Try, try, try

The Frontier League concludes its two-day open tryout in soggy Florence, Ky., this afternoon with its annual player draft. Each team is required to select at least two players. Washington has the No. 4 pick in each round.

The FL draft is basically a crapshoot. There was a time when teams stocked their rosters through the draft. Now, they put the rosters together before the draft expecting to get nobody out of the tryout who can help. If you find a diamond in the rough, it's a pleasant and unexpected surprise.

Washington has had some luck in the draft. Among the players they plucked from the annual tryout include second baseman Kyle Werman and outfielder Jack Headley. Each was a key contributor to the Wild Things' success during the early days of the franchise.

There have been more misses than hits in the draft. One such miss was in 2012, when Washington took an outfielder named Mike Miller with the sixth pick in the first round. Washington selected Miller in part because he had played the 2011 season in the Pecos League and was known to Tim Ferguson, who was the Wild Things' pitching coach at the time of the draft.

Miller made the opening day roster but was released before getting a single at-bat. After Miller, the next outfielder taken in the draft was a guy named Sean Mahley, selected by Scahumburg in the second round. Mahely, you might recall, was the MVP of the Frontier League all-star game last summer at Consol Energy Park and was a key player for the Boomers the last two seasons. Mahley batted .312 last year and helped Schaumburg to the league championship.

More than 400 players showed up in Florence yesterday for the tryout's first day. The league's coaches invited 176 players back for today's workouts that will conclude with the draft.

Turnstile talk

In a notes column in today's Observer-Reporter, I mentioned that it should be interesting to see which Consol Energy Park tenant, the Wild Things or the new Pennsylvania Rebellion of the National Pro Fastpitch women's softball league, will draw more fans (per game) this summer.

My guess is the turnstile battle will be spinning in the Rebellion's favor.

By a large margin.

I mentioned that many groups who go to CEP once a year are likely to take the been-there-and-done-that approach to the Wild Things and attend a Rebellion game instead. You can't blame them.

There are a lot of other things working in the Rebellion's favor. There are the novelty and curiosity factors. News pro sports teams generally draw best in their first two years, when the one-and-done crowd shows up simply to check out something different.

This is a strong softball area. Locally, the high school programs at Canon-McMillan, Chartiers-Houston, Carmichaels, Trinity, Burgettstown, Peters Township, South Fayette and McGuffey either have been or currently are among the best not only in the WPIAL but also in the state. This year, Charleroi also is a having a stellar season. Seven other WPIAL schools have won state softball championships in the last decade.

There will be interest in Rebellion games, especially from the high school kids, which is a demographic that all but disappeared at Wild Things games.

Unless I am completely wrong about this, sharing CEP with a softball team won't be like sharing it with a soccer team (Riverhounds). The crowd at Riverhounds games during their two seasons at CEP was not the same crowd that attended Wild Things games. However, many of the people who will attend Rebellion games might have attended Wild Things games in previous years. In other words, the Riverhounds didn't take away from potential Wild Things customers. The Rebellion will, to some degree.

This is perhaps the worst possible year for the Wild Things to be competing for fans with another sports team, especially one that will be sharing the same ballpark. It's no secret the Wild Things' attendance has been dismal in recent seasons. It has declined six years in a row. Last year, the per-game average attendance was less than half of what it was in 2003 and 2004.

In the print edition today, I listed incorrect figures for the Wild Things' attendance last year. I wrote that it was 1,638 per game and down 48 per game from 2012. It was actually 1,707 and down 34 per game. I keep a list of the Wild Things' yearly end-of-season attendance and their attendance at the all-star break on the same piece of paper, and I looked at the wrong column of numbers yesterday.

Wild Things attendance by year

Year	Attendance per game
2002	3,241
2003	3,552
2004	3,444
2005	3,197
2006	3,251
2007	3,317
2008	2,970
2009	2,789
2010	2,431
2011	2,226
2012	1,741
2013	1,707

You can see that the last thing the Wild Things need is to give fans another reason to stay away from their games, which is what the Rebellion will offer.

The Wild Things are at the point where the only way they will increase their attendance is by winning. And this a franchise that hasn't won a championship in its 12 years in the league, which is the second-longest drought in league history. Washington hasn't been to the playoffs since 2007. Only four teams have ever had a longer run without a postseason appearance.

While last year's team was much more competitive than in 2012 -- a season that can best be described as a train wreck for the Wild Things -- the level of play in the Frontier League improved as well. The result was the Wild Things won three fewer games than in 2012. At the end of last season, there was no buzz about the Wild Things having a chance to compete for a championship in 2014.

Typically, the question I am asked most often about the Wild Things during the offseason is "Are the Wild Things going to have a good team this year?" I've noticed that question has often been replaced this offseason by "Why does the O-R still cover the Wild Things? Nobody cares about them anymore."

Ouch!

And that has come from some former season-ticket holders or CEP regulars. I ask why they no longer go to games? Their responses have been something like "because it's no longer fun" or "they've taken all the fun out of it."
 
Their question about the O-R's coverage is easy to answer. It's still professional baseball. The Wild Things still draw more than 85,000 people through their turnstiles every year. No other sports team or event in Washington or Greene counties can match that. The closest competition is the Highpoint Nationals motocross event in Mount Morris, which can still put 15,000 per day into a national amphitheater on the Holbert farm, but that event runs only a couple of days. The second-biggest sports draw in Washington County would be California University football, which drew fewer than 13,000 fans to its home games last season.

People are still showing up for Wild Things games, just not as many as a half dozen years ago. Interest is still there, even if there are more eyes this summer watching a softball team.

Nothing for something

One of the unique aspects of independent baseball is managers never know for sure who will be on their roster -- or, at least, have a chance to be on the roster -- until the players show up for spring training. Putting together a team during the offseason can be as tricky as walking through a mine field. You're never sure what your next move is going to produce.

For example, you sign a guy one day, and the next day that player might have his contract purchased by a major league organization. Sign another guy because you're told he lives baseball 24/7, but in the offseason he opts to retire because he got a "real" job. You count on an injured player to come back as good as ever, but he suddenly decides that all the rehab work isn't worth it and he hangs up his spikes. Another player you're counting on shows up for spring training overweight and out of shape, or he arrives with an injury.

Those things happen in independent ball. They happen almost every year. To every team.

That's what makes the "player to be named" trades in independent ball a risky proposition, especially when you acquire the "player to be named" during the offseason. There's no guarantee that player will even make it to spring training.

That's what happened with two of the Wild Things' "player to be named" trades from late last season. Washington made four such trades, sending pitchers Orlando Santos and Anthony Collazo to Evansville in separate deals, outfielder Darian Sandford to Joliet and pitcher Shawn Sanford to Schaumburg.

In return for Santos and Collazo, the Wild Things acquired shortstop Ryan Kresky and pitcher Ryan Zamorsky. For Sandford, the return was pitcher Mike Barsotti. And Schaumburg sent pitcher Chris Phelan to Washington to complete the Sanford deal. However, only two of those four acquired players will be heading to Washington for spring training.

Zamorsky was placed on the retired list in January. Barsotti was retired this week. That leaves only Kresky and Phelan to show for the four trades.

The Wild Things entered into another "player to be named" trade Tuesday, but they were on the opposite end of the deal. Washington acquired the rights to right-handed pitcher Alex Kaminsky from the Lake Erie Crushers in exchange for a "player to be named."  This will be the third Frontier League team for Kaminsky. He was 10-5, 3.74 with Gateway in 2012, and 7-5, 3.28 for Lake Erie last season. Kaminsky is an Ohio native and played one season in the Cleveland Indians' system.

Washington also signed third baseman Garrett Rau, who is a former 12th round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox -- as a pitcher. Rau had a terrific season with the bat at California Baptist, a good NCAA Division II program -- in 2010, when he was an infielder who also dabbled on the mound. The Red Sox liked Rau more as pitcher, drafted him and he threw for two seasons in the minors before being released. Rau is trying to get back to affiliated ball as a position player. He spent the last two years as one of the youngest players in the American Association -- considered a rung above the Frontier League -- and had respectable seasons with Amarillo and Laredo.

On the road, again

You've just been made a reporter for a day.

Your first assignment: Visit any Frontier League clubhouse and ask for opinions on the league's schedule and ways to improve it. It shouldn't take long to find somebody who has a complaint. The schedule always is highly scrutinized, and it seems as if every player and coach thinks either his team is getting shafted by the schedulemaker or some other team is getting scheduling favors from the league office.

To the Frontier League's credit, it has been willing to change its scheduling format to help teams cut down on travel time and costs, create more off days and eliminate some scheduling quirks. One thing I disliked years ago was teams playing all their games against an interdivision opponent in consecutive weeks. That has been eliminated, in part because of the 7-team divisions.

This year, the big change in the schedule is the significant increase in doubleheaders. There are 23 scheduled doubleheaders, including eight at Evansville and six at Washington. There are many reasons for this, from having to open the park fewer nights, to women's pro softball needing a date, to helping the Greys with their travel, etc. Only five of the 13 teams with home ballparks have scheduled doubleheaders. Three of those five -- Evansville, Traverse City and Normal -- finished in the top five in home attendance last year.

It will be interesting to see if the doubleheaders and added off days will hurt or help Evansville, Washington and Florence (five doubleheaders) on the field and at the gate.

One thing almost everybody complains about in the Frontier League is the travel. With teams spread from Pennsylvania to Missouri, and at least one interdivision game every night, scheduling easy and sensible road trips is not always possible. Whoever the poor soul is who makes the schedule, you have a difficult and thankless job. Everybody thinks they have a bad schedule compared to (fill in the blank with another team). You can't please everyone, no matter how hard you try.

So which teams have a bad schedule this year? One way of determining this is to check the miles each team will travel. The following chart is the mileage each team will travel along with the difference from 2013. When calculating the mileage for each team, I did not take into account if a team travels back and forth each night to play a close rival. For example, when Windy City plays at Joliet, it might opt to drive the 52 miles roundtrip each day of the series instead of one 26-mile trip and three-night stay in Joliet. I credit Windy City for one 26-mile trip.

Also, if a team has consecutive off days (something new to the schedule this year), I assume the ballclub will return to its home city on these days, even if it has a road game after the off days.

One other travel note: the Greys will be based this year out of Highland, Ill., located about 30 minutes northeast of St. Louis. In past seasons, they were based out of Avon, Ohio.

Miles       Team     (Difference from 2013)
11,888 -- Greys (102 fewer)
10,522 -- Traverse City (1,143 more)
 9,392 -- Lake Erie (2 more)
 9,171 -- Washington (1,243 more)
 9,090 -- Evansville (1,600 more)
 7,503 -- Rockford (199 more)
 7,410 -- River City (634 fewer)
 7,352 -- Southern Illinois (555 fewer)
 7,215 -- Florence (631 fewer)
 6,936 -- Gateway (261 fewer)
 6,675 -- Windy City (1,025 more)
 6,565 -- Schaumburg (448 fewer)
 6,287 -- Normal (610 more)
 5,766 -- Joliet (428 fewer)

Last year, only the Greys logged more miles than Lake Erie, and Windy City traveled the fewest miles. This year, seven teams will log more miles on the road than last year and seven other will do less traveling, though in the case of Lake Erie it's about 3 fewer minutes spent on the highway.

Scanning the schedule, there were a few things that stood out. One was that Traverse City's travel in the seasons' first half can be best described with one word: brutal. From the season opener through May 26, the Beach Bums will travel 1,414 miles. Over the same period, Gateway will travel 84 miles. And by June 6, Traverse City's bus will have logged 2,587 miles -- about half of what Joliet will travel all season -- while division rival Florence will have traveled only 775 miles at that point.

There is an odd situation with the Greys' schedule in August. They will play a series-ending doubleheader Aug. 3 at Washington, then have two off days before starting a series at Traverse City. If the Greys go directly to Traverse City, the league will be paying for two days of lodging for the team without it playing a game. If the Greys go from Washington back to Highland, Ill., for an off day before going to Traverse City, that trip will be a whopping 1,102 miles, which would be the record for miles traveled between series.

One last note: Even with all the doubleheaders and consecutive off days in the schedule, only three teams will be traveling extra miles because of these (on the road, return home for 2 off days, then go back on the road). Those teams are Normal, Gateway and the Greys.

Where are they know? Part II

Basically because there is not much happening from a roster standpoint on this rainy Friday, I decided to post another list of former Wild Things players and what has happened to them after they hung up their spikes.

The first edition included many players who went into coaching. This list features former players who have decided to step away from baseball and, as former Steelers coach Chuck Noll would say, "get on with their life's work."

Here goes:

L.J. Biernbaum - The right fielder for the 2004 team, Biernbaum went on to play six seasons in the Atlantic League. He currently works in residential remodeling sales for the Power House Remodeling Group in the Philadelphia area.

Matt Bok - Former Notre Dame player was a catcher who hit a couple of big home runs during the stretch drive in 2004. Bok did some coaching in the Big East at Georgetown before becoming a reporter for Bloomberg News. He currently works in media production as a web editor and producer for Bloomberg LP. He lives in London.

Joel Buchenauer - Backup infielder for the 2003 and '04 teams, Buchenauer is Production Data Analyst and Plant Manager for CloudBlue Technologies, Inc., which is described as a company that provides onsite data destruction and e-waste recycling services

Phil Butch - The small but hard-nosed guy who played left field for the 2008 team is now Dr. Phil Butch, a chiropractor in Ravenna, Ohio.

Ryan Ditthardt - Third baseman on the 2011 team, Ditthardt is the CEO of Athletic Improvement Company in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. I was unable to find out what Athletic Improvement Company is, but I'm guessing it's a baseball academy or athletic training center.

Ryan Ewin - A tall, lanky pitcher with a plus-changeup on the 2004 team, Ewin has passed the bar exam and is an attorney in San Diego. He worked in the baseball operations department of the Los Angeles Dodgers and was a broadcast services intern for the San Diego Padres.

Kevyn Feiner - Played the final season of his seven-year career as an infielder with the 20011 Wild Things. He is a personal trainer at San Prairie Athletic Club in De Forest, Wisc., which is in the Madison area.

Ryan Groth - Was a key late-season acquisition who played the outfield for the 2009 team. Groth is general manager at FollowUpPower.net, a cloud-based computer software company in Miami.

Eric Holt - A Trinity High School and Waynesburg University graduate, Holt pitched for the 2004 and '05 teams. Holt is a police officer in South Strabane Township.

Brandon Ketron - Was a catcher for part of the 2006 season before having his contract purchased by the New York Yankees. He spent two seasons in the Yankees' system and then played one season back in independent ball in the Atlantic League. At last check, Ketron is Operations Manager for HouseVending, which I believe is a Real Estate service in Tennessee.

Jon Kourie - Was an outfielder for the 2010 team under manager Darin Everson. He provides financial services as mortgage loan originator for PowerHouse Solutions in Great Neck, N.Y.

Mark McGonigle - The right fielder for the 2010 team, McGonigle retired after playing for the Wild Things and returned to his native Texas. He is a senior audit assistant at Deloitte & Touche LLP in Katy, Texas.

Billy O'Conner - Catcher for the 2010 team, O'Conner is in his second stint as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Xavier University. He also coached for one season at Northern Kentucky.

Corey Ohalek - Lefty relief pitcher was on the 2005 and '06 teams. He did some college baseball coaching and attended law school at Capital University in Ohio. He is an attorney and associate general counsel for Vrable Healthcare.

Fred Wray - One of the original Wild Things, a pitcher on the 2012 team. Wray has had an interesting career after his playing days. He is now a player agent for Octagon Sports. Among his clients are the Seattle Mariners outfielder Logan Morrison, Houston Astros catcher Jason Castro and L.A. Angels pitcher Garrett Richards.

Joe, we hardly knew 'ya

The Wild Things acquisition of third baseman Joe Poletsky from the Can-Am League was simply a paper move. Washington traded Poletsky one day after acquiring him. Poletsky was sent to the Frontier League Greys for a player to be named.

By my count, this takes Washington back to 35 players on the roster with 30 signed for 2014.

Heck, he's back

The Wild Things have made several roster moves, including bringing a player back to Washington, signing a former Pittsburgh Pirates minor leaguer and completing a trade that, quite frankly, I don't recall being made.

Zac Fuesser

Washington has re-signed outfielder Andrew Heck, who played parts of the last two seasons with the Wild Things. Heck was one of the few bright spots on the 2012 team, hitting a team-leading .310 with 14 doubles, 20 stolen bases and 27 RBI. He got off to an dreadful start last season, hitting only .182 in 15 games, and was released. Heck was signed later in the season by Traverse City and hit .200 in 11 games for the Beach Bums.

The Wild Things also signed left-handed pitcher Zac Fuesser, who was recently released by the Pirates. Fuesser played five seasons in the Pirates' system after being drafted out of the junior college ranks. Fuesser spent last year at high-Class A Bradenton, where he pitched in relief, compiling a 2-4 record with three saves, a 3.18 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 68 innings. In both 2011 and '12, Fuesser pitched for the Class A West Virginia Power, where he was used as both a starter and reliever, going 6-13 with 188 strikeouts in 200.2 innings.

Washington also acquired third baseman Joe Poletsky and a player to be named later from the Trois-Rivieres Aigles of the independent Can-Am League. Poletsky played college ball at Quinnipiac and has been in the indy leagues for two years. He played eight games for Bridgeport of the Atlantic League in 2012 and hit .255 in 45 games with Newark of the Can-Am League last year.

The odd thing about that trade is, I don't remember the teams ever making a trade that needed completing. The only player on Trois-Rivieres' roster who played in Washington is pitcher Sean Keeler, and he was released by the Wild Things and next played for a team in the Pecos League.

Analyzing the roster

C.J. Beatty takes the field.

The Wild Things will begin spring training in less than a month, so it's time to start analyzing the roster and try to figure out who is going to make the team and what positions still need to be addressed by signing affiliated guys who were released this week.

Manager Bart Zeller said the Wild Things will got to camp with approximately 37 players. By my count -- and with the help of the transactions page on the Frontier League website -- Washington currently has 28 players under contract for the 2014 season. The Wild Things also hold the rights to five players who apparently have not signed or returned contracts. Washington also is required to draft at least two players from the league tryout later this month.

Washington holds the rights to 15 players who are classified as Experienced by the Frontier League. This total is two over the league limit of 13. However, five of the 15 apparently have not signed contracts. They are pitchers Mike Barsotti (acquired in the Darian Sanford trade last year), Shawn Blackwell and Jhonny Montoya along with shortstop A.J. Nunziato and infielder Shain Stoner. It appears that Nunziato, who has the best hands I've seen on a Wild Things infielder -- did he ever boot or even bobble a ground ball? -- will not be back. He has apparently called it a career.

Among the 10 remaining Experienced players are pitcher Matt Phillips, who was placed on the 60-day disabled list in January, and pitcher Zach LeBarron and catcher Jim Vahalik, each of whom ended last season on the DL.

The Wild Things definitely have roster spots open to sign Experienced players who were recently released from minor-league spring training. Most of those openings are at pitcher, where the only Experienced guys signed and not on the DL are Scott Dunn, Tim Flight and Jonathan Kountis. Dunn was the marquee pickup in the offseason after he won the league's Pitcher of the Year Award last season while with Traverse City. Flight was signed out of the New York Yankees' system and Kountis spent the end of last season with the Greys after being Lake Erie's closer in 2012.

What Washington currently has under contract is a young pitching staff and one short on starters. Chris Phelan, who was acquired in the Shawn Sanford trade with Schaumburg last year, is a Rookie-2 who will be a starter. Tyler Elrod made three starts last year, and one of those was a complete-game shutout. Zeller has mentioned Barsotti in his "From the Manager's Desk" column on the Wild Things' website, so you have to think he will eventually be signed and given a shot at earning a spot in the rotation.

"We have two needs," Zeller said recently. "One is a starting pitcher. We'd like to find a guy like Shawn Sanford. That's a guy who has been around, has experience in affiliated ball and has gone through the ropes for three or four years.

"We're also looking for a designated hitter. That's something that's hard to do because nobody wants to be just a DH and not play the field."

Looking at the position players, it seems that Vahalik will be the catcher and newcomer William Beckwith at first base. With Nunziato likely gone, Ryan Kresky, who was picked up in a trade with Evansville, will be the shortstop. Yeury Tejada, a newly signed Dominican who has experienced at shortstop in affiliated ball, could play there but is likely ticketed for third base.

C.J. Beatty, who led the team in batting average, hits, home runs and RBI last season, is back. He is the wild card in the lineup. He could return to second base or be moved to the outfield -- he was an outfielder in the St. Louis Cardinals system -- or third base. If Beatty is moved from second base, then rookie Nick Ratajczak out of Louisville would have the inside track on the job.

The outfield returns Stewart Ijames, who had fantastic rookie season. Speedy Danny Poma was acquired in an offseason trade and could be the center fielder. Rookie Jordan Keur, a rookie who was injured during his senior year at Michigan State, is an interesting outfield candidate.

Two more former Wild Things released

The end of March can be a difficult time for minor league baseball players. It's when some dreams continue and others are dealt a shocking and quick end. Most major-league teams operate four affiliates in April after running at least six teams at the end of last summer, so there's plenty of jobs to be lost.

Two members of the 2013 Wild Things, outfielder Quincy Latimore and left-handed pitcher Al Yevoli, were recently caught in the roster cutdowns.

Latimore was in minor-league camp but had three at-bats (0-for-3 with a stolen base) with the Pittsburgh Pirates during major-league spring training. He was released over the weekend. Latimore was signed by the Wild Things last summer after being released from the Cleveland Indians' Class AA affiliate in Akron. He hit .232 with six home runs and 22 RBI in 41 games with Washington. Latimore signed with the Pirates, who drafted him in the fourth round in 2007, during the offseason.

A hard-throwing reliever, Yevoli was released by the Chicago Cubs. It was the second consecutive year in which Yevoli made it deep into spring training before being released.

Yevoli has played parts of two seasons in Washington. Last year, he had a 1-1 record in 20 games before having his contract purchased by the Cubs, who assigned him to Kane County, their affiliate in the Class A Midwest League. Yevoli was 0-0 with a 3.15 ERA in 11 outings with Kane County.

There are a couple of other former Wild Things who were in minor-league camps but I do not know their status at this time. I also am trying to locate the destinations of a couple of local players, J.J. Jankowski and Jim Rider, both from Peters Township. Jankowski is with the Houston Astros and Rider was traded during the offseason from the Pirates to the Boston Red Sox.