By MATTHEW M. BURKE

    Since 2001, when current Orleans Cardinals coach Kelly Nicholson joined the team as a pitching instructor, he has seen over 70 of his players make the leap to professional baseball. 

    Matt Wieters, a switch-hitting catcher from last year’s Cardinals squad, was chosen fifth overall by the Baltimore Orioles out of Georgia Tech in the 2007 Major League Amateur Draft.

    Ask Nicholson his opinion as to whom his best hitter has been over the past seven years in Orleans, and he’ll tell you, its Wieters. But Coach K explains sincerely, that Dennis Raben, the Miami Hurricane sophomore outfielder, is a close second.

    “Dennis is as good a kid and as good a hitter as we’ve had here in seven summers,” Nicholson said prior to playing Chatham at home, the day before the Cape League All-Star Game at Spillane Field in Wareham. “He’s a [Cape League] Hall of Fame kid. He wants to play in the big leagues and he knows what it takes to get there.”

    Strong words from the head coach, who admits that he is partial to his current quiet clubhouse leader, and starting All-Star right fielder, but Nicholson insists that he would prefer to hit Raben with a game on the line than any other slugger currently playing Cape League ball.

    Raben, a 6’3’’, 220 pound, power-hitting lefty, with a strong arm, has been a menace to opposing pitchers thus far, as the summer winds to a close. He is big and strong with a stone-faced gaze while on the field, yet when approached after a game, he breaks into an enormous smile while doing interviews or signing autographs. Raben enjoys the game of baseball and works tirelessly to do what it takes to garner playing time.

    Raben is one of three Miami Hurricanes’ who played in last Saturday’s All-Star Game (Yonder Alonso and Blake Tekotte, both of Brewster, were the other two), and at press time, he lead the league in RBI with 32. He also participated in the home run derby. 

    His mother Lauren, and his grandmother, June, both flew up to see his All-Star performance. (Again, a smile breaks out onto the face of the family oriented Raben.)

    According to Coach Nicholson, Raben exhibits a workhorse mentality when it comes to the national pastime and its not unnatural to see him hitting in the cage hours before the team leaves for an away game. In one such instance, after hours of work, Raben had four hits, Nicholson recalled. 

    Coach Nicholson added that Raben has good balance when hitting, and he has “great” pitch recognition. The lefty is rarely fooled, and hits for power to both fields.

    Raben is currently atop the Cape League leader boards, tied for second in homers with six, fourth in slugging (.532), and fourth in extra base hits with 15. His batting average of .298 (going 37-for-124) leads this year’s Cardinals team. He also leads the team in at-bats, on-base-percentage (.437), games played (36), hits (37), and total bases (66).

    Raben didn’t play summer ball last year due to toe surgery, and he said that he is having fun playing baseball every day. A hot start had taken some of the pressure off of him earlier in the summer, he said, and he is just trying to maintain his prowess on the field to finish out the summer season.

    “I’m having a blast,” he said last week. “Ever since I got out here, I got a real good setup with my host parents, and just playing ball everyday…just doing what you need to do in the morning, coming to the field at night. This is awesome. I’ve been seeing the ball good all year. It’s an honor to have been named to the All-Star team.”

    Raben said that this summer has been made easier by having Alonso and Tekotte also playing in the league. He said that at Miami both he and Alonso live close to one another and spend time together playing video games and talking baseball. On the Cape, Alonso is in the next town over. The two have seen each other outside of baseball a few times but talk on the phone often to get updates on each other’s progress.

    “Its real cool that we’re both doing really well up here,” he said.

    Raben, who hails from Hollywood, Florida, originally wanted to be a Florida State Seminole, despite growing up 15 minutes north of Miami. His father, Richard Raben, played for FSU. 

    However, Raben said that “Miami is awesome,” and he fell in love with it after his first visit.

    Raben is coming off of a sophomore campaign at Miami that saw the Hurricanes lose to Louisville 8-7 on June 3 in the NCAA Regional, thus breaking their streak of 13 consecutive regional titles. He said that despite batting .280 with 61 hits in 218 at bats, 12 homers, and 48 RBI, he had not lived up to his own personal standards.

    “It wasn’t the year I wanted, but it was a solid year,” he said. “I played solid defense out in right and I also pitched like 20 innings too.”

    Raben finished the 2007 season with a fielding percentage of .977 in the outfield (he can also play first base) and had a 1-2 record in 16 appearances on the bump, with a 4.96 ERA, two saves, and 13 strikeouts. He gave up 17 hits and nine earned runs in 16.1 innings of work.

    In 2005, Raben was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 49th round of the Major League Amateur Draft. He followed that up with a freshmen campaign at Miami in which he batted .285, with eight homers and 32 RBI. 

    In the College World Series in 2006, Raben had three hits, and all three were for extra bases. He hit a double and had two homers and led the Canes to a team record 10 total bases and a .909 slugging percentage. 

    In Miami’s 8-1 loss to Oregon State, the eventual champions, Raben hit a solo homer in the seventh and plated the team’s only run.

    Coach Nicholson said that Raben can hit; this we know, but he can also play a pretty good outfield as well. Coach K said that he pays attention to the game while he is out in the field. He makes adjustments according to the count, position in the opposing team’s lineup, and has a strong arm to go along with it. 

    “He’s got a good arm,” Nicholson said. “He gets a good jump on balls…he’s a very good outfielder.”

    D-Ray, as he is called by his teammates and Cardinals officials, is simply loving his Cape experience this summer. He said that Nicholson is a player’s coach, and a pleasure to play for. He added that the Cape is the best place to play summer baseball for its crowds and competition. 

    Raben is truly enjoying his time spent on the Cape; something he said will no doubt carry over into his junior season at Miami.

    “Dennis can really hit,” coach Nicholson said in closing. And that could lead to a career in the Major Leagues and maybe a trip into the Cape League Hall of Fame several years down the road as well.