Scott enjoys a busy summer, CCL All-Star nod

After totaling five innings through his first three relief appearance for the Blues, Scott earned more reps and went on to crack the starting rotation, recording a 2-1 record with a 3.19 ERA while ranking second on the team with 36 2/3 innings pitched, and even earned a spot on the CCL All-Star squad.

“He pitched very well,” Blues manager Dan Marple said. “… He got more command, more presence … and he handled himself more on the mound in terms of handling tough situations. He’s a gritty baseball player.”

As a senior at Serra in 2018, Scott was the rock of a pitching rotation, etching a 7-1 record. He was one of just two Padres players to earn first-team all-West Catholic Athletic League honors. The other was Nick Lopez, who also landed in the Pac-12 Conference in 2019 as a freshman at Stanford.

Scott knew he had his work cut out for him in terms of seeing the mound at Cal. Sure, the Golden Bears’ workhorse, Sam Stoutenborough (Palma-Monterey) — who Scott defeated in a heads-up matchup as a junior when Serra topped Palma 7-2 in the Central Coast Section Open Division semifinals — led the staff with 81 2/3 innings as a freshman.

The 2019 campaign went more or less according to plan for Scott, though, who finished the year by picking up his first collegiate win in Cal’s regular-season finale, a 4-3 victory at University of Washington, with one-third inning of work.

“I was satisfied at that point,” Scott said. “I was just waiting to see, waiting to get as many opportunities as I can because as a freshman you can only expect to pitch so much … because it’s a totally different vibe than high school.”

Scott got used to different vibes in transitioning from life at Cal’s Evans Diamond to the CCL confines of Sinsheimer Stadium, home of the San Luis Obispo Blues, which produces one of the best attendance draws in the CCL.

Playing at Cal, Scott witnessed ginormous crowds when the Golden Bears traveled to Louisiana State University, which drew over 10,000 fans in each of the three games in Baton Rouge. He didn’t pitch in any of those games though. Attendance for a given baseball game in Pac-12 play sits around 1,000, the same as San Luis Obispo’s daily draw.

The environment at Sinsheimer Stadium, though, provides a unique engagement with its fan base more akin to a minor league atmosphere, according to Marple.

“It’s a really great environment,” Scott said. “Normally, we’d have a thousand, one-thousand-five-hundred people … so we just have the mindset of playing for the fans out there.”

Scott thrived in the summer setting. He opened his Blues career with a tough outing, getting touched for two runs on two hits while walking three in a two-inning stint against the San Francisco Seals.

In ironing out his mechanics with San Luis Obispo pitching coach Ed Gravell, Scott saw a quick turnaround in commanding his 89-91 mph fastball.

“Him and I focused on lengthening out my stride so I get over my front side more and keep sharpening my pitches,” Scott said.

San Luis Obispo carried quite a stable of pitchers this season. Marple said the team had 19 arms on roster, compared to an average of 15-16 on other CCL teams. While the Blues were expected to lose several pitchers after the opening weeks of the season due to pitch limits set by their college teams, Marple said it’s a general philosophy to keep extra depth to not overextend hurlers in a focus on keeping their arms healthy.

Scott, though, got stronger as the summer progressed, and his workload increased as a result. He earned his first extended look June 28 against the Arroyo Seco Saints, working six innings in his first start, taking a no-decision while yielding two runs on six hits while notching six strikeouts, a season-high at the time.

After earning his first win July 2 in 3 2/3 innings of relief against the Academy Barons, he made three more starts, working five, five and six innings, respectively. His final outing July 21 against the Orange County Riptide, albeit in a losing effort, saw him total a season-high eight strikeouts against no walks, capping the most consistent workload Scott has seen since his senior year at Serra.

“During the summer, I just had to work … and get back into one of those rolls, one of those important rolls,” Scott said.

In a conventional season, Scott might still be going with the Blues. With the National Baseball Congress World Series set to begin Thursday, the CCL champion Santa Barbara Foresters were one of 16 teams to qualify for the national field in Wichita, Kansas.

San Luis Obispo, however, declined to participate in the postseason this year.

“We were able to have two more weekend series at home … and we draw right around a thousand fans a night … including a 2,500 fan attendance on our final night,” Marple said. “So, the GM did not want to lose that revenue to go to the playoffs.

“We wanted to take part in the playoffs and had a team that was capable of doing so, but we had a GM that wanted to stay at home and make money,” Marple said.

While the Blues won their last two games of the season, Scott’s loss July 21 marked the last of a four-game losing streak that clinched San Luis Obispo finishing below the .500 mark in league play with a 16-19 mark in the CCL. This belies the Blues’ overall record of 31-20. Only the Foresters had more wins at 33-10.

“So we had a good season, I feel, and played some good ball in front of some good San Luis Obispo fans,” Marple said.

For Scott, who is now back home in San Mateo for the remainder of the summer, the focus turns back to Cal as he looks to carry over his success from the CCL diamond.

“I hope just be able to help any way I can,” Scott said. “That means, if it turns into picking up a starting role midweek or on the weekend, I’ll do that. But if I need to be a bullpen guy, I’ll do whatever I can to help.”