NewsCoghlan's rise got its start on the Cape
Wood-bat league was springboard for Marlins rookie
By Joe Frisaro / MLB.com
09/21/09 3:07 PM ET
MIAMI -- To this day, Chris Coghlan and Evan Longoria still laugh about it.As teammates in the Cape Cod League in summer 2005, Coghlan was primarily used at third base while batting cleanup. Longoria, meanwhile, played mostly second base and hit third.
"It's funny because he hit third and I hit fourth," said Coghlan, now a rookie left fielder for the Marlins. "Each time we'd run into each other back home, he lives in Tampa now, too, there is always that memory. We'd joke about it because, I mean, he's got more power than I do."
Back then, both players were striving to make names for themselves at the Cape Cod League, the premier wood-bat summer league for college players.
Longoria, now an All-Star third baseman for the Rays, was the 2005 Cape Cod MVP, while Coghlan won the batting title with a .346 average.
In 2008, Longoria was the American League's Rookie of the Year. Coghlan, who made his big league debut on May 8 after being called up from Triple-A New Orleans, is a front-runner for the National League Rookie of the Year honor.
Contrary to popular belief, Coghlan is not exactly an overnight success story.
The scrappy left-handed-hitting converted infielder for Florida has been building impressive credentials for years. It's just that much of what he's done did not garner much attention.
The 24-year-old who makes Tarpon Springs, Fla., his home, has a history of being a productive hitter. A standout at the University of Mississippi, Coghlan was selected by the Marlins as a compensatory first-round pick (36th overall) in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft.
Reflecting on his path to the big leagues, Coghlan feels his experience playing for Chatham in the Cape Cod League in 2005 helped launch him in the eyes of big league scouts.
"I think definitely if I didn't perform there I wouldn't have been a first-rounder. Simple as that," Coghlan said. "I think that's because that's the way it is, you get labeled. I think that's the way the scouting is. If I didn't hit (.346) would I have been less of a player? No, I wouldn't have been. I'd like to think it's a league that only helps you."
Coghlan notes Longoria, who attended Long Beach State and was picked third overall in '06, followed a similar path before making his meteoric rise after the 2005 summer league.
"I had just started putting my name on the map. I had a real good sophomore year. Our team was really highly rated," Coghlan said. "He was coming from Long Beach and I was coming from Ole Miss. We just meshed. We hung out a lot. We both enjoyed each other's company. But neither one of us was on the map before that."
The irony is Longoria remains a middle-of-the-order hitter and a top run producer, while Coghlan has embraced the leadoff role for Florida.
A look at the college numbers, though, makes it easy to see why Chatham coach John Schiffner filled out his lineup card the way he did in the summer of '05.
At Ole Miss, Coghlan was coming off a season in which he batted .357 with six home runs, 57 RBIs and a .509 slugging percentage.
Longoria, meanwhile, batted .320 with five homers and 30 RBIs to go along with a .421 slugging percentage at Long Beach State.
"He was pretty much a gap-to-gap guy for the most part, with occasional power," Longoria said. "A lot of guys, you don't really develop a lot of power until later, especially with the wood bat. He definitely had gap-to-gap power, though. He could always hit."
The 2005 Chatham team didn't just feature Coghlan and Longoria. The squad was loaded.
Four of the first-round picks from that squad have already made it to the big leagues. Left-hander Andrew Miller, then a star at North Carolina, was selected sixth by the Tigers. David Huff from UCLA was a compensatory No. 39 pick for the Indians.
"What I remember about Chris is he played third for us, Longoria played second," said Miller, acquired by the Marlins as part of the Miguel Cabrera/Dontrelle Willis trade in December 2007. "Everybody was kind of out of position.
"I remember Chris had an unbelievably high average that year. Generally, in a wood-bat league like that, averages would hover around .200. Chris hit over .300, which generally is unheard of there."
While the Cape Cod League improved Coghlan's stock, he wasn't an unknown talent beforehand. The Marlins' front office was well aware of him coming out of East Lake High School in Tarpon Springs. As a prep star, he was a teammate of the son of Dan Jennings, the Marlins' vice president of player personnel.
Coghlan's stock certainly improved as his numbers picked up in college. And the fact he hit so well in the Cape Cod League reinforced what the Marlins already felt about him.
"For college players, the opportunity to go to the Cape and get exposure to the top talent, and for us to see them hit with a wood bat, obviously you get a lot of questions answered that you don't get to necessarily see at the college level," Marlins general manager Michael Hill said.
"You're talking about the best from college. That's what the Cape has been able to do, get the best amateur talent from the top programs. A lot of times you see the same names at the Cape are going early in the Draft the following year."
Joe Frisaro is a reporter for MLB.com. Associate reporter Zach Schonbrun contributed to this report. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
