Where the Wild Things Are: Scenes from Life in the Independent Frontier League

This is Alex Stumpf’s seventh and final piece as part of his May residency at FanGraphs. Stumpf covers the Pirates and also Duquesne basketball for The Point of Pittsburgh. You can find him on Twitter, as well. Read the work of previous residents here.

March 24th, 2017

Zach Strecker sat alone in his Florida hotel room. He wasn’t ready to pack. He had a plane to catch and a Sweet 16 game to watch with his dad, but his mind was elsewhere.

After an offseason of preparation and work, the 23-year-old righty reliever thought he was going to be a part of the Twins organization for another year. He had turned a strong senior season with the University of Kentucky in 2016 to a contract as an undrafted free agent with Minnesota nine months earlier, thanks mostly to the testimonial of former coach Brad Bohannon. He even pitched well in Rookie ball, leading the Gulf Coast League Twins in saves.

But today, he heard the same dreaded words every low-level minor leaguer who is losing their job will hear: there just isn’t a spot for you.

It’s a brutal business. He knows that. He wasn’t even expecting to play professional baseball when he graduated from Kentucky. That’s why he has two degrees: one in accounting, the other in finance. He was going to give baseball a shot until there’s no future in it. The day might have come.

Thoughts started to run through his head. “Am I really leaving right now?” “Is this it?” “Am I really ready to go home and join the real world?”

It was the longest 30 to 40 minutes of his life. That was until he got a call from Tony Buccilli, the director of team operations with the Washington Wild Things. Their season was starting in seven weeks, and they were looking for relief pitchers.

“I gave it some thought, but there wasn’t much thought,” Strecker said. “I wanted to play ball, so let’s give it a shot. It’ll be fun.”

Strecker packed, caught his flight, saw Kentucky beat UCLA with his dad and began to think of life as a Wild Thing.

The Washington Wild Things are a part of the Frontier League — the oldest currently operating independent baseball league. The now 12-team league was established in 1993, the Wild Things in 2002. Most of the franchises are based in the Midwest, but Washington is the most eastern-bound, based in southwestern Pennsylvania. It’s a 35-minute drive away from PNC Park in Pittsburgh if you catch the lights and don’t hit traffic.

The Frontier League falls somewhere in the middle on the food chain among indy leagues. It’s less than the Canadian American Association — which is characterized as offering Double-A hitting and Class A pitching by Washington reliever Joe Ravert, who pitched there in 2016 — but more than the Pacific Association or United Shore Professional league. Three Wild Things went into affiliated ball in 2016. Baltimore reliever Vidal Nuno is a Wild Thing alum. Washington’s opponent the night Strecker sat down with FanGraphs was the Southern Illinois Miners — the former stomping grounds of Nationals’ starter Tanner Roark. In the league’s 25-year history, 32 players have reached the Show. The Frontier League is not necessarily the last breath of a major-league dream. There’s still hope, however slim.

That was enough to convince Strecker to sign. There was still a potential future in baseball. He took to Twitter that night: “Just a small bump in the road #headsup.” Washington found their closer.

April 8th, 2017

Today, Trevor Foss officially re-signed with the Wild Things. It was an easy decision for him. He loved the team. He loved the city. He loved the front office, even. But a return was against league rules.

Foss had a solid 2016 with Washington after being released from the Angels on the last day of spring training, posting a 2.50 ERA and earning an All-Star nod. As is the curse with independent baseball, other teams took notice, and he signed with Cleveland midseason. “You can’t be naive. It’s a double-edged sword,” Buccilli said. “Certainly you want to have the best talent available to win games… but you have to understand that very talented players get picked up.”

Foss was excited and a lot more relaxed in his second trip to A ball. “I’ve already been released once. What the worst that could happen? Are they going to do it again?” Foss said. But after seven starts with Lake County, he decided he had had enough of the minors. Had enough of worrying about the extra eyes watching him, the pencil-pushing executives, what to say, what to wear. He was tired of kissing up.

Strecker feels the same way about some parts of Twins life. He was living in a baseball academy with minors, so the possession of alcohol was a $100 fine. Pizza was contraband and another $100 fine. Having a beard was a $100 fine, but mustaches were allowed. Strecker held a mini protest and came to camp with a ‘stache epic enough that LaTroy Hawkins bestowed him the nickname “Ron Jeremy.” Now he has a full beard and is happy to report he had pizza for lunch.

Foss is a realist and recognizes that, if he were good enough to be in affiliated ball, he would have stayed there. He had other offers, but he gave Buccilli his word he would be back. “Here, the only thing that matters is winning,” Foss said. “I like that.”

The problem is Foss turned 27 in November. That is the cursed age in the Frontier League. Each team is allowed one 27-year-old under the designation of “veteran.” A player who’s older than 27 on January 1st can’t play. A veteran is also only allowed to return if he spent the entire year prior with the same club. Foss did not.

The league decided to bend the rules. The Wild Things did the right thing by letting him go to Cleveland. The owners voted to not hold it against them. The last obstacle Foss would have to overcome was figuring out how to print the contract off his computer, sign it, and send it back.

April 25th, 2017

Aaron Burns arrives at the Gateway Grizzlies field in Sauget, Illinois, for the second day in a row. The gates opened 7:30 that morning. The game that would determine his baseball future started at 8:30. He wouldn’t get the chance to pitch until 1.

Burns was not heavily scouted out of high school, but his first three seasons in college ball were all good, despite playing for three different schools. His senior season was not: his ERA jumped from the low-3.00s to to the mid-5.00s for the University of Texas in San Antonio, a Conference USA school. His name wasn’t called in the draft, but he wasn’t ready to hang up the cleats. “I just wanted to play. I didn’t care where,” Burns said. He eventually found the Frontier League and signed up for tryouts.

The day before, he and hundreds of others came to the same field to impress at least one of the 14 teams in a two-day tryout. Buccilli said there were 300 to 400 hopefuls. Burns thought there were 500 to 600. The first day he threw a bullpen session. Two pitches in, they told him to stop. “Save it for tomorrow.” So far, so good.

The second day was one long, continuous game. There were about 80 pitchers remaining by Burns’ estimate, all of whom were going to get to face three or four hitters. It started at 8:30 and wrapped up just before the draft at 4:30. Burns did well in his outing: he fanned two and got a ground out, but he walked a batter because he was trying to be too fine and strike him out. As the first handful of names were called out, the walk was stuck on his mind, wrecking his nerves.

Seven picks in, he finally got to breathe easy: the Wild Things selected him with their first-round pick.

The Frontier League is just like any other league in fielding a roster: they draft, they trade, they sign free agents. There are four more tryouts scheduled for individual teams remaining this year, with each audition costing the player somewhere between $50 to $75. The Wild Things don’t have a scheduled open call. They are going to rely on the occasional trade and free agents to fill the roster.

Free agency is usually the kinder route, especially since representatives from major-league clubs will tip off teams at this level at some potential talent. Every team is going to cut somewhere between 10 to 30 during spring training, so there is supply for the demand. That’s how Buccilli found Foss and Strecker so quickly after they were cut.

Trades in indy ball are usually fairly one sided. The prospect of promoting a player leads to uneven swaps. Last November they dealt David Popkins to the Rockland Boulders of the Can-Am League for pitcher Joe Ravert and outfielder Quinnton Mack. Popkins cracked AA with the Cardinals once before and had a .944 OPS in 2016. Mack barely played and Ravert had a 5.28 ERA. Ravert accepted the assignment. Mack did not, and his Baseball-Reference page indicates he isn’t playing in 2017.

Regardless of how they do it, the Wild Things need to field a team with 22 to 24 players, with at least 11 of them being rookies. Burns will be one of those 11, right after he catches a flight home and then another to Washington in a three-day span. His parents will drive up from Texas a few days later to drop off his car.

May 12th, 2017

Opening Day. The Wild Things beat the Windy City Thunderbolts 9-1, with Foss going seven innings, striking out six. Only one Washington starter didn’t record a hit, run, or RBI. A true team effort.

The rinse-and-repeat nature of a 96-game season starts to take shape, even in the first weeks in a level many are still getting used to. There are no scheduled games on Monday. If Tuesday is an off day too, Wednesday is a double-header, so there are always six games a week, with the exception of the opening weekend and the All-Star break in July.

Strecker spends a lot of time at the Red Roof Inn. The front office tries to get a host family for everyone, but Strecker’s match had cats and he’s allergic. He and his roommate Kane Sweeney hit the gym in the morning, followed by hours of playing “MLB: The Show” on PlayStation. They usually let the game decide the teams, but when Strecker picks, it’s usually the Cardinals.

Routines start to form. Joe Ravert and Vince Apicella have become throwing partners. Alex Fernandez, Jr. texts his family every game before he plays. When Foss pitches, he takes control of the clubhouse playlist, passing on the usual rap in favor of Bruce Springsteen and Lana Del Rey.

Netflix, video games, and cards are prominent before the game. Afterwards, the club provides a spread, usually from local businesses. Dinners of cold concession food may happen once in awhile on the road, but at home, it’s good eating, at least by Foss’ standards: Chick-fil-A, meatball subs, a deli platter, and so on. That leaves the paychecks as beer money.

It’s not a lot of money to blow; Foss says his veteran contract is paying him roughly $1200 a month. Last year, two former Lake Erie Crushers brought a suit against the team and the league for paying less than the minimum wage, bottoming out at $650 a month for the five-month season. It’s only seven-hundredths of 1% of the 2017 Opening Day average MLB salary of $4.47 million. Buccilli tries to help out the guys with families with extra cash rather than giving it to the bachelors who would blow it on a bar tab, but it still pales in comparison to what a stint in the majors could do. Foss’ yearly haul is roughly the same as two days in the majors at the minimum salary, not to mention the benefits.

That salary made outfielder Stefan Sabol think about quitting, especially since May 12th is a much more important day for him. Today, his son Brycen is born. Eight pounds, four ounces. “Hopefully he just keeps getting bigger,” he says with a smile. His Twitter profile features a retweeted picture from his girlfriend of the two-week-old swaddled in a blanket, sucking on a pacifier, and attentively watching his dad play on the laptop. Pound for pound, he just might be the biggest Wild Thing fan.

Sabol was drafted twice, once out of high school by the Atlanta Braves in 2010 and then by the Mets in the 17th round in 2012. He was thinking of turning down the Mets’ offer to transfer to Oklahoma State, but he was afraid he might break his left hand for a third time. He signed and rose all the way to Double-A, even though his hand hampered him with random spouts of pain through the first two years. That pain forced him to relearn his swing. Despite that, he made steady progress within the system. After he hit just .229 in Double-A Binghamton, though, the Mets decided to let him walk rather than come back a sixth year.

He wasn’t ready to quit yet. He’d miss the game, the camaraderie, being able to see new places; but he didn’t want to go too far from his girlfriend and newborn. It’s why he’s in Southwestern Pennsylvania rather than taking another offer in Winnipeg or doing whatever people do when they’re done with baseball.

You know, the real world.

September 3rd, 2017

This is scheduled to be the last day of the regular season. Sure, the Wild Things could make the playoffs (their 9-6 start indicates they’re on the right track), but that only delays the inevitable. On this day — or some day shortly after — some of these 24 Wild Things will hang up their cleats for the final time. Some don’t even wait that long. Jace Conrad was hitting over .300 early on, but decided to retire mid-May. Sabol took his roster spot.

Turnover rates are high. Only six Wild Things returned from the 2016 team. While that was the lowest number in Buccilli’s six years, he said half of the roster always overturns. It’s almost league mandated by requiring 11 rookies.

This is Strecker’s last stand. If he’s not in affiliated ball in 2018, it’s time to put those two degrees to use and start paying off his student loans.

Burns’ degree is in multidisciplinary studies, focusing on environmental sciences, kinesiology, and geography. He choose that field of study because NCAA rules dictate that a certain portion of credits need to be done during a player’s junior year, and he did not have a lot of options since some credits didn’t transfer. He works on a ranch in Vanderpool part-time during the offseason, so he might do that more “when God says it’s time.” “If it ever gets to a point where it’s not fun, that’s where I’ll call it quits,” he said.

Foss hasn’t put much thought into life after baseball yet. The only other option he can think of is coaching. He’ll be too old for the league come next year, and he’d be pushing his luck if he wanted them to bend the rules for him again. There are other leagues, or maybe he can pretend he doesn’t mind kissing up to a pencil-pusher in A ball and get a job there again.

But that’s for another day. The only thing that matters is right now.

“I’m playing until my arm falls off,” Foss said. “The real world doesn’t interest me much.”





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southie
6 years ago

Minor league baseball life is difficult. My buddy was DFAd by the Dodgers. Then picked up by the Orioles. He was obviously the man locally but all he took from a few years was a bruised ego and a nasty dip habit.