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2018 ANGLERS SEASON REVIEW & SEASON PREVIEW 2019
The 2018 Chatham Anglers season will be remembered as
the beginning of a new era in Chatham Anglers baseball
as first-year skipper Tom Holliday put together a seasoned
coaching staff and a well balanced, talented, and cohesive
team. Strong pitching and hitting carried the Anglers to the
Cape Cod League championship series, where the Anglers beat
Harwich and Brewster in the first two playoff series to claim
the Eastern Division title. While the Anglers eventually fell to
Wareham in the League championship series, Angler fans were
very appreciative that the Anglers went further in the League
playoffs than they had been since 2001. The Chatham fans were
loud, boisterous, and very supportive of the team as it made
this incredible journey with several playoff games at Veterans
Field being witnessed by crowds of over 5,000 fans. It was a
truly electric playoff game atmosphere.
The 2018 Anglers had great team chemistry, and loads of
talent, as evidenced by six Anglers (two more than any other
Cape team) being named to the final All-League team. These
six Anglers, Michael Busch from the University of North Carolina
(.322 ave., 6 HR’s), Tristan English from Georgia Tech (.300 ave., has 17 home runs as of early May. On the mound the Anglers
5 HR’s), Blake Sabol from the University of Southern California
(.340 ave., 7 HR’s), Spencer Torkelson from Arizona State (.333
ave., 7 HR’s), Alek Manoah from the University of West Virginia
(2.70 ERA, 48 K’s in 33 innings), and Troy Miller from the
University of Michigan (1.14 ERA, 29 K’s in 23 innings) were
the core of this great Angler team. Busch, English, Sabol, and
Torkelson were an offensive juggernaut in the middle of the
Anglers lineup and they had a great support from many other
Anglers including John Rave, Illinois State (.304, 4 HR’s), Collin young arms.
Simpson, Oklahoma State (.275, 5 HR’s), and Greg Jones, North
Carolina at Wilmington (.259, 20 stolen bases).
Chatham’s pitching staff was again strong, led by the previously
mentioned All-League performances of Manoah (starting
pitcher) and Miller (bullpen) but they had immeasurable help
from several other Angler hurlers including starter Austin
12 2019 CHATHAM ANGLERS YEARBOOK
Bergner, North Carolina (2.38 ERA, 26 K’s in 22 innings), and
closer Greg Veliz, Miami (2.57 ERA, 32 K’s in 21 innings).
While it’s enjoyable to talk about the successes of 2018, it’s
even more fun to talk about the upcoming 2019 season. We
are excited that Tom Holliday and most of his assistant coaches
are returning to lead the Anglers again in 2019. Tom and his
crew have again assembled an impressive roster of talented
baseball players from schools across the country. It’s likely our
returning players will include Ben Ramirez (Southern California),
Jack Conlon (San Jacinto), Jorge Arenas (Stetson), Brandon
Fryman (Samford), Greg Jones (North Carolina, Wilmington),
and Zack King (Vanderbilt). It’s also possible that a few other
familiar faces from the 2018 team could rejoin the 2019 team.
To augment the returning players Coach Holliday has again
assembled a highly talented group of new players to wear the
Angler blue pinstripes. Offensively Kendrick Calileo (Florida),
Cooper Davis (Vanderbilt), Colin Hall (Georgia Tech), and Freddy
Zamora (Miami) are all batting above .300 near the end of their
college seasons. Adding power will be Alex Torral (Miami) who
are bringing several hard throwing starting pitchers to Chatham
including R. J. Dabovich (Arizona State), Mason Hazelwood
(Kentucky), and Christian Roa (Texas A&M). The bullpen is also
expected to be strong, with Daniel Federman (Miami), Hugh
Fisher (Vanderbilt), and Jack Owen (Auburn) all posting ERA’s
below 3.00 out of their respective colleges bullpens this spring.
Pitching coach Dennis Cook is looking forward to working with,
and improving the professional prospects, of all these great
There you have it, the coaches are ready, the players have been
carefully selected, and now it’s time to watch the 2019 season
unfold. We are confident the 2019 season will contain lot’s of
excitement, a great deal of joy, and probably a few tears too. A
typical Cape Cod Baseball League summer!