Orleans Bullpen Catcher Becomes Cape League Player And Proves He Belongs

ORLEANS – Charlie Lapp was never supposed to be taking actual at-bats or catching official innings for the Orleans Firebirds this season.

His job, when he arrived on the Cape, was bullpen catcher — one of the more hidden, thankless roles on a baseball team. Lapp wore an Orleans uniform but didn’t coach and didn’t play. He just caught the unending stream of warm-up and practice sessions for Firebirds pitchers throughout the summer.

Situations change, though, and Orleans’ roster suddenly became thin in the middle of July. They needed another body, one who could catch. Lapp played Division III baseball at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Firebirds manager Kelly Nicholson added Lapp to the team, and the bullpen catcher was not long after pressed into game action. 

In the end, Lapp proved he belonged as a player in the Cape Cod Baseball League just as much as anyone else.

“It's just baseball,” Lapp said. “That's really all it is, just a bigger stage, so I try to remind myself of that and just play my game.”

Lapp hails from Trabuco Canyon, Calif., a community of fewer than 2,000 people located amid the foothills of Orange County. Nicholson, also a Southern California native, knew Lapp’s athletic advisor from Santa Margarita Catholic High School, Mike Hiserman, whose son Matt had years prior played for the Firebirds. 

Need a great kid, call Charlie Lapp, Hiserman had said, per Nicholson. The offer to serve as Orleans’ bullpen catcher went out to Lapp around his freshman year of college. He turned it down, but the offer came in again heading into this summer. Lapp — playing baseball at RPI in Troy, N.Y., a historically industrial city within the upstate Capital Region — figured why not go out to Cape Cod, and accepted.

There was absolutely no promise of ever getting on the Firebirds roster. Lapp was just a catcher in the bullpen. During games, he’d catch sessions constantly, inning after inning. From the first baseline hill at Eldredge Park, Lapp could be spotted wearing out a path between the home bullpen and dugout, trekking back and forth in full catcher’s gear. On off days, he’d receive for a few more pitchers who needed to throw bullpens.

“You're just catching, and the lighting's not great,” he said. “But I mean, you’ve just got to go day by day.”

At the same time, there was an inkling of a possibility that Lapp might eventually get added to the team. For starters, Lapp knew his college catching coach had once been a bullpen catcher-turned-relief pitcher for a team, so he was aware the concept wasn’t entirely non-existent.

But also, Lapp had been informed early on that the Firebirds were dealing with injuries at the catcher position, and he might eventually be activated out of necessity. He went to the cages to hit, to keep himself ready for the opportunity, if and when it ever arrived.

The moment came July 11, per Orleans’ transaction log. Due to injuries, the Firebirds needed another catcher and thus officially assigned Lapp to the roster. In Nicholson’s 21 years managing Orleans, they had never before activated their bullpen catcher.

“We didn't have three catchers, so we added him,” Nicholson said. “And he's plenty good and he's a great kid, so it was a no-brainer.”

Lapp first saw game action more than a week later, when he entered as a defensive replacement in the eighth inning against Bourne on July 20 to catch Elai Iwanaga (UCLA). On July 25 against Chatham, he once again entered as a late-game substitute, this time as a pinch hitter in the seventh for catcher Ryan MacDougall (Dayton). He walked.

His next appearance was his first start, last Saturday against Brewster. Lapp walked four times, then drove in the go-ahead, eventual game-winning run on a groundout in the top of the ninth. He also stole two bases and scored once.

“It was surreal. I mean, all I could ever hope for,” Lapp said.

Lapp started again in the Firebirds’ final game of the year Sunday against Falmouth. He singled through the left side of the infield in the fifth and also scored twice. 

All told, Lapp reached base in seven of nine plate appearances. He caught one runner stealing in 19 innings behind the plate.

“It doesn't matter whether you're D-I or D-10,” Nicholson said. “It doesn't matter. There are good players all over the country, at all levels.”

For Lapp, it was just baseball at the end of the day. That’s all it ever really was, and he felt he just had to let his game show for itself. Still, even he had to recognize the unique route he took from high school in Rancho Santa Margarita to college in Troy to the Cape League’s 10 different bullpens to the actual playing field.

“I'm exactly where I wanted to be when I first started,” Lapp said.