He's beaten the Pirates and the Wild Things

By now, you probably know that Andrew Werner (pictured), the San Diego Padres pitcher who threw four-hit ball into the seventh inning Wednesday in his major league debut to beat the Pirates, began his professional career in the Frontier League, where he was playing as little as two years ago.

Werner actually made his professional debut at Consol Energy Park on July 17, 2009, tossing a scoreless inning of relief for Evansville against the Wild Things. Two days later, he pitched another scoreless inning of relief against Washington with exactly the same statistics: one walk and two strikeouts. Werner finished the year with a 3-2 record and 5.64 ERA in 10 games.

In 2010, Windy City traded an outfielder named Vinnie Scarduzio to Evansville in exchange for Werner. With the ThunderBolts, the lefty had a 10-4 record and 3.51 ERA. Werner made two starts against the Darin Everson-managed Wild Things that year (each game was in Crestwood, Ill.), posting a 2-0 record. In a June 28 game, he pitched six innings to beat Tim Smith, 5-2.

On Aug. 29, 2010, Werner beat the Wild Things again, going 6.1 innings and giving up four hits, four walks and three earned runs (a pitching line that was very similar to his outing against the Pirates) in Windy City's 8-7 victory. Justin Edwards started that game on the mound for Washington but Kevin Hammons was the losing pitcher.

One article I read late last night mentioned that Werner had tryouts with three Frontier League teams and was rejected before Evansville signed him. The article didn't name the three teams.

K Zone

To nobody's surprise, the 23 strikeouts by Wild Things hitters in the 15-inning win Saturday over Lake Erie was a team single-game record. After checking the final stats from seasons past and some boxscores, I found that the old record was 17 strikeouts, set last year in an Aug. 25 game at Windy City. Washington lost that game 2-1 in 11 innings.

One thing that I found to be interesting while checking this record is that the most strikeouts Washington's 2004 hitters had in a game was a mere 10.

Where to get signed

With former Washington closer Nate Striz being picked up by the Boston Red Sox, I was wondering which Frontier League team in recent seasons has done the best job of getting players signed by affiliated teams.

Much to my surprise, the Wild Things had the most players signed in the calendar year of 2011 (4) and only Windy City has more since the start of 2010.

Some players, such as Washington's Casey Barnes, were signed and have since returned to the Frontier League. Other players, such as catcher Adrian Bravo-Carmona (remember him?) never played a game in the Frontier League before having their contracts purchased. A few others, like former Wild Things pitcher Vidal Nuno, have stuck in affiliated ball and are excelling. Nuno was signed by the New York Yankees last year and began his stint as a middle reliever for a team in the short-season New York-Penn League. Now he's a starting pitcher in the Double-A Eastern League and has a 1.08 ERA in six starts for the Trenton Thunder. Nuno recently tossed 5.1 shutout innings in a start against the Altoona Curve.

Players moved to affiliated ball since Jan. 1, 2011 (according to the transactions link on the Frontier League website):

Washington - 6
Windy City - 5
Joliet - 4
River City - 4
Gateway -2
Lake Erie -2
Traverse City - 2
Evansville - 1
Southern Illinois - 1

If you go back to Jan. 1, 2010, then you can see that Windy City has been the runaway leader in moving players to affiliated ball:

Windy City - 14
River City - 7
Washington - 6
Traverse City - 5
Joliet - 4
Gateway - 3
Florence - 2
Lake Erie -2
Oakland County - 2
Evansville - 1
Normal - 1
Southern Illinois - 1

Of the 46 players who have been sold to the affiliated ranks, since Jan. 1, 2010, 33 have been pitchers.

Another managerial change

After missing the Frontier League playoffs for the first time since 2006, the Windy City ThunderBolts have decided to change managers.

Gone is Mike Kashirsky, who had a 141-100 career record, one league championship and two division titles.

Kashirsky's replacement is Morgan Burkhart, who is widely considered the best player the Frontier League has ever produced. Burkhart was most recently manager of the Calgary Vipers of the North American Baseball League. Burkhart won one league championship with Calgary.

Burkhart played for the Richmond Roosters from 1995 to ’98 and was named the league’s MVP three times. He had a .353 career batting average and his 36 home runs in 1998, when he won the triple crown, still stands as the single-season league record. That same year, Burkhart had a .404 batting average.

After playing in the Frontier League, Burkhart went on to play in 42 major league games with the Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals.

The Fighting ThunderBolts

You can tell the playoffs are on the horizon for the Frontier League because tempers are starting to flare when contenders meet. There was an incident in Windy City's game Thursday night against Oakland County in which, according to the Daily Southtown, punches were thrown. Oakland County won the game in extra innings to pull to within two games of first-place Windy City in the East Division.

If punches were indeed thrown, it will be interesting to see if any suspensions will be enforced. The Wild Things begin a three-game series tonight at Windy City.

Read the story here.

Former Pirate named hitting coach of ThunderBolts

The Windy City ThunderBolts announced today they have hired for major league utility player Rob Mackowiak as their new hitting coach.

Mackowiak was a 53rd round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1996. They don't even have 56 rounds in the draft anymore.

Mackowiak beat the odds and spent eight years in the major leagues, including five with the Pirates. In 2004, Mackowiak hit 17 home runs and drove in 75 runs for Pittsburgh.

Wild day in the Windy City

Perhaps it was a case of poor umpiring. Maybe it was the wrong thing being said at the wrong time. Or maybe it was just old-fashioned rage that boiled over, the result of the Wild Things' maddening start to the Frontier League season.

Whatever it was, it set off Washington manager Darin Everson (pictured in a game earlier this month) during the seventh inning Monday afternoon at Windy City.

Recapping the call of WJPA Radio's Randy Gore, here's what happened:

Washington relief pitcher Ben Rodewald walked Windy City's leadoff hitter in the bottom of the seventh. The first pitch to the next batter, Ryne White, was called a ball.

After the pitch to White, home-plate umpire Jeff Spisak took off his mask and began pointing toward the Wild Things' dugout. Spisak then turned around and play was set to resume. Just before Rodewald could throw his next pitch, Spisak called timeout, turned again toward the Wild Things' dugout, pulled his mask off and ejected Everson, who bolted onto the field to argue. Before leaving, Everson did his best Billy Martin impersonation, covering home plate by kicking dirt over it. Everson apparently reached his breaking point.

According to the radio call, Spisak was clapping as Everson left the field. Obviously, I wasn't there to know if Spisak was clapping in a manner as if to say "OK, let's play ball, guys," or to say "I'm glad I got rid of you. Good riddance." Spisak then followed Everson back toward the dugout (at Standard Bank Stadium, you have to exit through the dugout to get to the clubhouse).

The situation became even more bizarre when, before the next pitch, White asked Spisak to clean home plate. According to one source, Spisak refused to clean the plate, so White "suggested" that the umpire should to do his job. Spisak quickly ejected White.

The count was two ejections -- one for each team -- without a pitch being thrown.

***

I still love going to the games. I still walk into the ballpark, football stadium, gymnasium or arena sure that I'm going to see something that night I’ve never seen before in my life. That hope is one of the things that keeps me coming back.

Had I been at the Wild Things' game Monday, I would have seen something in the top of the first inning that I had never seen before. Windy City starting pitcher Andrew Werner had a case of wildness in the inning, hitting Chris Sidick with a pitch to start the game, walking three batters and throwing a wild pitch. Washington also stole two bases in the inning.

When the inning ended, the Wild Things didn't have a run.

Think about that: a hit batsman, three walks, a wild pitch and two stolen bases in one inning and no runs. The inning went like this: hit batsman, strikeout, stolen base, caught stealing, walk, stolen base, walk, wild pitch, walk, flyout.

Windy City staying in FL

According Ballparkdigest.com, the Windy City ThunderBolts have decided to remain in the Frontier League instead of joining the Rockford RiverHawks in a switch to the Northern League.

The Ballparkdigest.com article:

Thunderbolts: "No intention" of leaving Frontier League

Windy City ThunderBolts owner Mike Stranczek says he has no intention of leaving the Frontier League, thwarting the Northern League's efforts to concentrate in the Chicago area.

As you'll recall, we reported last week he had been approached by reps of the Northern League to shift leagues in the same manner Rockford did. And, as you'll recall, we also wrote there wasn't a lot of interest on Stranczek's side. An official response from GM Steve Tahsler: "the Windy City ThunderBolts have no intention of leaving the Frontier League" – confirms it.

We do hear, however, that a master plan for six Chicago-area teams in the Northern League remains in place. It does make economic sense – it's a whole lot cheaper for a Marion or a Normal to send a squad to Joliet than to Washington, Pa.

Thanks to RiverHawks broadcaster Bill Czaja for passing this note to us.

Northern League raiding Frontier League?

It seems the Northern League has declared war on the Frontier League.

Earlier this month, the Northern League enticed the Rockford RiverHawks to switch leagues beginning in 2010. At the time, it appeared it was a move that would help both leagues. The Northern League, which is adding an expansion franchise next year, was stuck at seven teams. The Frontier League, which is adding the Normal (Ill.) CornBelters next season, was going to have an unworkable 13 teams. Rockford switching leagues was seen as a way to give both leagues even-numbered teams.

But according to ballparkdigest.com, the Northern League is not content with one former Frontier League franchise. Representatives of the Northern League have contacted owners of the Windy City ThunderBolts about changing leagues and have offered the same deal given to Rockford: $250,000 up front, a waiver on travel-team fees and a limit on long Western road trips.

There is no word yet if the ThunderBolts are considering the move, but the website reports that the Northern League is worried that Winnipeg, Fargo-Moorhead and Kansas City will leave for the American Association. If that happens, the expansion franchise, Rockford and Windy City would give the Northern six teams, each located in the Chicago area.

Read the story here.