By Roy Reiss
June 16, 2015
It’s always fun to have some rambling thoughts on the many things happening around the Kettleers at this time of year
Much attention has been given to fan safety recently as a result of broken bats flying into the stands of major league parks. In the early going of the Cape season, there’s been a rash of broken bats, especially with the Kettleers players. There were several in the exhibition doubleheader with Lexington and a few more in the opening game with Harwich.
Why do players break bats? Ask Coach Mike Roberts and you get a very interesting answer. “Very few youngsters come into this league with hand speed, most swing one handed, bottom hand dominant and as long as you’re bottom hand dominant, you’re going to have a lot of broken bats. We try and teach “buggy whip”, throw both hands at the ball, equal speed, and you’ll have less broken bats.”
Adam Whitt, the 2014 CCBL Reliever of the Year. Photo by Rick Heath
There’s always one really unbelievable story about a player traveling to Cotuit prior to the first practice. This year’s award goes to Adam Whitt (Nevada) who flew out of Salt Lake City to Baltimore. The plane circled the Baltimore airport for an hour before touching down. Rushing to make a connecting flight to Providence, Whitt was the last passenger to board. Unfortunately the plane sat on the tarmac for 3 hours before turning back to the gate late at night. With no other flights available at that time and no guarantee of an early morning flight, last year’s CCBL Reliever of the Year did the next best thing. Whitt rented a car and traveled all night, arriving in Cotuit early in the morning. And that’s what you call “passion for being on time and playing baseball!” By the way Whitt was drafted in the 16th round by the Astros and has left Cotuit to begin his professional baseball career.
It’s only an exhibition game, but this year’s Kettleers-Lexington Blue Sox doubleheader had so much more meaning. The Cotuit Athletic Association voted to donate the funds raised during the game to Pete Frates Foundation. Frates is the individual behind the “ice bucket challenge” that has helped raise over 100 million dollars to bring awareness to the fight against Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The 31 year old former Boston College captain had played for Lexington on 4 separate occasions against the Kettleers before being stricken with ALS in 2012. On a cold, windy Cape Saturday, the Kettleers faithful raised $1500 which is quite an accomplishment. And to top it off, we received a thank you email the very next day from the Frates Family which tells you all you need to know. If you would like to join the “Frate Train,” you can send your donation here:
The Pete Frates #3 Fund
c/o Arthur Cronin
33 Middlebury Lane
Beverly, MA 01915
Logan Taylor, cover boy for the 2015 Kettleers Yearbook. Photo by Joe Cavanaugh
Speaking of the Yearbook, when Logan Taylor (2014) saw this year’s cover he simply said “that’s awesome!” … Tony Kemp (2012) was named Player of the Month in May for the Astros Double A Corpus Christi Hooks. Kemp hit .326 for the month but in true Kettleers fashion he stole 11 bases … Congratulations to SS Kyle Holder (2014) who was a first round draft pick of the New York Yankees. Baseball America in a recent edition called him the best defensive shortstop in this year’s class. One scout called Holder the best amateur shortstop he’s ever seen. The one memory of Holder that sticks out is that he went home to the West Coast due to injury, but when he healed, he chose to return to Cotuit to finish out his commitment to the Kettleers … What a difference a year makes. Last year the Kettleers pitching staff surrendered the most walks, hit the most batters and threw the most wild pitches in the CCBL. Through the first few games of 2015, the Kettleers staff is near the top of team pitching statistics with the most strikeouts and least walks of all 10 teams in the CCBL … What was the first thing Lexington manager Rick De’Angelis did after arriving at Lowell Park with his Blue Sox team a few Saturdays ago? He quickly headed over to Arnold Mycock’s house to visit with the man who recruited De’Angelis to play with the 1968 Kettleers!!!
Kettleers Korner will be anything and everything that might interest fans, past and present, about the Kettleers. Roy Reiss, who started his career working for Curt Gowdy Broadcasting, was a former sportscaster on Channel 7 and several radio stations in Boston. His son Mike now covers the Patriots for ESPNBoston.com.