Many former Wild Things in affiliated ranks
There are 12 former Wild Things players currently in the affiliated minor leagues and one in the major leagues. In addition, six ex-Wild Things are coaches, including two major league hitting coaches.
The 13 former Washington players in the affiliated ranks is an all-time high.
Former Wild Things relief pitcher Isaac Mattson (2022) was called up last week from Class AAA Indianapolis for his second stint this season with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Mattson had pitched to a 1.86 ERA over nine outings at Indianapolis.
Spencer Bivens (2021), who pitched the last two seasons as a reliever in the major leagues with the San Francisco Giants, is in Class AAA at Sacramento and has recently been converted to a starter. One of Bivens’ teammates at Sacramento is outfielder Turner Hill (2023), who is batting .313 in 43 games.
Second baseman Graham Brown, who had his contract purchased last month by the Minnesota Twins, was promoted Sunday from Class A to Class AAA St. Paul. In his first game at Triple-A, Brown went 3-for-3 with a home run, but he was sent back to Class A yesterday. Brown is playing as an outfielder for the Twins.
Andrew Herbert, who had his contract purchased last month by Baltimore, is pitching for Class A Delmarva and has a 1-1 record and 0.49 ERA in four relief outings.
Pitcher Tyler Davis was the most recent player picked up from the Wild Things. He has pitched in two games for Class A Greenville, an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. Davis has a 1-0 record in 4⅔ innings.
Alex Carillo (2024) is a relief pitcher for the New York Mets’ Class AAA affiliate in Syracuse.
Pitcher Dariel Fregio (2023-24) and catcher Joe Campagna (2021) are teammates for Detroit’s Class AA affiliate in Erie.
Pitcher Trey Cooper and outfielder Alex Ungar, two players who signed with the Wild Things for this year but were picked up before spring training began, are in Class A in the Chicago White Sox system.
Pitcher Brent Francisco (2025) is in Class A with the Minnesota Twins,
Austin Kitchen (2000-21), a pitcher, is on the full-season injured list with Class AAA Tacoma in the Seattle Mariners system.
Dave Popkins (2015-16) is in his second season as the Toronto Blue Blue Jays’ hitting coach, and Grant Fink (2016) has the same job with the Cleveland Guardians. Brady North (2015) is an assistant hitting coach for the Baltimore Orioles.
Maxx Garrett (2013-15) is the Miami Marlins’ director of catching. Nick Ward (2020-22) is the hitting coach for Everett, a Class A affiliate of Seattle.
Former Wild Things catcher Cam Balego (2022) is the Pirates’ bullpen catcher.
First no-no
Washington catcher Isaias Quiroz has the most pro experience of any player on the Wild Things’ roster. He has been playing professional baseball since he was drafted in the 20th round by the Texas Rangers as a 17-year-old out of St. Joseph Regional High School in New Jersey in 2014.
In his 12 pro seasons – not counting the 2020 season that was eliminated because of the pandemic – Quiroz has caught almost 600 games.
And he never caught a no-hitter.
Until last Friday night.
That’s when Washington’s Kobe Foster tossed a no-hitter with 14 strikeouts in a 12-0 Wild Things win over New Jersey.
And Quiroz was the catcher that night.
“I never caught a no-hitter before,” Quiroz said. “I was beginning to think I’d never catch one. I came close one time, when I was with the Rangers. We had a no-hitter for 8⅓ innings and then a hit. A cheap hit. I was beginning to think I’d never catch one.”
Grand connections
First baseman Andrew Czech has been one of the top home-runs hitters and RBI men in the Frontier League since he entered the league in 2021 out of NCAA Division II Walsh University.
Even with all of his home runs, including some of the walk-off variety, one thing that eluded Czech in his first four-plus years with the Wild Things was a grand slam. He didn’t hit a grand slam in his first 356 regular-season games.
Since hitting his first on May 15 of last year against Ottawa, Czech has been hitting grand slams at a relentless pace. He set the Frontier League single-season record with four grand slams a year ago. So far this year, Czech has hit two, none more timely than Sunday when he smacked one in the seventh inning that gave Washington a 6-2 victory over New Jersey. The slam came less than 10 minutes before the game was stopped because of rain and never resumed.
That’s six grand slams for Czech in his last 119 games. The major league record for grand slams in a 162-game season is six, held by Don Mattingly and Travis Haffner.