BREWSTER, Mass. — It took until the ninth inning on Friday night, but Brewster Whitecaps right fielder Cash Strayer (Florida) introduced himself to the faithful with a bang.
On the road against the Chatham Anglers, Strayer led off the final frame of his debut game by taking right-handed reliever Josh Swink (Liberty) deep to right field. For a moment, it looked like the ball would leave Veterans Field on the fly, but Strayer ended up needing some help from his counterpart on the Anglers, Kaiden Dossa (Yale), who watched it tip off his glove and over the right field wall.
“It felt pretty good (off the bat),” Strayer told Brewster’s play-by-play duo Ben Chadwick and Drew Albaugh on Cape League TV. “I was running, watching the ball and I saw it hit his glove; I was like, ‘No way he caught that,' and then I saw it pop out, so I was like, ‘Oh, I got a hit. I got my first hit.’”
The newest Whitecap’s (3-3) blast gave him a 1-for-4 stat line in his first game and cut Chatham’s (2-4) lead to 5-4, but his teammates couldn’t finish the comeback attempt. Despite that, Strayer isn’t worried about the group's chances going forward.
“You just have to have the mind of a goldfish,” he said.
Strayer had an up-and-down freshman season as a Gator in 2026. When he was on the field, he produced, posting a .272/.375/.447 slash line with four doubles and four home runs across 32 games (30 starts) and even secured himself SEC Freshman of the Week honors for the week of February 16.
However, a fractured metacarpal in his right hand, which occurred on a hit-by-pitch, cost him more than a month of the season. Strayer sustained the injury on March 28 against Arkansas and didn’t return until April 9 against Kentucky.
Strayer will be looking to make up for lost time this summer, and he’ll be doing it with two Florida teammates in the form of right-handed pitchers Schuyler Sandford and Joshua Whritenour.
And while he’s still learning his new teammates, it’s clear that he’s joining an inviting and determined group.
“I would say they’re all very welcoming,” Strayer said. “It doesn’t matter about your age at this level, everyone’s really welcoming and everyone has the same goals, just to have fun and play ball and play hard.”
