Cape Cod league?

The Cape is tops for a lot of reasons, including the quality of play and scouting opportunities, but there is more to it than that.  First of all, Cape Cod is a beautiful place in the summer.  The climate is great and it is a generally affluent area with beautiful beaches.  For players, one of the best things is the schedule and the travel.  It tends to be a little bit shorter season than others - a lot shorter than Northwoods.  The travel is great because all the teams are so close together geographically.

In terms of contracts, there are generally two types - temporary and full season.  A lot of guys get temp contracts at the beginning of the season as some of the guys on full contracts are still playing (Supers and CWS).  Some of the temps turn into full contracts if a kid plays particularly well, or if some of the guys on full get shut down (mostly pitchers), or perhaps make Team USA.  At the tail end of the season there is additional opportunity for temp contracts as pitchers either hit an innings limit or perhaps tire and lose effectiveness.  There is a lot of player movement in the Cape League.

Yes, there are host families.  While some teams may be better than others year to year or might have a little nicer field than another (some don't have lights), I don't think there is a bad assignment on the Cape.  I would not suggest there are similarities to college recruiting.  Cape coaches don't typically physically scout and recruit (at least not to my knowledge).  Players get placed there most often because their college coach has a connection.  I'm sure some Cape coaches pursue players, likely over the phone or email, based on recommendations they get from sources they trust, including pro scouts.

I would add typically the Cape is for older guys who have a chance to play pro ball.  It has traditionally been the cape that gets first choice of all college players then others.  College coaches recommend players for the summer leagues according to their level of play and contacts.  Each school usually has certain teams they work with in several different leagues and they send their players to those teams each year. 

Good stuff posted so far.

On a personal note, as far as I know,  unless things have changed, all players are recommended by the coaches from the program they attend.  Usually they send players to programs and coaches they are familiar with.  

The league is made up of the best college players from the best programs which would include those entering sophmore year as well as seniors. And yes the focus is on future ML players. Son did extremely well there, which did result in a high draft pick.

My son had to pass his first college summer due to logging a lot of innings. He played for Falmouth the following summer.  His host family still hosts, and we are still friends and they extend invites to us. They have hosted guys who are now ML players. He also worked, his pay equaled what was required to pay host families weekly. As a pitcher his job was to help run camps and pick up rocks from the field...Lol.  I don't know if that still is the case.

He pitched and played with and against guys that were drafted high and some are still in the game. His catcher is now the HC at Oregon. These friendships don't end when the summer is over. 

I grew up on the cape during summers as a kid so for me it's an opportunity of a lifetime.

I found this website last year with respects to top collegiate summer leagues

https://www.summerbaseballregi...com/2019_ten_leagues