On the eve of the Cape Cod All-Star game where the most talented collegiate underclassmen will be on the brightest showcase stage of their careers in an ungodly collection of talent, one of the game's elite was making his presence felt even though he will not be in attendance.
In a 2009 calendar year where Alex Wimmers has picked up enough honors and hardware to fill a small closet, the Ohio State righty will not be able to add Cape Cod League All-Star to his resume, no fault of his performances, but because in adding Team USA Invitee to said resume, he was a late Cape arrival. In his latest start with pockets scout and talented evaluators on hand including Stats Inc./ESPN's Keith Law, who twittered during the outing, Wimmers is using this summer to supplement a spring which saw him land on 6 All-American teams, and prove he is one of college baseball's top pitchers.
As noted last week, Wimmers made his first start, and performed well throwing five solid innings of one run, two hit, baseball in striking out six. As was well as that performance was the last outing by Wimmers has really made people take notice.
After seeing his scheduled start pushed back a day due to rain, Wimmers made every effort to not only showcase his skill, but help put the Bourne Braves back atop the CCBL West Division standings, in a tie with the Wareham Gatemen who was Wimmers opponent.
The game featured the top two returning pitchers next year in the Big Ten with Wimmers going against 2008 Yankees draftee and Indiana's freshman Blake Monar. It was the second time in 2009 the two faced off in a start, the first being in March during the Buckeyes spring trip where Wimmers shutout the Hoosiers in a 2-0 victory that saw Monar take the tough-break loss. It was also the second game this Cape season that saw both Wimmers and Monar share a pitching mound as Wimmers came in relief during a Braves-Gatemen game two weeks back.
Site familiarity of opponent if you want but Wimmers had no problem handling the Gatemen and picking up his first Cape Cod victory. Wimmers carried a no-hitter into the 5th, Wimmers does know a thing or two about no-hitters on a grand stage, pitched into the 7th, struck out 10 batters, walked four and allowed four hits. Wimmers strong start helped the Braves shutout the star-ladden Gatemen who have the likes of Michigan's Ryan LaMarre, Indiana's Alex Dickerson, and Georgia Tech's Derek Dietrich.
As dominant as it was, it wasn't Wimmers' sharpest performance. Wimmers did walked two Gatemen in the opening frame, and did allow two singles in both the 5th and 7th innings before exiting. But benefiting from solid defense, and help from his battery mate BJ LaRosa (Bucknell) who threw out LaMarre and Dietrich trying to steal off Wimmers, allowed Alex to work out of jams and perform great. In all Wimmers saw 24 Gatemen make plate appearances, as the result of four walks, 20 had official at-bats and 10 were strikeout victims. Pretty impressive.
Wimmers to-date summer numbers:
1-0, 1.29 ERA, 14 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 HR, 8 BB, 21 K's, .148 BAA, 1.07 WHIP, 13.5 K/9
Cape Cod Times Recap
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4 comments:
Good game. Neither Wimmers or Monar were at their best, but they both showed why they will be drafted high come next year. 2 tough earned runs for Monar, but Wimmers is up in the battle 2-0. I look forward to another battle on a Friday night in the Big Ten season with lots of scouts watching!
Where do u think wimmers will be drafted? And Burkhart? Any cape cod league prospect lists come out yet?
Baseball America does a Top 100 Prospects from the Cape at the seasons end.
In talking to Aaron Fitt during the Big Ten season he said Wimmers was a top three round pick. With this summer and another solid spring, he could be like Arnett and go late 1st.
He's a top 65 pick like Cory Luebke was in 2007.
Burkhart is hard to say right now, it depends on his spring, and if his power continues to develop. He won't be as high as Phegley, based on Phegley's bat is that good, but Burkhart doesn't have the defensive liabilities that Phegley presented. Right now I'd say 4/5 round for Burkhart.
Monar is interesting as he'll be a draft eligible-soph. Its a different environment where 2 more years of eligibility left, and teams using aren't high on sophs know they can come right back around in a year and snag them, so the premium picks towards the earlier rounds have more priority going towards juniors.
He could slide to the 10th or so round, but have top 5 round talent just on having a luxury of one more year. Come back for his junior year dominante and be a top 3 round pick.
I would love to see Wimmers as a first rounder and Burkhart as a top 5 round guy. Plus, I wouldn't mind seeing some of the other Big Ten teams have some talent in the draft because it only helps Buckeye baseball recruiting. Is Tyler Burgoon from Michigan also a draft eligible soph? Eric Jokisch could be a high Big Ten draft pick too. Thanks and keep us posted on the list!
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