Baseball sends twelve to summer leagues

With the end of the college baseball season comes the start of the summer leagues for the players. Several players have been selected to play at various leagues across the nation, including the prestigious Cape Cod League.

Summer baseball is a different feel for the pitchers as well as the position players. Instead of hitting with the aluminum bats, players get a feel for playing with and against wooden bats.

The leagues also give scouts a better read as to where players are and how well they will fare on the next level.

"I heard a lot of good things about the Cape," Brad Rulon said. "I was very happy when I found out that I was going to be going. It's the premiere college league in the summer, so it's a great chance to play in front of scouts and be working on things for next season."

"It's a really big difference," Whit Robbins said. "First of all, the strike zone up there is huge. It's a pitcher's league and a challenge for us to get up there and play with wooden bats."

The Cape Cod League gives players an opportunity to work on their fundamentals and mechanics. Players like Rulon will be using the opportunity to improve their skills.

"I'm going to try and drop my arm angle down some and make my change-up better," Rulon said.

In addition to playing with the wood bats, another challenge for the players will be seeing their teammates from opposing dugouts.

"It'll feel weird pitching against my teammates," Tim Ladd said. "Even if I know how to pitch against [my teammates], it'll be really hard to pitch against them."

"We intra-squad, but it'll be fun to [play against each other] in an important game," Rulon said.

"It'll be neat pitching to some of the hitters," Ryan Turner said. "In summer ball, you always face guys you know, but I haven't faced any guys on our team yet."

Danny Payne and Robbins are playing for the Wareham Gatemen this summer. The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox have the most Jackets in the Cape with Rulon, Tim Gustafson, Blake Wood and Jeff Kindel. Ladd is playing for the Cotuit Kettleers. Turner and Lee Hyde are playing for the Brewster Whitecaps and the Orleans Cardinals, respectively.

Brad Feltes, Michael Fischer and John Michael Vidic are all playing in other summer leagues up and down the east coast.

"Last year, I went up there and had a really good summer," Turner said. "I'm not in as big a rush to throw as I was last year. I'm really excited to get back."

A few of the Jackets have been able to find themselves at or near the top of a few statistical categories so far this summer.

Robbins is currently tied for the homerun lead in the league with three. He holds the lead with a .719 slugging percentage. Seven of his nine hits have been for extra bases.

"It was a really good experience playing with a bunch of really good baseball players," Robbins said.

Rulon's 1.00 ERA puts him in the top 10 in pitching at the Cape so far. In four appearances, he has shutdown opposing bats averaging a strikeout an inning and only giving up seven hits.

"It'll be my first time [pitching to wood bats]," Rulon said. "A lot of the guys that play East Cobb have played with wood bats, but I've never pitched against it."

After arriving to the league late, Jeff Kindel has started off swinging the bat very well. In his first three games, he is averaging .500.

Wood and Gustafson combined to give up two runs on three hits in a win over the Orleans Cardinals on Saturday.

Matt Wieters and Wes Hodges have yet to report to their prospective teams as they are in the process of trying out for the USA National Team. The process ended yesterday and the official 20 man roster will be announced today.