News
CONTENDING: Warthogs hope to make run at league title in their final season at Ernie Shore Field
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: April 28, 2008
The professional-baseball teams that have played under various names for Winston-Salem have won nine of their record 11 Carolina League titles since moving into Ernie Shore Field in 1956.
With the team packing up after this season for its move to a new park on the western edge of downtown, the question presents itself.
Will the 2008 Winston-Salem Warthogs win one more for the road?
In the 53 seasons that professional baseball has been played at Ernie Shore Field, far stranger things have happened.
The parent Chicago White Sox have experienced a down cycle of minor-league talent since the Warthogs won Winston-Salem's most recent CL championship in 2003. But cycles, by nature, run their course and early indications suggest that this is the most talented team to play in Winston-Salem in several years.
Even with some of the key bats yet to get on track, the Warthogs have gotten enough strong pitching and defense to remain in the thick of the first-half race of the CL's Southern Division.
"Our pitching staff is phenomenal," third baseman C.J. Retherford said. "It's probably one of the best pitching staffs I've ever played with. We have really good defense. It all starts up the middle.
"Pitching and defense is going to carry us in the long run."
All Class A teams rely on a five-man starting rotation, but through the first month of the season Manager Tim Blackwell and Pitching Coach Brian Drayman have strapped together a five-man rotation with just four starters. Left-hander Justin Edwards, projected to be the fifth starter, has been sidelined by a tender elbow, leaving Blackwell and Drayman to complete the rotation with pitchers more suited to the bullpen.
Meanwhile, regular starters, Aaron Poreda, John Ely, Michael Dubee and Jacob Rasner have carried the Warthogs through the cool days of April.
The bullpen hasn't been as consistent, but even so, the Warthogs rank fifth in the CL with an ERA of 3.57. On the other hand, they rank eighth with 62 runs scored.
"Right now we're getting really nice pitching, but we're not getting the quality at-bats we would like to see and the run production," Blackwell said. "But that's why you play a whole season. All of that is going to be played out."
Javier Colina, a 29-year-old second baseman in his 11th season of professional baseball, has terrorized CL pitching early, and ranks sixth in the league with an average of .323. And Brandon Allen, a 21-year-old first baseman who hit .283 with 18 homers and 93 RBIs last season for Class A Kannapolis, has warmed up in recent weeks and going into yesterday was hitting .258 with three homers and 10 RBIs.
But the outfield is still in flux: left fielder John Shelby III, ranked by Baseball America as the eighth-best prospect in the White Sox organization, has been limited to 27 at-bats because of a pulled hamstring; right fielder Salvador Sanchez is hitting .204 with one homer and six RBIs; and center fielder Paulo Orlando is hitting .206
Considering that Orlando regularly leads off while Sanchez bats cleanup it's easy to see why the Warthogs are struggling offensively.
But Orlando and Sanchez possess the combination of size and speed that excites scouts and player-personnel directors, so both are special projects this season of Blackwell and hitting coach Robert Sasser.
Orlando's problem, Blackwell said, is he's prone to drop his hands and therefore he doesn't hit enough line drives and sharp grounders to take advantage of his blazing speed.
"We need to get Orlando on track where he's not flying out," Blackwell said. "As long as he's flying out, he's going to be scuffling below that Mendoza line.
"He obviously doesn't feel that he's (dropping his hands). He's taking lots of BP and doing that stuff and it's OK. But once the game starts, then something else takes over.
"And that's what we're trying to teach these guys, to translate quality practice stuff into a quality game."
There are two variables to a pennant race that Blackwell, Drayman and Sasser can't control. One is the competition. The other is the kind of decisions being made by the White Sox front office, which has never been slow to move its players from one club to another.
The Warthogs were competitive enough last season to compile a 38-31 first-half record, but were never the same after Aaron Cunningham, a right fielder who batted .294, was traded by the White Sox to the Arizona Diamondbacks organization on June 16.
Cunningham, incidentally, was traded to the Oakland A's organization during the winter.
As for competition, the road to a Southern Division title may be a little smoother than in recent years. The Kinston Indians, dominant enough to have represented the division in the CL championship four years in a row, are off to a surprisingly show start.
Blackwell said last week that it's way too early to predict what's going to happen during the grind of a long summer. But the early performance suggests that the final season of professional baseball at Ernie Shore Field could be one to remember.
Trivia: Through W-S to the Majors
Single -- What outfielder now with the Houston Astros hit .317 with 17 homers and 82 RBIs for the Warthogs in 1997?
Double -- What outfielder now with the San Francisco Giants hit .279 with 24 homers and 88 RBIs for the Warthogs in 1999?
Triple -- What pitcher now with the Cincinnati Reds was 10-5 with a 2.96 ERA for the Warthogs in 1999?
Homer -- What pitcher now with the Baltimore Orioles saved 15 games for the Warthogs in 1997?
Around and about
One player who could have been a big answer to Wake Forest's season-long pitching problems is now pursuing his professional career with the New York Mets' organization. Left-hander Eric Niesen, drafted in the third round last June after his junior season at Wake Forest, is still looking for his first professional victory, but he has bided his time with four solid starts for St. Lucie of the Class A Florida State League. Niesen is 0-2 with a 4.26 ERA after going 0-3 with a 3.30 ERA last summer for Brooklyn of the Class A New York-Penn League.… Right-hander Josh Ellis, drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 11th round last June after his senior season at Wake Forest, has yet to give up a run in his first 13 relief innings this season for Visalia of the Class A California League. Ellis has allowed five hits and four walks and has struck out of 15.… Last week I wrote that Wake Forest, in its bid to secure a spot in the eight-team ACC Tournament, would close its season at home against Boston College. I was wrong. The Deacons will play the final regular-season series in Boston. Sorry for the mistake.
Trivia answers
Single -- Carlos Lee.
Double -- Aaron Rowand.
Triple -- Josh Fogg.
Homer -- Chad Bradford.
■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
N.C. Politics
Federal Politics
Relish appears Thursdays in the newspaper. If you'd like to explore our relish content online, you can find it under the Entertainment section.
Advertisement
Post a comment
(Requires free registration.)
* Keep it clean
* Respect others
* Don't hate
* Don't use language you wouldn't use with your mom
* Use "Report Inappropriate Comments" link when necessary
* See Member Agreement for details