The Nuthouse

The Wingnuts are pretty solid in most areas. They have a very, very good infield, a solid outfield anchored by speedy center fielder Chris Colton, and the pitching staff is among the best in the American Association.

But Wichita has holes. Not many, but some. Let’s examine them:

Catcher
Felipe Del Rosario is an excellent defensive catcher for this level. I don’t have numbers on this, but I imagine the ERA of the pitchers is better when he catches than when backup Bernie Dennis does. That’s no knock on Dennis, but Del Rosario excels on defense and handling the pitching staff.

The problem is his bat. He’s batting .185 with two extra-base hits in 65 at-bats. He has 17 strikeouts and just five walks. Dennis got off to a good start at the plate but his average is down to .240 and he doesn’t possess the defensive skills Del Rosario does.

My solution would be to sign another ex-Shocker to join shortstop Kevin Hooper. Doug Mirabelli. Why not? I asked Wingnuts general manager Josh Robertson about this the other day and he said that he’s a friend of Mirabelli’s so the ex-major leaguer would probably consider it. Well, what are you waiting for? If it’s fiscally possible, go get him. Who better?

No. 5 starter
You can’t complain too much about inconsistency from the last spot in the pitching rotation. Even on the major league level you’re ecstatic if your No. 5 starter gives you league-average performance.

But this is an area in which the Wingnuts just haven’t found an answer. Demetri White and Ronnie Ball have taken a crack at it with mostly disastrous results. You don’t expect a No. 5 guy to tear it up, but when he can’t make it out of the third inning it taxes the bullpen.

I have no potential solution for this problem, but I know manager Kash Beauchamp tirelessly looks for ways to improve his team. I’m sure he’ll come up with something if Ball and White continue to struggle.

Power
The Wingnuts have a balanced lineup but Michael Thompson is the only hitter that really puts the fear of the home run in the opposing pitcher. David Gates and Brenan Herrera are threats, but Gates has been inconsistent at the plate this season and Herrera is more of a doubles hitter who can occasionally muscle up.

If Wichita keeps getting double-digit hit performances, as it did during several games in the recent homestand, this won’t be a problem. But it’s always nice to have a couple guys in the order who can put three runs on the board with one swing.

It’s possible we haven’t seen the last of Dustan Mohr, who was bought by the Colorado Rockies late last month. He’s batting .159 in Triple-A and his spot in the organization (speculation only) may be in jeopardy with several Rockies coming off the disabled list at the big-league level and the roster move wheels spinning. So we’ll see. Adding him back to the lineup would give the Wingnuts possibly the most dangerous lineup in the leaguue.

*I wanted to call him the St. Paul radio clown, but that would have been unprofessional.

I like Jerry Taylor, the Wingnuts’ official scorer, head of the NBC tournament and former coach and administrator at several Wichita-area schools, for many reasons. One of those is because he recognizes he doesn’t have all the answers, particularly in his role as the official scorer.

Though I’ve scored hundreds of baseball games in my day, sometimes plays happen in which I struggle to figure out exactly what happened, too. Two of those plays came Sunday in the fourth inning of the Wingnuts’ game against St. Paul. No need to get into specifics, but they were funky plays.

As is custom when something questionable occurs, Jerry and I conferred on the plays and tried to get them right. Usually, he comes down to my end of the press box to get my opinion. Sunday, it just so happened that I went down to him. But as I approached his door, he was leaving it to go find me.

So we’re talking about the plays, and I say something innocuous like “I had it as a hit and an error.” I don’t even know what I said — it was harmless. The St. Paul radio guy, just then joining the ongoing conversation, says, “What, are you on the Wichita payroll or something?”

I said, “Why do you say that?” — giving him a chance to laugh it off. But he didn’t. He said, “You’re here lobbying for hits. That’s not your job, that’s his job.”

Keeping in mind that Jerry and I frequently (probably once a game on average) discuss plays and how to score them, the LAST thing I would ever do as a media member is lobby for a player to get a hit. In fact, by the time the conversation between Jerry and me happened, I had already forgotten who hit the ball. I just don’t care. If Jerry needs my help in getting something right, I’ll give it to him.

I didn’t react well to this. The guy basically called me a homer. I got so mad I was shaking for the next inning or so. This guy doesn’t know the first thing about the working relationship between me and Jerry, and he over-stepped his bounds by calling out my integrity.

Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the time, I don’t hold grudges against anybody for any reason. But I don’t see myself forgiving this guy anytime soon.