Nic Severini on baseball: Cutters’ recent problems correlate with struggles at plate
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The past week has been humbling for the Williamsport Crosscutters.
In a season that has seen Billtown's ballclub clinch the MLB Draft League First Half Title in historically dominant fashion, the past week has not been as kind. And while it has been emphatically stated that the Cutters, who clinched a spot in September's MLB Draft League Championship game with the first half win, will not be cruising in the second half, the efforts of the past week suggest that change is needed with the Crosscutters' approach.
That is because in the last week that has consisted of six games, Williamsport managed just a single win in that span. In the context of the entire season, it is just the second time Williamsport went an entire week with just one tally in the win column and the second time all season that Williamsport went an entire week below .500. (In both instances, the exception was the stretch from June 2nd to June 6th in which the Cutters went 1-4 at the start of the season.)
What happened? And more importantly, can it be fixed as Williamsport threatens to fall below .500 for the first time since the beginning of the season?
The 1-5 streak started last Sunday in what can only be described as Billtown's worst loss of the season. Carrying an at one point five run lead, Williamsport would concede 11 runs across the last two innings in a 13-7 setback that lead to a hands on deck meeting in the clubhouse directly after.
The coming together looked to have worked when Williamsport won 13-7 the next day against State College in what was their best offensive game of the second half season. But things would falter after, dropping their last four games of the week with a series splitting loss to State College 5-8, followed by a series sweep on the road at the Trenton Thunder with scores of 5-13, 3-4, and 3-7.
Even with the scores reflecting multiple different ways of losing, its clear that the problem offensively regards what is happening at the dish.
Over the previous week, Williamsport had struck out 41 total times for an average of 8.2 k's a game. The mark represents a league wide worst, with the Aberdeen Ironbirds (35 times total for an average of seven a game) the next closest.
A majority of Williamsport's sendoffs came in their final two games of the week against Trenton. In contests that saw the Cutters muster six combined runs, Billtown would get the wave 20 times in the span with 11 such K's coming in Saturday's 3-7 setback. This pails in comparison to Trenton, who would be waved just five times in the same game.
Which leads to the other issue plaguing the Cutters in this span. After getting out on strikes a few too many, Williamsport's pitching has been getting outs at the plate a few too few. In the last week, Williamsport pitchers have thrown out just 30 batters, a mark that is second worst in the Draft League in that span.
The lack of outs at the plate have been detrimental to Williamsport's efforts who, after a historically dominant first half season at the mound, have come back to earth with a second half meandering 5.24 earned run average that includes a league worst 15 home runs conceded and league second worst 100 strikeouts thrown.
Vying for a change of fortunes, the Cutters are back at home this week for a three game set against the West Virginia Black Bears on Sunday. From there, Williamsport will go on the road against the Mahoning Valley Scrappers before concluding an 11 games in a row stretch back at home against Trenton.