All-Decade Team: Relief Pitcher

Talk to 10 Frontier League managers and you'll likely to get 10 different opinions on the importance of left-handed relief pitchers and how to use them at this level of baseball.

Some managers don't care if a reliever is a lefty or righty. In 2004, the Wild Things didn't have a left-handed relief pitcher and won the East Division title with their All-Right Bullpen. Other managers find lefty relievers to be a necessity and love playing the lefty-righty percentages late in games.

In Major League Baseball, there have been studies done that link a team's success to the number of left-handers they have in the bullpen. In the Frontier League, some managers simply want three reliable relievers to use late in games and it doesn't matter from which side they throw.

The Wild Things have had only a few reliable left-handers over their first 10 seasons, and the most effective was Kevin Hammons, who spent the last two summers in Washington.

Hammons, a former Florida Marlins minor leaguer, simply dominated left-handed hitters. The numbers show just how valuable Hammons was when former manager Darin Everson played the percentages late in games. Left-handed batters were a measly 6-for-54 (.115) against Hammons in 2010. Last year, lefties were 8-for-37 (.216) against Hammons, who did not walk a left-handed hitter all year.

For the two seasons, lefties batted only .154 against Hammons.

Of course, lefties weren't the only batters Hammons could retire. He had a 9-6 record, three saves and 2.62 ERA with the Wild Things. Those numbers, along with being the franchise's best lefty reliver, land him a spot on the all-decade team

All-Decade Relief Pitcher: Kevin Hammons (2010-11)

It's been a long time

A few leftover statistics from the Wild Things' 1-0 victory, on the combined pitching of Billy Muldowney, Kevin Hammons and Eryk McConnell, Monday night over the Oakland County Cruisers:

* It was the first shutout by Washington pitching since a 5-0 victory over the Midwest Sliders in the second game of a doubleheader Aug. 15, 2008. Zach Groh was the Wild Things' pitcher in that seven-inning game.

* It was the first nine-inning shutout by Washington pitching since a 7-0 win over Midwest July 1, 2008.

* The last time a Washington pitcher threw a nine-inning complete-game shutout was June 18, 2007, when Aaron Ledbetter threw a two-hitter in a 3-0 victory at Evansville.

Only 2 all-stars

Oakland County manager Gera Alvarez, who will run the East Division team in next week's Frontier League all-star game, filled the final three spots on the team's roster Wednesday and none went to a Wild Things player. Alvarez added first baseman Joash Brodin (.276, 2 HR, 20 RBI, 10 SB) and pitcher Adam Dominick (2-2, 1.71) of Oakland County and pitcher Jeff Cinadr (1-1, 3 Sv, 1.99) of Lake Erie.

Washington will have only two representatives, outfielder Chris Sidick and pitcher Kevin Hammons, in the game at Southern Illinois July 14.

Sidick, Hammons named to East all-star team

Washington will have at least two representatives in the Frontier League's all-star game July 14 in Marion, Ill.

Outfielder Chris Sidick (.333, 22 stolen bases, .458 on-base percentage) and left-handed relief pitcher Kevin Hammons (2-2, 1.59, opponents batting only .176) were chosen Monday to the East Division team.

Oakland County manager Gera Alvarez, who will run the East team, will name three additional players to complete his roster. There's a chance that Washington closer Eryk McConnell (0-1, 8 saves, 2.81) will get one of those spots.

Lefty has right stuff

July is all-star month for most baseball leagues. The Frontier League's all-star game is July 14 at Rent One Park in Marion, Ill. and voting for the East and West Division rosters will be conducted over the next few days.

Each FL team must have a representative in the game. At this point, you have to say the Wild Things will be assured of only two players in the game. Who will they be?

Chris Sidick is seventh in the league in hitting with a .326 batting average. He also has a .450 on-base percentage has 17 stolen bases. He's a solid contender for an all-star spot, though outfielders with good statistics always are plentiful.

Closer Eryk McConnell has seven saves (second-best in the East) and should be pushing 10 by the break. That's usually enough to get you in the game and closers are always considered.

One Washington player who should be considered, but will be easy to overlook because of his role, is setup reliever Kevin Hammons (pictured). The left-hander has a 2-2 record and 1.71 ERA. The league is batting only .182 against Hammons and left-handed hitters have become automatic outs when facing the former Florida Marlins draft pick. Lefty batters are 1-for-22 with 12 strikeouts.

Hammons was a 24th-round draft pick of the Marlins in 2007 out of Tusculum College in Tennessee. He spent one year, with mixed results, in the Marlins' system with the Jamestown Jammers of the Class A New York-Penn League. In 12 games, Hammons had a 3-0 record with a 3.63 ERA. He walked 16 batters in 22 1/3 innings.

Washington manager Darin Everson says Hammons looks nothing like the pitcher he saw with Jamestown. Everson should know because he was the Jammers' manager that season.

"He's way more athletic and a lot more confident than when I saw him in '07," Everson said. "He really commands the zone now."

"Back then," Hammons says, "when I was with Jamestown, I put too much pressure on myself to succeed and be good on the mound. I put to much emphasis on baseball."

After being released by the Marlins, Hammons had a five-game stint with the Frontier League's Gateway Grizzlies in 2008 that didn't go well (0-2, 8.10). Hammons said a family issue prevented him from pitching to his potential with Gateway, and he spent the entire 2009 season out of baseball.

After Everson was hired as the Wild Things' manager last offseason, Hammons was invited to the team's invitation-only tryout in April and signed. He's making the most of his opportunity with Washington and might end up in the all-star game or get a second chance in affiliated ball.

"Everyone wants to get to affiliated ball, but if that doesn't happen then I hope we can take this team as far as it can go," Hammons said.

Saturday night leftovers

Some observations, quotes and notes from the Wild Things' 2-1 loss to the River City Rascals Saturday night:

* The 4 2/3 innings of relief Washington's Kevin Hammons, pictured, threw was his longest outing since a five-inning start for Gateway in 2008. Hammons did not play play pro ball last season.

In 2007, Hammons played in the Florida Marlins' system with Jamestown of the New-York Penn League. His manager there was current Wild Things manager Darin Everson. Hammons had a 3-0 record and 3.63 ERA in 12 games for Jamestown.

When Hammons informed all Frontier League teams this past offseason through an email that he was returning to baseball and looking for a team, Everson suggested the lefty attend the Wild Things' invitation-only tryout in April. Everson liked what he saw.

"He was way more athletic and a lot more confident than he was in 2007," Everson said.

Against River City, Hammons allowed three hits and one run. He did not walk a batter and struck out three.

"He's been pitching great for us, but he was even better tonight," Everson said. "He showed us something."

* Josh Lowey was the winning pitcher and his identical twin brother Jason earned a save. However, the most-important inning by River City pitchers was thrown by reliever Derrick Miramontes, who tossed the eighth. Miramontes, a side-armer who seemed to be releasing his pitches from somewhere in the left-field party deck, faced Washington's 3-4-5 hitters while protecting a 2-1 lead. He struck out Mark McGonigle, got Adam Amar to ground out deep into the shortstop hole and Jacob Dempsey to pop out on a changeup.

Miramontes received no win, no save but plenty of handshakes from teammates for a job well done.

* River City manager Steve Brook on the water-logged condition of Consol Energy Park's outfield:

"You never know in game played in conditions like this if it's going to be a high-scoring game or a pitchers' duel. Playing in conditions like this, with puddles all over the outfield, you get balls stopping instead of rolling. The first run we scored might have been helped by the conditions. The ball (hit by Stephen Holdren) took a bit of a sideways bounce in the outfield. Strange things happen when you play in these conditions."

River City's first run crossed home plate when Stephen Holdren doubled to left centerfield, scoring Scott Robinson from first base.

* I'll expand on this in a later post, but Washington needs to sign another veteran to its roster. Vets – the Frontier league allows three per team – are guys who should carry your team. The Wild Things are playing with only two vets (Chris Sidick and Jacob Dempsey). Washington picked up a vet hitter in late-June of 2002 when they signed Josh Loggins. The move helped propel the Wild Things to the playoffs that year and Loggins was the league's MVP in 2003.

There will be affiliated players released after next week's first-year player draft, so maybe the Wild Things can find an impact vet.

Changing the blueprint?

The Wild Things announced the signing of seven players to contracts during a two-day period last week. Nothing surprising about that. Mid-to-late April is the busy period for Frontier League transactions. Plus, first-year manager Darin Everson said he wants to bring 32 players to spring training, and he was more than a dozen short of his goal.

Several things, however, stand out about the signings of pitchers Matt Vieira, Jeff Sonnenberg, Kevin Hammons, Matt Lyons and Ben Rodewald, ultilty player Joel Hartman and infielder Devin Murphy. One is that six of the seven are rookies (Hartman is an L1), according to Frontier League standards. Washington still has open L2 and Veteran roster spots. The second noteworthy thing is where the new players come from. Only two of the seven have experience in affiliated ball, which often seemed to be a requirement for players on past Wild Things teams.

Of the seven newcomers, Vieira and Hammons played in the Florida Marlins' system, in which Everson did his coaching the past four years. Hammons, however, last played in affiliated ball in 2007, when he played for Everson in the New York-Penn League. Hammons posted an 0-2 record with Gateway of the Frontier League in 2008, his last year in pro ball.

“I saw some improvement on Kevin’s delivery from our time together in the past, and he seems very focused and determined to become an impact left-hander on the mound for us,” Everson said.

Hartman spent the last two years playing in independent ball in Texas, and his numbers were quite good last season (.290 with 40 stolen bases in 55 games).

This is what we know about the other four guys:

- Rodewald: Drafted out of high school but did not sign. Played at Central Michigan University but his last season there was 2007.

- Lyons: Played the last two years in a sandlot league.

- Sonneberg: Played winter ball in Australia.

- Murphy: Also has no pro experience, having last played in college in 2008.

Those aren't your typical Wild Things backgrounds. That doesn't mean these guys can't play. What it does tell me is either there were fewer cuts than normal by affiliated teams this spring or Everson is thinking outside the box – working without Washington's previous blueprint. In past years, the Wild Things were heavy on players who had affiliated experience, were natives of Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey and/or were released by the Pirates, Phillies, Mets and Astros. You could almost correctly guess who they were trying or not trying to sign.

Who knows if any of these guys will make it to opening day. Vieira, however, looks lock a lock to make the team while Hartman and Sonnenberg – who was dominant pitcher for a very good NAIA school – seem to have a solid chance to stick around this summer. We do know that the Wild Things aren't rejecting players because they live outside the Eastern time zone or have no experience in affiliated ball.