Tuesday, June 16, 2015

The Good, the bad & the Ugly, 2015 version


The Wild Things have passed the quarter-pole in their season -- they did that with the completion of the series last week at Joliet -- and will take an 11-16 record into a game tonight at home against the Southern Illinois Miners. Washington is seven games behind first-place Evansville in the East Division.

It's still very early in the season. One former Washington manager used to say that he didn't even look at the standings until around the all-star break. But after 27 games, do you think the Wild Things, as they are currently constructed, can turn this season around and make a playoff push? I'd like to see what the readers of this blog think about this team.

There are several things that are working with the ballclub and some that aren't, which is why it's time for this year's version of "The Good, the Bad & the Ugly."

The Good:
- The pitching. The staff has an ERA of 3.66, which ranks sixth in the league. The starters, who rank very low in the number of quality starts, has been pitching better than the statistics suggest. Even with Kyle Helisek (hamstring) on the DL and Ryan Bores, who opened the season in the rotation, retiring after two outings, the starting pitchers have done their job. The bullpen has been inconsistent, though much better in June than in May. Overall, the pitching has been better than an 11-16 record.

- Sam Mende. Though the Wild Things brought in several players who spent time at higher levels of affiliated ball than Mende, the versatile infielder has been Washington's best and most consistent hitter. Mende already has 11 doubles, a .280 batting average and has shown that he can play more than one infield position.

The Bad:
- The Double-A experiment. The Wild Things brought in more players with Class AA experience than ever before and those players have produced less than expected. The best of the bunch has been relief pitcher Richie Mirowski (0-1, 1.23 ERA, 23 strikeouts in 14.2 innings) who has been dominant at times and should be mentioned in the Good category. Two other pitchers with Double-A experience were signed in the offseason. One was traded at the end of spring training and the other retired. The four Double-A hitters are batting a combined .222 with 92 strikeouts in 297 at-bats. Jeudy Valdez has the best batting average of the bunch at .267 and David Popkins has 7 home runs and a team-high 18 RBI. There seems to be a big adjustment period going from facing Double-A pitching to Frontier League pitching and these hitters are struggling to adapt. Much more production must come from these players if Washington is to have any chance of getting in a playoff race.

The Ugly:
- The strikeouts and batting average. Washington is dead last in the league with a .227 batting average. It's hard to win many games with that kind of average. The most alarming part of the hitting has been the volume of strikeouts. The Wild Things have whiffed 224 times, which is the most in the league. All those strikeouts would be somewhat acceptable if the Wild Things were hitting home runs at a rapid pace (think back to 2009 with Grant Psomas, Jacob Dempsey and Ernie Banks -- lots of strikeouts but also many home runs) but they're not. They're tied for fifth in home runs and already have played in hitters parks at River City, Gateway and Normal. I know of nobody who tracks such a statistic as advancing runners, but I'd be surprised if the Wild Things are not last in this area and strikeouts are a big reason why. Too many times they've failed to advance runners because of strikeouts, which has led to too many missed scoring opportunities (only Lake Erie has scored fewer runs than Washington).

13 Comments:

Anonymous Disa Pointed said...

The Good:
They do not play in the Ladys fast pitch softball league.
The Bad:
If they played the Rebellion, the Wild Things would lose.
The Ugly:
They would strike out agains the Rebellion.

June 16, 2015 at 11:31 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Good:
The Frontier League is a place for falling stars to play a few more games of baseball.
The Bad:
They landed in a Rich Boy's Plaything with a glorified Gardner as a GM.
The Ugly:
The attendance since Ross left!

June 16, 2015 at 2:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Good:
The management stinks
The Bad:
The management stinks
The Ugly:
The management stinks AND, so do
both the Rebellion AND the Wild Things

June 17, 2015 at 7:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Good: Not a whole lot.
The Bad: Scheduling of kids day games and Sunday Start times. (I suspect these
may be due to the Frontier League office).
The Ugly: The less than friendly way in which the fans are treated if they
happen to park in the wrong place. I know of three people that have
quit attending games because of having issues of rude treatment
by parking lot attendants.

June 17, 2015 at 10:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good: The friendliness of most of the Wild Things full time employees. Many of these people have been there for years and with good reason. Please see note at bottom of this post.
Bad: No leadership from the owner.
Ugly: The inconsistency of the performance of the team. If this team doesn't get better hitting, it is difficult to see the Wild Things in contention late in August.

Note: Jenny Stewart, one of the ticket takers at the right field entrance, was seriously injured in a fall late last week. She is just a wonderful lady and a great ambassador for the team. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. We wish her a speedy recovery. We will miss her smiling face during her recovery period
Ima Fraid

June 17, 2015 at 11:30 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I see the average is low and strikeouts are high but how many homeruns and rbis do they have? Where are they in OPS?

June 17, 2015 at 5:14 PM  
Anonymous Natural Grass said...

It would be funny if the West Virginia Bears would advertise at Stew's Washington stadium.
A couple of the Pirates 2015 draft choices will be playing in Morgantown.
Is the Morgantown stadium natural grass or truff?

June 17, 2015 at 5:29 PM  
Blogger Chris Dugan said...

Entering Wednesday, the Wild Things were 2nd in the league with 23 home runs, 10th in RBI (106) and 13th in OPS (.669).

June 17, 2015 at 6:32 PM  
Blogger Chris Dugan said...

The field in Morgantown is all turf except for the pitcher's mound.

June 17, 2015 at 6:33 PM  
Blogger Chris Dugan said...

To Anon 10:58: The league office does not tell teams what their scheduled start times must be.

June 17, 2015 at 6:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't know what is considered good or bad about Wild Things the this season so far BUT, I do know what's really ugly. Having Pete Rose signing autographs at 40 bucks a pop. To make it even more ugly, he will only sign things that have been purchased from Wild Things. It figures. Rose is banned from Major League baseball for his betting on games. The Independent leagues welcome this scumbag into their ballparks. We already know the Stu Williams doesn't give a darn about baseball history or it's traditions. Anything for a buck from this flim-flam salesman. Send in the clowns.
Pete Rose is NOT a hero or anything near that. As much as I hate to say it, there will probably be plenty of suckers. If people around here are dumb enough to believe
that the Frontier League is real baseball, than they will surly believe that Pete Rose's autograph is worth forty dollars. There's a sucker born every minute, and Stu Williams know just how to play them.

June 18, 2015 at 10:30 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Parkersburg Wild Things in 2017 you can count on it.

Washington doesn't support or want the Mild Things. We can't wait until the team moves and they take a bulldozer to the stadium then they can use the land for something we really want or need like a good meth clinic, strip club, microbrewery.

June 18, 2015 at 11:55 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Parkersburg Wild Things in 2017 you can count on it"
Everybody knows that!
So, what's your point?

June 19, 2015 at 8:35 AM  

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