These Wild Things players look to have a very bright future
It is yet to be determined if this year’s Wild Things squad is the most talented in the Frontier League team’s 14-year history. That will not be determined for a few months.
It is, however, not a stretch to say this is the smartest team the Wild Things have ever assembled for spring training.
How can you tell?
A look at the roster reveals that Washington has two Ivy League graduates and another who attended an Ivy League school for three years.
Right-handed relief pitcher Tim Giel, a Gibsonia native, is a graduate of Columbia University, where he majored in computer engineering. Second baseman Daniel Massey is a rookie second baseman who graduated from Brown last spring with a degree in economics.
There also is left-handed relief pitcher Chris O’Hare, who joined the Wild Things late last season and currently is on the suspended list. O’Hare, who attended Yale for three years and majored in political science, is hopeful of being added to the active roster this season.
There has been only one Ivy League graduate to play in a regular-season game for the Wild Things, and if you blinked you might have missed him. Matt Buckmiller, an outfielder who almost won the Triple Crown in the Ivy League as a senior at Columbia, played two games for Washington in 2002 before suffering a hamstring injury that ended his season.
“Ivy League baseball is on the rise,” Giel said. “One of the things people don’t realize is the Ivy League teams start two weeks later than every other Division I program. That’s just a league rule, so we’re starting two weeks behind every team we play.”
Giel and Columbia helped change the image of Ivy League baseball in 2013. The Lions advanced to the NCAA tournament and was placed in a regional at top-seeded Fullerton State, which included New Mexico, the top hitting team in the NCAA that season. Columbia lost a tight 4-2 game to Fullerton before defeating New Mexico in 13 innings. Columbia also had a win that year over Arizona.
After that season, Giel was signed as an undrafted free agent by the New York Yankees and spent two years in the minor leagues.
Giel is the son of Tim Giel Sr., the athletic director and wrestling coach at Avonworth High School. The elder Giel was a longtime wrestling coach at Shady Side Academy, where Tim placed third in the WPIAL Class AAA Championships at 215 pounds in 2009.
Giel is in his first season with the Wild Thing but does have the advantage of having professional experience. Massey, meanwhile, is a rookie but that doesn’t stop people from wondering why a guy with an Ivy League degree wants to play minor league baseball.
“I get asked that all the time,” said Massey, who was a very good outfielder at Brown but is trying to reinvent himself as a second baseman in pro ball. Massey didn’t think he had enough home-run power to play a corner outfield position in the minors, so he switched to second base. The Wild Things signed Massey out of the California Winter League, where he played second base.
“If I wasn’t doing this, I would be working at some finance job,” said Massey, a Greensboro, N.C., native. “But I love baseball and I want to put everything into it and play as long as I can.”
Giel agrees with Massey’s reasoning for putting off using that Ivy League degree.
“I can’t pass up the opportunity to play baseball,” Giel said. “You get old in this sport when you’re 30, so you can’t work and then decide to come back to the game. That’s something they make movies about. It’s not reality. So I’m trying to make the most of this while I still have the ability.”
The Wild Things will play three exhibition games this weekend against the Lake Erie Crushers. A day-night doubleheader will be played Friday at Consol Energy Park. The morning game will be closed to the public. The teams will play an exhibition game in Avon, Ohio, Saturday. … Washington released three players Monday: pitchers Willie Ethington, first baseman Tyler Peterson and former Pitt outfielder Casey Roche. The Wild Things signed outfielder Davis Popkins Tuesday. Popkins, from San Diego, played 90 games last year for the St. Louis Cardinals’ Class AA team in Springfield (Mo.).