9 July 2008


Mets Robinson not satisfied, despite strong start

By George Kostinas
The Register

The 1-2 combination of Trent Ashcraft and Andrew Carraway knocked the Cotuit Kettleers out of first place and propelled the Hyannis Mets into the top spot in the Western Division of the Cape Cod Baseball League.


David Colantuono
Colin Bates (20) and the Hyannis Mets charge onto the field and into the thick of the Western Division race.

The decisive blow came Sunday in a head-to-head battle won by the Mets, 5-2.

Although Ashcraft did not figure prominently in that game — he was a quiet 1-for-4 — and Carraway did not pitch, the duo have been outstanding in the Mets’ surge to title contention.

Ashcraft (East Carolina) has been consistent all season, hitting safely in 15 of the 18 games in which he has played.

“He’s a backside kind of guy,” says Mets field manager Rick Robinson of Ashcraft’s hitting style. “His strengths are speed and his ability to work the strike zone. He knows the strike zone.”

A left-handed batter, Ashcraft is a line-drive hitter who can spray the ball to all fields and is especially good at taking the inside-out swing to slice the ball to the opposite field.

Ashcraft started the season with a six-game hitting streak and as of July 8, he had another six-game streak going. He has had two hits in a game seven times and three hits twice and compiling a .375 average, fourth in the league.

But Robinson, who coached Ashcraft at Young Harris Junior College, says he has not yet played up to his potential.

“I don’t think he is as good now as when he was with me at Young Harris. He got hurt at East Carolina,” says Robinson. “He’s not as fast and doesn’t hit with as much power.”

While the power numbers are not there — no homeruns and only six RBI — if Ashcraft has lost a step, it is not very noticeable.

He can still get around the bases quickly and leads the team in runs scored with nine and in stolen bases with 7 (out of eight attempts); the latter statistic is second best in the league.

“He’s starting to play more like he did when he was with me. I think this summer has helped him a lot,” Robinson says.

While Ashcraft leads the Mets’ offense, Carraway is the anchor of a strong pitching staff which ranks second in the league.

“His strength is his competitiveness,” says Robinson. “He has four pitches he can throw whenever he wants to. He has two different breaking balls and a good changeup. And he can throw his fastball in six spots with three velocities.”

His one weakness, ironically is his fastball, which generally clocks at around 90 miles per hour, although he can get into the mid-90s.

“He throws quality pitches and he does the most important thing — he gets outs,” says Robinson.

Carraway is 2-1 in four starts this season and has been almost impossible to hit.

In 22 1/3 innings, he has given up only 12 hits, but even more impressive is his league-leading ERA of 0.40.

That’s just one earned run all season, which came in a three-hit 1-0 loss to the Orleans Cardinals June 27.

In addition he has struck out 26 batters (second in the league) and has walked only five batters.

Now Robinson is waiting for the rest of the team to pick it up. Despite its improvement over the past couple of seasons, Robinson isn’t satisfied with the team’s overall play.

“The big thing here [Cape League] is you can’t get real excited about good starts,” says Robinson. “I try not to look at the standings; things can change drastically.”

What Robinson wants to focus on is getting better at the little things, such as the hit-and-run and bunting to move players into scoring position and then getting them across the plate.

“I think we’re leading the league in runners left on base,” says Robinson.

“We’ve been pitching well, and until recently we’ve been playing good defense, but I still don’t think we’re playing well. We’re doing a couple of things right, but we’re a long way from being at our potential,” he says.