From the Valley to the Cape: Blubaugh impressing in prestigious Cape Cod League

CAPE COD, MASS. — When AJ Blubaugh was informed he had received an invitation to play in the Cape Cod League, he had to sit down and do some research.

It didn't take him long to accept.

He found out the Cape Cod League was the summer home to more than 1,200 current and former Major League baseball players during their careers. It was home to one of the nation's premier collegiate summer wood bat leagues. The Cape is also the summer home to some of the best college baseball players in the entire country and all of them have similar dreams — to get drafted and play baseball professionally.

No wonder why Blubaugh jumped at the opportunity. The 2019 Clear Fork graduate pinches himself every time he steps on the field for the Orleans Firebirds, one of the Cape's oldest programs, established in 1947, and the Cape's most eastern team.

"It is definitely something I could have never imagined," he said. "I actually didn't really know much about the Cape before I came here, but I was invited and was super blessed to even get the invite. The competition here is insane."

That is exactly what the competition is saying about Blubaugh. As the team's closer, Blubaugh has appeared in seven games, tossing 7⅓ innings allowing just one hit with 10 strikeouts and recording four saves. He has faced just 24 batters and fanned 10 and his only hit allowed was a triple.

"Me and a really good friend I made here who pitches at Harvard, Chris Clark, share the closer role," Blubaugh said. "He is hot for a game and, if he pitches, I'll be hot for the next game."

Even though Blubaugh was one of the best relief pitchers in all of college baseball over the last two years — he was named Horizon League Reliever of the Year in each of the last two seasons — he still cannot help but be impressed by the opposing teams' rosters night in and night out in the Cape.

"One of my favorite things to do is look at the lineups and check out where all of these really great baseball players go to school and what their draft possibilities look like," Blubaugh said. "It is really cool to be among them."

Among them? The humble Blubaugh is not just among them, but is one of the best in the Cape at his job. He leads the Firebirds in saves and is tied with Ohio State's TJ Brock for the most saves in the league with four.

"It is something I still process every day," Blubaugh said. "It is something that still doesn't feel real that it is even happening. I never take anything for granted. Anyone and everything thing that has helped me get this far, I never forget. I think about all of them every day. I try not to look too far into the future because if you don't win today tomorrow doesn't matter, but this has been an experience of a lifetime."

It is an experience that has Blubaugh appearing on several MLB teams' draft boards. According to prosepctslive.com, Blubaugh is the No. 373 ranked player among draft prospects. After his summer in the Cape and his relief pitching ability, he might be shooting up on teams' radars by draft day on July 17.

Yet, the 6-foot-2, 180-pound right-handed pitcher out of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee isn't interested in knowing where he stands with MLB teams, at least not yet.

"I would like to think there is a real possibility (of getting drafted)," Blubaugh said. "My advisor does most of the talking. I have talked to a few teams here and there, but I specifically told him to not let me know anything until I am done here at the Cape. Once I leave here, then I will want to know. Until the job is finished, I don't want to know anything."

Consistently sitting in the mid-90s with his fastball and with an ability to throw a curveball, slider and changeup for strikes, Blubaugh has helped the 9-9 Firebirds stay in the hunt for a playoff spot.

While it does matter to Blubaugh about his team's success, nothing compares to the experience he is gaining and the connections he is making.

"Other than some of the people I have interacted with, I would say that when I came into the Cape I had a picture in my head of what it would be like, and it was so wrong," Blubaugh said. "I thought I would come here and all of the guys would be so serious all the time and baseball would be their lives and their everything, but they are all just like everyone else. They are normal 19-22-year-old kids who love baseball and want to play it as long as they can.

"When I was in middle school watching high school and college kids, you just had that image of what they were like in your head, and now that I am one of those dudes that image is wrong. We are just normal guys, and that is so cool."

It is also cool to say Blubaugh played for a prestigious summer team like the Firebirds, which hosted players like Carlton Fisk, Frank Thomas, Nomar Garciaparra, former Cleveland contributor Jim Norris, Western Reserve alum and current Detroit Tiger Andrew Chafin and current New York Yankees skipper Aaron Boone, just to name a select few.

To put Blubaugh's name along with those players is something he couldn't pass up when he got his invite.

"My advisor got the invite for me," Blubaugh said. "I was either going to do this or play in the MLB Draft League, playing in the midwest so I could be closer to home. But once I heard about the Cape and did my research on it, I knew it was definitely where I wanted to go. My whole thing is I want to play baseball at the highest level possible, and this is where it is and this is where I want to be."

And he has performed. He still has two years of eligibility left at UWM and he will wait to see what happens with the draft in a couple of weeks before making a decision about whether to return to school.

He said he is pitching the best baseball of his life right now and hopes he gets a chance to prove himself.

"I feel the same as I did at school and as I have felt for a while now," Blubaugh said. "I like to switch it on when I get out there. Off the mound, I am a joking person who loves to have fun, but when I get on the mound something comes over me and takes over. When I am on that, I feel like the best player, and you have to take that mindset out there every time you play against this level of competition."

Yet, he is still a kid at heart who cannot help but be star-struck by some of the talent in the Cape.

"One of the craziest things I have seen here is we played a kid throwing 100 miles per hour and I saw a couple of balls be hit 400 feet with a wood bat, and those are two things I have never experienced," Blubaugh said. "But it is very cool and I always look forward to mashing it up with the hitters and watching other pitchers and learning as much as I can."

jfurr@gannett.com

740-244-9934

Twitter: @JakeFurr11

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: AJ Blubaugh plays for Orleans Firebirds of the Cape Cod League