The Coastal Baseball League

[Big Six]

It's been a while, but I'm back. I couldn't stay away; it's too much fun.

I suppose it has been a year since I played much OOTP. I hadn't bought a new version in two years, and what time I had to devote to games was going to Football Manager (which, if you've never played it, is an incredibly fun, immersive game).

Since I joined the forum almost 12 years ago, I've tried several kinds of dynasties. Most of them were huge swings and misses. When I've managed to make contact--which, to me, means creating a baseball world that I can't wait to experience again--it's almost always involved an element of fiction. That's not to take away from any of you who play and enjoy the historical leagues that have been described here; it's merely a statement about what I enjoy playing most.

Today I bought myself a brand-new copy of OOTP15, and I'm back in the saddle again. I'm going to create a very basic baseball universe: an eight-team fictional league, with teams in imaginary towns named for places that have some meaning in my life--neighborhoods I've lived in, favorite family vacation spots, a town from a favorite movie.

I'm excited to get my project started, and I hope some of you will enjoy following along as the history of the league unfolds. Please feel free to comment, even if it's only to say "I'm following along." As much as I enjoy playing OOTP and writing about it here, it's still encouraging to read a post that lets me know someone else is giving it a look, too.

I'll be back shortly with some information about the league, its teams, and the way I've set up the game.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by Big Six

It's been a while, but I'm back. I couldn't stay away; it's too much fun.

I suppose it has been a year since I played much OOTP. I hadn't bought a new version in two years, and what time I had to devote to games was going to Football Manager (which, if you've never played it, is an incredibly fun, immersive game).

Since I joined the forum almost 12 years ago, I've tried several kinds of dynasties. Most of them were huge swings and misses. When I've managed to make contact--which, to me, means creating a baseball world that I can't wait to experience again--it's almost always involved an element of fiction. That's not to take away from any of you who play and enjoy the historical leagues that have been described here; it's merely a statement about what I enjoy playing most.

Today I bought myself a brand-new copy of OOTP15, and I'm back in the saddle again. I'm going to create a very basic baseball universe: an eight-team fictional league, with teams in imaginary towns named for places that have some meaning in my life--neighborhoods I've lived in, favorite family vacation spots, a town from a favorite movie.

I'm excited to get my project started, and I hope some of you will enjoy following along as the history of the league unfolds. Please feel free to comment, even if it's only to say "I'm following along." As much as I enjoy playing OOTP and writing about it here, it's still encouraging to read a post that lets me know someone else is giving it a look, too.

I'll be back shortly with some information about the league, its teams, and the way I've set up the game.

It's good to see you back, I'll definitely be following along!

[Big Six]

Originally Posted by NYY #23

It's good to see you back, I'll definitely be following along!

Thanks, NYY#23. It's good to be back. Thanks for the comment, and it'll be great to have you along for the journey.

Here's a simple map of the region where the Coastal League plays. In this world, people still use trains to get from place to place, maybe even more often than they drive.




There are eight teams in the Coastal League. They are:

Northern Division
Bedford Falls Angels
Brant Point Whalers
Cedarcroft Cardinals
St. Simons Beacons

Southern Division
Coventry Minutemen
Kenilworth Oaks
Ridgecrest Stags
Wequetonsing Blue Sox

The regular season will be 154 games long, and the division champions will compete for the Coastal Cup.

Some of the settings I'm using:

• There is no DH in the Coastal League.
• I like 1980s-style baseball, so I'll recalculate the league modifiers every spring training. That way, league totals should stay pretty much the same over time.
• I'm not using minor leagues this time. Players will develop in a reserve system, at least for now.
• League evolution is off.
• Financials are off.
• Coaching and scouting are off.
• I'm playing in Commissioner mode, as the Great Baseball Deity who is watching his creation unfold.
• Storylines are enabled.
• Trading and injuries are both set to "low."

The league will begin play with the 2014 season, and I'll be reporting on the inaugural draft very soon.

[Big Six]

2 January 2014



The Inaugural Draft for the Coastal Baseball League has just taken place, and each of the eight teams has a roster of 35 players. Let's take a look at each of the clubs, and meet a few of the players who are expected to make a major impact in the season to come.


Cedarcroft Cardinals

The Cards had the first pick in the draft and, to the surprise of almost nobody, they selected RHP Tom Bond. Why? He's 22, and his fastball touches 100 MPH. RHP Jamie Dinwiddie is a great #2 starter, and closer George Frye leads a very good bullpen.

The Cardinals' lineup will feature 2B Mike Whittier, OF Mark Fontenot, and slugging 1B Francisco Mendoza. However, Cedarcroft's strength appears to be its pitching staff, and they'll go as far as their arms will take them.


St. Simons Beacons

OF Vic Dye, the Beacons' first pick, is the league's most dangerous hitter, a Triple Crown candidate. OF Jesus Duran and 1B Jim Tomlinson give St. Simons three true home run threats.

RHP Jack Hall, LHP Lucas Perry, and veteran RHP Vincent Powell are all solid starters, and closer Logan Glover can still bring the heat at age 36.


Brant Point Whalers

The Whalers were delighted to take OF Owen George with the #3 pick. He's better defensively than Dye, and he's almost as dangerous with the bat in his hands. Whaler fans will also look forward to watching C Jimmy Bryan and fleet 2B Marcus Odom.

RHPs Mario Costellano and Pancho Guerra will lead the rotation. Brant Point's bullpen looks shaky, with the exception of closer Nathan Reed.


Kenilworth Oaks

Drafting fourth, Kenilworth went with RHP Pedro Marroquin. He's a polished pitcher with a vicious slider, and at age 27, he's in his prime. The rest of the Oaks staff looks markedly average.

OF James Robinson has impressive power, while fellow OF Mike Herbert will slash line drives with his smooth lefty stroke. 2B Fletcher Campbell is also a better-than-average hitter.


Coventry Minutemen

SS Ryan Perkins possesses every one of the traditional "five tools" except power, but he compensates for that with the modern addition to the tool kit: on-base skill. Another young star, OF Millard Lewis, is 23, a year younger than Perkins. Look for veteran OF Pedro Aranda to contribute, too.

Venerable RHP Nick Thomas is the best of an unspectacular starting corps. Cooper Wyatt is a solid closer.


Wequetonsing Blue Sox

RHP Robinson Cordova has the stuff of an ace, but there are questions about his work ethic; otherwise, he might not have been available to the Sox at #6. RHP Steve Price is an elite setup man, and there's no closer in the league more formidable than RHP Lou Atkinson.

3B Will Flynn is a youngster, but OFs Michael Browning and Dave Dawson are both in their thirties. It looks like Wequetonsing is in "win now" mode. They're the kind of impact players who can make that happen.


Ridgecrest Stags

OF Artie Jackson doesn't look like he'll hit for average, but his plus-plus power and sharp eye make him an offensive force. SS Ronnie Patterson, OF Curt Young, and 3B Dennis McIntosh will also make things happen at the plate.

The Stags think RHP Ola Iversen, their Round 2 selection, might be the best starter in the league. They also like closer James McClure.


Bedford Falls Angels

The Angels selected 3B Mark O'Reardan with their first pick, and they think they've found the face of their franchise for the next decade. OFs Terry Owens and Dewey Soto support him in the Angels lineup.

Veteran Taylor "Gigolo" Sutton and youngster Jesse Savage, both righthanders, front the rotation, and Will Bowman will take the ball in the ninth.

Soon, it's off to spring training. Then we'll take a look at the preseason predictions, and identify the league's 20 best hitters and pitchers.

[Big Six]

31 March 2014

Opening Day is tomorrow, so let's look at the predicted standings for the CBL's inaugural season.



It looks like we're in for two good, close races!

Here are the league's top 20 players, followed by the top 20 pitchers.





And, finally, here's a peek at the numbers the "experts" think some of the league's top performers will produce this season:



Could we see a Triple Crown from Owen George or Vic Dye? I don't think anyone is surprised to see James Robinson tapped for a big season, but the spring's latest sensation, Brant Point 3B Robby Clark, has opened a lot of eyes with his power stroke.

Speaking of Triple Crowns, Tom Bond looks like he could win the pitchers' variety, if he can fight off challengers like Ola Iversen or Brant Point's Darren Hall.

If you're wondering why you see the "experts" predicting that starting pitchers like Bond and Pedro Marroquin will have a number of saves, I checked the option to use starters in relief when I created the game. I might un-check that after a while, if I don't like what happens. I think it would be fantastic to use with an early 1900s-style "base ball" world, however.

[Orcin]

I assume the owner of the Angels is a demanding skinflint named Potter?

Good to have you back in the saddle!

[John C]

It is wonderful to see you back. I'll be reading with interest, and returning with a story kind of based off an idea of yours from way back.

[Big Six]

Originally Posted by Orcin

I assume the owner of the Angels is a demanding skinflint named Potter?

Good to have you back in the saddle!

It's funny you would mention that, Orcin. The answer to your question is actually something I thought about, and it's a small part of the history of baseball in the Coastal Region.

Originally Posted by John C

It is wonderful to see you back. I'll be reading with interest, and returning with a story kind of based off an idea of yours from way back.

Feel free to use any of my (often ill-fated) attempts at a story for one of your own. I'd be flattered.

Thanks to both of you for the "welcome back." It's good to be back, and to realize I still recognize a few names around the place.

[Big Six]

I realized something perplexing when I looked at the predicted league totals for the CBL. They looked a little too "offensive" for the 1980s. I've set up a number of leagues like this one, so I knew I had to be doing something wrong this time. Then I figured it out, and adjusted the settings accordingly. Here are the "real" predictions, etc. for the 2014 Coastal League season.



Those league totals look a lot more like what I'm envisioning for the CBL. Now Cedarcroft, with its formidable pitching staff, looks like the class of the Northern Division, while the South looks like it's completely up for grabs.



A lot of the same names appear among the projected league leaders. Vic Dye doesn't look quite as devastating, while the the speed and line-drive power of Wequetonsing's Dave Dawson makes him a player to keep an eye on. Mark O'Rearden and Owen George are once again tapped for big seasons.

Again, Tom Bond looks like the league's dominant pitcher, with Ola Iversen the best challenger to his throne. But look at Kenilworth lefty Gregorio Perez, a Round 5 selection who's predicted to be among the league's top aces!





These lists are interesting to me, because I get a look at the players' "raw tools," i.e., their attributes. I can see that Dawson and Dye are the league's best Contact hitters, and that Artie Jackson and James Robinson have the most Power. Bond and Iversen have the best stuff among starters, while Taylor Sutton's movement sets the standard for Movement. Pancho Guerra takes the prize for Control.

[Big Six]

Was there a time of year as glorious as the first week of the baseball season?

Peter White didn't think so. According to the astronomical calendar, it had been spring for a week or so. Still, it felt warmer, much more spring-like, now that the eight teams of the Coastal League were back on the field.

According to the academic calendar of Trinity College, where Peter was a first-year instructor in history, the spring semester was nearly over. Still, to Peter, it felt like spring had only just begun.

Trinity was located in Kenilworth, home of the Coastal League's Oaks. It was difficult for him to get out to the ballpark right now, but as long as he had his copy of the Kenilworth Courier, he could catch up with the previous day's action each morning before his first class, as he enjoyed a cup of coffee.

Peter took his time over the box scores, savoring them more than the generic coffee from the department's break room. Is there any wonder why I love this game? Peter thought as he folded the paper and put it into his briefcase. How could anyone NOT love it?

Peter knew two people who didn't care for it at all. One was his department chairman, Reuben King. The other was Professor King's daughter, Anna, a pretty, green-eyed brunette whom Peter had been seeing. Anna's disdain for baseball was not among the things Peter liked about her.

It was time for Peter's first class of the day, so he had to force his thoughts away from Anna King and the Coastal League long enough to lecture on the Northern European Renaissance. Hopefully he'd be able to set his work aside long enough to make it to this afternoon's Trinity College game.

[Big Six]

The Coastal Region had a fair amount of baseball history. The largest city in the area, Kenilworth, had franchises in several leagues going back to the 1880s. There had been three different teams in Bedford Falls, and Cedarcroft briefly had a team in the 1940s. The CBL was the first "real" league the region could call its own.

The baseball fans of Bedford Falls were perhaps the happiest to see the CBL come to town. This time, the Potter family had nothing to do with the ownership of the team.

Three times before, the penurious Potters had tried adding a baseball team to their collection of businesses, and when none of the three clubs proved to be profitable enough for them, they sold it to someone who promptly had the franchise moved out of town. "Bedford Falls simply isn't a baseball town," said Henry F. Potter III in 1967, after he became the third man by his name to sell a ball club away from the people of Bedford Falls.

This time, the Angels were owned by a consortium of local fans, not a Potter among them. Tom Bailey, Jr., president of the Bailey Bros. Building and Loan Association, was the nominal head of the consortium, and the ballpark where the team played was called Bailey Park in memory of Tom's grandfather, George, who saved the Building and Loan from destruction at the hands of the Potters during the Great Depression.

Sure, the Potters were still a presence in Bedford Falls. Henry IV was about as well-liked as any of his forebears had been, but he couldn't claim the influence over town affairs that even his father had wielded--not to mention the iron grip that "Old Man" Potter held almost a century ago. Henry IV and his snooty wife, Mimi, had tried to organize a "Say No to Baseball" movement in town when the Coastal League's formation was revealed, but nobody much had listened to them.

So, despite the Potters' feeble protest, Bailey Park was the Home of the Angels, and baseball was back in the pretty town by the banks of the Avon River.

[Big Six]

1 May 2014



On the strength of a nine-game winning streak in the middle of the month, the Bedford Falls Angels opened up a comfortable lead in the Northern Division race.

Third baseman Mark O'Rearden smacked six home runs, drove in 23, and hit .324, and won the Batter of the Month award for April. OF Terry Owens (.270-4-22) and C Ken Bond (.301-1-13) also enjoyed productive months, and the pitching staff was led by Taylor Sutton (4-2, 2.28).

The biggest news out of Bedford Falls, however, came on 29 April, when young righthander Jesse Savage fired a no-hitter against Cedarcroft. Bailey Park was filled nearly to capacity, despite the fact that it was a brisk, windy Tuesday evening. Several times as many Coastal League fans might one day try to claim they were there to see the first no-hit game in the league's history.



Savage has otherwise found Coastal League batters tough to solve; his outstanding outing lowered his ERA to 4.59.

Leland Raven, on the other hand, seemed to have it all figured out in April. He's the league's Pitcher of the Month, after leading the South-leading Minutemen with a 5-1 record and a 2.64 ERA. Tynen Oulton (3-1, 2.10) has also pitched well, and the Coventry bullpen, led by closer Cooper Wyatt (1.08 ERA, 10 saves) has been absolutely lights-out. Five Minutemen relievers have ERAs LOWER than 1.10 thus far.

Kenilworth Oaks fans were counting the days until slugger James Robinson returned to the lineup. A case of plantar fascitis had Robinson, 35, on the bench since the 18th, and the doctors say he'll miss another three weeks or so. Meanwhile, the Oaks slid to last place in the Southern Division, eight games off Coventry's torrid pace.

[Big Six]

4 May 2014

Father Dean Goodson's official title was Rector Emeritus of All Saints Church. He'd been there for almost 40 years now, ever since he and his wife Eleanor moved to St. Simons...that must have been 1975, right after Eleanor finished her degree at Cedarcroft Women's College and married him in the chapel there. Father Dean had never been the least bit interested in leaving the pretty stone church that overlooked the sea, not even three years ago, when his beloved Ellie lost her battle with cancer. Where would I go? he asked himself. This is home.

Father Dean was still healthy, still able to enjoy his pastoral work and deliver the sermon once a month or so. He liked All Saints' young rector, Tim Reinhardt, very much. Tim and his wife Beth had a beautiful ten-year-old daughter, Sarah, of whom Father Dean was especially fond. He and Ellie never had children, and Sarah brought a tremendous amount of joy to his life.

So did baseball. Father Dean had been a good-fielding, weak-hitting shortstop at Trinity College in his day. He supported the various amateur and semi-pro teams that had come through St. Simons over the years, and he was overjoyed to learn that the Coastal League was going to bring a real professional team to town.

The Beacons' ballpark was a leisurely ten-minute walk from the small, grey stone house on Windward Lane where Father Dean and his bride made their home so many years ago. Now that Father Dean was "retired," he was planning to stroll up to the ballpark whenever he could.

He was there last night, sitting behind third base, watching the Beacons defeat Wequetonsing, 5-2. Vic Dye put the home team in front with a two-run double in the bottom of the first, and Vincent Powell took it from there. The powerful right-hander threw eight strong innings and earned his third win of the season. Father Dean always rooted for Powell, who often attended services at All Saints when the Beacons were in town.

Today was Sunday, and last night's winning pitcher was seated in a pew with his pretty wife and their sons, ages eight and four. Father Dean wasn't preaching today. From his seat in front of the congregation, he nodded and smiled at Powell, who nodded a greeting in return.

Such were the joys of a simple life, in a town with a ball team, on a perfect spring morning.

[BeanSobie]

I'm pretty new to this site, but my old college roommate told me to check out The Base Ball Life of Patrick O'Farrell a couple weeks ago. I actually just started looking over it yesterday, it's a true work of art. Today I decided to check out what was going on with your fictional league. I'm exstatic that I found this within it's first few days.

Consider me not only subscribed, but the first declared fan of the Coventry Minutemen and Ryan Perkins. Perks is gonna run that town one day, just you wait and see.

[Big Six]

Originally Posted by BeanSobie

I'm pretty new to this site, but my old college roommate told me to check out The Base Ball Life of Patrick O'Farrell a couple weeks ago. I actually just started looking over it yesterday, it's a true work of art. Today I decided to check out what was going on with your fictional league. I'm exstatic that I found this within it's first few days.

Consider me not only subscribed, but the first declared fan of the Coventry Minutemen and Ryan Perkins. Perks is gonna run that town one day, just you wait and see.

Thank you for your kind words, BeanSobie, and welcome to the OOTP forums.

Writing the Pat O'Farrell story was a challenging, rewarding, incredibly enjoyable experience. I suppose the rest of the stories I've started have been attempts to recapture that feeling. Pat would undoubtedly compare it to a series of trips to the plate, trying to connect with a pitch and drive it for extra bases. If that's the case, I've swung and missed, fouled it straight back, popped up, and possibly managed a single or two.

Hopefully, this time I'll find a pitch I can hit and give it a ride.

Through the first week of May, your Minutemen are 26-10, sitting pretty with the best record in the Coastal League, seven games up on Ridgecrest and Wequetonsing. Perks got off to a slow start and missed a little over a week with a calf strain. He's started swinging the bat better lately, and he's batting .296 with 12 RBI in 26 games. Perkins leads the league with 18 steals, one more than Dave Dawson of the Blue Sox ,and his .400 OBP is second best.

The Minutemen have Perks batting third, even though his speed and sharp batting eye, along with his lack of power, would seem to make him an ideal leadoff hitter.

Thanks for following along. Perks, the Minutemen, and I appreciate your support!

[Big Six]

1 June 2014



The race is back on in the Northern Division. A good (18-11) month for the Brant Point Whalers and a poor (12-17) one for the Bedford Falls Angels leave the teams tied at the top of the standings.

One reason for the Whalers' surge was the booming bat of Owen George. He drilled 10 homers and drove in 33 runs during May, batting .372 and walking off with the Batter of the Month award. He's not the only Whaler who's off to a great start; RHP Mario Castellanos is 6-2 with a stingy 2.05 ERA, and C Jimmy Bryan has 10 home runs.

Less than two weeks after they witnessed the Coastal League's first no-hitter, Bedford Falls fans experienced another rare feat. Mark O'Rearden hit for the cycle in the Angels' 11-1 victory over St. Simons.

Angels 1B Paul Jones' biggest hit of the month was not the grand slam he hit on the 6th. It came three weeks later, when he slammed his Maybach luxury car into a highway barrier while driving on the Bedford Pike in the early morning hours of the 24th. He was lucky to escape with minor injuries, but the Maybach wasn't so fortunate. "The car is totaled," according to Jones.

Taylor Sutton won five of his six decisions in May and was named the Pitcher of the Month. He held opposing batters to a .169 average, and he pitched to a 1.40 ERA. He's 9-3 on the year, tied for the league lead in wins, and his 1.85 ERA is second best.

Coventry 1B Tony Soto (.309-5-22) smacked five hits--three singles and two doubles--against Brant Point yesterday, while on the 16th, Michael Browning of the Blue Sox hit three home runs. Otherwise, Browning is off to a disappointing start (.211-5-16).

The Coastal League's inaugural First-Year Player Draft is coming up on 5 June, and I'll be back soon with a wrap-up of the first round.

[Big Six]

Even though it's not related to the story of the Coastal League on the field, I couldn't resist sharing this story.

My wife and I are both teachers, and we were out of school with a snow day today--along with our kids. Our son is in the sixth grade. He was watching me write the 1 June 2014 post (the one above this one), and the nickname of Pitcher of the Month Taylor Sutton caught his eye.

"That's a great nickname," he said. "Gigg-OH-low. What is that, some kind of lizard?"

Fortunately he didn't stick around for an answer. Mom had just produced mugs of hot chocolate with marshmallows, and that lure was too great.

Mr. Sutton has a new nickname. From now on, he's Taylor "Lizard" Sutton.

[Big Six]

4 June 2014

Dad could have been sent to a bunch of really swell towns. Why did he have to be sent HERE?

Bobby Van Dusen lay flat on his back on his bed, staring at the ceiling of his new bedroom. His father, Bob, was a railroad mechanic, and when young Bobby learned the family was moving to one of the towns of the Coastal Region, he was overjoyed. He was eleven years old, and he had fallen madly for the first love of his life: baseball. And what do you know? A new league was forming, right where he'd be living!

That happened right after Christmas. At first, Bob didn't know where he'd be sent. The railroad would let him know after the details were all sorted out, probably in February.

That winter, weeks before the move was to take place, Bobby spent hours learning about the different teams of the Coastal League. One of them would become HIS team. Which would it be?

One chilly late February night, Bob Van Dusen came home with news that broke his son's heart. He was being sent to Prospect, a small junction town on the Main Line.

Prospect didn't have a Coastal League team!!

As far as Bobby was concerned, dinky, stupid little Prospect might have been on the moon. Cedarcroft was probably the closest team to Prospect, but Bobby had dreamed of riding his bike to the ballpark, seeing the players mowing their lawns or buying groceries at the market. It simply wouldn't be the same.

The family moved to Prospect in mid-March, settling into a neat Cape Cod house with three bedrooms--one for Bob and Sue Van Dusen, one for Bobby, and one for his sister, Carrie, who was nine. Bobby was a personable, athletic kid, and he made friends easily; he seemed to be fitting in just fine to the fifth grade class at Prospect Elementary. He was making good grades, and he was looking forward to a summer of swimming, Little League, and possibly even a week at camp.

The one thing he was missing was a Coastal League team of his own.

For the first few weeks of the season, he followed the league as a whole. He picked out a favorite player: Will "Fat Cat" Flynn, the Wequetonsing Blue Sox third baseman. Bobby liked reading about "Fat Cat's" smooth, right-handed swing, which seemed to produce line drives on demand. He was quick and agile, despite being nearly 220 pounds, and he even had a cool nickname.

Of course, I'd have to pick a player who plays on the other side of nowhere, Bobby grumbled to himself. I'm never going to see him play. I'm not even sure I like his team anyway.

Bobby rolled off his bed, picked up his well-worn baseball glove, and pounded his fist into the pocket. He unfolded his fingers and rubbed them over the cool, soft leather, and for a moment he forgot his troubles. He was playing his favorite position, shortstop--maybe in faraway Wequetonsing, maybe somewhere else--sharing the left side of the infield with "Fat Cat" Flynn.

[Big Six]

5 June 2014

The First-Year Player Draft was held today, and each of the eight Coastal League teams has five new players in its organization. Let's meet the young men who were chosen in the first round of today's draft.


1. St. Simons Beacons: OF Sid Dook
This selection came as no surprise. Dook, 18, hit .455 as a high school senior in Hampden, Maine. His smooth, compact right-handed stroke enables him to hammer line drives all over the park, and his pitch recognition is very good for a teenager. He has excellent speed, and his range should enable him to stay in center field. While he might never hit for power, he should mature into a consistent .300 hitter.


2. Kenilworth Oaks: RHP David Walker
Walker, a product of Miami (FL), was a fairly low-risk selection. At 20, he is already a fairly polished pitcher, with good command of his three-pitch repertoire. He is 6'6", and he could add more muscle to his lean frame. Some scouts question his baseball IQ, wondering if he'll ever master the mental aspect of his craft, but none question his powerful right arm.


3. Cedarcroft Cardinals: 1B Sam Meyer
The Cardinals were delighted to see Meyer, a high school slugger from Medford, MA, still available when their turn came around. No other player in his draft class can match his power, and he will probably make enough contact to hit almost .300 in his prime. He is adequate at first base, but it's his bat that will carry him to the Coastal League.


4. Brant Point Whalers: SS Alex Knowles
Knowles, 18, is a manager's dream: smart, coachable, and hard-working. His defensive tools are only average, and a move to second base might be in his future. He should develop into a valuable hitter who makes solid, regular contact, and there's a surprising amount of pop in his bat, too.


5. Ridgecrest Stags: RHP Luther Scaggs
Scaggs put up other-wordly numbers as a high school star in Boylston, MA, going 9-1 with a 1.15 ERA and 144 strikeouts in 101 innings. His best pitch is a wipeout slider, and his fastball touches the low 90s. However, Scaggs has been said to be "dumber than a box of rocks," which could prevent him from becoming an ace one day.


6. Bedford Falls Angels: OF Brian Ewing
Ewing, a product of Colchester, VT, is one of those players who does everything fairly well, but lacks a trademark skill. He batted almost .500 in high school, and he stole 26 bases as a senior, but scouts don't think he'll be much more than an average Coastal League regular. Like several of the other Round One picks, there are questions about his makeup; in Ewing's case, it's a tendency to slack off.


7. Wequetonsing Blue Sox: RHP Bob Bean
The Sox took a chance with Bean, who was much more highly regarded a a quarterback coming out of high school in Brookline, MA. He is still a very raw baseball talent, with a strong arm and a promising fastball and slider. He's working on a changeup, but even if he develops it, he might still be best suited for the bullpen.


8. Coventry Minutemen: LHP Freddie Nicholson
This University of Alabama product didn't put up big numbers in college, and many scouts projected him as a third- or fourth-round pick. Coventry rated him higher, and hope he learns to command his fastball/slider/splitter arsenal.

This year's draft class was remarkably shallow, with only a few tantalizing prospects. Dook, Walker, and Meyer look like they could be stars one day, and Knowles could be a sleeper. If we hear much more from the others, it will be somewhat of a surprise.

[Big Six]

20 June 2014

It's almost time for the Coastal League All-Star Game, and here are the rosters for the inaugural Midsummer Classic.

First, for the Northern Division:



Taylor Sutton leads a solid, deep pitching staff. Tom Bond's record doesn't look like much, but it's more the result of hard luck than poor performance. The North's bullpen is lights out, too.

Mark O'Rearden, Owen George, and Vic Dye are only three of a large contingent of powerful bats; a number of double-digit home run hitters are at the Northern Division manager's disposal.

Here's the Southern Division roster:



The Southern Division skipper will have a variety of pitching options, such as Ola Iversen, Robinson Cordova, Gregorio Perez, and Leland Raven. The challenge will be finding a way to get all his arms into the ballgame.

The South lineup lacks the raw power of the North's, but it features an array of players who can move the line along. A batting order with stars like Ryan Perkins, Colm Curtis, Dave Dawson, and Curt Young can put plenty of runs on the scoreboard.

Who will have the edge? We'll soon find out.