One of the biggest questions myself and the rest of the Wingnuts staff has had to answer is, ‘where do the players come from?’ Obviously this is where the Wingnuts differ the most from the Wranglers, as our team is not affiliated with any Major League organization. For those of you familiar with the Wichita Thunder, and most of the Central Hockey League for that matter, it is essentially the same thing. Managers have to go out and recruit players from year to year, with a select group of core players that remain intact.
Minor league baseball is much more organized than minor league hockey in the sense that there is no crossover of affiliated or independent teams in any particular league. The CHL, for example, has a handful of teams with NHL affiliations. As a result, many of their players are under NHL contracts and are not controlled by the CHL franchise. The American Association and its fellow independent baseball leagues are under no such restrictions. This puts every team on the same playing field at the beginning of the year. No manager in independent baseball gets “free recruiting”.
The thing that independent newcomers need to understand is that the majority of players in indy ball, especially in the American Association, have come from Major League organizations. Some people have even asked questions such as, ‘are these going to be amateur players?’. My favorite was a post on a message board in which someone proclaimed the Wingnuts to be a ’step above high school’.
Out of the half-dozen or so independent leagues, the American Association is probably second in terms of talent level. The league’s talent is comparable to Double-A, which happens to be the same level the Wranglers had played at. Now, you probably won’t find the next Albert Pujols or Alex Rodriguez among the independent ranks. But you will find guys that are hungry and willing to do anything to get back to the next level. This means teams play to win every single night, no questions asked. Again, most of these players have been as high as Triple-A. Wichita already features two former big leaguers in Kevin Hooper and Dustan Mohr. And just to broaden your view of independent baseball success stories, here are several names you might recognize that have used independent ball to further their careers:
JD Drew
Darryl Strawberry
Kevin Millar
Luke Hochevar
Max Scherzer
Rickey Henderson
Affiliated minor league baseball is meant for developing players for the Major Leagues. Teams have millions of dollars invested in first round draft picks and will make sure that those picks get their at bats and get their innings pitched, even if it means giving up a win here or there. There is nothing wrong with this. And this is certainly not meant to be a critique of how affiliated teams are managed. After all, they are called “farm” teams for a reason. The point is that the Wingnuts will be focused on winning. Sure, it was fun to see high-profile prospects like Johnny Damon, Carlos Beltran, and Alex Gordon come through Wichita. It was even more satisfying to see them plow through Omaha and eventually to Kansas City. But this summer Wichita baseball fans will be introduced to a brand of professional baseball where everyone from the manager, to the players, and all the way down to the grounds crew wants to see the Wingnuts bring home a championship.
…i get the sense that most of wichita is coming around to the wingnuts, which is great to hear. there is definitely a buzz in town, especially now that opening night is a week from wednesday. there are still some people who are either hesitant or simply bitter over what the wranglers ownership did by moving the team away. hopefully these people jump on board with everyone else, and truthfully i believe they eventually will. the heavy competition for roster spots, combined with the fiery nature of Kash Beauchamp, combined with some dynamite on-field entertainment should make for a fun summer…
