The Coastal Plain League is proud to announce the 2018 CPL Select Team, set to take on the USA Collegiate National Team on Wednesday, June 27 at 4:00 p.m. at the USA Baseball Training Complex in Cary, N.C.

A committee comprised of league coaches, league officials and Major League scouts selected the team. The roster is broken down as follows: catchers (2), first basemen (2), second basemen (2), shortstops (2), third basemen (2), outfielders (6), designated hitters/utility (3) and pitchers (10).

The CPL rotation is bolstered by Tyler Follis of the Savannah Bananas who earns the start on the mound. The sophomore out of Louisiana Tech currently holds a 2-0 record and 1.29 ERA across three games started. He has struck out 20 batters in 14 innings pitched for a 12.86 K/9 while allowing eight hits and two walks for a .151 opponent’s batting average and 0.71 WHIP.

Set to close the game will be Kenny Wells of Morehead City who currently leads the league in saves with five while also holding a perfect 0.00 ERA. In seven total innings pitched the sophomore out of Seton Hill has allowed only two hits and walked none while striking out 15 for a 19.29 K/9 and 0.29 WHIP.

On the offensive side, the CPL Select will be led by multiple category leaders including Patrick Causa (Florence) who leads the league in batting average at .458 and doubles with 7, while Redmond Walsh of Forest City leads the league in strikeouts with 26. In total 10 of the league’s category leaders, many of which lead in multiple areas, made the team.

While the CPL has welcomed the USA Collegiate National Team into its ballparks since 2006, this will be the fourth year a CPL Select Team will have the chance to face off against the best collegiate players in the nation. Last season’s game ended with teh CPL Select Team winning 10-0 over the Collegiate National Team.

The CPL Select will be coached by High Point-Thomasville head coach Brian Rountree with Morehead City coach Jesse Lancaster joining him as an assistant. Macon’s head coach Danny Higgonbotham was named as a Select Team assistant coach but will be unable to coach due to a player from the University in which he coaches (South Dakota State) being chosen to the CPL Select Team. Per NCAA rules, summer league coaches are not allowed to coach players during the summer season from the same school in which they coach for during the fall and spring. In his place, his assistant coach in Macon, Ryan Vruggink, will work as an assistant coach for the Select Team.

New in 2018, the CPL has partnered with MLB Baseball and USA Baseball to bring Prospect Development Pipeline (PDP) events to players for the 2018 season.

The PDP was established as a collaborative program between MLB, and USA Baseball in an effort to establish an official identification process and player development pathway for amateur players. With events around the country each year, the PDP is able to uniformly track and create prospect watch lists in a much more efficient and accurate way than in the past. The exposure generated by these events brings scouts closer to athletes than ever before, allowing prospects to be input into the PDP database for future tracking ahead of the draft.

The PDP also delivers a unique development opportunity to all participating athletes by acting on its founding principle that players at all levels, from the amateur ranks to the big leagues, should aspire to reach their full potential. PDP events have been designed to provide the exposure and objective feedback required to enable players to be the best version of themselves.

Specific to the Coastal Plain League in 2018, the PDP will conduct activations prior to both the League’s CPL Select Team vs. USA Baseball Collegiate National Team game on June 26/27 in Cary, N.C., as well as the CPL All-Star Show July 8-9 in Lexington, S.C.

While scouts have always attended these events, the addition of PDP adds an even more advanced avenue for CPL players to showcase their talents as they continue their journey to professional baseball.

The Collegiate National Team has yet to name a starting lineup for the game but their full roster, as well as more information on the team can be found at the website here.

The full 2018 CPL Select Team roster can be found below. Starters are denoted with an asterisk (*.) Players who were selected but are unable to attend are denoted with a pound sign (#.)

 

Coastal Plain League 2018 Select Team
Position Name Team Ht. Wt. School Yr.
C *Jonathan Embry Peninsula 5’11 180 Liberty So.
C Andres Perez Macon 6’7 240 North Georgia So.
1B *Josh Falk Martinsville 6’2 230 South Dakota State RS-So.
1B Chris Crabtree Holly Springs 6’4 225 Duke Fr.
2B *Chase Dawson Martinsville 5’9 180 Valparaiso Jr.
2B Chris Adams Asheboro 6-0 185 Pennsylvania So.
SS *Patrick Causa Florence 5’10 185 Mount St. Mary’s So.
SS Clay Dungan Savannah 6’0 190 Indiana State Jr.
SS #Antwaun Tucker Wilson 5’10 160 Longwood So.
3B *Rich Ciufo Edenton 5’11 195 Brown So.
3B Paxton Wallace Wilmington 6’1 215 Wichita State Fr.
DH/UTL *Elijah Henderson Forest City 6’0 175 Clemson Fr.
DH/UTL Joe Simone Florence 6’1 215 Rider So.
DH/UTL Tyler Adams Peninsula 5’10 195 Lincoln Memorial So.
OF *Myles Christian HP-Thomasville 6’2 180 Middle Tennessee State Fr.
OF *Justin Dirden Savannah 6’3 210 Southeast Missouri State Jr.
OF *Connor Tate Lexington County 6’3 200 Georgia Fr.
OF Joey Wiemer Fayetteville 6’5 205 Cincinatti Fr.
OF Chandler Jenkins Lexington County 6’1 185 East Carolina RS-Jr.
OF Parker Chavers Martinsville 5’11 170 Coastal Carolina Fr.
RHP *Tyler Follis Savannah 6’4 195 Louisiana Tech So.
LHP Redmond Walsh Forest City 5’11 160 Tennessee RS-Fr.
LHP Mason Green Gastonia 6’1 185 Central Missouri Fr.
LHP Shane Drohan Lexington County 6’3 170 Florida State Fr.
LHP Tyler Smith Martinsville 6’0 180 Cal State Fullerton Fr.
RHP Jordan Dubberly Macon 6’1 170 Georgia Fr.
RHP Kenny Wells Morehead City 6’0 180 Seton Hill So.
RHP Zach Keenan Morehead City 6’5 205 Middle Tennessee State Fr.
LHP Ethan Elliot Peninsula 6’3 170 Lincoln Memorial Jr.
LHP Paul Hall Jr. Peninsula 6’0 185 Virginia Tech Jr.

About the CPL:

The Coastal Plain League is the nation’s premier summer collegiate baseball league. Heading into its 22nd season in 2018, the CPL features 16 franchises playing in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. To date, the CPL has had over 1,450 alumni drafted and 115 alums – including 2017 ALCS MVP, 2017 World Series champion, 2011 AL MVP and Cy Young award winner Justin Verlander, as well as 2017 NLCS MVP Chris Taylor – make their Major League debut.  For more information on the Coastal Plain League, please visit the league website at www.coastalplain.com, and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat @CPLBaseball.