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).