FALMOUTH, Mass. — Ahead of the 33rd annual Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star Game at Guv Fuller Field, home of the Falmouth Commodores, East manager Scott Pickler (Yarmouth-Dennis) felt a sense of excitement.
After the Red Sox clinched the Cape League’s East Division title Friday in a 9-8 win over Chatham, his focus temporarily turned toward having fun. The 25-year Cape League skipper noted pregame that his coaching staff would be rotating around the field throughout the game to see who could score the most guys from third base.
But what Pickler said he most looked forward to was meeting and getting to know players from intradivision rivals. Yet, en route to scoring eight runs, half of the East All-Star’s run production was courtesy of a face familiar to Pickler.
Y-D’s Easton Carmichael (Oklahoma) was named the East All-Star MVP after notching three hits, a walk, three runs scored and an RBI. Carmichael, who has hit .279/.359/.478 in the Cape League this season, was named the East’s starting designated hitter before moving to first base for the final five innings. He became the 12th Red Sox player to be crowned the East MVP and the first since Donnie Walton in 2015.
“The Cape has been awesome,” Carmichael said. “... Coach Pick is awesome, he’s one of a kind. He’s been around it for a long time and I’ve learned how to grind day in, and day out and just compete.”
Carmichael is amid his first season in the Cape League following his sophomore year with the Sooners. As a freshman in 2023, he was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team, hitting .306/.346/.482 (99 wRC+) across 51 games.
This year, he saw his role increase and took his game to the next level. Playing in all 61 of Oklahoma’s games (60 starts), he had a .365/.405/.561 (126 wRC+) slash line. Carmichael earned NCBWA Third Team All-American honors and was recently named Baseball America’s No. 45 2025 MLB Draft college prospect.
Despite not catching during the All-Star Game, it’s been Carmichael’s primary position with Oklahoma and on the Cape. Over his quarter-century with the Red Sox, Pickler has coached some of the best collegiate backstops.
Two names that instantly jumped to the front of his mind were future National Baseball Hall of Famer Buster Posey (Y-D '06-07) and potential 2024 American League Rookie of the Year Austin Wells (Y-D '19). Pickler sees a major similarity between his two former backstops and Carmichael.
“I’ve been very, very lucky, I had Posey and Austin Wells, he’s as competitive as those guys are,” Pickler said of Carmichael. “He comes to the yard to play every day — that’s what separates those guys.”
Carmichael credits his approach to Oklahoma head coach Skip Johnson’s rules of ones: one pitch at a time, one at-bat at a time, one game at a time and more down the list. In the All-Star Game, the MVP did just that.
When he stepped up to the plate in the top of the first inning, Carmichael was already in a high-leverage situation. As Y-D teammate Ethan Petry (South Carolina) and Brewster’s Ryder Helfrick (Arkansas), respectively, stood on second and first base, Carmichael had the chance to give the East an early lead with two outs.
The designated hitter quickly fell behind in the count 1-2, but he took a pitch just off the outside corner to even the count. On the ensuing pitch, he fought off a pitch on the outside part of the plate, poking it into center field to put the East ahead 1-0.
“I just tried to get a pitch I can hit, be on time with it and put a good swing on it,” Carmichael said.
Carmichael’s only at-bat without a hit came in the third inning, but he worked a six-pitch walk before scoring on a single from Chatham’s Ashton Larson (LSU) that tied the game 2-2.
The East regained the lead in the fourth inning, scoring a pair of runs courtesy of Chatham’s Aiva Arquette (transfer portal) and Brewster’s Daniel Cuvet (Miami), but the West answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame to tie the game at 4-4.
Looking to ignite the East’s offense, Carmichael stepped back into the batter’s box to lead off the fifth inning. Just as he did in his first at-bat, Carmichael fell behind in the count, quickly facing 0-2. Yet, on the third pitch, he punched a ground ball the opposite way into right field. One pitch later, the East enjoyed a 6-4 advantage after Brewster’s Nick Dumesnil (Cal Baptist) hit a two-run homer.
The score remained 6-4 heading into the seventh inning, but that quickly changed after Carmichael’s final at-bat. With one out and nobody on base, he laced a double down the third base line. Brewster’s Kaeden Kent (Texas A&M) quickly drove Carmichael in on an RBI single.
“He had a good day, he came out to play,” Pickler said of Carmichael's performance. “He’s been doing it all year long and it’s fun. He performed today.”
(Photograph by Kyndall Williams)
