Every kid who grows up playing baseball dreams of becoming a Major Leaguer, and for 29 Brewster Whitecaps alumni, that dream drew ever closer as they heard their names called during the 2026 MLB Draft.

The Whitecaps' 29 alumni selections led all Cape Cod Baseball League teams and are the most that manager Jamie Shevchik can ever recall. The 29 players, who were picked over the course of MLB’s two-day Draft, spanning July 11-12 in Philadelphia, were selected by 20 different organizations. Six of the picks occurred on Day 1, in rounds one through four, with the remaining 23 being selected on Day 2, in rounds five through 20.

The CCBL is renowned for its knack of producing talent that MLB organizations want to snatch up, and that standard was upheld by the Whitecaps this summer.

“I feel like I’m a proud father,” Shevchik said after Day 1. “This is why we do this. In a couple years, when you’re turning on big league TV and you’re watching guys who you’ve coached, that’s a really special moment. … I’m so happy for those kids.”

Here are the 29 selections.

Arkansas catcher Ryder Helfrick, 2024 alum, Pick 15, Arizona Diamondbacks

Ryder Helfrick spent the summer of 2024 with the Whitecaps after his true freshman season at Arkansas, which didn’t exactly light the world on fire.

The backstop posted just a .642 OPS in 31 games as a Razorback, but once he stepped onto the grass at Stony Brook Field, he became a different player.

Helfrick slashed .261/.323/.514 while tying for the league lead with 11 home runs and leading the league with 37 RBIs, despite being just 19 years old. The Northern California native parlayed that success into dominant sophomore and junior campaigns at Arkansas, posting a 1.036 OPS as the Razorbacks reached the College World Series and a .979 OPS in his draft year.

Helfrick, who’s also a great defensive catcher, earning SEC All-Defensive team honors, is set to join a Diamondbacks farm system devoid of top-level catching prospects, with no backstops inside MLB Pipeline’s top 10 prospects for the organization. Therefore, Helfrick has a relatively clear path to the majors if he can continue to play the way he has since he donned a Whitecaps jersey.

• Ethan Ignatovsky

Tennessee right-handed pitcher Tegan Kuhns, 2025 alum, Pick 32, St. Louis Cardinals

Tegan Kuhns posted a brief but lethal three starts in his time with the Whitecaps in 2025, just a summer before cementing himself at the Tennessee Volunteers' number one.

The Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, native appeared in 15 games his freshman year but only managed 36 2/3 innings and a 2.5 WHIP. Looking to transition into an effective full-time starter, Kuhns made the trip to Brewster. Through his three starts, he struck out a whopping 20 batters across 13 ⅓ innings pitched, walking just one batter in the process.

This dominance translated quite well into SEC play as Kuhns finished his season with All-SEC second-team honors. The Volunteers ace walked 16 batters in both his seasons with the squad; the difference being he threw double the innings and amassed 60 more strikeouts in his final season with 106.

UCLA’s RHP Cal Randall joins the Cardinals organization alongside Kuhns. Randall has the edge on the radar gun, but Kuhns reportedly spins the ball better. Both pitchers join an organization without an MLB Top-100 right-handed prospect and hope to elevate themselves into that category in the coming years.

• Matt Ford-Wellman

Texas catcher Carson Tinney, 2025 alum, Pick 43, Minnesota Twins

Carson Tinney spent the 2025 season in Brewster, bridging his jump from Notre Dame to Texas for his 2026 junior season.

Tinney arrived on the Cape off the back of a monster season with the Fighting Irish, slashing .348/.498/.753 with 17 home runs and 53 RBIs, leading the team in all aforementioned categories. The success didn’t necessarily translate to the summer, however.

Tinney only mustered a .165 batting average, but he maintained his power stroke, blasting four home runs and four doubles over 28 games. The power carried through at Texas, as he hit 22 home runs, the fifth most by a Longhorn in a single season, and slashed .326./.483/.688.

The backstop's efforts earned him a spot on the All-SEC second team and the American Baseball Coaches Association All-America second team. The Twins, of course, also took notice of his talent, taking him just outside the first round.

Tinney is set to join a Twins organization that already features a top-of-the-line catching prospect in Eduardo Tait — who is currently a member of the High-A Cedar Rapids Kernels — giving him competition on his road to the show.

• Ethan Ignatovsky

North Carolina State outfielder Ty Head, 2025 alum, Pick 46, Baltimore Orioles

Ty Head played for Brewster after a full freshman season at NC State, unable to find his rhythm in a short stint with the team.

The Winter Garden, Florida, native took to the sand dune after a season full of gritty at-bats and elite contact abilities. Transitioning to a wood bat has its toll on everyone, but for Head, the equipment change proved especially difficult. Across 12 games, Head managed just four hits and struck out twice as many times.

His performance with the Whitecaps proved to be a stark outlier in his play. Head walked 57 times, moving into second all-time on the Wolfpack's single-season leaderboard. The Rawlings Gold Glove Recipient also racked up 48 RBIs and started all 56 games in center field.

Head enters the league alongside three high school outfielders at varying levels of projected skill. Eric Booth Jr. is the Orioles' number one pick and one of the fastest, most athletic players in this year's draft. Booth Jr. is just one of several players the Wolfpack will have to compete with for the centerfield position and playing time.

Head will rely on his elite plate discipline and projectable power metrics to carry himself up the ranks and hopefully into the Major Leagues.

• Matt Ford-Wellman

Georgia Tech shortstop Carson Kerce, 2025 alum, Pick 53, Arizona Diamondbacks

Carson Kerce joined the Whitecaps following his 2025 sophomore season and proceeded to get on base at an exorbitant rate.

Kerce posted a .387 on-base percentage as he appeared all around the diamond in Brewster, logging games at short, second base, third base and even in left field. He kept matters going as a Yellow Jacket, posting a .384 batting average and a .473 OBP, striking out 37 times to 34 walks, and added some power to his game. His 29 doubles were second in all of Division I this past season, and helped him slug at a .679 clip while serving as Georgia Tech’s primary shortstop.

Kerce became the second and final former Whitecap, after Ryder Helfrick, to be drafted by Arizona in 2026. The organization currently has three middle infielders inside its MLB Pipeline top five, dealing the Atlanta native a potentially difficult hand.

Still, Kerce’s versatility and ability to get on base make him a very intriguing prospect to watch take on the Diamondbacks' farm system.

• Ethan Ignatovsky

North Carolina State right-handed pitcher Jacob Dudan, 2025 alum, Pick 83, Athletics

Jacob Dudan came to Brewster after two less-than-ideal seasons with the Wolfpack, but left the Whitecaps a force to be reckoned with.

The Huntersville, North Carolina, native recorded his first-ever collegiate start in March of his sophomore year. By the end of the year, Dudan had accumulated five saves and 41 strikeouts, looking to break into the rotation in his junior year.

Dudan did what so many pitchers do and came to the Cape looking to get some starts in before the fall pre-season. Across three starts and 11 innings, the right-handed pitcher allowed just two runs and posted a better strikeout-to-walk ratio than any of his previous two seasons at NC State.

He continued this trend into his third collegiate season, starting the year better than any year prior. His incredible start came to a screeching halt in April. Dudan threw 116 pitches against Notre Dame, leaving the game with a torn UCL in the eighth inning.

Dudan enters the Athletics organization and is projected to pitch again in late 2027.

• Matt Ford-Wellman

Miami third baseman Daniel Cuvet, 2024-25 alum, Pick 138, Washington Nationals

Daniel Cuvet hit the ground sprinting as a true freshman at Miami, slashing 351/.429/.736 while leading the Hurricanes in batting average, home runs (24) and RBIs (75). Unsurprisingly, he was named to a flurry of Freshman All-America teams and the All-ACC second team.

He carried that momentum into his first stint with the Whitecaps, slashing .314/.371/.520 with six home runs in 28 games. His .891 OPS led Brewster and was good enough for eighth on the Cape.

Cuvet accomplished more of the same as a sophomore, posting a 1.158 OPS as he became a Golden Spikes semifinalist. As if that wasn’t enough, the Hollywood, Florida, native spent an additional 10 games with Brewster ahead of his junior year, posting a .752 OPS.

Cuvet, once again, posted an OPS over 1.000 and got selected by the Nationals in the fifth round due to his consistent ability to mash. Evaluators are uncertain on whether or not Cuvet will be able to stick at third base, but MLB Pipeline believes there’s a chance Cuvet could reach 70-grade game power on the 20-80 scouting scale, which would make him stand out in a major way among Nats prospects.

• Ethan Ignatovsky

Penn State two-way player Michael Anderson, 2025 alum, Pick 149, Texas Rangers

Michael Anderson’s story highlights the journeyman path college baseball players can take to success, spending time in Brewster between a disappointing season at Arkansas and a career-defining one at Penn State.

After slashing .255/.411/.574 at Rhode Island and spending his summer in Harwich, Anderson took the jump to Arkansas, but as a Razorback he notched just 9 plate appearances and a walk across the bleak season. The East Coast called once again and the Nittany Lions took a chance on the Pennsylvania native.

Before joining Penn State, Anderson bounced back with a respectable summer in Brewster. Across 16 games, he had a .212 batting average and .732 OPS, which doesn’t scream incredible but certainly prepared him for Big Ten play.

Anderson finished his senior year with a 1.212 OPS and 20 home runs, enough to catch the eyes of MLB scouts and the Texas Rangers. The 22-year-old joins a Rangers organization with top-10 ranked prospect Sebastian Walcott in AA and six other infield prospects in rookie ball or AA. Anderson enters a talent pool thick with skill and will have to fit in quickly in order to succeed.

• Matt Ford-Wellman

Miami catcher Alex Sosa, 2025 alum, Pick 172, Athletics

Alex Sosa spent the summer between his sophomore season at NC State and junior year at Miami with the Whitecaps, appearing in 25 games for the team, and, unfortunately, never breaking out.

Sosa only slashed .230/.303/.356 in Brewster, a contrast to his .935 OPS that he put up as a member of the Wolfpack. The quick summer stint proved to be a fluke, as the backstop got back to his usual ways with Miami, slashing .338/.448/.671 with 18 home runs and 71 RBIs and earning an All-ACC second-team nod before being selected by the Athletics.

Sosa, despite owning a high batting average and a 15.2 walk percentage as a junior, is seen by evaluators as a power over on-base player. Luckily for Sosa, he lands with an organization that’s been able to maximize the power potential of homegrown talent like fellow catcher Shea Langeliers, first baseman Nick Kurtz and left fielder Tyler Soderstrom. Another plus for Sosa is that the A’s don’t have a catcher inside their top 25 MLB pipeline prospects.

• Ethan Ignatovsky

Wake Forest right-handed pitcher Duncan Marsten, 2025 alum, Pick 183, Cincinnati Reds

Duncan Marsten left high school as the third-ranked right-handed pitcher in California, bound for Wake Forest, but his freshman spring left much to be desired. The Harvard-Westlake graduate struggled for the first time in his young career and came to Brewster in need of rediscovery.

After a disappointing freshman season of 10 1/3 innings and a 9.58 ERA, Marsten started eight games for the Whitecaps. He earned 24 1/3 innings against high-level Division I competition and caught his stride once again. Marsten allowed just nine earned runs while striking out 17. His 3.33 ERA was much more typical of the elite high school pitcher, setting the Demon Deacon up for a strong sophomore season.

Marsten’s 1.23 WHIP was much improved from the previous season, and the 57 full innings he pitched gave MLB teams more hope for him as a starter. The pitching factory that is Wake Forest did it again with its most recent lethal product, but with 37 walks and hit batters, it is still unclear how efficiently the school developed Marsten.

The Cincinnati Reds organization is filled almost exclusively with right-handed pitching prospects. Of the Reds’ top 30 prospects, none of the pitchers are left-handed. Marsten will have plenty of leash within the organization thanks to his near-triple-digit fastball and slider-cutter mix, but in a crowded system, he may be converted to a bullpen piece by the time he reaches Triple-A or the majors.

• Matt Ford-Wellman

Minnesota right-handed pitcher Isaac Morton, 2024 alum, Pick 188, Chicago Cubs

Isaac Morton’s collegiate career has been defined by small sample sizes, but in nearly all of them, he’s managed to impress. His four-inning stint with the Whitecaps in 2024 was no different.

In those four innings, Morton only allowed one earned run on four hits, striking out three. The quick appearance in Brewster was sandwiched between his freshman and sophomore seasons at Texas A&M, where he only managed to toss 19.1 innings, dealing with injuries along the way.

The only extended action of Morton’s time in college came this past season after he transferred to Minnesota. The righty made 13 starts for the Golden Gophers, working a 3.26 ERA and 63 strikeouts to 23 walks in 60.2 innings pitched. The injury bug bit Morton again, however, as Tommy John surgery ended his stretch of consistently toeing the rubber.

The reality of rehabilitating Morton didn’t scare away the Cubs, who took the righty in the sixth round. When he gets back healthy, Morton’s unique sidearm look, mid-90s fastball and sweeper that reaches over 3,000 rpm, according to Baseball America, could help him stand out from the 15 other pitchers the organization drafted.

• Ethan Ignatovsky

Xavier right-handed pitcher Ryan Piech, 2025 alum, Pick 200, Baltimore Orioles

Ryan Piech’s short but successful time with Brewster came between two solid seasons at Xavier.

After throwing almost 60 innings in the Big East, Piech pitched six innings of relief across three games for Brewster. The Musketeer struck out seven and allowed just six hits, finishing his stint with a 1.17 WHIP.

Piech followed his brief time on the Cape with a first-team All-Big East season. The right-hander went 8-3 across 76 1/3 innings, striking out 98 batters while walking just 31.

The Orioles organization desperately needs a pitching overhaul. The major league club has posted an ERA above 4.00 in two straight seasons, with its only season under 3.75 in recent memory coming at 3.66 in 2014. Alabama starter Zane Adams was drafted just one round before Piech. The righty and lefty are both velocity-heavy arms that should develop alongside each other as they adjust to professional baseball.

• Matt Ford-Wellman

UConn left-handed pitcher Charlie West, 2026 alum, Pick 223, Los Angeles Dodgers

Charlie West joined the 2026 Whitecaps as a rising senior at UConn, but now will have the chance to turn pro.

The lefty joined the Huskies' rotation full-time during the 2026 collegiate season after coming out of the bullpen as a freshman and splitting time between the two roles as a sophomore. He was able to make 15 starts, posting a 4.23 ERA with 111 strikeouts to 37 walks in 87.1 innings pitched.

West continued the swing-and-miss dominance on the Cape, striking out 26 batters in just 16.2 innings and also managed to avoid damage at a higher rate, leaving with an ERA of just 2.16. Walks still reared their ugly head, however, as West put himself in jams with seven.

If the Dodgers can help West rein in his command, he could become very effective in pro ball.

West bears some similarities to current Dodgers homegrown southpaw starter Justin Wrobleski, who stands one inch taller at 6-foot-1 and around 10 pounds heavier at 194. Wrobleski, like West, flashed strikeout stuff in college, but was often bitten by walks. The Dodgers have helped Wrobleski limit the damage to just 20 walks in 100.1 innings so far in 2026.

• Ethan Ignatovsky

Clemson catcher Jacob Jarrell, 2025 alum, Pick 232, Atlanta Braves

Jacob Jarrell took the stage at Stony Brook in the summer of 2025, his third collegiate summer team in three consecutive summers. After playing in the NECBL and in Wareham, the four-year Clemson catcher played his final summer in Brewster.

In a brief eight-game stint with the Whitecaps, Jarrell collected only four hits across 28 at-bats. His four walks to 14 strikeouts reflect a similar trend to his final two seasons as a Tiger. While the South Carolina native’s power did not translate to the CCBL, his 44 total collegiate homers enticed the Braves to draft him in the 8th round.

The Braves have veteran catcher Sean Murphy and 2025 Rookie of the Year, Drake Baldwin, to hold down the battery for the near and distant future. Jarrell is only two years younger than Baldwin. The two backstops may compete against each other to be the Braves' everyday catcher, though Jarrell has a long way to go.

• Matt Ford-Wellman

UC Irvine right-handed pitcher Trevor Hansen, 2025 alum, Pick 259, Los Angeles Angels

Trevor Hansen arrived in Brewster in 2025, flashing strikeout stuff across three starts totaling 12.1 innings pitched.

It wasn’t anything new for the Southern California native, as he averaged nine strikeouts per nine innings across his first two collegiate seasons and limited runs to the tune of a 3.30 ERA over 16 starts as a sophomore.

The run prevention also carried over to the Cape, as Hansen allowed just five earned runs during his stint. What was out of the usual, however, was his walk total, which jumped from 2.9 walks per nine innings to 5.1 against some of the best competition in the nation.

Hansen bucked that trend when he got back to school for his junior year, and even increased his strikeouts per nine to 11, but he also went in the other direction when it came to his ERA, which jumped to 4.94 across 14 starts and 78.1 innings.

The Angels were still intrigued, though, and snagged him with the 259th overall pick.

If Hansen signs, he’ll be joining an organization with 17 pitchers inside its MLB Pipeline top 30.

• Ethan Ignatovsky

Texas State right-handed pitcher Chase Mora, 2024 alum, Pick 281, Milwaukee Brewers

Despite only throwing to seven batters across four full seasons at Texas State, the Brewers selected Chase Mora as a pitcher with the 281st overall pick. The right-handed pitcher topped out at 98 MPH in his senior year, breaking the school's home run record in the same season.

The only year Mora spent with Brewster was in June of 2024, registering eight games at shortstop. The Texas native did not blow anyone away with his .259 batting average, though that's inconsequential now that he is making the conversion to a pitcher.

Kenley Jansen came through the minor leagues as a catcher, converting to a pitcher after four full years. After converting to a pitcher, Jansen dominated and will retire with multiple All-Star appearances. The Brewers selected Mora as one of 13 pitchers in this year's draft, aiming to do something similar with the athletic and powerful former Bobcat.

• Matt Ford-Wellman

Louisiana State left-handed pitcher Santiago Garcia, 2026 alum, Pick 372, Toronto Blue Jays

After a dominant 11 scoreless innings for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks during the summer of 2025, Garcia took his talents across the Cape to Brewster, where a four-start stretch helped him establish himself as an MLB Draft prospect.

Garcia’s 2026 collegiate season at LSU didn’t go the way the southpaw had hoped. He was utilized out of the bullpen and only managed a 5.96 ERA in 22.2 innings pitched after posting a 4.20 ERA across 30 innings at Oregon the year prior. With the Whitecaps, he got back on track.

Garcia posted a 2.35 ERA with 11 strikeouts to nine walks over 15.1 innings. He masterfully limited damage with runners on, and all four of his earned runs occurred in the same one-off, blowup start.

The lefty was listed by Baseball America as a Cape Cod League sleeper, and the Blue Jays evidently agreed that there’s talent in Garcia’s arm. Toronto has developed a handful of homegrown arms in recent times, with the group headlined by Trey Yesavage; however, southpaw relievers Adam Macko and Mason Fluharty are the more likely, more realistic comparisons.

Garcia will need to improve his command in pro ball and contend with a system chock-full of pitching talent in order to make it to the big leagues, but with his trademark positive attitude, anything seems possible.

• Ethan Ignatovsky

Texas right-handed pitcher Cody Howard, 2026 alum, Pick 376, Washington Nationals

Cody Howard made the leap to professional baseball late into the second day of the 2026 MLB Draft after a two-game spell with the Whitecaps and following his final college season.

Howard appeared in 17 games across his final two seasons as a Longhorn. His last outing eliminated Alabama from the MCWS and kept Texas alive another day until the team's defeat against Georgia.

After the tournament, Howard took to the Cape to boost his draft stock and prepare for his future as a hopeful professional pitcher. In his 1.2 innings pitched, Howard allowed three walks and two earned runs while striking out just two batters.

The Texas native was the seventh of nine pitchers drafted by the Nationals this year. Travis Sykora and Jarlin Susana are two RHPs in the top 100 prospect rankings and future competition for Howard on his road to the big leagues. If the power righty can refine his craft and develop off-speed equal to his fastball, the sky is the limit.

• Matt Ford-Wellman

South Florida left-handed pitcher Edwin Alicea, 2025 alum, Pick 426, Detroit Tigers

Edwin Alicea has done a little bit of everything, everywhere. From a reliever in the Sunshine State Conference to a starter in the Northwoods League to filling both roles at USF, Alicea has experienced a lot.

One of those experiences was the 2025 CCBL season, when the southpaw was on the Cape with the Whitecaps.

Alicea twirled 13.1 innings over two starts and two relief outings for Brewster, recording a 2.70 ERA as he struck out 13 and walked only four. It was a bounce-back summer for Alicea, coming off a 4.83 ERA season at Nova Southeastern.

The Miami native parlayed the Cape campaign into his lone season at USF, where he posted a 5.23 ERA across 10 starts and 19 total appearances, totaling 72.1 innings. The Tigers were intrigued enough to take a chance on him with their 14th-round pick.

Alicea will likely need to improve on his USF 3.5 walks per nine and 7.5 strikeouts per nine numbers to make an impact in pro ball, but he’s already taken a step in that direction over 6.1 innings with the Bourne Braves this summer, walking two and striking out seven.

• Ethan Ignatovsky

South Carolina right-handed pitcher Alex Philpott, 2025 alum, Pick 473, Tampa Bay Rays

Alex Philpott started the 2025 CCBL season with the Whitecaps, making seven appearances in between his transfer from Florida to South Carolina. Now, before transferring to Florida State, Philpott gets the call to professional baseball.

The relief arm threw 14 1/3 innings for the Whitecaps on the back of a 7.30 ERA season with the Gators. His positive strikeout-to-walk ratio sticks out as his most translatable skill to the minor leagues. While the Florida native allowed nine earned runs in his time with Brewster, a professional club may take Philpott's raw talent over his summer league performance.

Shane McClanahan looks to be the most recent in a long line of great homegrown pitching products from the Rays. Philpott looks to be the next, though he will enter the organization surrounded by other elite right-handed pitchers. 10 pitchers sit on Tampa Bay’s top 30 prospect list, all of them righties.

• Matt Ford-Wellman

Wake Forest third baseman Dalton Wentz, 2025 alum, Pick 478, San Francisco Giants

Dalton Wentz was one of the biggest fallers of the 2026 draft. The Demon Deacon was ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 165th draft prospect, but he didn’t hear his name called until pick No. 478 — a surprise for many who saw him play for the Whitecaps a year ago.

Wentz parlayed a freshman season where he earned All-American honors by multiple outlets after slashing .316/.393/.566 with 13 home runs and 50 RBIs into a .283/.364/.408 line on the Cape. His .772 OPS was the highest of any Whitecap who played more than 23 games.

He didn’t slow down when he got back to school, either, posting 18 home runs and a 1.043 OPS as a draft-eligible sophomore. Still, he fell all the way to the Giants in the 16th round.

Should Wentz sign, he’ll be joining a farm system on the rise, primarily due to the high-level position player talent already there. MLB Pipeline’s top four prospects for the Giants are all infielders, and three of the big league team’s four starting infielders have contracts until at least through 2030. His raw power, however, gives him a chance to stand out in any crowd and could eventually force him onto a big league roster, no matter what positions are already accounted for.

• Ethan Ignatovsky

Louisiana Tech shortstop Colton Coates, 2025 alum, Pick 484, Boston Red Sox

The Cape Cod Baseball League is as challenging as it is prestigious, and no player knows that better than Colton Coates. His time in 2025 with the Whitecaps was mediocre, but made his spring season at Louisiana Tech feel like a walk in the park.

With Brewster, the Missouri native slashed .241/.339/.241, hitting 13 singles and an almost even walk-to-strikeout ratio; nothing to write home about. Fast forward through the fall and Coates is red hot. He finished his junior season with a .936 OPS and 28 RBIs, plenty good enough for professional baseball.

Coates marks the fifth shortstop the Red Sox have drafted in 2026 and Boston is in no need of any infield talent. The big league club seems perfectly content shopping for, trading away or letting go of all the elite-level players they see, leaving little room for Coates to exploit. Despite this organizational flaw, greatness shines through even the most murky of institutions, and Coates certainly has the potential for greatness.

• Matt Ford-Wellman

Campbell right-handed pitcher Camden Wimbish, 2025-26 alum, Pick 523, Los Angeles Dodgers

Camden Wimbish is another two-year Whitecap, tossing 17.1 innings over 12 games across 2025 and 2026.

Unfortunately for Wimbish, despite two separate stints, he wasn’t able to find much success on the Cape. He posted a 6.00 ERA in his first go-around, and allowed six earned runs in 5.1 innings this summer. High ERA’s have been a theme for Wimbish in his career, as he also owns a combined ERA of 7.31 across 64 innings for NC State and Campbell.

On the positive side, the right-hander has flashed the ability to strike out opposing hitters at a high rate, with a career strikeouts per nine of 11.3 in college and a strikeouts per nine of 10.3 last summer. Those numbers can come with inconsistent command, however, as Wimbish walked just under a batter an inning this summer. He’s also given up more than one hit an inning in his collegiate career, something that will need to change in pro ball.

If there’s one organization that can filter out the negatives while keeping the swing-and-miss potential that makes Wimbish an intriguing relief prospect, it’s the Dodgers.

• Ethan Ignatovsky

Oklahoma left-handed pitcher Nate Smithburg, 2026 alum, Pick 533, Tampa Bay Rays

Sitting in the Stony Brook Field bullpen, Nate Smithburg received the call he’s been waiting for all his life. With the 533rd pick, the Tampa Bay Rays selected the Oklahoma Sooner lefty. The past calendar year has been an earth-shattering one for Smithburg, and a true testament to why you should always bet on yourself.

The Whitecaps used him as a spot reliever in the week he was on Cape. Across three games, Smithburg tossed four innings, allowing just a run, walking two and striking out five. His limited numbers did not illustrate just how great his pitch mix really is.

At Oklahoma in his lone year, the Iowa native threw 19 innings in just as many games. Aside from back-to-back outings where he allowed multiple runs, the Sooner was rock solid until the team's loss to UNC in the World Series, where he allowed two runs over 1 1/3 innings pitched.

After two years of community college and a year of waiting, Smithburg made his presence known and his place on the team indispensable. If the gritty left-handed reliever can replicate that indispensability at the professional level, he should climb quickly through a Rays organization desperate for left-handed relievers.

• Matt Ford-Wellman

Wichita State catcher Max Kaufer, 2024 alum, Pick 537, Texas Rangers

Max Kaufer has been around. The backstop has logged time at Texas A&M, South Carolina, Wichita State, the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks of the New England Collegiate Baseball League and, of course, the Brewster Whitecaps.

Kaufer only appeared in 14 games for the Whitecaps in his lone 2024 season with the team, posting a .533 OPS after logging a 1.016 OPS with the Aggies over the same sample size. Unfortunately for Kaufer, his struggles continued into his next collegiate campaign, his junior year at South Carolina.

Kaufer only managed a .535 OPS in 24 games as a Gamecock, but bounced back as a senior Shocker with an outstanding 1.747 OPS, powered in part by 11 home runs, in 18 games.

Kaufer will almost certainly not be able to copy that exact performance as a pro, but the Rangers will hope that some part of the powerful breakout is replicable. If it is, Kaufer could end up being a diamond in the rough for an organization that has only one catcher in its MLB Pipeline top 30 prospects.

• Ethan Ignatovsky

Florida outfielder Blake Cyr, 2025 alum, Pick 548, New York Yankees

In the summer of 2025, Blake Cyr dominated the month of June in the CCBL at Stony Brook Field, under a hanging banner of the New York Yankees captain and former Brewster Whitecap, Aaron Judge. If Cyr can perform just as he did in the CCBL and at Florida, he may end up as the 3x MVP’s teammate.

The right-handed outfielder dominated his 11-game stretch with the Whitecaps, slashing .308/.357/.487 across 42 plate appearances. When Cyr left the team for the summer, his Gator teammate and top 2027 draft prospect Brendan Lawson took the field at Stony Brook.

While Cyr’s power did not show itself on Cape, his 14 home runs in his senior year proved to MLB scouts that the Florida native has the pop for pro ball. Cyr lost his father during his junior season, a down year both on and off the field. A summer in Brewster seemed to distract him from the tragedy, as Cyr exploded for his best year the following spring.

The Yankees outfield is always crowded, but their best prospects are often rewarded in trade packages or in promotions. Cyr will hope for either as he climbs the organization's ranks, in hopes to one day play in the Bronx.

• Matt Ford-Wellman

Vanderbilt right-handed pitcher Luke Guth, 2024 alum, Pick 577, Chicago Cubs

Luke Guth took the mound for the Whitecaps after a freshman season at Vanderbilt where he recorded a 5.40 ERA across 18.1 innings pitched out of the bullpen. He didn’t light the world on fire on the Cape, but flashed the type of pitcher he could become.

Guth recorded a 6.56 ERA across five starts and eight total appearances in Brewster, pitching a total of 23.1 innings while striking out 22 and walking 11. When he got back to campus for his sophomore year, he made the leap he was waiting for, posting a 0.93 ERA with 22 strikeouts to seven walks in 19.1 innings across 19 relief outings.

The righty came back down to earth some as a junior, posting a 5.18 ERA, but his strikeouts per nine were still above 10. It’s that swing-and-miss potential that helped him become one of the 15 arms the Cubs took in the draft. Like so many other collegiate talents, the key to success in pro ball will be limiting walks and hard contact.

• Ethan Ignatovsky

Houston first baseman Carsten Sabathia III, 2024 alum, Pick 611, Milwaukee Brewers

With the third-to-last pick in the draft, the Brewers selected Carsten Sabathia III, a 2024 Whitecap and much more than a.

In his one week with Brewster, Sabathia III amassed two hits in thirteen at-bats, punching out four times. After four games, he left the CCBL but stayed on Cape, playing the rest of his summer in the NECL with the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks. After a .238/.374/.511 season with the Houston Cougars in the Big 12, the first baseman took the leap to pro ball.

Once again, a Sabathia and a Fielder may take the field together. As Sabathia III enters the Brewers organization, he joins Prince Fielder's son, Jadyn Fielder, in the system. Both players are young and developing, in contrast to their fathers, who joined forces in 2008 and carried the Brewers to their first postseason appearance in 26 years.

It would be a dream for Milwaukee fans to see the two sons at the pro level, performing at the caliber that their fathers did, but both players have a long way to go.

• Matt Ford-Wellman

Illinois left-handed pitcher Zach Bates, 2025 alum, Pick 613, Los Angeles Dodgers

Mr. Irrelevant is a title often reserved for the final pick of the NFL Draft, but as Day 2 came to a close, the Whitecaps got to jump in on the fun, as one final alum, Zach Bates, heard his name called.

Bates, who became the third former Brewster arm to be taken by the Dodgers, missed all of his 2026 junior season with an injury, meaning the last time he took the mound in a competitive environment was on the Cape.

He recorded a 2.41 ERA and 19 strikeouts to eight walks in 18.2 innings pitched across 11 games out of the bullpen. It was a continuation of his success as a sophomore, when he made the All-Big Ten third team off the back of a 2.83 ERA and 34 strikeouts to 18 walks in 28.2 innings of relief over 23 games.

Since Bates has at least one year of eligibility remaining, it’ll be worth keeping track of whether he signs or returns to school, betting on himself post-injury to be drafted in a more advantageous spot. If Bates does turn pro, he could be a steal for a Dodgers organization that is known for its player development.

• Ethan Ignatovsky