National Notebook (May 2021)

A monthly look at what is going on around the country in fast pitch competitive Wiffle®Ball.

It is typical for a new Wiffle®Ball league — particularly a new fast pitch league — to be dominated by a few experienced pitchers, leaving the rest of the league to play catch up. It is less common for the pitchers in a startup league to control the action across the entire league from the onset. Through the first two weeks of games in the upstart MO WIFF league, however, that is exactly what seems to be happening.

The pitchers have controlled the action in Chesterfield for the first 8 games of the league’s inaugural season. MO WIFF hurlers are pitching to a collective 1.48 ERA (per 6 IP) and have struck out a whopping 240 batters in 104 1/3 innings pitched. Nearly 77% of the outs recorded thus far in the 6-team league have come via strikeout.

Of the twelve pitchers who have thrown the equivalent of at least one full 6-inning game, five of those players (Cam Smith, Josh Rogers, Brett Spencer, Jordan Smith, and Jason Worstenholm) have yet to allow a run. All but two of those twelve pitchers have an ERA below 2.00, with one — the Mambas’ Alex Berich — sitting right on the 2.00 mark. Thus far only one game — the May 6th meeting between the Mambas and Bombers — did not end in a shutout. Already three no-hitters and 2 perfect games have been thrown, with one of those perfect games (thrown by Cam Smith) being of the immaculate variety (no hits, no walks, all strikeouts).

When it comes to pitching/offensive balance, the league is clearly leaning heavily in one direction.

It is no surprise that experienced and veteran pitchers like Rogers, [Cam] Smith, Sam Skibbe, and Spencer Bogad have gotten off to hot starts. Experienced pitching usually holds a significant edge in a newer league. So far, however, MO WIFF is getting strong pitching from not just that top tier but an overwhelming majority of the pitchers. It is likely that that the league will see some combination of the league-wide pitching regression and/or offensive progression as the summer season moves along. The league is still brand new — two-thirds of the league have only played one double header — so this could just be a small sample size mirage, but that is not guaranteed by any means.

Just how the well the pitching holds up throughout the summer will be one storyline to watch for out of Chesterfield this summer.

*****

STATS & NOTES

STRIKEOUT MILESTONE: Mike Speek Jr.’s 9th strikeout in the 8-Balls’ victory over the Pork Pistols last Monday night in Indianapolis was the 500th of his Circle City career. In doing so, he became the first Circle City player to reach that noteworthy milestone. The Yakker’s Rudy Lyon currently holds the 2nd spot on the all-time strikeout leaderboard with 388, a “mere” 120 behind Speek Jr.’s current total of 508.

Mike Speek Jr. became the first Circle City pitcher to 500 strikeouts on May 10th. (July 13, 2019)

SECOND GENERATION: On the topic of 2nd generation wifflers, Nick Bone – son of Lakeside Kings’ ace Darren “The Natural” Bone – is a member of the Empire in MO WIFF this season. Although Nick did not spend any time on the rubber during his team’s first doubleheader (he did go 1-9 with 3 walks at the plate), that could change as the season progresses. His father, Darren, spent the prime of his career playing in the less-visible scene of the 1980’s and early 1990’s, but was also a key component of the mid-1990’s Lakeside Kings teams that finished top four at the North American Championship in Cincinnati three times (1995 through 1997) and won the 1996 NJWA Summer Showdown in New Jersey.

BOMBERS WIN IN SOCAL: SoCal Wiffle® held its first tournament of the spring on Saturday, May 15th. The 8-team event included many of the usual, veteran SoCal mainstays in addition to more recent transplants including like James Stein, Tom Gannon, and Will Marshall. The OBombers ­– Marshall, Sylvie Serrano, and Rob Colon — took down the tournament, defeating the Ryan Kaufman-led Ridgecrest squad in the championship game.

“It seems that Sylvie Serrano always plays better when his long-time teammate, Rob Colon, can make it with him from Norther California,” tournament director and veteran player Peter Mocabee told me. “Sylvie pitched like he was 10 years younger.”

MAKING THE MOST OF IT: Has any player gotten more out of their recent tournament home runs than Dennis Donegan? The Ridley Park player’s last five tournament dingers have all been big: (1) walk off, extra inning grand slam versus the Cheeseballs (MAW – 07.25.20); (2) walk off home run versus the Waves (MAW –08.15.20); (3) home run versus the 3x defending national champions in the final 16 at United Wiffle® (UW –10.25.20); (4) game tying grand slam versus the Stompers (MAW –05.08.21); and (5) game winning extra-inning home run versus the NY Meats (MAW – 05.08.21). [WATCH: Donegan’s Game Winning Home Run]

SOUTHEAST FIRST UP: The Southeast Wiffle®Ball Open — the first of several “linked events” that will send a representative to United Wiffle®Ball in October — is just around the corner. The tournament takes place on June 5th in Kingston, Tennessee. While the full event roster has yet to be revealed, a mix of veteran and newcomers from GA, TN, and TX are expected at the event. We will have a full preview of the tournament on the site as it approaches.  

*****

One league that has a lot of experience dealing with a pitching/offensive imbalance is the Ridley Park Wiffle®Ball League.

In 2019, Ridley pitchers posted a combined 1.47 ERA with hitters managing just a .130 batting average (by comparison, MO WIFF hitters have managed just a .118 average thus far in 2021). That gap began to shrink in 2020 as the league wide batting average rose more than thirty points to .167 and the league ERA shot up more than a run to 2.81.

After the first games of the 2021 RPWL season, it appeared as if the gap might disappear altogether. There were 14 homeruns hit by 11 different players over 8 games the weekend of May 1st & 2nd. The resulting 1.75 homeruns per game was well above the average in 2019 and 2020 (0.67 and 1.15, respectively).

Jack Liberio led the RPWL in OPS with a 1.318 mark (.282/.472/.667) in 2020. (May 8, 2021)

The opening weekend power surge had Ridley Park players scratching their heads as to what could be driving it. A common theory was that new field conditions might be the main cause. Not only did the league construct a permanent field (Hill Side Park) this winter in an area they had never played on before, but trees surrounding the park where the field is located were also cut down. Players have theorized that the wind patterns or the field simply “playing small” drove the uptick in home runs. It seems like a reasonable hypothesis and was buoyed by the anecdotal evidence that the ball seemed to carry more on that field than on any of the temporary fields during the Mid Atlantic Wiffle® Tournament hosted by RPWL one week later.

However, the home run totals trended downward in the league’s second week of the season, with only 5 home runs hit in 6 games. After two weekends of games, there have been 1.36 home runs hit per game which is not all that far off the 1.15 mark from a season ago.

The league ERA currently sits at 1.71, which is a run lower than where it ended the 2020 season at. However, not all the data indicates that the one-week power surge was a small sample mirage. RPWL hitters are currently batting .227 as a group. If that number holds, it will be the highest league wide batting average in Ridley Park since the 2016 season.

It is still early, but there is enough evidence to indicate that the gap between the pitching and the hitting in Ridley will close even more in 2021. In addition to the impact of Hill Side Park, other theories players have brandied about include new bat rules and simply a matter of the offense catching up with the pitching. The league is allowing modified screwball bats to be used the first time this year which might play a role in a 2021 offensive uptick, but it did not impact the increase in offensive output between the 2019 and 2020 seasons (Easton bats were legal in both those years with no other bat rule changes).

The notion that — after four seasons of facing top notch pitching in their home league, not to mention in tournaments outside of it — that the Ridley hitters are catching up to the Ridley pitchers is a reasonable one and would explain both last year’s offensive uptick and this year’s (if it continues). Observationally, the Ridley Park hitters as a group are performing better in MAW this year than they collectively have the last three years, which also supports the theory that the hitters are simply getting better. If the offensive output stays at current levels for the entire summer, Ridley Park will serve as a good blueprint for how offense can increase in a league over time through mostly added reps and experience rather than rule changes.

*****

A topic of much discussion on The Drop over the last couple of years has been players competing in multiple places (leagues, tournaments, etc.) during a Wiffle®Ball calendar year. If the early going is any indication, 2021 will be a high-water mark in that regard. Players in the upper Midwest – for example – are already logging a lot of travel miles early this year.

While some of that is due to approximately a dozen players journeying eastward in April/May to compete in MAW tournaments, there is also a lot of crossover happening within the region itself. St. Louis-area players Cam Smith and Spencer Bogad have already logged innings in both MO WIFF and Circle City in Indianapolis. Caleb Jonkman got his first fast pitch action of the year this past weekend in Circle City and is also on rosters in Leroy, Griffleball, MAW, and WSEM in 2021. Caden Irwin is competing in both WSEM and MLW this summer. And that is just some of the fast pitch-only crossover going on.

A key element of The Drop 100 since the project’s beginning — and really, any evaluation of players across league/tournament lines — is that that with rules and competition levels varying so much from place to place, the most accurate way to gauge a player’s performance is for that player to compete in multiple environments. There are fewer unanswered questions in those situations, which is important when evaluating players on actual performance rather than talent or hypotheticals. It also helps provide a better baseline as to the overall talent in a league or tournament. With each passing year, more and more players are going down that path and 2021 looks to be a banner year for players competing regularly in a variety of locales.

*****

BREAKOUT POTENTIAL

Looking for a 2021 breakout candidate? These players are all have solid upside and come with at least some level of prior fast pitch or general Wiffle®Ball success.

BRENDAN BARNOWSKI [MICHIGAN]: The key member of the West Michigan Wiffleballer’s 2019 MLW Wiffle in the Mitten tournament championship team, Baranowski signed with the Flying Monkeys of the Kalamazoo Wiffle®Ball League this winter and was selected first overall by the Coastal Cobras in the 2021 MLW draft. A bulldog on the mound who had command of several pitches and very solid velocity, the question for Baranowski this season is how quickly he’ll be able to adjust to the 48-foot pitching distance in Kalamazoo. He was shaky in his first KWL start – 16 walks in 6 innings, but only two hits and six runs allowed ­­­­– but he has the ability and stuff needed to make the adjustment.

JARED JONKMAN [INDIANA]: Sure, he might have reason for this particular recommendation, but when Caleb Jonkman gives an optimistic scouting report on a fellow player it is probably wise to pay attention. On New Year’s Day, Caleb tweeted that he believes his brother, Jared, has what it takes to be an upper tier national fast pitch player after a little more variety of experience (Jared’s previous fast pitch experience has mostly come in Leroy and Griffleball, with a little NWLA Tournament experience mixed in). So far, so good on that front. In two games in his first season as a member of the 8-Balls in Circle City, Jared is 4-9 with a homerun and a pair of runs scored.

TAYLOR BRYNER [NEVADA]: Like the other players discussed here, Taylor Bryner has already broken out on some level – in his case, being one of the (if not the) top two-way player during the Spring 2021 Premiere League Wiffle® season. He was also named the 2021 PLW post-season MVP for leading the Sandvipers to the championship. Bryner recently demonstrated that his stuff – with some refining – should be able to play anywhere, including full fast pitch environments. Playing for the PLW All-Stars at the recent SoCal Wiffle® tournament, Bryner impressed at least one veteran player.

“When he took the mound in the quarterfinals for the first time with his un-scuffed ball, he reminded me of Cooper Ruckel,” tournament organizer and Whippets WC captain Peter Mocabee relayed. “Low 90’s velocity with a hard break into the zone.” Taylor’s downfall on that day was command, but Mocabee noted that isn’t unusual for a player at Bryner’s experience level. Mocabee thinks the best maybe yet to come. “I can’t wait to see his progress,” Mocabee told The Drop. “I hear rumors he’s hungry for more.”

BRENDAN BOAS [PENNSYLVANIA]: Boas could be the next in line in a long litany of breakout stars from the Ridley Park Wiffle®Ball League. Brendan homered off Sean Bingnear in his very first competitive Wiffle®Ball at bat on RPWL’s opening weekend in early May. The next week the big right-hander picked up most of the Bigballs’ innings at the MAW Philly Special and although the results were a mixed bag, he impressed with his easy velocity and pitchability, which made up for his raw offerings and sometime shaky command. Brendan is playing for the RPWL Dodgers this season. Being able to learn from his two experienced teammates, Tommy Loftus and Dylan Harshaw, could help to accelerate Boas’ progress.