WAREHAM — The annual end-of-May Cape Cod Baseball League Frank Finn Invitational Tryout is slated for Saturday (May 30) but things will be pared down from previous years.
The tryout has always been by invitation only, but in previous years as many as 80-plus collegiate players form across the country have received an invitiation. This year, only 24
San Francisco Giants outfielder Justin Maxwell attended the Cape League tryout in 2003 and was immediately signed to a Cape League contract that summer.
Photo by Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
positional players and 10 pitchers will be on hand for the tryout. The tryout is held each year at Clement S. Spillane Field in Wareham, adjacent to Wareham High School. It was run for years by the late Harvard head coach Joe Walsh and by the late Wareham Gatemen general manager and president John Wylde.
The tryout, which is now organized by Cotuit Kettleers assistant general manager Sue Pina and held under the direction of the Cape Cod Baseball League’s coaches and representatives, is open by invitation only to players recommended by collegiate and CCBL coaches, scouts and advisers. Scouts and representatives from each of the Cape League’s 10 teams will be on hand and in search of any talent that can improve their squads.
This year, 24 positional players and 10 pitchers representing 19 different schools will be showing off their stuff. It is a more select tryout than the 2014 event, which was open to 74 players from 46 schools. The league has increased each team’s roster size from 28 to 30 players, which gives this year’s tryout hopefuls a solid chance at making the lineup.
In past years, invitees have represented all parts of the nation but this year’s group of student-athletes hail from predominantly Northeastern schools, such as Colby, Merrimack, Tufts and Rhode Island, with one outlier: Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Registration for the event will begin Saturday at 9:30 a.m., followed by infield and outfield warmups at 10:30 a.m. Players will be split into separate teams and scrimmages will begin at 11:30 a.m. Among past noteworthy invitees who went on to successful stints with the Cape League and beyond are Justin Maxwell (San Francisco Giants) and Charlie Furbush (Seattle Mariners).
Maxwell was a sophomore at the University of Maryland when he tried out in 2003 and was offered a contract to play for the Bourne Braves. He went on to lead the Braves to a 2003 Western Division crown and was a starting outfielder in the Cape League All-Star game that summer.
— Information provided by Cape Cod Baseball League Public Relations intern Ryan Fitzgerald. Edited by Capecod.com Sports Editor Sean Walsh
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