Wild Things deal for power hitter

The Washington Wild Things have acquired a right-handed power hitter in a trade with the River City Rascals.

Washington sent its first-round draft pick at the upcoming Frontier League tryout and a player to be named to River City in exchange for Josh Banda (pictured).

The 25-year-old Banda is listed as a catcher in the Frontier League transactions and was described as a utility player by the Wild Things. With River City last year, Banda was not used a catcher and played only a few games at first base. He spent most of his playing time as a designated hitter.

Banda played two seasons with River City, batting .270 with 14 home runs and 52 RBI last year. During the 2010 playoffs, he batted .286 with eight hits, four runs and three RBI in eight games. In 2009, he played in 11 games for River City, batting .303 with two home runs and five RBI.

Banda's 99 strikeouts were the fourth-most in the league last season.

The Lakewood, Calif., native also played three seasons with Tri-City of the Class A Northwest League from 2006-2008. He was drafted three times by the Colorado Rockies before signing.

Ochoa played college baseball at California Baptist.

“We are very excited add Josh to our organization and look forward to adding his five years of experience and leadership to our clubhouse," Wild Things manager Darin Everson said. "He brings many valuable assets to our lineup, including his experience as an everyday player who helped lead his team to the Frontier League championship. His impact bat will be a force in the middle of our lineup, and we believe he will continue to push the ceiling of his potential.”

That the Wild Things were able to acquire Banda shows that Frontier League teams should be expected to have more experienced rosters this year under the league's new player classification system (Rookie-1, Rookie-2, Experienced and Veteran). Under the old system of Rookie, L1, L2 and Veteran, Washington already would be over the limit of L2 players with four (Justin Edwards, Billy Muldowney, Banda and Luis Rivera) and have two veterans (Emilio Ontiveros and Chris Sidick). That total would be one under the limit with a entire crops of spring training releases yet to sign.