | Ocean State Waves | New England Collegiate League |
John Nicklas | Sr. | Edenton Steamers | Coastal Plain League |
Jake Palomaki | So. | Ocean State Waves | New England Collegiate League |
Brian Rapp | So. | Martha's Vineyard Sharks | Futures Collegiate Baseball League |
Stephen Sauter | Sr. | Dodge City A's | Jayhawk Baseball League |
Nick Sciortino | Jr. | Chatham Anglers | Cape Cod Baseball League |
Jake Stevens | Fr. | Worcester Bravehearts | Futures Collegiate Baseball League |
Michael Strem | Jr. | St. Cloud Rox | Northwoods League |
John Witkowski | Fr. | Worcester Bravehearts | Futures Collegiate Baseball League |