Despite the game’s 8-6 score, pitching pretty
much dominated the annual Cape Cod League All-Star Game, played Saturday in
Chatham before a record crowd of more than 8,000. Also in attendance were 10
major league scouting directors and about 100 scouts.
The East team won the game with a seven-run explosion in the bottom of the
eighth inning, highlighted by two-run homers from Chatham shortstop Grant Green
(Southern California), the East team’s MVP, and Harwich catcher Mark Fleury
(North Carolina). Green’s shot tied the game, Fleury’s won it. All the damage
was done off one pitcher, Cotuit righthander Seth Blair (Arizona State).
Through the first seven innings, the East had scratched out just one hit—a
fourth inning, opposite-field homer by Orleans third baseman Rich Poytress
(Georgia)—against seven West pitchers.
The West team’s bats weren’t much more potent. With the exception of its own
five-run outburst in the sixth inning off Orleans righthander Martin Viramontes
(Loyola Marymount), snapping a 1-1 tie, the West otherwise managed only five
hits and collectively struck out 12 times. A fourth-inning homer by Falmouth
outfielder A.J. Pollock (Notre Dame) had given the West a 1-0 lead, before it
erupted in the sixth, with two of the runs scoring on a double by Hyannis first
baseman Ben Paulsen (Clemson), named the West’s game MVP.
Despite the apparent dominance of pitching in the game, there was not the array
of power arms that was evident a year ago, when 2008 first-rounders Aaron Crow
and Ryan Perry were clocked in the high 90s. Only three of 18 pitchers were
clocked at 94 mph or better, led by Falmouth righthander Ben Tootle
(Jacksonville State), who peaked at 98 mph.
The 6-foot, 170-pound Tootle struck out the only hitter he faced after coming
on in relief of Blair and affirmed what scouts had seen (and heard) all summer
from the league’s elite power arm. As Falmouth’s closer, Tootle has routinely
worked at 96-97 mph.
Wareham righthander Brandon Workman (Texas) topped out at 95 mph while striking
out two of the three hitters he faced, while Chatham righthander Brad Boxberger
(Southern California) touched 94 while retiring all three West hitters he faced
in the ninth inning to record a save.
Oddly, Harwich lefthander Chris Manno (Duke) may have been the most effective
pitcher of all in the game, despite being the softest tosser among the 18 arms
on display. With a fastball mainly at 86 mph, he struck out four of the five
hitters he faced. Manno worked to two extra hitters after he came on in the
sixth to bail Viramontes out of a bases-loaded, one out jam, striking out both
hitters, then worked the seventh inning, as scheduled.
Following are the 10 hardest throwers of the 18 that worked in the Cape League
all-star game. We’ve noted their 2009 school year and velocity (in miles per
hour).
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