Trying times

The Frontier League's annual open tryout will begin today at All Pro Freight Stadium in Avon, Ohio, and run through Tuesday when it concludes with a player draft. Each team is required to draft at least two players.

The Frontier League tryout is like a box of chocolates -- you never know what you're going to get. One year you'll be lucky to find five players who are capable of making any kind of contribution at this level of baseball. Then, sometimes you'll be surprised by who shows up, like in 2012 -- the last time the tryout was held in Washington -- when Mike Lee walked in. Lee was a pitcher who was drafted in the ninth round by Boston four years earlier but had been released from the Red Sox's Double-A team a week before the FL tryout. He hopped in his car and drove to Washington, where he was drafted No. 1 overall by Rockford. Lee was signed away from Rockford by the Atlanta Braves and is still in affiliated ball, pitching this year in Class AA for the Toronto Blue Jays. Lee has even pitched a little in Class AAA.

A look back at recent drafts shows that the Schaumburg Boomers have done the best job of finding talent at the tryout. Washington's recent drafts have yielded little in the way of players who have made an impact, let alone a regular in the lineup.

The last drafted player to spend at least parts of multiple seasons for the Wild Things was infielder Rene Quintanna back in 2007 and '08. Only one player has been drafted by Washington and gone on to play in affiliated ball. That was right-handed pitcher Michael Hepple, the Wild Things' first-round pick in 2013. He pitched in only six games with Washington before being released, then played for two other Frontier League teams that season. Hepple was signed by the New York Mets last year and is currently playing at St. Lucie in the high-Class A Florida State League. He is a player I failed to mentioned when I listed former Wild Things who are currently in affiliated ball.

Below is a list of all players drafted by the Wild Things with the year, round, position and number of games played with Washington. As you'll see, 2012 was the worst draft in franchise history.


2014
1. P - Joey Perrotta
2. P - Devin Malone (9 games)
3. C - Vinny DeMelo

2013
2. P - Michael Hepple (6)
3. C - Michael Perez

2012
1. OF - Mike Miller
1. C - Juan Reyes Viruet
3. C - Eric Curtis
4. 1B - David Jensen
4. P - Ryan Thomas
5. P - David Jensen
6.C - Doc Nieman

2011
2. - SS Gerardo Caceres
3. C - Stephen Hermann
4. P - Keith Fenner

2010
1. P - David Trivett
2. P - Quinn Bright (8)

2009
1. OF - Chris Demons (28)
1. C - Jon Leber

2008
1. P - Dan Horvath (38)
1. P - Kyle Dempsey (12)

2007
1. INF - Rene Quintana (87)
1. C - Ryan Price
2. P - Shawn Kerek

2006
1. 2B - Kyle Werman (83)
1. P - Justin Mattison (34)
3. P - Richard Riley

2005
1. 2B - Bruce Baldwin (52)
1. 1B - T.J. Graves (70)

2004
1. CF - Jack Headley (83)
3. 1B - Mike Rapacioli

2003
1. 2B - Todd Weaver
2. P - Mike Abdalla

2002
2. C - Tony Taylor (37)
3. OF - Dan Hyott