More roster moves

The Wild Things announced Monday that seven players -- outfielders Gus Benusa (pictured) and Darian Sandford, shortstop A.J. Nunziato, second baseman Shain Stoner, right-handed pitcher Gary Lee and left-handed pitchers Shawn Smith and Anthony Collazo -- have signed contract extensions for 2013, and that two pitchers have been added to the roster.

Lee (7-5, 2.89), who finished last season as a player/pitching coach, will be a Veteran, according to Frontier League roster rules. A Vet is the one player on the roster who can exceed the FL's 27-year-old age limit.

The newcomers are right-handed pitcher Cole Brand and lefty Matt Phillips.

Brand spent three seasons at the rookie-league level in the St. Louis Cardinals system. Last summer, he had a 2.97 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 30.1 innings. I've written before that you shouldn't put much stock in rookie-league statistics because they don't transfer well to a player's potential in the Frontier League. However, what I like about Brand's numbers is that in 78 innings of pro ball he has issued only 16 walks and allowed just two home runs. Another plus is he has pro experience and is only 20 years old, which means he's still a Rookie by roster standards. Brand was drafted by the Cardinals out of high school in the 42nd round in 2010.

"Cole showed a lot of promise in his time with the Cardinals organization and we're looking forward to seeing what he can do in Washington," Wild Things assistant general manager Steve Zavacky said in a press release.

Phillips was signed by the Boston Red Sox as an undrafted player out of Cal State-Dominguez Hills in 2010. He played rookie ball that year and went 3-0 with a 0.78 ERA in 12 games, but missed all of the 2011 seasons because of an injury. Last year, he was signed by Abilene of the independent North American Baseball League and pitched in one unforgettable game. He went 2/3 of an inning and allowed four hits and four walks.

"(Phillips) comes highly recommended from the Red Sox organization and has been a strikeout pitcher in both college and his year in the Gulf Coast Rookie League," said Wild Things bench coach Bart Zeller.

The Wild Things also announced today that infielder Brad Agustin has been placed on the retired list. Agustin was one of the players acquired at midseason in a trade with London.

After reading the Wild Things' statements on these roster moves, one thing comes to mind: Why hasn't manager Chris Bando been quoted in any of the press releases?

5 Wild Things among top 20 indy prospects

Two Wild Things players have been ranked among the top 10 prospects -- and five are in the top 20 -- in independent baseball by Baseball America.

Switch-hitting shortstop A.J. Nunziato (pictured) is ranked the No. 4 prospect, and left-handed relief pitcher Alfonso Yevoli is ranked No. 5.

Outfielder Andrew Heck is ranked the No. 12 prospect catcher-first baseman Rick Devereaux is No. 16 and right-handed pitcher Chris Smith is No. 17.

The Frontier League produced four of the top 10 with Lake Erie relief pitcher Jonathan Kountis the highest-rated player at the No. 3 spot.

A rookie out of NCAA Division II Lander University, Nunziato batted only .238, but he hit six home runs and had 32 RBI. Nunziato proved to be a reliable fielder as committed only three errors in 51 games after joining the Wild Things in early July.

Here is what baseball America said about Nunziato:

It's much tougher to get signed out of independent ball as a position player than as a pitcher, in part because scouts are generally skeptical about the athleticism and defensive ability of independent league players. But Nunziato is a shortstop who should be able to stick in the middle infield if he makes the jump to affiliated ball.

A four-year starter at Division II Lander (S.C.), Nunziato is a switch-hitter who shows pop from both sides. He showed solid-average range while showcasing an average arm that is extremely accurate, and he had a .985 fielding percentage in the Frontier League.

Nunziato hit .391 as a college sophomore despite a back injury that forced him to take a redshirt year in 2009 as he recovered from surgery to fix a herniated disc. He has shown no ill effects as a pro. He is an average runner who needs to improve his pitch.

Yevoli, a hard-throwing lefty, had a 1-2 record and 2.62 ERA in 28 games. He struck out 34 in 34 1/3 innings. Yevoli, a rookie out of NAIA Tennessee Wesleyan, got steadily better as the season progressed. He allowed a run in only one of his last 17 appearances. During that late-season stretch, Yevoli struck out 24 batters and walked only two.

Here is what Baseball Amerrica said about Yevoli:

Yevoli pitched for three years at High Point, then transferred as a senior to Tennessee Wesleyan, helping the Bulldogs win the NAIA title this year. The move didn't improve his draft stock, however, so after his name didn't get called he signed on with the Wild Things.

Yevoli has quality stuff, sitting at 92-94 mph consistently and piling up a strikeout an inning with Washington. He generates good angle and his fastball has late life, although that sometimes affects his command. His slider is a hard breaking pitch, but he also struggles to throw it for strikes at times.

Switch-hiting: a lost art?

Are switch-hitter becoming a dying breed in baseball?

Lenny Randle and A.J. Nunziato (pictured), two people who know a little about the subject, agree that switch-hitting is on the way to becoming a lost art, and the statistics support their theory. There are fewer switch-hitters in the professional game today than there were 20 years ago. Randle and Nunziato have different reasons why switch-hitters are becoming scarce.

Randle, the Wild Things' coach who spent 12 years in the major leagues after becoming a switch-hitter while playing college ball at Arizona State, says it's because youth league and high school coaches put too much emphasis on winning games and not enough on developing a player's skills.

Nunziato, the Wild Things' switch-hitting shortstop, says players who hit both left-handed and right-handed are becoming harder to find because it requires too much time and effort to hone the skills necessary to hit from both sides of the plate.

Randle was a natural right-handed hitter who learned to bat lefty while playing for former ASU coach and major league manager Bobby Winkles. Randle was a speedy middle infielder who played in the majors in the 1970s and early '80s. He fit the mold for switch-hitters from the 1950s through the '80s.

Many fast middle infielders who were natural right-handed hitters were turned around and taught how to hit lefty so they would get a step closer to first base.

"When I played, almost every team had at least one switch-hitter in the lineup," Randle said.
Most teams had more. The 1986, '88 and '90 St. Louis Cardinals each had five switch-hitters in their lineup. The 1993 New Yort Mets had six switch-hitters. Going back a few decades, the entire starting infield of the 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers could switch hit.

Today, switch-hitters are harder to find. Randle says that's because of coaching.

"I know for a fact that coaches discourage switch-hitting," he said. "Coaches today, in the youth leagues, tell players 'I need you to hit from your strongest side. If you want to switch-hit, then you're not going to play every game for me.' Switch-hitting has become a lost art.'"

Randle, however, says players today are as willing as those from decades ago to try their hand at becoming a switch-hitter. To prove this point, he walks into the coaches' locker area of Consol Energy Park and pulls out a stack of letters -- about 10 or 12 in all -- from youth players who asked Randle for their help in becoming a switch-hitter.

"If a player wants to learn to switch-hit, then he needs to try. I would advise him to play a lot of pepper, play home run derby from both sides and hit off a tee," Randle said. "And I'd tell him to play tennis because you have to learn to forehand and backhand shots in that sport. That helps. I'd bet Roger Federer would make a good switch-hitter."

Randle added that switch-hitting helps a player pay more attention to the details of his swing.
"One thing it does is make your concentrate more," he said. "Things you don't notice about your swing from one side, you'll pick up on the other side."

Nunziato is a rarity for a Wild Things player in that he's a switch-hitter. In their 11-plus seasons, the Wild Things have had only a few switch-hitters. Nunziato replaced injured Michael Mooney (also a switch-hitter) in the lineup at shortstop a few weeks ago. Before Mooney joined Washington, I believe the last switch-hitter to crack the Wild Things' regular lineup was second baseman Phil Butch in 2008.

Nunziato learned to switch-hit without really trying. When he was five years old in New York, his father would pitch to him in the back yard.

"When I was hitting, I would go through the New York Yankees' lineup. When I got to Tino Martinez, I had to switch around to the left side. That's how I started," Nunziato said. "I started playing organized baseball when I was five, and I started switch-hitting in games when I was seven. I've done it ever since."

In the youth leagues, Nunziato didn't play the lefty-righty percentages. If an opponent started two right-handed pitchers in a doubleheader, Nunziato would bat right-handed one game, then change to lefty the next game. It wasn't until the opposing pitchers began throwing curveballs that he began playing the matchups.

"Since then, I've take only one left-handed at-bat against a left-handed pitcher," he said. "My coach in that game said, out of the last five left-handed batters the pitcher faced, he hit all five. He told me to go up there and get hit for the team. The pitcher threw me three breaking balls and struck me out. After that, it was always right-handed hitting against lefties."

Nunziato agrees that switch-hitting is becoming a lost art.

"I have never seen more than one switch-hitter on any team I've played against. That's high school, summer leagues, college," he said.

Why?

"Because of the amount of work work that goes into it, switch-hitters are becoming a dying breed," he said. "I take 50 to 60 pitches a day from each side of the plate during batting practice. That's not counting any swings I take in the cage.

"People tell me they like that I switch-hit," Nunziato said. "Most of them tell me they tried it when they were growing up but stopped because of the work it takes to become good at it."