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| Jordan Ellis continues to be the hottest hitting 'Cat |
On Tuesday night the HarbourCats lost in spectacular fashion, although the outcome was slightly less humiliating than the 16-5 thrashing the team took at the hands of the Walla Walla Sweets at RAP on July 10th. This time the ‘Cats fell by a 15-6 score in Medford after leading the Rogues 4-0 in the third inning. No Victoria pitcher was able to effectively stop the bleeding, as Scott Kuzminsky, Will Ballowe, Tanner Kiest, Cameron Cuneo and Joe Record combined to give up 19 hits on the night. The HarbourCats also committed three errors and they continue to be the 11th-best fielding team in the (11-team) WCL.
On the positive side, Timmy Richards raised his average to .308 on the season with a pair of hits and two RBI. Jordan Ellis had his fourth multi-hit game in a row and extended his hitting streak to an impressive 9 games. He also raised his average to .340, which would be good for eighth best in the league if he had enough at-bats to qualify in the batting race (he’s 28 at-bats shy). Alex Real went 1-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice fly to nudge his average up to the .392 mark.
The team is now 2-2 on the current road trip and at 15-15 overall currently sits in fourth place, three games behind the first-place Wenatchee AppleSox. The team could definitely use a pair of wins to take the Medford series and head home for the big weekend showdown with Wenatchee with some momentum.
Your comment about "No Victoria Pitcher"....I find it odd that for some reason Connor Russell, a pitcher from Victoria is no longer getting any game time. He still sits near the top of their leading pitcher scores, but never gets time on the field. Looking over all the activity taking place with this team, it is starting to look like politics to me and not about the true sport of the game. The coach should take a look in the mirror and ask himself "is he really there for all the right reasons" There does not appear to be any consistency in anything he does.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Connor for pitching a good game!
DeleteHere's another theory...I don't know if it is true or not, but it makes sense to me. These kids have no training camp, essentially they come together 2 days before the start of the season so the coach really does not know what he has. Could it be that the coaching staff is using the first half of the year to see what he has in front of him before settling on a lineup that takes him home?
ReplyDeleteI'm puzzled as well by not only the pitching decisions, but also position players - maybe they are just in the process of seeing who can do what before deciding on a rotation, closer, and all positions. THAT would make some sense to me...short term pain for longer term gain.
That said, the Connor Russell thing also puzzles me...he started off pretty well and only got a mop up inning or two in the last couple of weeks. Only other explanation may be that the coach is getting direction from the players' college coaches as it is very clear to me that in this developmental league, that is a strong influence.
I'm even more worried though by the high pitch counts that starters take on. Seems to me it takes a while to hook them, but again, maybe that is to see what they are capable of before the home stretch. Remember, they are still only 3 games out of first, so well within striking distance. Maybe the coaching staff is crazy...crazy like a fox!!
Your theory...we are 31 games in well past the half way point, yet tonight they give the ball to a 6.28 now 7.25 guy. When do you think "they're going to start to bring it home" I agree with Anonymous about Connor Rusell, I see a post on the facebook page today where someone is asking the same question. Why is he not pitching? He gets bumped the last home stand for a guy that was an 8.22 guy and is now an 11.74 guy with 7 innings pitched. He has 29 innings with a 3.41 era but never gets the ball. Now he's gone two more series without an inning as with JN pitching tomorrow a 5.41 era guy, they are back to the start of the rotation. How is it humanly possible that he is out of the rotation?? What did he do to get removed?? Development league...then "WHY DON"T THEY GIVE HIM SOME DEVELOPMENT" Don't you think he has a coach that wants him to get time, he's trying to further his career don't yah think?? This is all politics. Crazy like a fox..really?
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that it doesn't matter how well a guy plays but there is some gentlemans agreement between our coaches and the big US schools that sets the playing time. Our Canadian kids get the shaft because they don't come from a big American school with a powerful coach. Except of course for one lucky Canadian kid each year who might get to play part time to help the harbourcats sell tickets!
ReplyDeleteShaft? Really? Your Canadian kid got a spot on the All-Star team not because of his ability, but a FAN VOTE! Come on....there were plenty of other guys who deserved that spot.
DeleteAll you guys criticizing the coaching is RIDICULOUS! This team is lucky to get Dennis; he's a very well respected coach and his program has produced MANY draft picks year after year. Do you're homework before you post such reckless comments. And for those of you who want to complain about LOCAL kids selling tickets and not getting to play... This is about putting in the BEST players....we're not in little league anymore!
Thanks for your comment, Anonymous. In my opinion, Austin was a bit of a surprise selection to the All Star team. However, the only hitter on the HarbourCats who was left off the team that even deserved to be considered was David Schuknecht. I don't agree that there were *plenty* of other people on the team who deserved the spot more. The stats don't backup your assertion.
DeleteThe point is Gus that the "Canadian" kids aren't all "getting the shaft".
DeleteThanks again for your comment. Let me be clear: I don't believe anyone "got the shaft" this summer. Those were the words of Anonymous. I would more accurately describe this discussion as being about whether or not all players were receiving playing time that is consistent with their production (rather than who is "getting the shaft"). Our readers seem to agree that Austin Russell has received PT consistent with his performance. Some readers, however, have a different perception with respect to Ty and Connor Russell.
DeleteKeep in mind that we publish reader comments regardless of whether or not we agree with the opinion expressed -- provided they follow our guidelines for publishing comments (e.g. no profanity, criticism that is constructive and not personal, etc.).
All the more reason to have a Canadian Coach and promote Canadian talent. We should have the likes of Alex Calbick from Vancouver (Bellingham) and Darren Kolk from Duncan (Kelowna) on this team, both All-stars and both from right here. Pivetta just went in the fourth round and he's from here, why do we need to pull high school kids or "Big US School kids", allot of these guys have little to no time played on the teams they come from during the school season. No offense to any of our players.
ReplyDeleteWho can possibly tell me we don't have the calibre of players from BC alone that could compete in this league. This is Baseball Country (BC). We have the director of scouting for the MLB Canada living in Brentwood, You don't think he will be at next weeks game? he's connected to every potential prospect in this country, that's his job!
If this is a development league then lets develop our kids, makes perfect sense to me. Talk about filling seats, can you imagine the numbers we would get supporting an All Canadian Contingent.
I just think this should be a good blend of both Canadian and US talent with the development of our kids and theres.
Where do you think this team would be without some of these "Big West" players? Take a look at your pitching and hitting leaders. You guys sound like a bunch of whiners! Do you think the other leagues have only LOCAL players? I'd like to see you FILL a team with your local players and win a ball game. And as for the comment that these guys come from schools and aren't playing. I'd like to remind you they are coming in mostly as FRESHMEN and are either pitching or playing behind the BEST! There's a reason these guys come from big programs....they're big players and big players make big plays! Remember that!
DeleteAll this talk about "OUR" kids and "THERES"......shameful! What are in the 1800's again??
DeleteWe can disagree but the fact that anyone of those guys were picked over REAL is UNREAL.
DeleteYes, ideally, we shouldn't talk about "us" and "them". However, I can understand how this dynamic has developed. Whether you agree or not, there is a perception among some fans that certain players have not received playing time consistent with their performance.
DeleteI'd like to suggest that we move on to a different topic.... like "Can the HarbourCats make the playoffs?" Thanks!
Knowing that the coach was portrayed in the papers as someone with a great deal of experience, and the young men are at a higher caliber of ball then "pee-wee" I wouldn't like to think it would take this much time, 20 plus games to determine what they are capable of. Some of these young men have already been offered deals and it only took a scout a game or two to figure it out. Would have been nice to see all of the Canadian College young men on the "All Star Team" giving them a chance to perform for all of these so called "scouts" that may be at that game however, hard to be picked for the team if your not even playing. Thank goodness they finally got the Alex Real thing right even if it was only at the last minute.
ReplyDeleteFree Ty Russell! Free Conner Russell!
ReplyDeleteAs Ty and Connor signed a contract (i.e. offer and acceptance) with the harbour cats, not sure the point of this comment other than someone trying to "stir the pot"...
DeleteSpeaking of contracts, here is a link to the standard WCL player contract: http://www.wccbl.com/pdfs/WCL_Player_Contract.pdf
DeleteI have said it before and I'll say it again... I love the passion of Victoria baseball fans. I can assure you that Dennis Rogers and Bob Miller are good baseball men who are very fair-minded. However, they don't have the same freedom to allocate playing time as they do with their regular college teams. The coaches at UCSB, Long Beach State, Cal Poly, UCLA etc. do have a say in which position their players are used at and how much playing time they get for the HarbourCats. These schools will hopefully be supplying us players every year, so their requests have to be taken into consideration when setting the 'Cats lineup. It seems that this is one of the compromises associated with summer collegiate baseball that we are going to have to accept. Baseball -- like life -- isn't always fair.
ReplyDeleteSo it's the big US College coaches who OWN the players and by proxy operate the Harbour Cats!?!?!
DeleteBottom line Gus, if you perform, you should play, if you don't, you sit until another opportunity presents itself...you can "sugar coat" all you like Gus, but it doesn't pass the smell test...
Anonymous,
DeleteI appreciate your comments, but I don't believe that I'm sugar coating anything. I'm just trying to express the complexity of the situation. In general, I agree that if you perform you *should* play, but summer collegiate baseball is different from the big leagues and it's different from regular college baseball. My point is that head coaches of summer collegiate teams have a much more difficult job to do because there are many more factors to consider when filling out the lineup card (well beyond figuring out who is hot and who is not).
Gus, whether it's the show, college, or summer ball, there SHOULDN'T be any more factors to consider in summer ball when filling out out the lineup...so let's agree to disagree on the complexity factor...in the long run, local fans will vote with their feet...
DeleteFree them !!! Why not just allow them to play.... That is what they signed up to do....
ReplyDeleteSTOP with all the complaining! Ty and Connor...please, just stop. What did TY do last night? He came up in key situations....he got his opportunities but didn't take them. It wasn't someone with the last name of RUSSEL that won the game last night - Conant, Keller, LaVelle, and Urabe did! You're not complaining about all the "Big West" players when we win.
DeleteI'm sorry to call guys out but you people are putting them out there so if you want to put them in the spotlight just remember it shines bright - good or bad!
Thanks for your comment, Anonymous. I have a point of clarification though: neither Ty nor Connor Russell were in the lineup last night. Austin Russell went 2-for-3 last night and the only out he made was when he hit the ball to the right side of the infield for the first out of the inning to advance the runner to third base. That selfless act brought the entire HarbourCats dugout out to congratulate Austin.
DeleteListen, this isn't meant to be a bashing on the players but all this "OUR" players and "THEIR" players thing has to stop. This is a team effort and these posts that talk about LOCAL players needing development....they want to talk about politics and then say put in our local kids and they will sell tickets.....and that's not politics? I think everyone needs to remember this is a GREAT opportunity for all these kids regardless of playing time and ALL of these summer leagues have players from all over.
ReplyDeleteYes, ideally, we shouldn't talk about "us" and "them". However, I can understand how this dynamic has developed. Whether you agree or not, there is a perception among some fans that certain players have not received playing time consistent with their performance.
DeleteI'd like to suggest that we move on to a different topic.... like "Can the HarbourCats make the playoffs?" Thanks!