Appel season(s) in New England
By joshjacksonmilb
By Josh Jackson / MiLB.com
This offseason Josh Jackson looks at some of the top prospects who prepared for professional ball by spending time in a collegiate wood bat league, considering how those summers got them ready for the Draft and future success in the Minors.
As a pitcher for Stanford, Astros prospect Mark Appel showed makeup that made him the no-doubt top pick of the 2013 Draft and MLB.com’s 24th-ranked prospect overall. After turning down the Pirates, who drafted him eighth in 2012, Appel went 6–2 with a 1.41 ERA and 78 strikeouts over 63 2/3 innings in his senior year.
Photo courtesy of Stanford Athletics
But not all of Appel’s collegiate development took place during the college season. Appel played in two wood bat leagues that draw talent from top colleges around the country. After his freshman year, during which he only logged 38 innings over 24 games (three starts) with the Cardinal, he spent the summer in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, twirling for the Newport (R.I.) Gulls.
Appel was 6–1 with a 1.86 ERA during that summer of 2010. He started the NECBL All-Star Game, pitching a scoreless inning for the East, and he struck out 10 over 8 1/3 scoreless innings in the playoffs.
“Mark Appel may be the most gifted athlete we have ever had here in Newport,” Gulls GM Mark Paiva told the New England Baseball Journal. “Besides his pitching talent, what makes Mark special was his work ethic. His long-toss and pregame routine was impressive, and both teams would marvel at his arm strength.”
After his sophomore year at Stanford, he reported to the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox for two starts in the Cape Cod League. He gave up three runs over 12 innings, striking out 15 and walking one.
Video, complete with fan commentary and the sounds of the ballpark, can be found here.
Once again, his summer team made it to the playoffs, and once again Appel couldn’t be beat. In Yarmouth-Dennis’ first postseason game, he struck out 10 over eight scoreless frames. Appel beat an Orleans team that featured an Arizona State standout named Andrew Aplin, who’s now Appel’s organization-mate, and Matt Duffy, who’s now a Giants prospect. Rockies prospect Ben Waldrip was also in the lineup for the Firebirds that day.
In Appel’s corner were talents no less remarkable than Stephen Piscotty and James Ramsey, now the seventh- and 10th-ranked prospects in the Cardinals organization, respectively.
“Appel was special tonight,” then-Red Sox manager Scott Pickler told the Cape Cod Times. “That kid can really pitch. … Appel was the story of the game. He’s a horse. I knew he was good, but I didn’t know he was that good.”
After the 22-year-old righty’s first full pro season in 2014, it’s quite possible that a lot of players, fans and coaches will end up echoing Pickler.
