Wimmers named #3 prospect in Cape Cod League

Don't have a link to go along with this, well I do, but one you probably can't access since Baseball America is a paid-publication, but trust me on this.

All-American Alex Wimmers has been named by Baseball America to be the top RHP prospect of the 2009 Cape Cod Baseball League, and the #3 overall prospect.

Wimmers in limited time with the Bourne Braves was stellar going 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA in 22 IP. Wimmers struck out 37 for a ridiculous 15.1 K/9, allowed 12 hits in 97 at-bats as opponents hit .123 off the Moeller native. The 12 hits with 13 walks gave Alex a WHIP of 1.13.

In postseason action, Wimmers pitched 4 innings of 1 run, 9 K baseball in the CCBL semi-finals, proving to be a vital cog for the Bourne Braves to their first league championship.


Top 5 Cape Cod Prospects by Baseball America
#1 Chris Sale LHP Florida Gulf Coast
#2 Zack Cox 3B Arkansas
#3 Alex Wimmers RHP Ohio State
#4 Jedd Groyko SS West Virginia
#5 Bryan Morgado LHP Tennessee

Full list, subscription required.

Led by Wimmers Bourne wins Game 1 of CCBL Championship Series

Bourne Takes One Game Under Blanket of Fog
By Jim Chandley, CCBL Intern

BOURNE, Mass.—Over 6,000 fans packed into picturesque Doran Park for the first game of the Cape League Championship Series to witness the Bourne Braves defeat the Cotuit Kettleers 15-5 in a fog-shortened six-inning game.

Cotuit came in fresh off of an 18-4 drubbing of the Y-D Red Sox. Unfortunately for Ketteleers fans, the tables turned on Tuesday night. The Braves sent 12 men to the plate in the first inning for a total of seven runs on five hits. The attack was spearheaded by Kyle Roller (East Carolina) and Pierre LePage (Connecticut) each of whom walked and singled to keep the merry-go-round moving.

Production dropped off for the Bourne offense in the second when they only sent 10 men to the dish. They struck for another six runs including a double by Roller that drove in two. Although Bourne was hitting well and watching pitches patiently, they had only eight hits in the two monstrous innings. Cotuit pitching issued eight free passes and a hit batsman in the first two innings alone.

While Andres Caceres (Connors State) and Navery Moore (Vanderbilt) struggled for Cotuit in the early going, Alex Wimmers (Ohio State) was impressive in his starting role for Bourne.

He gave up four hits in the three innings he pitched (he was lifted after three because Bourne seemed to have the game well in hand). Wimmers struck out seven batters in those three innings and allowed just one run.

Wimmers would be lifted for Michael Dimock (Wake Forest) who also pitched well. Bourne would tack on two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, the last time they would see the bat on the night. When Cotuit came up in the top of the sixth, it was 15-1.

Although the Ketteleers slapped the ball around in the sixth for four runs, it felt like too little, too late. In fact it would be, but not because their offense ran out of steam. Heavy fog rolled into Doran Park as the Kettleers were putting on their fireworks display.

There were two separate breaks taken in that same half inning in hopes that the fog would pass. When it finally became apparent that it would not relent, there was a meeting of the minds in foul ground behind home plate. Commissioner Paul Galop and Umpire-in-chief Sol Yas were joined by the umpiring crew, the managers and the general managers of the two teams.

“We basically let the two teams come to a decision and they decided it was best for the players and for everyone if we just call it a game,” said Galop after the game was called. “I think they made the right call.”

The game will be recorded officially as a 15-5 victory for Bourne. The two teams will meet Wednesday at Lowell Park for game two of the three game set. Should Cotuit win, they would return to Doran Park on Thursday for a decisive game three. If the Braves win, they will hoist the Arnold Mycock championship trophy on Cotuit’s field.

Church of Baseball: Wimmers Top 25 2009 Summer Player

The Church of Baseball has done their top 40 performances of the 2009 summer season to date. As expected Wimmers continues to turns heads, and even though he had a late start due to his Team USA invitation, he's quicky turned into one of the Cape's best.



25. Alex Wimmers, RHP- Cape Cod (Ohio State): It is hard to rank him higher, since he has had limited time in the Cape, but he did pitch fairly well in the Team U.S.A. trials. Wimmers has limited his walks and hits allowed while striking out 31 through 19 innings of work, posting a 1.42 ERA. He has solid low 90's velocity and a tight curveball that misses bats, while he has shown off solid, smooth mechanics this summer.

Palesta.net: OSU Pitcher Rolling In Cape Cod League

Caught this video interview with Alex Wimmers as the Palestra.net caught up with Alex this past week and talked about his spring with the Bucks and summer so far as a Bourne Brave.

OSU Pitcher Rolling In Cape Cod League

Summer League Buckeyes: Stats through 8/7

Photo of Rucinski from All Things Valley League

Apologies for the two-week hiatus. Been a bit busy as the internship was winding down with the Settlers, camp and two-a-days have picked up as HS football is now underway, rink renovations at the ice rink, and needing a bit of break as baseball burn-out is setting in, as we're a month away from the start of fall ball. Yeah, the season just ended it feels and we're getting ready for 2010.

I'll have more things to pass along now that I have some free time, but to catch our Buckeyes finished, or are as the seasons across America in their respective summer leagues have completed except the CCBL playoffs where Wimmers might get one last start.

Bad news in the form of Best and Armstrong ending their summers early and have surgery on their pitching arms. Both should and hopefully will be 100% for 2010, but fall ball practice will be paper thin on pitching.

Good news, Wimmers continues to shine in the Cape, as too has Burkhart. Strayer finished with 2 solid outings in the Valley while Rucinski went on a second half tear down there finishing with very impressive numbers. Engle, DeLucia, and Kovanda performed very well across the board showing the Bucks infield will be loaded with depth as they defend their championship.

Hitters

Valley Baseball League:
Cory Kovanda-Waynesboro Generals: 41-for-141;.291 average, three 2B, one 3B, one HR, 13 RBI, .348 SLG, .369 OBP, .717 OPS 5/8 SB/SBA

Brian DeLucia-Rockbridge Rapids: 32-for-117; .274, three 2B, one 3B, three HR, 18 RBI, .393, .351, .749, 3/6

Shawn Forsythe-Rockbridge Rapids: 3-for-24, .125, three RBI, .125, .125, .250 0/0


Great Lakes:
Tyler Engle-Licking County Settlers: 18-for-53; .340, three 2B one HR, nine RBI, .453, .379, .832


Cape Cod:
Dan Burkhart-Hyannis Mets: 23-for-78; .295, two 2B, one 3B, six RBI, .346, .375, .721


Atlantic Baseball Confederation:
Ryan Cypret-Jersey Tides: 17-for-53; .321, one 2B, one HR, six RBI, .407, .434

Zack Nowland-Jersey Tides: 11-for-45; .244, one 2B, five HR, 15 RBI, .600, .433


Pitchers

Great Lakes:
Eric Best-Licking County Settlers 3-0, 3.50 ERA, 18.0 IP, 17 H, 17 K's, 5 BB, .243 BAA


Cape Cod:
Alex Wimmers-Bourne Braves 2-0, 1.23, 22 IP, 12 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 37 K's, 13 BB, .155


Valley Baseball League:
Jared Strayer-Rockbridge Rapids: 0-2, 8.27, 20.2 IP, 32 H, 27 R, 19 ER, 16 K's, 14 BB, .368

Drew Rucinski-Luray Wranglers: 3-1, 2 SV, 3.22, 44.2 IP, 22 R, 16 ER, 41 H, 48 K's, 14 BB, .230

Andrew Armstrong-Luray Wranglers: 1-1, 6.19, 16 IP, 14 H, 15 K's, 12 BB, .222


New England Collegiate:
Dean Wolosiansky-Newport Gulls: 4-0, 2.41, 33.2 IP, 11 R, 9 ER, 29 H, 20 K's, 12 BB, .222

Summer League Buckeyes: Wimmers Shines in First Cape Win

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

Star Coast Today Recap

Summer League Buckeyes: Burkhart named CCBL All-Star Alternate

Photo is property of the Boston Red Sox

HYANNIS, Mass. – The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox have a league-leading seven All-Stars in the 47th Under Armour Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star Game to be held on Thursday, July 23 at Boston’s Fenway Park.

Each 21-player team was selected in a meeting of the team’s 10 managers in Hyannis Thursday morning. The rosters are comprised of 10 starters, 11 reserves, and four alternate players.

Cotuit skipper Mike Roberts, coach of the defending West Division regular season champions, will lead the West All-Stars. Hyannis’ Chad Gassman, Wareham’s Cooper Farris, Bourne’s Harvey Shapiro, and Cotuit assistant Noah Scott round out the rest of the West coaching staff. The head coach of the East is Harwich’s Steve Englert after Kelly Nicholson, coach of defending East regular season champion Orleans Firebirds, deferred the head coaching role to Englert, coach of the defending league champion Mariners. Nicholson, Brewster’s Tom Myers, Y-D’s Scott Pickler, and Harwich assistant Peter Pasquarosa fill out the remainder of the East staff.

Y-D, which sits in a tie for second in the East Division, lead the way with seven All-Stars, including three starters: Micky Wiswall (Boston College), who is tied for the league lead with 18 RBI, shortstop Blake Kelso (Houston), and outfielder Austin Wates (Virginia Tech), who leads the league in hitting at .385. Infielder Tyler Hanover (LSU), and pitchers Chris Sale (Florida Gulf Coast), John Leonard (Boston College), and closer Tyler Burgoon (Michigan) are also headed to Fenway Park for Y-D next Thursday.

The other East starters include Orleans speedster Gary Brown (Cal State Fullerton), Brewster’s power-hitting third baseman Jedd Gyorko (West Virginia), second basemen Colin Walsh (Stanford), and designated hitter John Barr (Virginia), along with Harwich outfielder Daniel Grovatt (Virginia). Chatham's Mike Murray (Wake Forest) starts behind the plate for the East and is backed up by Dan Butler (Arizona) from Brewster.

The starting pitcher for the East is Orlean’s Rob Rasmussen (UCLA) who comes into Thursday with a 0.96 ERA and 26 strikeouts in just 18.2 innings pitched. Rasmussen is joined by a stellar pitching staff that includes Orleans teammates Casey Gaynor (Rutgers) and Elliot Glynn (Connecticut), Brewster’s Kyle Blair (San Diego), Harwich’s Aaron Meade (Missouri State) and Chatham closer Russell Brewer (Vanderbilt), who is tied with Y-D’s Burgoon for the league lead in saves with seven.

Falmouth and Cotuit lead the way for West All-Stars, each providing five players on the 21-man squad. Falmouth’s outfield duo of Brian Fletcher (Auburn) and Todd Cunningham (Jacksonville State), who is second in the league in hitting at .368, get the start in left and center fields. Joining them from Falmouth is shortstop B.A. Vollmuth (Southern Miss) and pitchers Patrick Cooper (Des Moines CC) and Taylor Wall (Rice).

Cotuit, also with five players on the roster, will send three starters: third basemen Zach Cox (Arkansas), outfielder Zach Cone (Georgia), and catcher Cody Stanley (UNC Wilmington). Another Cotuit catcher, Cameron Rupp (Texas), will back up Stanley on the All-Star roster. Pitcher Daniel Tillman (Florida Southern) gets the nod as a reserve.

Joining the Falmouth and Cotuit players in the West starting lineup are Bourne first basemen Kyle Roller (East Carolina), Hyannis second basemen Nick Crawford (UAB), and Hyannis designated hitter Ryan Cuneo (Delaware), who is tied with the aforementioned Mickey Wiswall for the league lead in RBI. Derek Dietrich (Georgia Tech) is the reserve infielder for the West. Starting for the West is Wareham’s Brandon Workman (Texas).

Two more of Workman’s teammates are on the West pitching staff: Jack Armstrong (Vanderbilt), son of the former major leaguer of the same name, and Eric Pfisterer (Duke). Hyannis’ Dallas Gallant (Sam Houston), Bourne’s Stephen Harrold (UNC Wilmington) and Kevin Munson (James Madison) are also on the West staff.

Prior to the game, six players will partake in the Home Run Hitting Contest. Starting third basemen Jedd Gyorko (3 HR), Harwich’s Connor Powers (1 HR), and Brewster infielder Harold Martinez (1 HR) will represent the East Division. The West will be represented by Falmouth’s Hunter Morris (4 HR), Wareham’s Brett Eibner (2 HR), and Cotuit’s Kevin Patterson (3 HR).

Fenway Park gates open for the All-Star Game at 3 p.m. on July 23. Batting practice and autograph sessions will take place until the Home Run Hitting Contest at 5:15 p.m. The 47th Under Armour All-Star Game gets underway at 7 p.m.

The New England Sports Network (NESN) will provide a live telecast of the game. Local NPR affiliate WCAI (90.1 fm) will provide radio coverage. NPR’s Neal Conan will do play-by-play and the Cape League’s John Garner will handle the color commentary.

For tickets, visit any one of the 10 league parks, as the teams are competing to see who can sell the most tickets. Or call 617-REDSOX9 to order tickets. There is also a promotion to bid on being the "batboy/girl " for the game on www.capecodbaseball.org through Monday.


Photo Courtesy the-ozone.net

Burkhart who is spending the summer playing for the Hyannis Mets, was named a reserve to the west division all-star team as the roster was announced. The entire roster can be found here.

For the summer Burkhart is hitting .250 with the wooden bat appearing in 15 games. The Big Ten Player of the Year adds another honor to a memorable 2009 year. As were the previous to updates here on the Buckeye Nine, Burkhart is a grad of Cincinnati Moeller and like Wimmers and Oltorik, Burkhart will go a long way in the Buckeyes 2010 title defense.

Summer League Buckeyes: Wimmers make Cape rotation debut

Photo Courtesy Bourne Braves

Better late than never. Cliche? Yes. story of the summer for Buckeye All-American pitcher Alex Wimmers in his time in the prestigeous Cape Cod Baseball League? Yes.

You can't fault Wimmers for the tardiness in making his first start as a Bourne Brave, he spent two weeks in late June competing for a spot on Team USA's collegiate roster which is an OK excuse. It wasn't in the cards for the ace to be selected as one of the 22 college players to represent the Red, White, and Blue of America, but the Red, White, and Blue of the Bourne Braves will gladly have him on their team.

Wimmers made his CCBL debut July 5th against the Wareham Gateman. Ironically, though it was a game played in the heart of New England, a quick glance at the box score would have made it seem like another day in mid-April as Indiana University's Blake Monar was on the mound for the opposing Gatemen. Wimmers topped Monar and the Hoosiers on their Florida trip, winning 2-0 in a complete game shutout, while Monar gained a bit of revenge defeating the Buckeyes during the Big Ten Tournament. In the rubber match Wimmers would take the upperhand.

Coming in to pitch the 6th and 7th innings was the right-handed flamethrower from Cincinnati Moeller. Wimmers who finished the 2009 season third all-time in single season strikeouts, and in the top 5 nationally, continued a to make opposing hitters look foolish. Wimmers would strike out two batters over the two innings, he would allow a two-out solo home run off the bat of Shea Vucinich in the 6th, but responded with a perfect 7th inning, that included a induced ground out off the bat of Indiana and Big Ten Freshman of the Year Alex Dickerson. Wimmers and the Braves would win 8-5.

Wimmers return to the mound for an inning July 8th, as the Braves faced off against the Falmouth Commodores. Alex tossed a one walk, one strike out performance in pitching the 6th inning as the Braves would win 3-1.

After two solid outings in relief pitching, allowing one run in three innings, following a traditional five days length of rest, Wimmers made his debut in the Bourne rotation. The calendar showed July 13th, the opponent was the Orleans Firebirds, and the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year finally show the rest of the collegiate world what those in Columbus and cities across the Midwest knew. The Bucks have one of the nations best.

Wimmers pitched five very solid innings Monday night in a no decision, Braves loss. Wimmers allowed a solo home run to start the 4th, it would be just one of the two hits he allowed on the night. Three Firebirds reached base on walks, but six went down as strike out victims, a situation all too familiar for opposing hitters facing Wimmers. The box score for the night.

Wimmers numbers on the year after his first start are: 8 innings pitched, 3 hits, 2 earn runs, 4 walks, 11 strike outs. Oh and opponents are batting .111 off of the All-American.

After as fine of a season as you'll see out of a sophomore, to receive an invite to the Team USA trials, to come out on fire in the Cape, it appears the sky is the limit for Wimmers. This coming from someone who no-hit Michigan, it appears Wimmers might now just be scratching his potential. The Buckeyes as Big Ten Championships will be getting everyone's best shot, with a bullseye and microscope on Wimmers. With the way he's thrown against the cream of the crop, don't expect Wimmers to lose sleep over it as he anchors the Buckeyes in 2010.

Summer League Buckeyes: Roster changes

Just a few updates on where Buckeyes are spending the summer.

Cape Cod:

After not being name to the Team USA Collegiate Baseball roster, Alex Wimmers has finally arrived in the Cape and has started his summer with the Bourne Braves. Alex has appeared in one game, he threw two innings, allowed a solo home run, but that was the only hit against Wimmers. In those two innings, Wimmers struck out four, continuing the dominance we saw this spring that made him an All American.

Valley Baseball League:

The Valley was the exit of one Buckeye but the entrance of another. Joining Buckeye teammates Jared Strayer and Brian DeLucia this past week was catch Shawn Forsythe as a Rockbridge Rapid. Forsythe has appeared in two games, starting one, and is looking for his first hit of the summer after going hitless in his first five tries.

Great Lakes:

As one came in, one went out. Tyler Engle who was one of a trio of Buckeyes spending the summer as a Luray Wrangler has relocated and playing summer ball closer to home, but as found himself still in the company of a Buckeye. After hitting .313 in the Valley, Tyler Engle has found a spot on the Licking County Settlers roster for the remainder of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League season. Engle made his first appearance in a Settlers game last night as a pinch-hitter. Engle joins Eric Best as the Ohio State student-athletes participating in the GLSCL doubles from one to two.

I will do my best to keep everyone informed as to where the Buckeyes are spending their summers and how they are performing, as well as checking in with a trio of Buckeyes who are not on a wooden bat circuit but are day in and day out trying to improve their game as the Buckeyes in 2010 will look to defend their title.