Update on 2016 MLB Draft prospects in 2015 Cape Cod League

I want to thank everyone for your suggestions. I will try to implement as many as I can, including the request to cover Cape Cod League play. I will be doing this every week through the Cape season, which ends in August.

Here's how the standings currently sit, including runs scored, runs allowed, and run differential:

The Orleans Firebirds and the Harwich Mariners are the current cream of the East division crop, while the Hyannis Harbor Hawks and the Wareham Gatemen lead the pack in the West division. Let's focus on the Firebirds, and look at who they are relying on the most.

You can see why the Firebirds have given up the fewest runs in the Cape Cod to date. And with the College World Series over, they'll be adding Vandy's John Kilichowski to the mix. Eric Lauer and Kyle Serrano are well known from their prep days, and both could easily be drafted in the first round next June. But I'd like to focus on lesser-known Mitchell Jordan, the 6'2"/205 righty from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida.

Jordan was named the Coca-Cola Pitcher of the Week for the first week of the Cape. He began his career at Stetson with a 5.64 ERA, 6.55 K/9, 2.6 K/BB over 68.2 innings in his freshman year. Not great, but respectable for a freshman. He did much better last summer in the New England Collegiate Baseball League.

Pitching for the Ocean State Waves, he had a 2.20 ERA, 7.44 K/9, and an impressive 9.0 K/BB ratio over 32.2 innings. He continued to take a step forward this past spring, with a 3.28 ERA, 7.3 K/9, 3.9 K/BB over twelve starts and 71.1 innings. And so far this summer, he's thrown fifteen straight scoreless innings in the Cape. He's got a nice, compact delivery that plays up his velocity, with a curve that has some potential.

On the offensive side, they've been buoyed by three big bats: Kyle Lewis, Bobby Dalbec, and Bryson Brigman. Soon to join them are Virginia's Daniel Pinero and Vandy's Bryan Reynolds. Pinero will be competing with Arizona State's Colby Woodmansee for time at shortstop, and Woodmansee has made the best of his early arrival to make it a tough competition, hitting .348 in his first seven games. But I want to focus on unheralded Kyle Lewis, the 6'4"/205 outfielder from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia.

Lewis was named the Coca-Cola Player of the Week for the first week of the Cape. Prior to Mercer, he was a two-sport star in high school, playing basketball as well as baseball. However, it wasn't until his senior season that he started taking baseball more seriously, joining a travel team for the first time. He gave up basketball to focus on baseball when he entered Mercer, and has taken huge strides in his first two seasons.

His freshman year, he hit .281/.340/.382 before tearing up summer ball with the Lima Locos of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate Baseball League. There, he hit .342/.425/.533 in 152 AB with the wood bat before going 2/6 with two walks, two runs, and one run batted in during a brief trial with the Cape Cod's Cotuit Kettleers.

That set him up for a breakout sophomore campaign were he hit .367/.423/.677 with 17 home runs in 226 at bats. He will still be twenty at the time of next year's draft, and has played center field in college thanks to a 6.5 60-yard dash. But the it's the bat that will get him drafted, and could set him up to be the highest-drafted player from Mercer ever, surpassing the Expos 1973 second-rounder (32nd overall) Pat Creech.

So far in the Cape this year, he's blistered the ball, with a .983 OPS and 160 OPS+ that's helped him create the most runs on the Firebirds. He seems to love to hit with a wooden bat. He will definitely need to quiet up the swing in pro ball, but he has quick hands and an uppercut swing that will give him power at any level.

Here are the top performers over the first two weeks for each of remaining 9 teams: