The 2024 regular season for the Y-D Red Sox will be remembered for a myriad of reasons. Scott Pickler picked up his 600th career win, Y-D secured the President’s Trophy for the Cape League’s best record and had incredible individual performances from a talented roster of some of the best college baseball players in America.
Pickler had his 19th season with 20 or more wins as Y-D clinched its second consecutive East Division championship with 10 days remaining in the season. Y-D posted a 24-12-4 record and led the league with 52 points which is 12 more than second place Chatham.
The Red Sox had 11 comeback wins, tallied 19 victories in games decided by three runs and went 15-0 when leading after seven innings with one of the best pitching staffs on the Cape. Y-D finished first with 399 strikeouts and 10.63 strikeouts per nine innings. The Red Sox allowed the second fewest runs and placed second with a 3.97 ERA.
Y-D’s lethal offense paced the Cape League with 46 home runs and finished second in both OPS at .748 and slugging percentage at .400. The Red Sox went 19-4-2 when scoring first and 15-3-2 when scoring five or more runs in a game.
Ethan Petry was given the Robert A. McNeece Outstanding Pro Prospect Award and tied Brewster’s Ryder Helfrick for the most home runs with 11. Petry led the lead with a 1.240 OPS, .760 slugging percentage, .480 on-base percentage and became the first Y-D player to win the award since New York Yankees catcher Austin Wells in 2019.
The Red Sox started fast with a 10-3 record in June that was kick started by Jonathan Kim’s (Michigan) walk-off single to beat Brewster 2-1 on Opening Day. Y-D dominated its East Division foes with a 14-4-2 record and that includes a 4-3 win over Harwich when Ryan Sprock (Elon) delivered a pinch-hit go-ahead RBI single in the top of the ninth.
Y-D rifled off a pair of three-game win streaks in June highlighted by an Easton Carmichael (Oklahoma) grand slam in a six-run sixth inning against Bourne on June 23, Phoenix Call’s (UCLA) miraculous diving catch in center field to secure a 5-3 win over Orleans on June 27 and Dylan Vigue’s (Michigan) nine strikeout performance in a 8-2 win over Chatham.
Brady Neal (Alabama) closed the month of June with a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth to beat Falmouth 7-5 before Y-D took the trip to history Fenway Park for the annual Cape League workout the next day.
Y-D pitchers carried a combined no-hitter into the ninth on July 3 against Hyannis and had Fourth of July fireworks from Wehiwa Aloy (Arkansas) who became the 13th player in CCBL history with three homers in a single game.
Aloy had hits in 16 of 17 games before he left on July 11 and was leading in home runs with eight at the time of his departure. Braden Osbolt (Kennesaw State) started the season with one run allowed in 22 ⅓ innings and entered his final start of the summer on July 14 with a 0.44 ERA which led qualified pitchers.
Osbolt finished with a 2.28 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, .198 batting average against and was selected as the starting pitcher for the East Division in the All-Star Game before leaving the team. Carson Ballard (Georgia Tech) filled Osbolt’s spot in the rotation and is tied for the most strikeouts in a game this summer with 10 on July 23 against Brewster.
RJ Austin (Vanderbilt) had at least one hit in 12 of the 15 games he played with Y-D after he spent time with Anthony Martinez (UC Irvine), Drew Burress (Georgia Tech) and Pablo Torres (Bethune-Cookman) on the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team. Austin leaped over the center field wall to rob a home run and hit a game-tying homer in his next at-bat on July 20 against Falmouth.
Y-D shined in the 33rd annual East versus West All-Star Game on July 27 as Petry won the Home Run Derby with 12 blasts. Carmichael reached base four times and won East Division All-Star Game MVP. Sean Youngerman (Oklahoma State), Aiven Cabral (Northeastern), Trevor Moore (Stanford) and Sprock combined for no earned runs out of the bullpen.
Youngerman went 16 ⅔ scoreless innings from June 26 to Aug. 1 and matched his season-high seven strikeouts twice including in a 4-1 win over then-first place Wareham. Youngerman is tied for third on the Cape with 33 strikeouts and has a 2.55 ERA. Moore remains the league leader in saves with eight despite departing after the All-Star game as the right-hander struck out 28 in 14 ⅓ innings.
Carter Garate (Oregon) was a new addition on July 24 and had two game-winning bunts in the span of four days. Garate executed a suicide squeeze in the ninth to score Skylar King (West Virginia) to beat Chatham 9-8 on the 26th and had a walk-off bunt on the 30th to beat Orleans 4-3.
Martinez had an 11-game on-base streak and a 10-game hitting streak from July 18 to Aug. 2 as the UC Irvine product posted a 1.049 OPS in that span. Martinez ranks 10th among qualified Cape hitters in on-base percentage at .411 and is 17th with a .833 OPS.
Y-D saw 2024 alums Cade McGee (Texas Tech) and Ramsey David (Southeastern, FL) both get taken in the MLB Draft to the St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros, respectively. 25 former Red Sox players got selected over the three day draft including 12th overall pick Braden Montgomery.
The Red Sox are in the hunt of their first Cape League championship since 2016 and the playoffs are slated to start Tuesday Aug. 6 against four-seed Orleans at Red Wilson Field.
Photo by Sophie Solarino
