Regular Season Recap – 2021

The final regular season game has been played in Wichita Wind Surge history. The team clinched a playoff spot and the overall #1 seed in the playoffs in their first season.

It was a long season for me and many others on the squad. The new minor league set up of 120 games was a different, but welcome change to the normal overnight bus rides of 2019. Time will tell if this is the future of minor league baseball.

I joined the Amarillo Sod Poodles when I flew into Wichita for my first two games of the season. Although I did not pitch those first two games, my season started in Wichita and it will end in Wichita with the final playoff game potentially on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

The opponent for the Wind Surge came down to the final day of the regular season. What are the odds it came down to game 119 for some and game 120 for others? There was a lot that had to go right for the NWA Naturals to make the playoffs including a Covid cancellation earlier this season against Frisco. We beat Arkansas 4-2 this past week which allowed NWA to jump over them by winning percentage. Frisco lost on a walkoff home run to put them in a tie with NWA. The head to head was 6-5 in NWA favor which meant they made the playoffs. The final month of September is all Arkansas all the time.

I want to write about how I had a great season and felt dominate on the mound but I am not there yet. One thing the pitching coach told me in our season review was that I shouldn’t be searching for a feeling on the mound. I can think about what I did in previous outings but also I need to know that my preparation gets me ready for games. I’m not searching for anything on the mound because I know my preparation has me ready for anything the game can give me.

My year 30 as a player has come and gone and the regular season has concluded. Here I am after 8 years grinding away at this. I said I can’t in good conscious write about having a great season but there are positives that I know I can build off of.

When I think of the positives is that I made it through the regular season healthy. I met a new host of friends that I still have as we continue our career. I was questioning my arm at the beginning of the season when I had no warm up before jumping into the season. Another positive is my velocity has held if not improved over this shorter season than in years past. There has been a difference in my attitude when I am pitching compared to years past. Maybe it is the glasses.

The Little Rock trip was a turning point for me this late in the season. It awakened something in me that made me realize I better start doing something out of the ordinary to make sure I leave a good impression. At this point the season is the season but I have made good strides.

The last week of the season was against Arkansas and early in the week we secured a playoff spot. I have never been a part of a celebration with tarps and champagne and all of the stuff I see on TV. There is a reason everyone is wearing goggles because that stuff will burn the eyes.

I also had my exit meeting with the coaching staff. It worked out that I threw 2.0 innings on Saturday and I worked out of jam to only allow one run. After the outing we had a questionnaire about our offseason scheduling, our thoughts on the season, and other questions going into the end of the year. It wasn’t clear who was going to read this report and therefore I answered in the generic way. The response I got was the answers were very me, but also not quite what they wanted because they wanted to see how things were really feeling. When we are in the bullpen we talk a lot and I feel like we have been having meetings like that all year long.

What I learned from this season is when I’m on, I feel like I can pitch in the MLB. When I am off, it feels like I haven’t thrown a baseball before. Part of the growth this year is that when I have had lows, that I have been able to correct them before they went too far out of control. When I can get the out of control games under more of my control and stay more in the average category than the bad outing category I will be in business.

One conversation I had with one of the sport psych staff who was visiting Wichita was about motivations for playing. I enjoy the process of coming out everyday and doing the daily process of warm ups, throwing, shagging, resting, and then the game. It doesn’t feel like a real job and the pay is always a bonus. I’ve always thought it’d be fun to say I played against the best in the world because what other industry can I say I was at the highest level? When I made that comment to her she said that I already have played against the best there is. She said haven’t guys you played with and against played in the MLB meaning that they fit my definition of top of the mountain?

When she put it into those terms it shows how far I have come from a guy who thought his career was done in 2014, again in 2015, again in 2016, again in 2017, again in 2018, again after 2019, and again after 2020. When I joined the Twins org I wasn’t sure what to expect. They were grabbing me at my all time low for the year and really for my career and I had a resurgence. Pun intended.

Nobody knows what happens beyond the tarp

At first I didn’t know what they were looking for but after my two months here I can say I am better than when I joined them. They taught me a different than average fastball and their confidence in me makes me excited to go to the ballpark each day. This does not mean that they are considering me for the 2022 season. That is in the back of my mind all season and it is one of those things where I will cross that bridge when the time arrives. For those first joining following along, this is standard for me to have no team going into the new season. From the last day of the MILB season until 5 days from the last day of the World Series the Twins have first dibs to resign me.

The playoff series is a best of 5 against the Naturals, a team I have had some good appearances against. One of them was a longer outing my first and only game in Springdale, and then two shorter ones in Wichita. I’m not sure how the bullpen will be managed in the playoffs and after the first game on Tuesday I will be able to have a better idea of how it all works. Gone are the days of who has the most rest in the bullpen and here are the days of get hot instantly and be ready to pitch everyday. What else is interesting is that AAA will still be playing a week after us, and if anyone here plays their cards right they can win with us and head to the final games in St Paul for a taste of AAA.

The first two games of the series are in Springdale on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then we are off Thursday and back at it Friday in Wichita. After that it is if necessary games in Wichita to hopefully close out the series after we do what we do in Springdale.

It has been a crazy 2021 season for everyone and I have been extremely fortunate to be one of the final teams playing. There will only be 3 AA teams that finish with a victory this season and I’m hoping in their inaugural season the Wind Surge can take it home.

As always I appreciate everyone following along and it means a lot to me. Another season in the books and a few extra bonus baseball games never hurt anybody. I will do a post season update to let ever or end know how it went, and hopefully have good news to share!

Propeller Series – Week Sixteen

The propeller series. The legendary battle between Tulsa and Wichita has concluded after an electric 30 game series.

The structure of the series allowed us to fall behind 15-13 in the series and still have a chance to win. If the series ended in a 15-15 tie then whoever wins the last game of the series would be the winner.

Spoiler alert. We won on Saturday and Sunday to claim the first ever Propeller of the Propeller series. My contribution was 1.2 innings pitched in a losing effort. That is my role around here and a well deserved role. Pitch when we are losing.

I have been bad this entire season throwing the ball near the strike zone. When I first arrived in Wichita I was coming off the worst performances of my season/career and was questioning why the Twins would offer me an opportunity. They showed me my fastball stats and then said hey maybe throw this other fastball because it will be harder to hit and overall a better pitch.

How silly of me to think that a simple grip change would change anything. This past week I was making progress with it and feeling great in my bullpens and catch play. I even threw a few good sinking fastballs in the game against Tulsa for the first time as a Wind Surge. The movement plot finally showed a true sinking fastball on it. Things were looking up for me if I get the ball over the plate and it’s weird how I tell myself to throw it down the middle. Aim center mass of the catcher. I can’t even do that right now.

Shoutout Brace Hemmelgarn for the photos

The frustration this year is the same as every year. Physically capable and not mentally capable to not let things go sideways. I have been good at bouncing back after a tough outing and after last night in Arkansas I will need it.

Yesterday the game was close which meant I wasn’t going to pitch and then the game got out of hand which meant in the middle of another pitcher warming up I got to warm up instead. I am now referred to as “the other guy” when they need a pitcher which is a great confidence booster in itself. The best part of it all, which I learned a few years ago, is nobody else cares. Nobody will remember this game and nobody cares if you do good or bad at the end of the day. Other teammates don’t care, the coaches write their reports to make it look like you suck less, and we go through it again the next day.

Shoutout Brace Hemmelgarn for the photos

I know why I am the other guy. I don’t throw strikes consistently enough this entire season. The player plan goals aren’t even high levels of “in the zone” and I haven’t been able to reach them yet. When I throw one at the catchers chest it sinks down below the zone. When I throw it at face hoping it will sink down to his glove then it goes straight at his face and stays out of the zone. I can usually balance that out most days with my breaking pitches getting them to chase but even last night was a struggle with that.

Which is a strange contrast from 2019 when I felt the same mentally and was ahead of league average in walks. What happened to that guy I have no idea. There is no secret sauce or quick fix for me that when it happens will make me a better pitcher. The plan is taking from the poor outings and using that information to improve. Every throw is information.

The problem is when I am done for the day I don’t know what I was feeling. It is a feeling during the game, and then when I’m out of the game it is like what the heck just happened. I prepare the same way, I get my body ready the same way, and then some days it works great. Some days it’s awful. Which Mitchell will show up? I don’t remember the last outing I had without a walk or two. The one job of the pitcher to throw it in the zone and I can’t do it consistently after seven years.

If you’re still reading after this negative review of myself then thanks. I appreciate it. I think other guys go through similar questions but never address them or act like it isn’t an issue. To me being aware of the negative or the fact I’m 30 and still here, or the fact I’m sucking, I need to be aware of that because if I act like nothing is wrong then nothing will change. I have to make changes or else I won’t make it through the end of the year. Maybe everyone else is a great actor or they never doubt themselves in the same way I do but so far I haven’t had anyone to talk through this with.

The good news for the Wind Surge is we have a good lead in the division. We play Arkansas 12 of the last 18. If we play .500 ball we should be a lock for the playoffs. The playoffs in AA are the top two teams in the league not the top from each side of the division. My plan is to be a good teammate, pitch when they ask, not suck if possible, and then go from there. It beats spending all my time worrying and then next thing you know the career is over and it’s like welp that sucked what now? I’m sure the coaches will want to see me bounce back which I’ve been solid at so far this season. I haven’t spiraled out of control and piled bad outing after bad outing since I have been with Minnesota.

The final three weeks are here and now I am playing for self pride. The stats this year already suck, can’t change those, but I work hard to have fun as we wind down. The team is great, we win, the guys are great, we laugh it up, I just want to contribute to the team and help us win. Leave the team knowing I gave my best effort and didn’t go out pouting.

Thank you for reading where my brain is at currently. It feels better to write it out and reflect on it so when I look back I will know what I was actually feeling instead of blurring the truth. I’ve read through this a few times and made edits and I’m capturing what I feel after a bad game. Time to move on for sure. I don’t think this is end of the career after the stint with Minnesota. They have shown me a new fastball that with an offseason of work and electroshocks to my brain will be a real weapon in 2022.

Thank you again for reading and I look forward to filling everyone in on the playoffs of the AA central.

Shoutout Brace Hemmelgarn