CHATHAM, Mass. — More ties than wins isn’t exactly a storybook start for Dennis Cook in his first 10 games as Chatham’s manager. Still, the Anglers’ talent-rich roster has shown flashes of greatness to begin the 2025 Cape Cod Baseball League campaign.

One of the East Division’s OPS leaders. Multiple mound masterclasses. Statement plays by Southeastern Conference stars. Two wild comebacks culminating in some of the Cape League’s best finishes of the year thus far; win, lose or draw, the A’s are stirring excitement.

Though Chatham is currently pictured outside the East Division playoff picture, there’s no reason to fret. After all, it’s only late June. Cook expects many of his day-one rostered players to stick around for the long haul, meaning the Anglers could create a type of continuity that other clubs can’t.

Here are some notes on Chatham’s performance from the opening 10 games of 2025.

Daniel Jackson Drills Baseballs

For Georgia product Daniel Jackson, returning to the Cape was about nothing more than wanting to face the best of the best. The catcher/outfielder said he sees this summer as a prime chance to improve, and also an opportunity to build upon his brief stint in Chatham last season. In four appearances with the A’s in 2024, Jackson batted .188. With one home run, Jackson made his presence known. But it wasn’t emphatic.

This summer, it has been.

After a slow start to his second season in Chatham, Jackson now ranks fourth in the CCBL among qualified hitters with a .928 OPS. He ranks at or near the top of every single Anglers’ offensive statistic. His .447 on-base percentage is the second-highest mark among qualified East Division players. Simply put, the A’s have their early MVP candidate in Jackson.

In the Anglers’ 4-2 win over Cotuit on June 19, Jackson hit his first of two home runs over the first 10 games, clobbering a rocket over the left-center field fence at Veterans Field. Power was the missing element to Jackson’s game at the start of the season. Now, it is his game.

“Honestly, just thinking a little bit less,” Jackson said of his adjustments to seeing Cape League pitching. “Just getting as comfortable as possible, going up there trying to be a dog and just go and battle. Don’t think about missing the heaters. Go up there and attack, and see what happens.”

Jackson’s power hitting is no secret — blasting 14 homers and slugging .612 in the spring — but his discipline has arguably been more impressive. His eight walks rank second on the Anglers, totaling just less than half of the walks he took at Georgia this season (19) while playing in 36 fewer games thus far. There’s no doubt Jackson has raised his stock just as much as any Angler, if not more.

World Series Pitching Influence

Unlike a few CCBL clubs who’ve switched to using PitchCom devices to call pitches in games, Cook and pitching coach Jay Powell make the A’s do it the old-fashioned way: simple non-verbal signals between catcher and pitcher.

Cook and Powell didn’t need technology coming out of the Marlins’ bullpen in 1997 — when they helped the franchise to a World Series victory. So, why need it now?

“Just like I told them yesterday, we’re not going to call the pitches for them. They need to learn how to do it,” Cook said after a June 14 game against Falmouth, revealing the A’s pitchers call their own pitches. “Catchers just make suggestions. It’s the pitcher's game, so he decides.”

The old-school thought process Cook and Powell employ upon their pitching staff led to a solid string of mound performances to begin the year. On Opening Day, Georgia right-hander JT Quinn tossed five innings of one-run ball, punching out 10 Falmouth hitters and walking just one. He mixed his high 90s fastball with a blistering slider, instantly establishing himself as a premier arm in the Cape League.

Quinn, who was paired with catcher Noah Miller (Michigan) that night, said the newly-formed battery connection worked smoothly and adjusted well off each other. After Cook stayed back and let his talent figure it out, Quinn formed a bond with Miller. And the results showed.

“It’s a lot of fun meeting new people, and obviously these guys are really good and they’re here for a reason,” Quinn said. “Noah (Miller) was great behind there.”

Angler pitching limited their opponents to less than five runs in each of their first five games this summer. While Quinn’s showing was impressive, four perfect innings and a whopping 10 strikeouts from his UGA teammate, Nate Taylor, might be Chatham’s best individual outing thus far. The right-hander virtually buried Wareham’s bats into the ground on June 16, tossing a deadly pitch mix of a high-90s fastball to a high-70s changeup and generating a lot of whiffs.

Six strikeouts in four frames from southpaw reliever Charlie Foster (Mississippi State) on Opening Day sticks out as one of the Anglers’ gaudiest bullpen showings. As does Mason Bixby’s (TCU/transfer) three-inning, four-K game on June 19 and Gabe Davis’ (Oklahoma State) four shutout frames with seven punchouts on June 24.

No matter the outcome, Cook and Powell’s philosophy is giving their pitchers a professional treatment. They have the freedom to determine how they can maximize their summers on the Cape. As long as they throw strikes, Cook will be happy.

“Listen, all we’re going to ask of our guys is to fill up the strike zone,” Cook said. “Fill it up, dominate the zone, and we live with the results.”

SEC Standouts

A southern flare engulfs this Chatham team. But that’s not solely from Cook’s Texas roots and Powell’s Mississippi ties. The A’s are loaded with SEC talent, as many of their everyday starters in the field hail from college baseball’s most prestigious conference.

It’s more than the aforementioned Georgia guys in Jackson, Taylor and Quinn — three of Chatham’s top individual performers this season. Third baseman/outfielder Ace Reese (Mississippi State), second baseman Ethan Mendoza (Texas) and freshly-minted SEC commit, center fielder Henry Ford (Tennessee), were integral to the A’s lineup through 10 games.

Few A’s position players have been more impactful than Ford, who announced his transfer to the Volunteers on June 22. He’s playing a lockdown center field, his standout moment being a home-run robbery at Veterans Field on June 24. At the dish, he belted two home runs in a four-game span, the last of which served as a game-tying homer in the ninth against Cotuit. Ford’s .810 OPS ranks third on Chatham and his seven RBI are tied for first.

Every day, Ford shows up early at Veterans Field to get in some batting cage work with his new SEC pal, Mendoza. The two have been some of the Anglers’ most consistent players, as Mendoza has started all 10 games at second base so far. Mendoza is batting .262 with six RBI and a team-high 11 hits. His signature moment came on June 17 against Hyannis, where Mendoza clocked a leadoff homer to deep left-center field — Chatham’s first long ball of 2025.

“It was a little bit of a hanger,” Mendoza said of the 2-2 changeup from Hyannis starter Ethan Plog that he sent over the Veterans Field wall. “I was just kind of trying to see him deep, and he left one out over the plate.”

A hanger is what Reese has seen twice over his last two games, and both were crushed. On June 24 when Chatham hosted Harwich, Reese stepped to the dish with two outs and two runners on in the bottom of the 10th as the Anglers trailed 7-4. He clocked a fastball over the heart of the plate into deep center field, and trotted around the bases for a game-tying homer.

“Well, I’ve been waiting for him to get one,” Cook said of Reese’s blast.

It was Reese’s first tater in Chatham, and he followed it up a day later with a two-run shot in Cotuit to knot the game at 4-4 in the seventh inning — which led to another tie.

Reese will be gone in a matter of days for Team USA camp, but he’ll leave after undeniably making his mark on the Cape.

Two Fervent Comebacks

The cardiac A’s would be a fitting nickname for this team if their comebacks led to wins instead of ties. However, credit where credit is due: Chatham has flexed its clutch gene by putting together a few late-inning rallies for the ages. And they occurred within 24 hours of each other.

First, on June 24, the Anglers trailed 7-3 to Harwich at Veterans Field after the visitors poured four runs on the scoreboard in the top of the 10th. Yet, Chatham somehow pulled a rabbit out of a hat. It extinguished its prior offensive struggles as Ford laced an RBI single and Reese demolished a game-tying three-run homer to center field. Though they only salvaged a tie, it was a major awakening for the A’s offense, which carried into the following night against Cotuit.

Ford stepped up to the dish in the top of the ninth with the Anglers down 6-4 to the Kettleers. Back against the wall, Ford belted a two-run shot to right-center field for his second homer of the season, a game-tying one at that.

Time is of the essence for this A’s offense. They’ve all hit well at every level before, so there’s no reason why they can’t figure CCBL pitching out. Chatham’s two-game stretch of ties with Harwich and Cotuit suggests it’s trending in the right direction at the dish, even if it took some time.

“I think we’re getting better every game, and putting together better at-bats,” Ford said after his ninth-inning home run against Cotuit.

They’ve proven their capabilities to shine in dire situations. The Anglers just haven’t made much noise early in games yet, a factor that’s led to their 2-5-3 start.