Battle lines

You can designate July 8 as "Circle the Wagons Day" for the Wild Things.

After falling into last place in the Frontier League's East Division, though only a half dozen games out of first place, the Wild Things made three roster moves Friday they hope will pump some life into their offense and deepen their bullpen for the season's second half. Traverse City had a significant roster shakeup last week. This week, it was Washington's turn.

The Wild Things signed a pair of outfielders, Tim Battle and Estee Harris, who were high draft picks and once highly regarded prospects in the New York Yankees system. Also signed was Michael Cotter, the relief pitcher we noticed on another independent league's website as being traded to the Wild Things several days ago.

Here's a little background on the new outfielders:

Harris and Battle were the Yankees' 2nd- and 3rd-round draft picks, respectively, in 2003. Harris out of a high school in New York, and Battle out of high school in Georgia. It's interesting to note that in that same draft, the Yankees selected a pitcher named T.J. Beam in the 10th round. Beam played for the Pirates in 2008. In the 19th round, the Yankees drafted pitcher Jeff Karstens, and in the 47th round the Bronx Bombers drafted but did not sign pitcher Daniel McCutchen.

Harris and Battle each had their careers fizzle out in high-Class A but not before some good seasons. Harris, at one time, cracked Baseball America's top-10 Yankees prospects, and Battle was among the top dozen. Harris' last season in affiliated ball was 2006, while Battle stuck around a while longer, playing through 2008.

At one time, Battle was rated the fastest baserunner and best athlete in the Yankees' system. He had a 16-homer, 40-stolen base season in low-Class A and spent 2 1/2 seasons, playing 274 games, in high-A before the Yankees released him. Battle's strikeout totals were high and on-base percentage low in the minors, but you could tell in only one game with the Wild Things that he has the look of a "toolsy" kind of player that scouts like.

Harris and Battle have been bouncing around the independent leagues. Harris had a good year in 2009 against older players in the Atlantic League, then played for Evansville last year (hitting .270) before going back to the Atlantic League last July.

Battle played last year in Edmonton and Hawaii.

To make room for the new guys, Washington released designated hitter Bryan Fogle, outfielder Derek Perren and pitcher Ryan Thomas. Fogle hit .241 with no extra-base hits in 29 at-bats; Perren batted .245 in 31 games and Thomas, a Beaver County native, pitched in only four games. Perren was probably the most disappointing of the three. He batted. 362 his senior year at Southern California (the first former USC guy to play for the Wild Things) and had a pair of .300 seasons in indy leagues before being picked up by Washington last offseason.

The newcomers didn't exactly change much for the Wild Things' offense Friday as Washington beat Gateway 1-0, getting its second two-hit shutout in three games. Casey Barnes threw a complete-game gem. It was the league-best sixth shutout for Washington.

Will these moves be the spark for a second-half surge or just another failed series of changes? Only time will tell, but give the Wild Things credit for going with a couple of players with interesting and higher-profile backgrounds instead of guys fresh out of small colleges.

Getting offensive

The rock group Blue Oyster Cult had a hit in 1977 with its song "Goin' Through the Motions." The Wild Things, their manager suggested, had not hits over the last six innings Thursday night against River City in part because they went through the motions at the plate.

"We need to become more offensive and be able to make adjustments throughout the game, not just go through the motions with our swings," Everson said following the 7-1 loss to the West Division-leading Rascals.

Thirty-seven games into the Frontier League's 96-game schedule, the Wild Things' offense is producing at a rate clip. But it's the wrong kind of record pace.

Washington is batting an anemic .225 as a team. The league record for lowest batting average for a season was set by Lake Erie last year at .229. That the Wild Things are even five games from .500 with that kind of offense is a credit to its pitching staff. Despite losing two lefties to affiliated ball, Washington is second in the league in ERA (3.35) and quality starts (21). The pitching staff deserves better support than it's getting.

The Wild Things' offense has been so poor this season that it would take their first 39 batters reaching base via hits tonight just to raise the team batting average to tie Rockford (.249) for 11th place in the 12-team league.

I don't think that's going to happen.

Second baseman Scott Lawson (.310) and center fielder Chris Sidick (.283) have been the only consistent threats in the lineup, and the former has had trouble staying on base because of baserunning mistakes. Other than those two, the offense has struggled mightily all seasson.

Even the designated hitter position has been a bust. Washington's DHs are hitting .191 with one home run, seven RBI and 41 strikeouts in 136 at-bats.

So what is manager Darin Everson to do about his offense? He brought in DH Bryan Fogle (.292) and third baseman Ryan Ditthardt (.143) last week. Does Everson continue to make changes or hope that his current players can fight their way out of what has been a collective funk?