Doubleheader highlights

Some highlights, including an impressive home run by Quincy Latimore, from the Wild Things' doubleheader split last night at Traverse City:

Cleaning out the notebook

A few random notes that have cluttered my notebook and mind:

* Anyone remember Jordan Elliott?

He was the right-handed pitcher the Wild Things signed this year out of Delaware State University. Elliott pitched in only two games for Washington back in June, one outing against Traverse City and another against River City. Elliott gave up three runs (two earned) in 1 1/3 innings and was released.

Well, Elliott has landed a spot in affiliated ball. He was recently signed by the Philadelphia Phillies.

* The 17 home runs hit by Washington second baseman C.J. Beatty are the most by a Wild Things player since the 2009 season, when Jacob Dempsey hit 31, and Grant Psomas and Ernie Banks each had 24. If only that 2009 team could pitch.

* Here is the link of a story in the Altoona Mirror about Wild Things relief pitcher Andy Smithmyer:

http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/573978/Smithmyer-pitching-in-Frontier-League.html?nav=751

One thing I didn't know before reading the story is that Joliet, Ill., with a population of more than 147,000, and Evansville, Ind., (population 117,000-plus) the third-largest city in Indiana, is a small town. I thought Avella was a small town.

* Outfielder Nick Akins, who played eight games for the Wild Things in late May and early June before being released, is leading the Frontier League in home runs with 20 (all hit with Joliet). In a recent story in the Joliet Herald-News, Akins accuses the Wild Things of character assassination.

According to Akins, "They said some pretty negative stuff about me. They tried to attack my character. It was one thing for them to say I just wasn't playing well and let me go. But when I got here, I heard they were accusing me of stuff I didn't do.

"I can't control what comes out of peoples' mouths. I know what kind of person I am. My teammates know what kind of person I am."

Here is the link to the story:

http://heraldnews.suntimes.com/sports/22053419-419/baseball-competitive-talented-thats-the-slammers-nick-akins.html

* Are the Wild Things better this season than they were last year?

My guess is you would say this year's team is significantly better than the 2012 version, which was dubbed the "Bando Bunch" by readers of this blog. Such an opinion about the 2013 squad would be based on the eye test. While this team doesn't have the starting pitching of last year's club, it is much better offensively with the addition of C.J. Beatty and QuincyLatimore, plus Mark Samuelson, Jovan Rosa and A.J. Nunziato having better seasons with the bat than a year ago. The Wild Things, for most of the year, have been solid in the bullpen. That combination has made for more competitive games than in 2012.

But if you look at the won-lost record, this year's team will have to play winning ball over its final nine games to beat last year's record.

Washington's record is currently 40-47. The 2012 Bando Bunch went 44-52. That means the Wild Things need to have a winning record over their final nine games to better last year's mark. Say the Wild Things win their final three games, which are against the Greys, who seem to have reached their breaking point and thrown in the towel on the season. That means the Wild Things must win two out of six against Traverse City and Florence. That will be difficult as each team is in the thick of the playoff race and has much at stake. And here's a humbling statistic when it comes to playing Traverse City: In the last 22 games against the Beach Bums, the Wild Things have a record of 1-21.

Well, you can say the Wild Things are due to win against the Beach Bums.

* One other note about season totals: Washington is currently averaging a paid attendance of 1,696 per game. Last year, they drew 1,741 per game. That means to avoid having a drop in attendance in 2013, Washington must average 2,087 fans for the final six home games.

Sanford latest to go

The purging of the Wild Things' roster continued Monday at the Frontier League's trade deadline. Washington sent Sanford, a right-hander who has been the ace of the pitching staff, to the Schaumburg Boomers in exchange for a player to be named.

In 18 games with Washington, Sanford had an 8-5 record and 3.01 ERA. He leads the Wild Things in wins and strikeouts (88) and is second in innings pitched (113 1/3).

Sanford will be a key piece for the Boomers as they try to secure a playoff berth. They enter Tuesday in first place in the West Division, three games ahead of Gateway.

"We knew how much Shawn wanted to make the playoffs, and when Schaumburg called, it became a win-win for both clubs," Washington manager Bart Zeller said in a press release. "Shawn wanted to move to a higher league, and we feel we have strengthened our team for next season. We wish him well."

The recent trades of Experienced players such as Sanford, Darian Sanford and Orlando Santos have helped the Wild Things from a payroll standpoint. According to several sources, Washington has had trouble all season staying under the league's salary cap.

Another pitching change

The Wild Things apparently have made the decision to use the remainder of the season to audition rookie pitchers in hope that one or more will prove worthy of re-signing for the 2014 season.

Washington added its third rookie pitcher in two days when it added lefty Steve Messner and placed reliever Matt Phillips on the disabled list.

Messner played this spring at Cal State-San Marcos, an NAIA school in California (again, where have we seen this before?) and had a 7-3 record in 15 games (13 starts) and a 2.91 ERA. He gave up only 56 hits in 80 1/3 innings and struck out 74, through he did walk 54 batters, which is an alarmingly high walk-to-inning pitched rate.

Messner played his junior season at Oklahoma Baptist, another NAIA school, and was very good. He had an 8-4 record, 2.82 ERA and struck out 109 batters in only 83 innings. He gave up just 63 hits.

Prior to Oklahoma Baptist, Messner played for the College of the Canyons and Cal State-Northridge.

Phillips had been given a heavy workload for the Wild Things. He has pitched in 34 games with a 3-3 record, one save and a 3.34 ERA. Phillips pitched better than those numbers suggest.

Pitching changes

The Wild Things have made a flurry of roster moves in the past 24 hours, the majority involving pitchers. Here's a rundown:

* Prior to the 5-4 loss Monday to the Windy City ThunderBolts, Washington signed pitcher Pat Butler, a 6-1, 200-pound rookie reliever who played this spring for the University of Connecticut. Butler also played for Camden in the independent Atlantic League. He appeared in 3 games with the Riversharks, making one start. He had a 1-1 record and 27.00 ERA. Butler made his debut with the Wild Things Monday and gave up two runs (both unearned) and was charged with a blown save, only the fifth of the year for the Wild Things.

Butler had an 11-7 record in his career at UConn and pitched in 52 games (21 starts). He is one of the few Wild Things to have played in the Cape Cod Summer League.

* After the game, Washington signed pitcher Tyler Elrod, a rookie who played this spring for The Master's, an NAIA school in California (where have we seen this before?). Elrod had an 8-5 record and 4.09 ERA in his only season with The Master's, giving up 96 hits in 83 2/3 innings and striking out 60. The Master's is the same school that produced outfielder Vinnie Fayard, who signed with Washington late last season and went 1-for-12 in 10 games.

* Washington also traded lefty pitcher Anthony Collazo to Evansville in exchange for a player to be named later. Collazo had an 0-2 record and 3.68 ERA in 20 outings (4 starts).

* Third baseman Jovan Rosa was activated from the disabled list and second baseman Jordan Weymouth played in only one game and went 0-for-2.

Rosa update

The Wild Things were hoping to have third baseman Jovan Rosa back in the lineup for this weekend against the Windy City ThunderBolts, but Washington manager Bart Zeller said that is unlikely to happen before Tuesday’s doubleheader at Lake Erie.

Rosa was injured in a collision with Normal catcher Alex San Juan in a game July 30. Rosa was on second base with two outs when Mark Samuelson singled to left field, and Rosa tried to score on the play.

“It was a weird play,” Rosa said. “When I hit him, my foot caught a little bit in the turf and my body went over my foot. I thought for sure that I had hurt me knee, but when I got up I realized it was my ankle that was hurt.”

Rosa was placed on the 7-day disabled list with a sprained ankle.

Playing his second season with Washington, Rosa has a .301 batting average (third highest on team) with 17 doubles. He was one of the Wild Things’ four representatives in last month’s Frontier League All-Star game.

The Wild Things want to get Rosa’s bat back in the lineup as they try to climb into serious playoff contention. Washington plays the finale of a three-game series at home against Windy City Monday night, then opens a four-game series Tuesday at Lake Erie. The first game (5:05 p.m.) will be the completion of a suspended game from Aug. 2. Lake Erie leads 2-1 in the third inning.

“Rosa is still day-to-day,” Washington manager Bart Zeller said Friday. “He will need another three or four days. We might use him as a DH at Lake Erie. When he originally hurt the ankle, we hoped he would be out only seven days. But it was a pretty bad sprain. He hasn’t even taken any ground balls yet during batting practice.”

Rosa said he’s only “60 percent” healthy and has been undergoing ice and electronic stimulation treatments along with balance exercises.

“The ankle is getting there, but it’s taking its sweet time. It feels better each day,” Rosa said.
“It’s frustrating. I want to be out there, but it’s not all about me. The team has been doing a good job of hanging in there. I hope I can help out.”

Those ole Dirtbags

Quincy Latimore and C.J. Beatty have had a big week for the Wild Things.

Last Saturday, both Latimore and Beatty hit two solo home runs in a win over Normal. The next day, each hit a three-run homer, including a walkoff job by Latimore, in the first game of a doubleheader against the Frontier League Greys.

Last night in a win over the Joliet Slammers, Beatty went 3-for-4 with two runs, and Latimore was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer in the seventh inning.

It has been like old times for Latimore and Beatty. Just like when they played for the Dirtbags, an AAU team based out of North Carolina. Beatty is from Winston-Salem, N.C., and Latimore is from Apex, N.C., a suburb of Raleigh.

The duo played together as 16- and 17-year-olds and were part of a talented Dirtbags roster that included current major leaguers Dustin Ackley (Seattle second baseman), Kyle Seager (Seattle third baseman) and Chris Archer (Tampa Bay pitcher), among other current professional players. Latimore played center field and Beatty played right field.

The Dirtbags traveled the showcase circuit in the southern states. Latimore said that many of the colleges in the ACC and SEC hosted weekend showcase tournaments that attracted the top summer teams. Those tournaments would lead up to the World Wood Bat Championships in Jupiter, Fla., in the fall. And the Dirtbags were a dominant but hard-luck team.

"We basically won everything there was to win but the big one, which was the tournament in Jupiter," Beatty explained. "We finished second there. We smashed everyone in every other tournament. Those teams that the Dirtbags had were like all-star teams."

Beatty said he is enjoying being reunited with Latimore, a former 4th round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates who joined the Wild Things recently after three seasons in Class AA.

"I'm loving it. I told Quincy that we needed another sparkplug in the lineup," Beatty said. "It's like we're back on the same page as when we played AAU ball.

"Sometimes it feels like we're playing a game of H-O-R-S-E out there. He hits a home run or does something and I have to match it or do a little bit better. I was always the tablesetter, though, and he was one who ended the game with a statement."

Outdoing last year

The Frontier League had three players picked up by major league affiliates in the last four days. That brings the total to 16 players who have moved on to affiliated ball since the regular season began in May. Among those signed was Rockford pitcher Drew Ruscinski, who threw a five-hit complete game with 10 strikeouts against the Wild Things in late July. He was signed by the Los Angeles Angels.

Last year, 15 players were picked up during the regular season.

UPDATE: Count is now 17 players picked up as Normal had a pitcher signed today by the Philadelphia Phillies.

R&R

Because of a scheduled doubleheader Sunday -- a game that would have been played Monday was moved to Sunday in the original schedule -- and a league-wide off day Tuesday, the Wild Things had a rarity (unless you're the Evansville Otters), two off days in a row. They return to the field tonight to play the Joliet Slammers.

So what does a baseball team do when they know in advance that they'll have two days off in a row?

"Have fun and do what normal people do," Washington manager Bart Zeller said Sunday night. "There is nothing normal about the life of a professional baseball player. I think the days off came at a really good time for us. Some of the guys have been planning a trip to a water park on Monday, anything to get away from the baseball diamond."

The Wild Things did have a workout Tuesday night at Consol Energy park before beginning what is their most important six-game stretch of the season. After playing Joliet, Windy City comes to town Saturday for a three-game series. Washington won five of six games on the road against these teams early int he season.

The Wild Things enter tonight 2 games below .500 and 5 1/2 games out of a wild-card playoff berth. The big problem is there are three teams between Washington and Southern Illinois, which holds the final wild-card spot.

Winning at least four, may be five, of the games against Joliet and Windy City should keep them within striking distance.

More roster shuffling

The Wild Things played their doubleheader Sunday against the Frontier League Greys with only 22 active players, which is the league minimum and two under the maximum 24. The 22 included only 10 pitchers, and manager Bart Zeller said Sunday night that he would add another pitcher Tuesday.

Well, that pitcher was acquired one day earlier.

Washington picked up left-handed pitcher Dayne Quist from the Southern Illinois Miners in exchange for future considerations. The Wild Things now owe the Miners two players: one for Quist and one for outfielder Tyler Hall, who was acquired in a player-to-be-named-later trade Saturday.

Quist had a decent career at Cal-Davis and was drafted in the 28th round by Tampa Bay in 2012. He was released this spring and signed in May with Southern Illinois. He has a 6-2 record and 3.06 ERA in 21 games (5 starts).

Washington remained at 22 players by releasing third baseman Chris Costantino, who had been sidelined with a shoulder injury. Acquired from Roswell of the Pecos League, Costantino was 2-for-16 with 6 strikeouts and committed 3 errors. It's never a good sign when you have more errors than hits.

Costantino was another in a long line of former Pecos League guys who either failed miserably with the Wild Things or were released before ever getting into a game.

Note to Wild Things management: No more Pecos League players unless it's Sam DiMatteo (Cal U.).

Heck, he's back

In case you missed it in the Frontier League transactions, former Wild Things outfielder Andrew Heck has been signed by the Traverse City Beach Bums.

Heck led Washington with a .310 batting average last year, but he got off to a rough start this season and was released after hitting .182 in 15 games.

Primarily a left fielder with Washington, Heck made his debut with the Beach Bums Sunday and played shortstop. He is back in the lineup again tonight as Traverse City's shortstop against Lake Erie.

Day trading

Catching up with the Wild Things following a few days of R&R:

* Today is trading day for the Wild Things. They made three trades and signed one player.

Gone are center fielder Darian Sandford, the Frontier League's leader with 43 stolen bases, and relief pitcher Orlando Santos.

Sandford has been traded to the Joliet Slammers in exchange for a player to be named. You might recall that Washington attempted to trade Sandford to Joliet back in June and thought it had the deal finalized -- they even sent the transaction paperwork and updated roster to the league office -- only to have the Slammers pull out of the deal at the last minute.

Sandford is batting .245 with one home run and 13 RBI. He is tied for third on Washington's team with 29 runs. Sandford is classified as Experienced by Frontier League roster standards.

Santos has been traded to the Evansville Otters in exchange for a player to be named.

Santos, like Sandford, was in his second season with Washington. He began this year as the Wild Things' closer, but lost that job when he struggled early in the season (though he had only one blown save). Santos has a 1-1 record, two saves and a 2.70 ERA. He recently spent a 7-day stint on the disabled list. Since returning to the roster, Santos has pitched in 3 games for 7 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and one run.

Santos also is classified as Experienced.

Washington acquired outfielder Tyler Hall (5-9, 175) from the Southern Illinois Miners in exchange for a player to be named.

Hall played in 44 games with Southern Illinois and is batting .252 with one home run, seven RBI and six stolen bases. A product of Central Michigan University, Hall is in his second year of pro baseball. He played for the Road Warriors last season and batted .276 with eight RBI and two stolen bases in 23 games. Hall is classified as a Rookie 2 by league roster standards.

The Wild Things also signed rookie infielder Jordan Weymouth (5-11, 180) out of Virginia Commonwealth University. Weymouth, a lefty hitter, batted .296 with three home runs and three stolen bases this spring for the Rams. As a junior, Weymouth batted .276 with two home runs and eight stolen bases. He played second base this year for VCU.

* In case you're wondering the trades leaves Washington with 11 players from their opening day roster. Last year, seven players went wire-to-wire with the team.

* Manager Bart Zeller wrote in his weekly manager's column on the team's website that pitcher Zach LeBarron (3-2, 3.91) will have surgery to repair an ulnar nerve disorder in his elbow. He was transferred this week from the 7-day to the 60-day disabled list.