Growing pains not affecting Manaea’s confidence

OAKLAND — Sean Manaea arrived at the Cape Cod League in the summer of 2012 as a late-blooming prospect from Indiana State with one prevailing thought in mind.

“I kept telling myself, ‘Don’t embarrass yourself,'” said Manaea, who made the 17-hour drive from Indiana with his mother, Opal. “I didn’t really know what it was. I heard about people who had a couple bad starts and they booted them out.”

Chad Gassman, manager of the Hyannis Harbor Hawks, anticipated Manaea would help his club, taking him solely based on the recommendation of Indiana State coach Rick Heller, who assured him Manaea would be good.

“I remember watching his first bullpen going, ‘I don’t think this young man understands how good he is and what’s going to happen this summer,'” Gassman said. “I told my assistant coach, ‘It’s going to turn into pandemonium by mid-summer,’ and it was. Because every scout and every MLB team is seeing who the next big thing is, and that year was Sean Manaea.

“It came out of nowhere.”

A wave of sudden attention crashed down on Manaea harder than any washing up on the shores of Cape Cod. His first start against the Cotuit Kettleers was so impressive rhat Cotuit manager Mike Roberts, father of former Orioles second basemen Brian Roberts, pulled Gassman aside and said, “He’s going to be a big leaguer.” By August, Manaea flirted with no-hitters, taking one into the eighth inning against the Brewster Whitecaps.

So it wasn’t a surprise when Manaea was named the league’s most outstanding player, striking out 85 batters in 51 2/3 innings, then a league record. His surge through the Cape forced the rest of baseball to consider the same question Gassman did: Just how good can Manaea be?

Four years later, in his rookie season with the A’s, …

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