Small-college hitters with no pro experience

I had mentioned in an earlier post that it might be interesting to check the performance of small-college hitters who had no professional or NCAA Division I experience before signing with the Wild Things. This was sparked by Washington recently signing four hitters from NAIA schools who apparently fall into this category. Another hitter signed by the Wild Things played at an NAIA school and has only 30 professional at-bats.

Before getting into the pros and cons of small-college position players, let's note that signing pitchers from small colleges is not a bad idea. There are good arms at all levels of college baseball. If you want proof, just look at some of the names atop the Wild Things' all-time wins list and which level they played in college: Aaron Ledbetter (NCAA Division II), Dave Bradley (Division III), Tom Cochran (Junior College), Ben Ally (NAIA), Justin Hall (Division II) etc.

The thought here is, signing small-college hitters is a risky proposition. If you don't see 90 mph fastballs on a consistent basis in college, what makes you think you'll hit 'em here, right?

And let's keep in mind that not all of the NAIA hitters signed by new manager Chris Bando are likely to figure prominently into the Wild Things' plans for 2012. The corps of a Frontier League team is built on players who were re-signed or are picked up when minor league spring training ends at the end of March, so the small-college signees might only be vying for backup spots. Bando, however, did say that outfielder Rashad Taylor (Point Loma Nazarene) "will be one of the most exciting players in the league. He has the rare combination of both power and speed." Taylor was rated the No. 6 draft prospect in the NAIA last year by Baseball America.

Looking back on the Wild Things' 10 seasons, there have been numerous small-college hitters who have been signed but were cut in spring training. They were guys like Devon Murphy, Rich Michalek, Ryan Price, Phil Kern and Jon Leber. Remember them?

I attempted to compile a list of small-college hitters (again, with no prior professional or NCAA Division I playing experience) who played in the regular season for the Wild Things. As best I can tell, there were 19 such players (10 from D-II, 5 from D-III, 3 from the NAIA and 1 from a JC) who fall into this category. One player, infielder Shayne Busti, signed with Penn State out of high school but ended up playing four years in D-II at IUP and California, so he's included among the 19.

Those 19 can be broken down into:

Impact players: 3 (Chris Sidick, Jay Coakley, pictured, and Brandon Ketron).

Contributors: 2 (T.J. Graves and Robert Morgan).

Solid backup: 2 (Brandon Cornell and Rene Quintana)

Little or No Contribition: 13

The Wild Things obviously struck gold with Sidick and Coakley, a pair of Marietta College products. Sidick has played seven seasons and is the Frontier League's all-time leader in almost every offensive category. Coakley had three highly productive seasons, mainly as a DH.

Ketron, who was signed out of Union (Tenn.), an NAIA school, made the all-star game as a catcher and then was signed by the New York Yankees, though his affiliated career netted only 11 at-bats over two seasons.

Together the 19 players combined for a .281 batting average and 96 home runs. If you throw out Sidick's numbers, it's still a respectable .275 with 41 home runs. But if you go beyond the three impact players, here's what's left: 16 players who combined for: .256, 6 home runs, 103 RBI.

There were some forgettable performances. Dan Penberthy, a Division III All-American from Wooster, who in 2003 went 0-for-10 with nine strikeouts. Also in 2003, outfielder Matt Rollins from Division II North Greenville, came on the recomendation of former major leaguer Doug Dascenzo of Brownsville. Rollins went 2-for-22 and was thrown out on all three of his stolen base attempts.

Josh Gaub, a catcher from Division II Ashland, was 2-for-13 in 2004 but will be remembered for his struggles throwing the ball back to the pitcher (think Mackey Sasser's pump fakes). Matt Cotellese, an outfielder from Division II West Chester, was 0-for-1 in 2009 and hurt his elbow warming up before game. He missed the rest of the season but was resigned the next year, but then left camp. Ryan Morrow, from Division II St. Mary's in Texas, was Washington's backup catcher for most of last year but was overmatched at the plate, going 1-for-29.

Based on the Wild Things' results, expecting small-college position players to fill more than one Rookie spot on the roster should be considered highly risky. And Washington is not the only team that has had mixed results at best with small-college position players. The last one to win the league's Jason Simontacchi Award (Rookie of the Year) was Kevin White with Richmond in 2004. He played at Presbyterian, which has since moved up from Division II to D-I.