I’m back with my second edition of live looks from the Cape Cod League. Games I saw include:
6/14: Falmouth Commodores at Hyannis Harbor Hawks
6/16: Bourne Braves at Hyannis Harbor Hawks
6/18: Brewster Whitecaps at Hyannis Harbor Hawks
6/19 Falmouth Commodores at Hyannis Harbor Hawks
6/20 Hyannis Harbor Hawks at Wareham Gatemen
6/23 Hyannis Harbor Hawks at Bourne Braves
6/25 Wareham Gatemen at Hyannis Harbor Hawks
Charlie Condon, 1B, Georgia, Falmouth Commodores
Cumulative game lines (6/14, 6/19): 2-7, 1 K
Charlie Condon just left Cape Cod because he is going to play with Team USA for the rest of the summer. He is coming off an incredible year at Georgia, where he hit 25 home runs and slashed .386/.484/.800 as a redshirt freshman. Watching him take batting practice was a thing of beauty. He started off hitting line drives mostly middle-away, not trying to do too much. He ramped it up to the point where he was hitting nearly half of the pitches he saw over the trees in left-center field. It’s prodigious power, but what sets him apart is his feel to hit to go along with it. He struck out less than 18% at school and has significantly improved that number to 8% in the Cape, despite using wood as opposed to metal. His 6’6”, 215 lb. frame makes it easy to tap into his power without having to sell out for it. He’s athletic for his size as well, so staying at first base should be a non-issue for him long-term. He got unlucky when I saw him, hitting two balls on the screws right at defenders but he still managed to pick up a couple of hits in the process. Condon has yet to showcase a hole in his game, which is why he’s projected to go in the first round of the 2024 draft when he first becomes eligible.
Garrett Horn, LHP, Liberty, Bourne Braves
Game line (6/16): 4 IP, 2 H, 4 BB, 3 ER, 7 K
Horn did not fare particularly well in the box score this time, but that didn’t prevent him from showcasing some of the best stuff I’ve seen in my time on Cape Cod. He came out of the gate firing, topping out at 95 MPH early on and later settling in at 91-93 from the left side. He fires from a high 3/4 slot, causing good ride on the fastball which plays well up in the zone. He threw it nearly two-thirds of the time at school and nearly 75% of the time on the Cape so far, so he relies heavily on the pitch. However, his best pitch is his breaking ball. It’s a slurve-like pitch that fits well with his arm slot, making it difficult for the hitter to differentiate between pitches. It gets good horizontal movement across the zone and is capable of functioning as both a put-away and get-me-over pitch based on its chase and strike rates. It gets a ton of swings and misses, both in and out of the zone. He mixes in a changeup, which he rarely throws but has elite chase rates nonetheless. Though he’s not the tallest at 6’1”, he still profiles as a starter thanks to his great three-pitch mix and durability. He simply did not have a feel for his breaking ball when I saw him as he just couldn’t find the zone with it, so he leaned more heavily on the fastball than he already does. However, I am willing to bet that this was an outlier as Horn has consistently proven that he has an elite breaking ball over the last two years. He would benefit from throwing many more of them long-term as opposed to being so fastball-heavy. I think a team will alter his pitch usage and we will see Horn have much more sustained success at the professional level when he is drafted in 2024.
Ernie Day, RHP, Campbell, Brewster Whitecaps
Game line (6/18): 4 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 7 K
Day is what most like to call a “helium” guy. He has long had good stuff, but always struggled with throwing strikes as he walked eight hitters per nine innings at Campbell this year. However, he has since looked like a different pitcher since stepping foot in Cape Cod. He is typically a fastball-first pitcher, throwing the pitch over two-thirds of the time at school. It has good vertical movement that stems from his over-the-top delivery but can get flat at times if he is not careful. He hit 96 MPH early on when I saw him but ended up settling in around 93-94 consistently. It’s impressive that he was able to hold this velocity throughout the outing considering that he was mostly a one or two-inning guy out of the bullpen all year at school. While hitters had trouble with his fastball, they had even more trouble with his slider. It’s a tight gyro pitch that simply falls off the table when it gets near home plate. His usage of it over doubled compared to his college numbers and for good reason. Hitters simply could not touch it, racking up 12 whiffs on 15 swings for a staggering 80% whiff rate. He’s always had a good slider, but his feel for it was on another level here. He flashed a couple of changeups, but there was no reason for him to shy away from his FB-SL combo. He controlled the game well, pitching with a good tempo and poise that you don’t typically see from a relief pitcher. I would not be surprised if an organization attempts to develop him as a starter given his 6’4”, 225 lb. frame. If a team believes that the Ernie Day seen here is the new Ernie Day, he could land in the middle of day 2 of the draft.
Billy Amick, 3B, Transfer Portal, Hyannis Harbor Hawks
Season line: 14-38 , 2 2B, 2 HR, 4 BB, 5 K
Amick is far from the only college baseball player to enter the transfer portal this year; over 2,000 players are currently in it. Since he is in an already strong conference in the ACC, many suspect he will join an SEC program to show what he is capable of at the highest level of college ball. That aside, Amick certainly boosted his stock in his time here and is proved that this college performance was not just a fluke. He possesses a rare combination of plus bat control and raw power that has led to some very hard-hit balls, including a two home run game on 6/16. He doesn’t often miss mistakes being that a large percentage of his hits have come from fastballs over the plate. This is where he does most of his damage. He also rarely misses hanging breaking balls anywhere near the zone. The knock on Amick is his chase rate. He has a heavy tendency to chase breaking balls away. It hasn’t quite caught up to him yet, but pitchers will eventually start to throw these pitches more often and force Amick to adjust. He hasn’t needed to just yet since he has had great offensive results all year, but this is a legitimate concern as he moves up the ranks of pro ball. Defensively, he has good instincts and currently plays an average third base. However, he may outgrow the position as he fills out and has to move to first base at some point. Regardless of his future defensive home, the bat will carry his profile. He could be a first or second-round pick next year with continued success.
Nick McLain, OF, Arizona State, Wareham Gatemen
Cumulative game lines (6/20, 6/25): 4-8, 2 HR
Nick is the third McLain brother to play for Wareham in the last five years and has certainly represented the name well so far this summer. He launched a home run in each of the two games I saw him, both no-doubters off the bat. Though he didn’t see a ton of time at Arizona State this spring due to a broken hamate bone, he impressed in the sample that he had with a 17.3 K% and 13.6 BB% in the PAC-12. A switch hitter, he possesses an advanced approach from both sides of the dish that leads to a well-rounded combination of hit and power. It’s a simple, hitterish approach that is short to the ball, yet produces good power and exit velocities. He has had no issue switching over to a wood bat on the Cape, either. He did struggle with velocity in a small sample at school, but his performance on the Cape is proving that was likely a fluke. He’s a good athlete that easily profiles in a corner outfield spot in pro ball. McLain is a prime candidate to truly breakout in his first full season of college baseball, which will play a big factor in where he lands in next year’s draft.
Derek Bender, C, Coastal Carolina, Bourne Braves
Game line (6/23): 4-4, 2B, 3B, HR, BB
Derek Bender has been seeing beachballs since he arrived in Cape Cod. He’s currently 18 for 38 with seven extra-base hits and a hit in every game except two. He hit for the cycle in the game that I watched, though there was some debate as to whether the home run bounced over the fence or not. Regardless of that, he hit all four balls on the screws. He has an efficient setup in the box with his hands starting high, allowing him to get into the launch position faster. He doesn’t walk a ton, but he has a tendency to be what many call a “bad ball hitter” because he is able to make solid contact on pitches outside the strike zone. This is something that he will need to work on at the next level, however, as he has significantly below-average chase rates that will likely lead to more swing-and-miss than he has right now against better pitching. Breaking balls give him the most trouble, especially away. Though he doesn’t strike out often (14.8% at school and 14.3% on Cape), he does have serious problems with velocity. He did nearly all of his damage against slower pitching and was overmatched by almost anything over 90 MPH. That said, he has done damage against higher-quality pitching on the Cape, so this could be a sign of things to change for him in that department. I only saw him play first base defensively as opposed to his primary position of catcher, where he is serviceable. He gets decent reviews back there and could be an offensive-minded catcher at the next level. Though Bender has some underlying issues in his game, that doesn’t take away from the torrid start he has had as one of the league’s leading hitters and it will be interesting to see how sustainable this offensive performance is.
Caden Bodine, C, Coastal Carolina, Bourne Braves
Game line (6/23): 4-4, 2B, BB
Coastal Carolina has one of the best catching duos in college baseball in Bodine and Bender. They combined for an unbelievable 8-8 performance in this game and reached base all ten times they were up. Bodine, the younger of the two, is a switch hitter who is nearly equally productive from both sides of the plate. He’s coming off a year in which he walked nearly 50% more than he struck out as a true freshman. He has elite in-zone whiff rate numbers and almost never misses a fastball over the plate. He has an efficient bat path, getting the bat head to the ball quickly leading to his low strikeout numbers. When I saw him, he maintained the hitterish approach that allowed him so much success this past season, including two singles hard up the middle and a deep ground-rule double that barely stayed in the park. His good bat speed makes it so he doesn’t have to sell out for power in order to hit home runs. He’s a good receiver behind the plate and should be able to stay there long-term. I would not be surprised if Bodine was one of the league’s top players by the end of the summer.