Once the long and draining collegiate baseball season draws to a close, players must find other ways to keep their edge and maintain their playing state.
Many join summer leagues, although few are fortunate enough to compete in the storied Cape Cod Baseball League, which has hosted a slew of future major leaguers since its inception more than 100 years ago.
This past summer, six members of Tech’s baseball team — pitchers Justin Wright, Matthew Price, Jesse Hahn and Ben Rowen, as well as catcher Anthony Sosnoskie and first baseman Austin Wates, accepted invitations to play in what is known by many major league scouts as the best amateur baseball league in the country.
Not only did they receive the opportunity to play alongside and against many of the best players in the country, several of the half-dozen Hokies stood out from the competition with their performances.
Hitting for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox at one point in the season, Wates led the league before finishing with a fourth-best .312 average. His performance produced numerous league accolades, including a midseason All-Star selection. Wates was also named the 15th best pro prospect in the league by Baseball America.
“It’s always a pretty cool feeling just knowing that you’re doing that well against the best prospects in the nation,” Wates said.
Price was also named a midseason All-Star, making three starts in 12 appearances for the Harwich Mariners and going 2-2 with one save and a 2.97 ERA. He struck out 34 batters in 36.1 innings of work.
“I was a little intimidated when I first got out there, but I just reminded myself that I was facing the top prospects in the nation,” Price said. “If they get a hit, they get a hit. That’s why they’re the best. I tried not to put pressure on myself.”
Fellow pitcher Jesse Hahn was perhaps the most scrutinized Hokie in the league, appearing in nine games as a reliever and going 1-1 with a 5.28 ERA and one save. He was ranked the eighth-best pro prospect in the league by Baseball America, who also declared him to be a first round draft pick in 2010.
“It doesn’t mean that much to me,” Hahn said of the acknowledgements. “I know I have high expectations right now and obviously it’s a good thing, but I’m not too worried about it right now.”
Most players take playing in front of major league scouts in stride, asserting that the fans are the ones who provide the most pressure.
“The most nerve-wrecking experience I’ve been a part of was pitching at Florida State with their 10,000 fans,” Price said. “Major league scouts are something you can get used to. The fans sometimes get under your skin.”
Much like the major league personnel that pack the stands, the talent of the competitors also had little effect on the mindset of the Tech players, who treated every game like a part of their regular collegiate season.
“I’m always going to go out there thinking I’m going to dominate,” Hahn said. “It was fun up there, and when you’re having fun, you’re confident.”
“It’s definitely a good league, but I wouldn’t say it’s any different than playing in the ACC every weekend,” said Sosnoskie, who played alongside Price at Harwich. “You don’t get those midweek games out there, but it’s ACC-SEC baseball every day of the week.”
Despite the lack of difference in the level of competition between the two leagues, the Cape Cod League is distinct in one major way — the usage of wooden bats in games.
“It’s always an adjustment moving from aluminum to wood, but it’s something that you need to learn how to do,” Sosnoskie said.
When asked for a preference between the two types, most players quickly chose wood over the aluminum, which is typically used in college sports, citing knowledge of accuracy.
“I know my swing’s going right when I’m using wood,” Sosnoskie said. “You can get away with some stuff when playing with aluminum bats.”
“I like the feeling of a wood bat more when you hit it solid,” said Wates, who usually hits with wood bats in his free time.
In Sosnoskie’s case, the playing time in the league was immeasurable simply because he was able to work more with Price and Wright, catching both pitchers in most of their outings.
“It was good for me as a catcher to get to work with Price and Justin and to learn more about them as pitchers,” Sosnoskie said. “Hopefully, we can take that into this upcoming season and help us get outs.”
But the catcher was also able to learn a lot about his collegiate teammates who he faced on opposing teams, most notably Wates.
“I was definitely interested in trying to get Austin out and seeing how he adjusted to things we did,” Sosnoskie said.
During their time in New England, perhaps the freshest experience for the players was what occurred off the field rather than on it. Each player stayed with a host family, sharing the household with three to four other players on the team.
“It’s pretty new,” Price said. “It was really my first time going out there and living with a host family for a whole summer. It’s something I never experienced before and something I enjoyed. I lived with three other players in the same house so it was kind of fun. You always had someone to hang out with, and it added a sort of excitement to the day.”
Some partakers in the league return to campus and the world of college baseball as changed men. Despite the potential occurrence of being rejoined by a slew of overly confident players, Tech head coach Pete Hughes ultimately sees the summer league as a positive.
“You go to the summer league and you beat the wooden bat and this scout is saying this and this publication is saying that, you might start to think you’re better than you really are,” Hughes said. “Then, you have to go back to beating the metal bat, and it’s completely different. But, I’ve also seen the leagues take guys who are struggling with their confidence who then experience success against the best players in the country in the league, and they come back different. They still have the same stuff when they return, but they’re much more confident.”