Chatham Anglers Banking on Experienced
Players to Bring Success in 2009 Season

CHATHAM, Mass. – With a newly renovated Veterans field, a new team nickname and 10 players returning with Cape Cod Baseball League experience, Chatham is gearing up for a run at the Arnold Mycock Trophy after a disappointing 2008 campaign. 

     Chatham hopes to improve both its offense and its pitching after finishing seventh in both categories last season. The A’s team battering average of .237 and staff ERA of 4.03 both need to be cleaned up if the newly named Anglers are to make a run at a championship. 

     Three players return from the 2008 Athletics squad. Matt Harvey (North Carolina) was key out of the bullpen last season, sporting a 1-1 record with a 0.83 ERA in 21.2 innings pitched with 29 strikeouts. Jake Thompson (Long Beach State) and Kevin Scanlan (Maine) also return for a second season. Thompson was 2-3 with a 4.91 ERA in 25.1 innings and Scanlan struck out 12 in limited action. 

     The Anglers also have seven players joining the team from other Cape League franchises, including relief pitcher Russell Brewer (Vanderbilt) an All-Star selection last season at Hyannis. Brewer had a team-high 12 saves for the Mets with a 2.74 ERA. During Vanderbilt’s regular season this spring, he sported a 2.96 ERA with four saves and 36 strikeouts through 24.1 innings. 

     Yarmouth-Dennis’s Tom Belza (Oklahoma State), Whit Merrifield (South Carolina), and Shawn Tolleson (Baylor), Harwich’s Patrick Johnson (North Carolina), Cotuit’s Jeff Schaus (Clemson) and Bourne’s Mike Murray (Wake Forest) also join the Anglers after playing elsewhere on the Cape in 2008. 

     Back at the Chatham helm is John Schiffner, the Cape Cod Baseball League’s all-time winningest manager with more than 350 victories under his belt. The 1999 Mike Curran Award winner also passed retired Y-D skipper Red Wilson last season for most CCBL games managed. 

     Over the off-season, Chatham put its $150,000 Yawkey Foundation grant to good use, implementing a number of improvements to Veterans field. Included are a new layer of turf in the outfield, a brick “knee wall” the length of the backstop from dugout to dugout and new safety poles which will allow higher safety netting to increase protection for spectators. 

     This season’s team features three Massachusetts products -- Mike Duffy (Vermont) of Milton, plus Sudbury neighbors Scanlan and Matthew Perry (Holy Cross).

     The Anglers’ roster also includes several groups of collegiate teammates such as Dean Green, Thomas Keeling, Tyler Lyons and Belza of Oklahoma State; North Carolina’s Matt Harvey, Ryan Leach, Jason Stallings and Johnson; Addison Johnson, Phillip Pohl and Schaus of Clemson; Vanderbilt’s Brian Harris, Taylor Hill and Brewer; Parker Bangs and Merrifield of South Carolina; Steven Brooks and Murray of Wake Forest; Long Beach State’s Joey Terdoslavich and Jake Thompson; and Logan Verrett and Tolleson of Baylor 

     Over the years, Chatham has sent dozens of players into professional baseball, including big-name performers such as Charlie Hough (1964), Tom Grieve (1966), Thurman Munson (1967), Steve Stone (1968), Walt Terrell (1979), Mike Pagliarulo (1980), Bobby Witt (1983), Brian Roberts (1998) and reigning AL Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria (2005).

     Opening night for the Anglers will be Friday, June 12, when they host Hyannis under the Veterans Park lights. Game time is 7 p.m.
  

Phil Garceau, CCBL Intern (garceau@capecodbaseball.org)