[MAW] 2019 Fall Draw Tournament Recap

A Fitting End and New Beginnings

Paul Cooke

October 19, 2019 (YORK, PA) - Saturday’s inaugural MAW Fall Draw tournament - an eight team, 27-player double elimination draft tournament - proved to be both a fitting capper to the 2019 Mid Atlantic calendar and sneak-peak at what may be in store for 2020.

A prevalent theme of Mid Atlantic tournaments this past year was fierce competition. From February’s Winter Classic through September’s Championship Tournament, landslide victories were few and far between and the on-paper favorites rarely panned out. The draft format of this first-time October event proved out that it doesn’t really matter how you mix up the players and draw up the teams in Mid Atlantic, the end-result is still a hotly contested tournament.

The day opened with a pair of games that demonstrated that point. One was a 1-0 pitcher’s duel between Austin Berger and Noah Silverman and the other was decided in the final regulation inning on a Sean Bingnear walk off homerun. Three games reached extra innings, including the final game of the tournament. That game only happened because the loser bracket champion forced a deciding game two. The pre-tournament favorites - Connor Young, Ryan McElrath, and Jake Davey - bowed out before the finals. Four games were won in a team’s final at-bat. The draft format provided a more laidback vibe to the day, but the competitiveness that defined the 2019 Mid Atlantic season was still very much at the forefront.

The level of play remained high at this tournament, an impressive feat considering that top players from the 2019 MAW season like Jordan Robles, Tommy Loftus, Jimmy Cole, Devin Torres, Ryan Bush, Kyle VonSchleusigen, and several others were not in attendance. There were too many impressive pitching performances to count to go along with ridiculous power displays from the likes of Red, Sean Bingnear, Colin Pollag, and the 2019 MAW Home Run Derby champion, Tim McElrath. Those four - and many others - put a nice finishing touch on their great individual performances from this past year.

On the flip side, the tournament also introduced and re-introduced several players into the Mid Atlantic fold. Three players - John Polanco, Mike Sullivan, and Will Thorp - made their MAW and fast pitch competitive wiffleball debuts during the tournament and all three impressed to varying degrees. The tournament also brought back a quartet of WILL Waves - Jake Davey, Austin Berger, Steve Keelon, and Nate Morris - who were last seen in Mid Atlantic in August 2018. Additionally, DeMarkus Lee - formerly of G€M - returned to action for the first time since last season. Each of those players could make their mark in Mid Atlantic next season if they so choose and there is a good chance that at least a few of them will.

WILL Scouting Reports

It had been almost fourteen months to the day since we last saw members of the WILL Waves - Jake Davey, Steve Keelon, Austin Berger, and Nate Morris - in Mid Atlantic but all four competed in the draft tournament.

At the Canonsburg Classic last August, Keelon struggled to find the strike zone with any sort of consistency against the Lemon Heads and was pulled after three walks. That outing was his first using cut balls and he’s clearly taken a big step forward in the interim. On Saturday, Steve relied primarily on a riser on his way to a 1-1 record. That pitch combined good velocity with sharp vertical movement and was effective against both left-handed and right-handed hitters. Keelon tired a bit in his second game and lost command of the strike zone but he already looks like a quality number three pitcher on a good team (think Nate Smith and the Shortballs). If he can develop another pitch, his ceiling is even higher.

Davey got his day started by ripping a single off Ben Stant. One of the best hitters at the NWLA Tournament this past year from a pure results standpoint, Jake has the quick wrists and natural instincts to succeed in any environment. Jake threw a few innings for Team Soup in their second game of the tournament. He had solid command of his main pitch (a slider) and forced opposing batters to put the ball in play. His role in the NWLA Tournament for the Waves has largely been to eat innings during a blowout (in either direction), which is likely the pitching role he’d ideally settle into in MAW. His offensive (and defensive) potential is enough, however, that any innings his team gets out of him in the future would be a bonus.

Morris has the reputation has an all-or-nothing hitter at the plate and that looked to be the case on Saturday. That’s not a terrible thing by any means. He has a good “damage to contact” ratio and profiles as a good mistake pitch hitter. He also might benefit from trying to sit on a certain pitch and location as much as possible. Nate didn’t get any time on the carpet this weekend but does have a live arm. His command is said to be a significant issue, but there is upside.

Berger already established himself as the Waves’ ace in both the clean ball only NWLA Tournament and in MAW last August. Saturday did nothing to change that. Berger was among the better pitchers in the NWLA Tournament in July, combining a high strike out rate (67%) with a below average walk rate (11%) while throwing 14 innings for the defending champions. He allowed just four hits all tournament long. Berger picked up right where he left off in July by throwing a 5-inning no hitter in his team’s first game in the draft tournament. The good news/bad news for Berger was that his team stayed in the winner’s bracket early which also meant a long layoff in between games. The extended down time seemed to affect him against Team Bingnear, but overall his tournament was a success. He almost exclusively threw a hard screw, but that one pitch plays up due to his velocity and more ability to effectively work in-and-out on hitters.

[HIGHLIGHT: Austin Berger Pitching Reel]

Home Run King

Tim McElrath followed up his championship winning 2019 NWLA Tournament Home Run Derby performance with his second derby title of the year on Saturday.

The inaugural MAW Home Run Derby was held in conjunction with the draft tournament. Each player in the tournament field was eligible to participate and received 90 seconds to hit as many home runs as they could, with the top four advancing to the final round. Tim hammered his way into the final round with a round-leading 23 homers and was joined by his brother Ryan, Connor Young, and Vin Lea in the final four.

[HIGHLIGHT: Tim McElrath wins HR Derby]

The final round saw a new leader with each participant as Connor surpassed Ryan as the second swinger and then was passed himself by Vin Lea who set the high mark at 19. Tim needed to come within three home runs of his opening round total to win and was more than up to the task. He began the round by depositing 10 balls over the fence in just 30 seconds, placing himself on a pace to hit 30 home runs. Although he didn’t quite maintain that frantic pace, Tim continued hitting the ball out at a good clip, including several absolute moonshots that cleared the trees in left field on Sheff. With 19 seconds left on the clock, he hit another tree clearing shot for his 20th home run of the round, sealing the title with significant time still left on the clock. In total between the two rounds, Tim hit a remarkable 43 home runs in 2 minutes, 41 seconds.

First Looks

John Polanco is not exactly a newbie to competitive wiffleball. In addition to competing in his own backyard league, John competed in the 2018 GSWL Yard Open as part of the Polanco Pigs. Saturday did mark his MAW and fast pitch competitive debut, however, and it was an impressive one. John pitched one game for Team Yak, opposite of 2019 MAW rookie of the year runner up Gino Joseph. John went pitch for pitch with Gino and impressed both his teammates and onlookers with his stuff, command, and poise. The lanky right hander throws hard, but more importantly he has a relatively polished arsenal and a pretty good understanding of how to use it. When you combine the two - the natural stuff and polished arsenal - Polanco looks like he has a bright future.

Two players brand new to the sport - Mike Sullivan and Will Thorp - traveled down with the Waves and dipped their toes into the competitive wiffleball waters. Both are college baseball players and adapted rather quickly. Sullivan struggled some with his command as he searched for a consistent arm slot. If he can find a consistent release point, his riser appeared to have significant potential. Thorp got in six games of experience while playing for the tournament runner up. He looked more comfortable in the batter’s box as the day went on and made solid contact against some good pitchers. He also got in a few innings of pitching work and while he gave up two long home runs to Chris Sarnowski, the potential was obvious. His final pitch of the tournament - a very hard riser near the bottom of the zone that seemed to come out of nowhere - is proof of that. Will’s greatest asset on Saturday was probably his defense. After muffing his first chance of the day by taking too long to make the throw, Will delivered on every other play and ended the day with somewhere around ten total groundball putouts.

Here and There

In preparation for the 2020 season, MAW tested out loading the bases in the first extra-inning (the sixth) rather than deciding tied games on total bases. This was the most requested rule by the players to be reviewed this offseason. While one game on Saturday did go eleven innings, the other two ended in relatively short order. Most everyone saw the change as a positive one . . . Colin Pollag was named Tournament MVP. Colin pitched four complete games and part of another, won three, and had several game winning hits for the tournament runners up . . . The tournament MVP race was very close, with Red also having a standout tournament. First, he entered in extra innings for Frankie Campanile and went the rest of the way (seven additional innings) to secure a win. He pitched and hit his team into the championship game with a win and three home runs in the winner’s bracket final. Lastly, he was the winning pitcher in game two of the championship, which included several additional perfect extra-innings . . . Three other pitchers deserving of some recognition. Gino Joseph and Vin Lea both threw well north of ten innings and looked to be in mid-season form in October. In addition, the Barrel Bruisers’ Chris Owen had one of his best MAW pitching performances of 2019, as he shut down Team Keelon in a very efficient outing. . . A couple of new signs - one for the Longballs, one for the Shortballs - were added to the outfield wall on Sheff in time for the event. . . Temperatures hovered just over freezing at the start of the tournament, but by mid-day it was pretty much a prefect weather day with sunny skies and the temperature in the low to mid 60’s. . . Sean Bingnear was a relatively late add to the tournament field. His decision to participate was based on a desire to try out some hitting techniques, including a more closed stance. Sean has to be happy with the early results - he hit walk off home runs in his team’s first and last games on their way to the tournament title.

Up Next

That’s a wrap for MAW in 2019, but 2020 is right around the corner. MAW will start the year with the third annual Winter Classic tournament on Saturday February 22nd. Full details are still forthcoming, but the tournament will once again take place at In the Net in Palmyra, PA. The tournament will be held at In the Net’s newest dome turf facility which is opening this winter. Additionally, unlike last year’s event which started late Saturday night and ran through to Sunday morning, this year’s Winter Classic is scheduled for a mid-day start time and will wrap up shortly before midnight.

MAW has also announced that the 2020 Opening Day Tournament will be on Saturday April 18th at the organization’s home base in York, PA. No additional 2020 regular season dates have been announced at this time but should be forthcoming.