Sweets Players Recognized by League Coaches

Everyone loves all-stars. At the MLB level, it allows the fans to participate in a way not available at other levels, and for players it is a level of recognition that says "you're elite". And the fans are pretty right on most of the time.

In the WCL, all-stars are selected by the coaches, which I think is a great way to do it. For a three-month season and not a ton of shared media, it would be pretty difficult for fans to accurately pick the all-stars, and with players that are long on potential but short on experience, the trained eyes of a manager or coaching staff can recognize all-star talent that stats from a 3-game series might not be able to.

Kevin Kuntz was not flashy, but effective. Photo: S. Parsons, WW Sweets

Kevin Kuntz - a guy who developed into our starting SS this season - was a player who quietly did all the right things. He took pitches, he put extra work in, he got on base and was a phenomenal bunter...all things that help a team win but don't necessarily get reflected in a stat line (although he was a league leader in OBP and walks). He was recognized by coaches - being named to the WCL honorable mention squad - who noticed the little things that a fan might miss but that accumulated over the course of a season and allowed our club to be competitive - within a 1/2 game of the playoffs with 10 games to go in the season (although we fell just short).

I am excited with what our players did this first year and the chance to build on the foundation of success that they established.

Some Sweets Headlines

The Sweets have had a run of headlines recently that have brought some great national attention to the club. Two that stand out are the following:

1. This piece was a feature on ESPN.com - written by senior baseball writer Jim Caple. Believe it or not, we did not solicit this piece. Kudos to our staff for their job in presenting our product.

2. This news release highlighted that the team cracked the top 25 in overall attendance among summer league teams - finishing at #23. Thanks to Ballpark Business for compiling the data. Here is the story that ran in the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin.

3. A little love from Codball.com as we are talked about on NPR. Take a listen here.

We are hard at work speaking with players and finding the right fit for the 2011 season. We were league leaders in every facet of the business operations side of the WCL and look to work hard to make sure the play on the field is the best in the league as well. What schools would you like to see represented in Walla Walla?