Every summer, thousands of tourists and die-hard baseball fans flock down Route 6 to Cape Cod to watch some of the best college players in the country compete in the Cape Cod Baseball League, the premier wood-bat collegiate league. For many of those players, this summer league serves as a proving ground. Each spring, a new crop of prospects who honed their skills on the Cape join the growing list of CCBL alumni in the major leagues.
In 2025, over 400 CCBL alumni played in MLB, including 75 rookies, adding up to more than 1,600 major leaguers all-time who spent summers playing in the CCBL.
As 2026 MLB Opening Day rosters were announced, that total rose even further with an additional nine highly touted prospects breaking camp with their big league clubs.
-2B/SS JJ Wetherholt |Cardinals| Chatham ‘23
-OF Carson Benge |Mets| Chatham ‘23
-RHP Anthony Nunez |Orioles| Chatham ‘22
-LHP Shane Drohan |Brewers| Falmouth ‘19
-RHP Matt Pushard |Cardinals| Harwich ‘21
-RHP Ryan Weiss |Astros| Hyannis ‘17
-OF/INF Tanner Murray |White Sox| Orleans ‘19
-RHP Spencer Miles |Blue Jays| Wareham ‘21
These now major leaguers join 2025 MLB home run leader, Cal Raleigh, 2025 AL MVP Aaron Judge and the 2025 NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes, among others, who filled up stat sheets across the Cape during their careers.
Chase DeLauter is a recent CCBL alumnus to break camp and make waves just weeks into his budding MLB career. DeLauter was a standout outfielder for the Orleans Firebirds in 2021. His .298 average and league-leading nine home runs through 34 games were more than enough for DeLauter to bring home the Robert A. McNeese Outstanding Pro Prospect Award.
DeLauter was a true outstanding prospect, as along with his hitting pedigree, DeLauter started three games on the mound with the Firebirds. DeLauter turned heads in Orleans and was subsequently drafted by the Cleveland Guardians 16th overall in the 2022 MLB Draft. DeLauter quickly entered the pipeline as the Guardians No. 2 prospect, only behind Travis Bazzana, a fellow CCBL alumnus who won MVP on the Cape in 2023 with the Falmouth Commodores and was drafted 1st overall by the Guardians in the 2024 MLB Draft.
DeLauter flew through the Guardians’ affiliates and became the sixth player in MLB history to debut in the postseason as the Guardians clinched a spot in the 2025 AL Wild Card Series. DeLauter recorded his first career hit in that series and has carried his momentum to break camp with the Guardians this spring.
The Orleans product is off to a red-hot start to his true rookie campaign, going three for five and joining another exclusive shortlist, being the sixth MLB player ever to hit two home runs on his regular-season debut during the Guardians’ season opener on March 26.
DeLauter is currently leading the Guardians with five home runs and will look to continue his record-breaking form throughout the season as the starting right fielder in Cleveland.
Another CCBL product taking part in the rookie takeover this season is the once-Angler JJ Wetherholt. Wetherholt beat the odds to make the Cardinals' Opening Day roster after he was drafted seventh overall by the Cardinals just two years ago in 2024.
After a season and a half in the minors, Wetherholt broke camp in St. Louis this spring, just three seasons removed from his wood-bat stint in Chatham. Due to being selected for the USA Collegiate National Team, Wetherholt was limited to just eight games for the Anglers, where he impressed, hitting .321 with a .978 OPS. As the starting second baseman for St. Louis, JJ Wetherholt has already hit three home runs through 18 games, including one in his debut, akin to fellow Cape Cod League alumnus Chase DeLauter.
Still considered a rookie after making his MLB debut during the 2025 season with the New York Mets, Nolan McLean is another former Cape Leaguer having success at the big league level and international stage. McLean was drafted in the third round of the 2023 MLB Draft by the Mets and made the Opening Day roster in 2026. He also recently competed in the World Baseball Classic, pitching in two games for the United States, including a start in the WBC Final. Despite currently being a high-end starter for New York, McLean, however, did not pitch on the Cape.
McLean featured exclusively as a position player for the Chatham Anglers in 2021. He played eight games as a third baseman and right fielder, where he impressed with the bat, hitting two home runs with a .990 OPS in his limited role.
Nicknamed “Cowboy Ohtani,” McLean redefined the definition of a two-way athlete. He was a quarterback for Oklahoma State football before fully committing to baseball, where he then played as a two-way player all the way through college and into the minor leagues with the Mets. Although McLean didn’t pitch with the Anglers, he showed command on the mound with a 3.10 ERA in his time with the Mets' farm system.
Now a high-end starter for the Mets, McLean currently sports a 2.28 ERA through four outings and remains a high-ceiling starter in the major leagues, a career reversal from his time in Chatham as a slugger.
These are just some of the rookies who make up the newest class of Cape League alumni, only a few summers removed from being kids playing with wood bats on the Cape, now ready to take over the league and follow in the footsteps of the many big league legends who came before them.
Images provided by Major League Baseball.
