Team Tuesdays: Rocket Boys
Hello Wiffle readers. I'm Anthony Stidham. I'm a current committee member and your guide to the teams in our league here in the Huntington Wiffleball League, and now a new columnist for the league website. Team Tuesday's is a tradition I'm honored to carry on and I want to take this opportunity to thank Josh Smith for allowing me to resurrect this column! Now, Team Tuesday's are my take on our current teams within the league. I'll be detailing their strengths, weaknesses and giving readers the 411 on what you want and need to know about our participants. The smart idea would be to go with my team, The Wiffle Hit Wonders. But, that would make sense....so screw it! Captain issues and our team not having the opportunity to play as a whole, forces me to leave it for another Tuesday. So, instead my first team I've chosen to cover is the Rocket Boys!
The team consist of Myles Robertson, Brice Leep, Seth Mullins (team captain), Brandon Metzger, Doug Prather, Rick Patterson and Mikie Saxton. Let's start with the obvious here. On draft night, Mullins managed to tactfully maintain the core of last year's roster with some key draft picks. I don't think anyone saw that core staying together and I don't believe anyone was happy about it. These guys dominated the slow-pitch circuit last year and although they never won any of the tournaments last year they remained a threat all season long and finished in the top 3 of the season standings. Between Brice's speed and athleticism, Myles' power and ability to pitch long innings on the mound, and Seth's just right amount of power and attitude to the mix - this was a team we all learned to respect. This season they added former Mothman player and seasoned vet Brandon Metzger, as well as the son of an award winning pitcher (and a relative unknown) Doug Prather, and 5-season vet Mikie Saxton for their last pick of the draft.
First, let's talk about Brandon Metzger. There's not a lot of detail needed. He's a former Mothman player (a team that won every bracket they played in last year). He's known for being a hitter, fielder and....well....basically what any player from that team is known for (being an all around great athlete). Then there's Rick Patterson! Granted, he's an alternate this year but this guy is no slouch. He's a great slow-pitch pitcher (threw a perfect game last year) and a feared hitter. He memorably hit a walk off home run to beat the Rocket Boys in championship game last year and may be the funniest dude alive!? Show me a flaw!? Go ahead, I'll wait. Next is Mikie Saxton. He's the step-son of award winning pitcher and all around legend in our league, Greg Sowards. He's a young pup, but has shown flashes of talent at times. He's a decent fielder and an okay hitter but has yet to attend a tournament this year. Finally there's Doug Prather. What can I really say about him? Well, nothing definitive. I still have zero idea who he is! But, maybe I will one day. He'll have to show up to the field for that to happen though.
When you add all these ingredients together you get a scary team on paper! So far they seem to be most competitive in our slow-pitch events rather than in fast-pitch brackets. As talented as this team is on paper, very little fast-pitch experience killed them in the first tournament of the year. Other issues lead to the team under-performing in our first slow pitch this year as well. Some of their players showed up late...or not at all. But listen, we have one tournament left, possibly two. And at least one of those will be fast-pitch (if not both) so they need to get their act together if they're wanting to truly compete. One piece of unfortunate news that has reached my attention that could potential hinder their competitive chances is that Myles may have torn his ACL playing softball. I hope this isn't true because the last thing we want is to see a young guy with his athleticism to be hindered by a serious injury. I'm unsure of how serious the injury is but I hope it's not as severe as it sounds. What does the season hold for this paper tiger powerhouse? Only time will tell. On paper they are built to succeed, but if games were played on paper...they would not be any fun!
Hey, tune in every Tuesday for the rest of the season to hear what I have to say about your team! On deck for next week's article: The Astmatics!
