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College  | Story | 7/21/2026

Coppy's Corner: July 21 Summer Edition

John Coppolella
The amateur players in the Cape Cod Baseball League are the future stars of the 2027 MLB Draft. The league runs from June 13th through August 2nd. Games are played at historic stadiums in Old New England towns. It’s beautiful and charming. Hollywood even made a movie about the Cape Cod League ~25 years ago called Summer Catch. It scored an 8% (!) on Rotten Tomatoes, but, on the plus side, it featured 2001 Jessica Biel in a starring role. 

It was so much fun writing Coppy’s Column this spring. My hope is to highlight a pitcher and position player each week from the Cape. And, who knows, maybe somewhere out there Jessica Biel is reading it. 



 
Player of the Week: Coen Niclai – Wareham Gatemen 
The Internet tells me that 12 MLB players have come from Alaska, 10 of whom were from Anchorage, and the best of which is Curt Schilling. Niclai, who is also from Anchorage, has a chance to become the 13th MLB player from the 49th state. 

Niclai has gotten better every season. He began as a freshman at the University of Oregon and struggled to a .242 AVG / .324 OBP / .455 SLG / .779 OPS performance as a true backup catcher. He transferred to Arizona State this spring and took a big step forward with a .279 AVG / .425 OBP / .541 SLG / .966 OPS performance splitting time evenly with fellow Sun Devil Brody Briggs. He will be transferring to a third new school, Oregon State, for the 2027 season. 

Although he’s been off to something of a slow start at Wareham, Niclai had a big week, going 5-for-7, including a 4-for-4 performance on July 14th. That raised him up to a .220 AVG, but his power and plate discipline provide a .827 OPS through 71 PA’s. Niclai is an average defender at catcher with a solid arm but has only thrown out 3/25 (12%) of attempted base stealers. Well built and athletic at 6’2/215, he has a chance for his bat to carry him as a potential MLB backup. 

Carry Tool: Hit. Here “Hit” can mean Plate Discipline and Power. Niclai had 14 BB vs. 17 SO over 80 PA this spring at ASU and he’s got 10 BB vs. 14 SO for Wareham. Between ASU and Wareham, he also has 9 HR in 151 PA. The power and plate discipline mean that his production is not solely dependent on his AVG and provides potential big impact if and when it normalizes. There’s upside here. 

There are two other things I really like about Niclai. One, he can hit the Fastball – which is kind of important – and last spring produced .355 AVG / 1.254 OPS against all heaters. The other thing is that Niclai performed better against right-handed pitching (.316 AVG/1.083 OPS) than left-handed pitching (.174 AVG/.693 OPS). This is important because his performance against LHP was a small sample size, and his ability to hit RHP as a right-handed hitter bodes well for the future. It might not be Buster Posey, but there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on with Niclai. 


Pitcher of the Week: Connor Hamilton, Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox 
Hamilton had a nice week for Yarmouth-Dennis, shining in his lone start by pitching 5.0 Innings and allowing only 2 Hits and 1 Earned Run while recording 7 Strikeouts. This outing tracks with his performance on the Cape, where Hamilton has pitched to a 1-1 record with a 2.33 ERA over 19.1 IP.  

It’s been a step forward for Hamilton after his freshman season at Vanderbilt University where he went 2-1, 4.95 ERA with 38 Hits, 13 Walks, 40 Strikeouts, and only 3 Home Runs Allowed. Although only a freshman, Hamilton turned 20 years old in early March and will be draft-eligible as a sophomore in 2027. A Canadian native who went to high school in Tennessee, he stands 6’4/190 and is still quite projectable with room to dream on strength and velocity gains. 

Hamilton’s outing this week was primarily a two-pitch approach with his FB 89-92 and a hard breaking SL (more on that below). He mixes in a Cutter and Changeup, but both were show pitches this week. Hamilton touched 96 this spring and pitched more in the 90-94 range. Although his ERA was a little high at Vanderbilt, his stuff numbers were strong, and he seemed to be a little bit unlucky. It’s not hard to see a continued step forward with growth and adjustments, and an MLB future. 

Carry Tool: Slider. Hamilton’s SL has a late horizontal break and is used as his out pitch. This spring, he generated a 42% Miss Rate and 29% Chase Rate off his Slider. It was a big reason why he was so much more effective against right-handed hitters (.211 AVG/.647 OPS) than he was against left-handed hitters (.315 AVG/.871 OPS). In fact, when we isolate right-handed hitters only, the numbers become even more favorable, as Hamilton had a 50% Miss Rate and 33% Chase Rate against his Slider. 

The dominance against right-handed hitters and struggles against left-handed hitters seemingly suggest potential upside in a bullpen role. To that end, Hamilton threw 274 of his 643 pitches (42.6%) of his pitches this spring out of the stretch, allowing only a .236 AVG/.673 OPS with 0 Home Runs. He’s still young and projectable enough to develop into a viable starting pitching prospect, but his success out of the stretch and with the SL provides a nice fallback option. 

 

National Nuggets

Niclai has already hit the transfer portal twice, from Oregon to Arizona State and now to Oregon State … as we close out the summer, over the next few weeks, we will take a look at some other interesting names who have hit the transfer portal in recent weeks … on paper, at first glance, Linkin Garcia stands out because he spells his first name like the band Linkin Park, which is one of my favorite bands of all-time … on the field, in his first collegiate season, Linkin also stood out as a projectable and athletic 6’3 SS who produced a “What I’ve Done” .338 AVG and .877 OPS performance as a freshman for Texas Tech … he’s here in the Cape, too, although he has struggled while splitting time between SS and 3B with a .211 AVG / .505 OPS through 41 PA’s, a mere “Papercut” in an otherwise strong 2026 season … “In The End” look for a big 2027 from Linkin, after which he will be a draft-eligible sophomore, with the hit and power upside to push himself into first day draft discussions … OK, enough of the music references, let’s get back to another one of my loves: Notre Dame … unfortunately, my reference point for ND is that Bino Watters (no known relation to Ricky for you football fans) is transferring from God’s County to Death Valley and will be bringing his talents to LSU … and these talents are pretty prodigious for the left-handed hitting corner outfielder who hit .362 AVG / 1.057 OPS for the Fightin’ Irish in 2026 where he was even better against LHP (.435 AVG / 1.323 OPS) than RHP (.329 AVG / .941 OPS) … Watters is also in the Cape and hitting .284 AVG / .729 OPS and playing LF exclusively … his best position is “hitter” with strong exit velocities and a good approach … look for the bat to carry him at LSU, a program that has added a number of impact names in the transfer portal as it seeks a return to prominence in 2027 … speaking of returns to prominence, keep an eye out for Brody Trosclair, an intriguing left-handed pitcher transferring from Northwestern State to Tennessee … Trosclair had internal brace surgery on his left elbow in April 2026, and, with a typical expected recovery time of 6-9 months, should be ready to go for the Volunteers in 2027 … the 2026 Southland Conference Freshman of the Year and 1st Team All-Southland Conference Pitcher was downright nasty this year, delivering a 1.89 ERA and 55 Strikeouts vs. 11 Walks in 38.0 Innings Pitched … not draft-eligible until 2028, this 5’11 LHP has good stuff with a FB 91-94 and late-breaking SL that serves as his out pitch … with strong Statcast data, Trosclair is definitely a name to watch next season … last but not least, wanted to give a quick shout-out to Gable Mitchell, who was taken in the 6th Round (#193 overall) by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2026 MLB Draft … Gable was a student of mine this past Fall in an online class on baseball front office management at the University of Iowa … Gable was a good student and he has a bright future as a prospect for the Blue Jays, I wish him the best …  
 
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College | Recruiting | 9/18/2026

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Joshua Digulio (2027, Mont Belvieu, Texas) was a breakout performer for Texas Brigade 2027 - Gafford. Went 10-18 with a pair of doubles and a home run, while plating nine runs. Also showed some serious flashes defensively behind the plate. Physical frame with plenty of bat speed. Flatter bat path with a pull-side approach, geared towards backspinning with authority. Athletic backstop with tons of offensive upside. Dylan Buck (2027, Friendswood, Texas) put on a show for Up Top Prospects. Drove in 11 runs while going 5-11 with a pair of triples and a multi home run game on Saturday. Loose actions with a strong lower half. Adjusts well and generates plenty of torque as he works uphill. Serious power upside on display this weekend with more in that physical frame. Clyde Votaw (2027, Texas City, Texas) had a quality outing on the bump for Up Top Prospects. The Angelina College commit threw a...
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Are You Fixated on the Wrong Variable? Why Pitch Count Alone Was Never Going to Prevent Arm Injuries   You know a family this happened to. You might be one. They did everything right. They followed the pitch count. They honored the rest days. They tracked innings. They sat him when the chart said sit. They were the parents who spoke up when a coach wanted one more inning in a bracket game. And he got hurt anyway. I've been working with throwers for a long time, and that conversation is the one I have quite often… A parent sitting across from me genuinely bewildered because they followed the rules and the rules did not work. They usually assume they missed something. Most of the time they didn't. They managed exactly what they were told to manage. The problem is that what they were told to manage is one variable out of four.   The Uncomfortable Part First   Throwing...
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