Tempe, AZ – Fifth-year senior LHP
John Cain (Middletown, NY / Lafayette) became the sixth Jasper in the last four years to ink a contract with a Major League Baseball (MLB) team, when he signed a free agent contract with the Los Angeles Angels at their spring training facility.
Cain went 9-4 with 96 strikeouts and a 4.13 ERA over 98.0 innings while limiting opposing hitters to a scant .276 average in his lone season in Riverdale.
The 6-10 lefty spun went at least six innings in 12 of his 15 starts while fanning at least eight batters on five occasions.
Cain capped his career in a 6-2 win over Marist, striking out nine, against just one walks, over 8.0 dominating innings while yielding just two runs on six hits.
Coach Cole On Cain's Signing:
Notes:
* Cain is the first player from Manhattan to sign as a non-drafted free agent since Jose Carrera by the New York Yankees in 2017.
* Manhattan has now had at least one pitcher in each of the last four years to sign a contract with a MLB team (Tai Tiedemann (Signee) – 2016, Tom Cosgrove – 2017,
Joe Jacques – 2018).
* The Lafayette transfer is also the second-straight Jasper with the number 34 (Jacques) to join a Major League organization, while his signing comes on the two-year anniversary of Cosgrove being drafted by the Padres.
* Cain made his Manhattan debut one to remember, striking out eight over 7.0 innings of two-hit ball in a win at Stetson en route to earning MAAC Pitcher of the Week honors.
* He also collected MAAC Pitcher of the Week accolades after defeating Appalachian State one week later, and fanned a career-high 12 over 6.0 innings in a win over Monmouth.
* Cain joins Niagara junior LHP Matthew Brash (San Diego), Fairfield junior RHP Austin Pope (Arizona), Siena junior RHP Brendan White (Detroit), Quinnipiac senior RHP Tyler Poulin (Arizona) and Fairfield senior infielder Jack Gethings (Kansas City) as MAAC players from this past year to join affiliated ranks.
