CHATHAM, Mass. — In many ways, Dennis Cook’s first summer as the Chatham Anglers’ manager taught him a great deal of lessons. Managing a pitching staff in the Cape Cod Baseball League was one of them.

“Roster management, I learned some things on that,” Cook said after Chatham’s win over Harwich on Aug. 3, 2025. “Maybe scheduling out when we signed players, scheduling them out when to be here a little better.”

Players, especially pitchers, left the Cape often last summer. Chatham had five pitchers — JT Quinn (Georgia), Mason Peters (Dallas Baptist), Gabe Davis (Oklahoma State), Luke Jackson (Texas A&M) and Kolten Smith (Georgia) — get selected in the 2025 MLB Draft, and other arms left for various reasons after just a few innings.

But now, with a 30-player stable of arms — 19 of which pitched at least 30 innings for their collegiate teams last year — Cook enters this summer with the framework to engineer a quality pitching staff. Here’s a look at the arms he’s working with before Chatham begins its 2026 campaign at Bourne Saturday.

Possible Starters

Several times throughout the 2025 summer, Cook expressed a desire to implement a “pro-style rotation” instead of indiscriminately shuffling players back and forth.

He didn’t have the personnel to do so then, entering the 2025 season with just six pitchers on his staff who made double-digit collegiate starts. But nine double-digit collegiate starters adorn the roster now, so he finally has the players he needs to establish a set rotation.

The group is highlighted by Mississippi State righty Duke Stone. He’s one of few familiar faces for Anglers fans this summer, having stayed in Chatham for the entirety of the 2025 season. After pitching sparingly in his freshman season at Mississippi State, Stone earned a spot in the A’s rotation midway through the summer.

It was unequivocally a successful move. He led the Anglers with 27.0 innings pitched and 35 strikeouts in 2025, his 3.33 earned run average ranked second among qualified A’s pitchers and he earned a Third-Team All-Cape League selection at season’s end. He carried that momentum back into Starkville in 2026, striking out 107 batters across 15 starts for Mississippi State.

He won’t start on Opening Day, though. LSU’s Gavin Guidry will get the ball when Chatham takes on Bourne. Primarily a reliever for the Tigers last season, Guidry’s 6.39 ERA was far from ideal, but his 12.2 strikeouts per nine in 43.2 innings shows signs of promise.

Beyond those two, UCLA’s Angel Cervantes seems destined to start. To be a freshman in a 52-win team’s rotation, you have to be more than pretty good, and Cervantes certainly fits that bill. He was drafted out of high school by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second round of the 2025 MLB Draft, but forewent that selection to join the Bruins.

Across 15 starts and 49.2 innings in 2026, Cervantes posted a 4.17 earned run average, flashing a fastball over 95 miles per hour and a curveball with serious drop. It’s been confirmed that he’ll bring “Jerry the Dinosaur” — the plastic dinosaur that accompanied him to the mound during every start for UCLA — along with him to Chatham.

There’s a few other names who could find themselves in the mix as well. Yale’s Jack Ohman burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2025, winning Ivy League Pitcher of the Year honors with his 1.34 ERA. That mark slumped to a 5.54 mark this past spring, though his strikeouts per nine jumped from 10.6 to 12.2.

And Louisiana’s Cody Brasch started just eight of his 22 games, but with a 2.77 ERA and just 21 walks in 74.2 innings, he could be due for a breakout in the A’s rotation.

Bullpen Arms

Most of the roster is new — that’s just how things go on the Cape — but it’s nice for Anglers fans that Chatham’s rotation and bullpen both have a recognizable name. If Stone was the A’s best starter last summer, Liberty lefty Josh Swink was certainly its best reliever.

Swink, a Cape League All-Star, received the Anglers’ Ed Baird Most Outstanding Pitcher Award at season’s end. He finished the summer with a 2.63 ERA across 24.0 innings, the best mark of any Chatham pitcher. The lefty was a versatile arm for Cook, equally capable of finishing games and coming in for a multi-inning appearance.

That versatility shone in his return to Liberty. In 2026, Swink started five of his 21 appearances for the Flames, posting a 4.15 ERA in a career-high 56.1 innings. His arsenal isn’t particularly overpowering, but his career-high 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings this spring indicate Swink may have more swing-and-miss potential to unlock this summer.

Cervantes’ teammate, UCLA’s Zach Strickland, could easily find himself in the Anglers’ rotation this summer. But the righty came out of the bullpen 27 times for the Bruins this past season, and he shone in that role. Plain and simple, he throws strikes. His 2.82 ERA and obscene 8.67 strikeout-to-walk ratio this spring prove that twice over.

But outside of Swink and Strickland, it’s difficult to project who might thrive in a relief role for the Anglers. A possible candidate is Vanderbilt freshman Wyatt Nadeau, though he started nine of his 15 appearances for the Commodores last season. While his upper-90s fastball shows signs of potential, his 5.85 ERA suggests he’s still a little raw.

Another name to keep an eye on is Arizona righty Corey Kling. In 40 innings of relief work for the Wildcats this spring, he notched a 4.28 ERA and a strong 4.78 strikeout-to-walk ratio, displaying an ability to command the strike zone. The junior is draft-eligible though, so he may not stick around in Chatham for the long haul.