BE alum Daniel Brooks stretches baseball talent in Cape Cod League

Even on his days off, Daniel Brooks’ day revolves around baseball.
 
The talented right-handed pitcher for the College of Charleston is spending his summer in New England, competing in the prestigious Cape Cod League, which is made up of some of the top college players in the country.
 
Monday was his day off, after all it was the Fourth of July, but he was still at the baseball diamond helping out with a youth camp. Talent is everywhere.
 
“In college, you might have four or five players in the lineup who can get the job done,” said Brooks, who starred at Bishop England as a hurler and hitter. “Here, in the Cape Cod League, you get the best players from one to nine. It’s fun. Our team (Cotuit) is in first place, so that’s cool. Here it’s baseball every day. Everyone here is having fun – and everyone plays baseball.”
 
The Cape Cod League is a place where the future Major Leaguers shine early. Approximately one in six players in the big leagues spent summers playing in the Cape Cod League. According to its website, approximately 300 players on Major League rosters played in the CCL.
 
It is the top amateur baseball league in the nation and was founded in 1885 with military GIs dominating the rosters in those early years. In the 1940s, the Cape Cod League continued to showcase local and regional college players. It hit bigtime in 1963, when it became officially sanctioned by the NCAA.
 
It became the first collegiate summer league to use wooden bats in 1985, making it even more appealing as one of the best summer leagues in the country.
 
There are 10 teams in the Cape Cod League, and each plays a 40-game schedule. It’s not like college of professional baseball. Players in this league stay with guest families. Brooks is staying the summer with the Rogers family. The father is a fire-fighter, the mom stays at home with their three children.
 
“Getting to know a family like this is pretty cool,” Brooks said. “They open their homes to players who are chasing their dreams.”
 
Brooks, a 6-8, 245-pound fireballer is taking it slow this summer after tendinitis slowed him his freshman season at the College of Charleston.
 
While the players who will be drafted this year got most of the playing time early this season, Brooks, one of a few rising sophomores in the league, has been effective on the mound. He’s pitched 8.1 innings with nine strikeouts. One of those who were on the strikeout end was Clemson slugger Max Wagner.
 
“I feel better every time out,” Brooks said. “Every time I pitch, I get closer to 100 percent. My arm feels better and better.”
 
Brooks was 2-2 as a pitcher for the College of Charleston this spring with 12 games pitched, including 10 starts. He pitched 44.1 innings and allowed 36 hits while striking out 55. He had an ERA of 4.87 and opponents batted .221 against Brooks.
 
“It didn’t turn out the way I thought it would,” Brooks said of his first season at the level. “I will learn and I will get better.”
 

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