The Cape Cod Baseball League kicked off its 101st season two weeks ago. Since then, there have been many close games, home runs, strikeouts, highlight-reel defensive plays and everything in between.
While there is plenty of time for teams to change the course of their season with nearly 30 regular season games remaining, as June wraps up, here’s one stat defining each Cape League team two weeks into the season:
Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox: 137 K's
The Red Sox’s 10-3 record is the best in the Cape League and their pitching staff is a key component to Y-D’s success thus far. While its offense has mostly been middle of the pack, Y-D has the best team ERA (3.37) while striking out the most opposing batters in the league (137).
Led by Trevor Moore (Stanford, 16), Bryan Peck (Westmont College, 13) and Dylan Vigue (Michigan, 13), the Red Sox have seven pitchers who have notched 10 or more strikeouts. No other team has registered more than five players who have corralled double-digit punchouts. Combining its elite strikeouts with a low walk rate (53 free passes allowed) while tied for fewest hits surrendered (84), Y-D also leads the Cape League in WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched).
Cotuit Kettleers: 8-1 record in last 10 days
The Kettleers (9-4) claimed first place in the West division after beating the Wareham Gatemen on Saturday. Cotuit leads the Cape League in long balls, a happy byproduct of one of the most consistent offenses in the league. The Kettleers rank within the top five of all major hitting categories — coming as high as second in slugging — and have one of the most well-rounded pitching staffs.
Cotuit’s bats have come alive recently, and after dropping three of their first four games, the Kettleers have gone on an 8-1 tear in the last 10 days. The offense may not steal the most bases or walk the most, but they have put up solid numbers to complement a stellar pitching staff. Jarren Advincula (California) has a jaw-dropping .447 average with Nolan Nawrocki (transfer portal) and Brandon Compton (Arizona State) proving to be offensive weapons as well.
On the flip side, the arms have put in the work, holding opponents to 2.1 runs per game — except their 10-7 loss to Brewster — across their last eight wins. Among its four qualified pitchers, starters Merritt Beeker (Ball State) and Camron Hill (Georgia Tech) stand out and relievers Michael Ebner (USC) and Jacob Shafer (UNCW) have shined.
Harwich Mariners: .728 OPS
Off to an 8-5 start, Harwich is the only other East Division team with a winning record through two weeks. Anchored by Michael Anderson (transfer portal, 1.235 OPS) and Ryan Weingartner (St. Joseph’s. 1.028 OPS), the Mariners’ .728 team OPS is the best among East Division teams and the fourth-best in the Cape League.
Anderson, the CCBL Week 1 Hitter of the Week, leads all qualified players in the Cape League in OPS while Weingartner places fourth. Harwich is the only team thus far to have two qualified players with an OPS over 1.000. Beyond Anderson and Weingartner, the Mariners have received solid contributions from Jake Ogden (UNC Greensboro) and Bristol Carter (Auburn) while Vince Fattore (Elon) has excelled in limited action.
Wareham Gatemen: .793 OPS
The Wareham Gatemen are currently tied as the best in the West and, as of Thursday’s power rankings, were deemed the top team in the Cape League. The Gatemen lead the CCBL in AVG, OBP and SLG, accumulating to a league-leading .793 OPS.
The Gatemen have a three-headed monster in Eli Putnam (Davidson), Brendan Summerhill (Arizona) and Bobby Boser (Fresno State), who have compounded to bolster Wareham offensively. First baseman Putnam is among the top of the league in OPS (1.014) with 12 hits in 13 games and two homers. Summerhill and Boser are right behind him with OPS marks in the high .800s. Summerhill in particular can swipe a bag, crush a homer and has the lowest strikeout percentage (.114) of all qualified Gateman batters.
Brewster Whitecaps: 5.42 ERA
From top to bottom, the Whitecaps have one of the most talented lineups in the Cape League. Brewster’s 67 runs scored are tied with Y-D for the most in the East Division, yet it has a 5-8 record and sits five games back of the division leaders.
The Whitecaps have the highest ERA (5.42) in the Cape League thus far. The next-worst East Division team is Chatham, whose 4.07 ERA ranks sixth and has surrendered 17 fewer runs (61) than Brewster (78). Through seven of its first 13 games, the Whitecaps have allowed five or more runs — the most among East Division teams.
Hyannis Harbor Hawks: 80 RBI
The Harbor Hawks have hit their stride with runners in scoring position, leading the league in RBI with 80. The Hawks sit in the middle of the West pack, nipping at the heels of Cotuit and Wareham, as Hyannis has a league-leading plus-35 run differential.
Austin Peay standout Jon Jon Gazdar leads the team in RBI (15) — and the league in its entirety — and is one of the linchpins for the Hawks’ offense. While Gazdar also leads in hits and has a pair of long balls on the season, Michael Dattalo (DBU) and Nick Groves (Niagara) also have proven to bring back the ribeye steaks with nine RBI apiece. Center fielder Kane Kepley’s (Liberty) ability to wreak havoc on the basepaths contributed to the high-scoring Hyannis offense that has notched five double-digit crooked numbers in the 2024 season.
Chatham Anglers: .336 OBP
Currently on a three-game losing streak — the worst active streak in the Cape League — the Anglers sit in the middle of the East division pack with a 5-8 record. One of Chatham’s most glaring deficiencies is its ability to get on base.
The Anglers’ 94 hits are tied for the second-worst in the Cape League while their 43 walks are the second-fewest. This has culminated in the A’s accumulating a .336 OBP, the third-worst in the CCBL. Because of its inability to get runners on base, Chatham has scored three or fewer runs in eight of its first 13 games. Orleans (10) is the only team to score three or fewer runs more times than the A’s.
Bourne Braves: 5.18 ERA
The two-time reigning champion Bourne Braves have struggled on the mound and sit second to last in the West (4-8). Only a fraction of their struggles can be attributed to lackluster hitting as the pitching staff holds the second-highest ERA in the league and has blown each of its two save opportunities.
Of all four of the Braves qualified pitchers, only one has a sub-three earned run average — that would be Connor Wietgrefe (Minnesota) with a 0.82 ERA in 11 innings pitched. The other three Bourne hurlers, Zane Adams (Alabama), Tyler Fay (Alabama) and Ben Bybee (Arkansas), have struggled, unable to hold opponent offenses at bay. Another key contributor to the inflated ERA would be the 10 long balls the staff has let up — the second-highest in the league — leading the Braves and the Brewster Whitecaps to sit at the bottom of the pitching pack.
Orleans Firebirds: minus-21 run differential
With a 3-10 record, Orleans sits at the bottom of the East Division’s standings and is tied with Falmouth for the worst record in the Cape League. While the Firebirds have the second-best ERA in the CCBL (3.63), their offense cannot keep up and has been the worst in the league.
With a .538 OPS, Orleans is the only team in the Cape League with a sub-.600 OPS, and their clip is .131 points worse than the next-worst team in the East Division (Chatham). Roch Cholowsky (UCLA, .770) and Landon Moran (Stetson, .881) are the only Firebirds with an OPS of at least .750. Because of its struggling offense, Orleans’ minus-21 run differential is the worst in the Cape League, punctuating to its offensive woes.
Falmouth Commodores: 1.53 WHIP
The Falmouth Commodores' pitching staff holds the highest WHIP in the Cape League, a sour pitching statistic for a struggling staff. The Commodores sit at the bottom of the West with a 3-10 record and their staff’s inability to hold down games while distributing free passes is a key to why. Falmouth has not allowed the most hits (98) or walks (64) in the league in particular, but being in the bottom three for each has resulted in an elevated WHIP and an inability to close games.
The Coutit Kettleers are the best in the West and the Y-D Red Sox are the beast in the East at the end of June. No games will be held on July 1 as the teams will travel to Fenway Park to take part in workouts and the Orleans Firebirds will participate in an exhibition game.
All stats as of June 30.
(Photographs by Aidan Conrad and Jack Garvey)
