Examining the roster

The Wild Things will be playing games that count in only 36 days, so it's time we examined the team's roster to see if we can spot any trends, strengths and what positions still need to be addressed.

With the signing of former Washington pitcher Steve Messner on Wednesday, the Wild Things have 22 players under contract for spring training, including 14 pitchers. They also have three first basemen, an outfielder who they are converting to second base, a shortstop, two outfielders and a player who has pro experience at first base and the outfield.

The early trend -- and this can be said about several of the Frontier teams, which is a good sign for the league -- is that there is an increase in the number of players signed who have significant Class AA experience.

The most eye-popping signing of the offseason for Washington has been shortstop Jeudy Valdez, a former San Diego Padres prospect who spent three seasons and 311 games at Class AA. He also played in the prestigious Arizona Fall League in 2012 and was on the Padres' 40-man roster as late as 2013. The question with Valdez is, what happened to his hitting stroke last year? He batted only .197 in the hitter-friendly Class A California League and then .225 in 58 Double-A games. Valdez's best season was 2011 with Lake Elsinore of the California League. He batted .295 with 37 doubles and 15 home runs. He also hit .251 with 29 doubles and 10 home runs in Class AA in 2013.

Among the new signees at pitcher are Richie Mirowski, Kevin Brandt and Ryan Bores. Mirowski was a low draft pick of the Washington Nationals who moved up in the system and pitched in 23 games at Double-A Harrisburg and played in the Arizona Fall League in 2013. Brandt pitched in six games in Class AA last year for a team with one of the most interesting nicknames in baseball, the Montgomery Biscuits. A lefty, Brandt pitched in 36 games at high-Class A and made 14 starts. Bores is a former Kent State pitcher who pitched in 16 games last year for the Texas Rangers' Class AA team.

Another new pitcher to keep an eye on is Luke Wilkins, a 25-year-old native Australian who has pitched for five seasons in the Australian Baseball League.

Five pitchers will be returning to Washington, including three of last year's relievers. Pat Butler is back for his third season with the Wild Things, Matt Purnell returns after a very good rookie season and late-season pickup Chris O'Hare is back. Also returning is Tim Flight, a lefty who made the starting rotation at the beginning of last year but suffered a season-ending injury when he was struck on the wrist by a line drive in a game at Rockford. As mentioned above, Messner will be back with Washington. If you don't remember him, that's because he wasn't here very long the first time, pitching in eight late-season games in 2013 and then signing with San Francisco. He was 7-5, 4.17 at Class A last season.

The two holes in the roster are catcher and third base. No players with experience at those positions have been signed.

Casey Roche is a former Pitt outfielder who hit .300-plus in each of his first three seasons with the Panthers before dipping to .272 as a senior last spring. He has a chance to make the club.

Lee Orr is another player with Double-A experience, having played 96 games at that level in the Padres' system at outfielder and first base. He has a track record of being a clout-or-out guy, ala Jacob Dempsey. In the last two years, Orr had 552 at-bats with 52 extra-base hits. He also struck out 215 times.

With 22 players signed, that leaves roughly a dozen roster spots that can be filled before spring training. At least two of those will go to players drafted at the Frontier League tryout later this month. The Wild Things still hold the rights to 16 players from last year's team plus pitcher Kyle Vazquez, who was acquired from Sioux Falls of the American Association in the trade for Shawn Blackwell, and pitchers Hamilton Bennett and Andy Noga, who were acquired in a trade for Jonathan Kountis.

I mentioned the signing of players with Class AA experience seems to be on the rise this year in the Frontier League. Among the signings that fall into this category are outfielder Teodoro Martinez (two-time all-star in the Class AA Texas League) by Rockford and first baseman Jon Griffin (15 home runs in Double-A last year) by the Greys. Griffin gained some recognition last year by hitting five home runs in five consecutive at-bats for Class AA Mobile. He is only the second player in the long history of the Southern League to hit four home runs in a game.

Among the other signings that caught my attention: Evansville bringing back Shayne Houck, who was last year's MVP and Southern Illinois getting pitcher Adam Lopez, who struck out 129 in 99 1/3 innings during a Class A season.