Winning is what drives Wild Things’ Edwards
Baseball is a game of numbers. It has a seemingly endless stream of data. Runs, hits, errors. Home runs, strikeouts, saves. There are old-school numbers like batting average and ERA and new-school analytics like fielding independent pitching and hard-hit rate.
Major leaguers and their agents use those numbers to leverage big-money contracts. Put up the right numbers in the affiliated minor leagues and you can become a top prospect. In independent baseball, the right numbers can get you noticed by scouts and advance your career.
Almost everybody in baseball cares about the numbers.
Wild Things shortstop Kyle Edwards likes numbers, but he says he cares only about the total in one statistical category that is located in the daily standings:
Wins.
“There’s a lot of talk on social media about how people don’t value winning anymore,” said Edwards, who is in his second season with Washington. “There’s still a lot of people out there who value winning. When they see a player who is a winner, I know they want that player on their team and that’s what I pride myself in doing. I hate losing. I hate losing more than I love winning, so I just want to win a championship. Every year, when I go play baseball, my main focus is to win every single game.”
So far, Edwards and the Wild Things have won more than they’ve lost. Washington entered Thursday night’s series finale against Florence with an 8-4 record and in first place in the Frontier League’s Central Division.
The game ended too late to be included in this edition.
Edwards joined the Wild Things last July and he played in 34 games, helping the Wild Things win the Central Division title with a late-season charge to overtake Lake Erie.
It also capped a busy year for Edwards, who played in 121 games. He played in 53 games at Old Dominion University, then 34 in both the Coastal Plain League – a college summer league – and the Frontier League. Over those 121 games, Edwards stole an amazing 72 bases and was thrown out only four times.
Edwards also puts his speed to use on defense, which is his calling card. He is a strong fielder and has shown spectacular range, especially on fly balls. Perhaps that’s why Edwards was playing center field during spring training when Washington had two outfielders go down with injuries.
“That was something that has been on the table since the offseason when (manager Tom Vaeth) called me and we were talking and it came up,” Edwards explained. “I really think I can play center. With (Caleb) Ketchup going down for a little stint, Skip was straight forward with me. He said ‘I’m going to ask you to play center a little bit’ and I said I’m all for it. As long as I’m playing defense somewhere. That’s my favorite thing to do.
“I’m just trying to make myself more of an impact player. I know I can play shortstop at a high level, but I also feel like I can play any other position anybody asks me to play. Playing there can free up some spots in the lineup.”
Ketchup, who had a hamstring issue during camp, has returned to the lineup so Edwards has been playing shortstop this season. That changed Sunday in a game against Schaumburg, when Edwards was in center field and Ketchup was Washington’s shortstop. Ketchup was a shortstop in college but shifted to the outfield while in the Los Angeles Angels’ farm system.
“There are going to be times when Kyle is going to be out (in centerfield). Caleb is going to be playing some shortstop as well. He was a shortstop in college and was the defensive player of the year in his conference,” Vaeth said.
“I don’t have any problem with moving guys around. When you’re playing 102 games, things can get very mundane quickly. So you have to keep things fresh.”
Edwards if off to a slow start with the bat in the season’s opening weeks, hitting .209, but he has shown surprising power as more than half of his hits have gone for extra bases, including two home runs. He was a .250 hitter during his stint with Washington last season. He knows that if he can improve the average, then he can utilize his speed on the basepaths.
“Hitting,” Edwards said when asked what he wanted to improve this year. “That’s always been it for me. I can hit, but it needs to be more consistent. Just hit and be the same guy day in and day out. I’ve put a lot of work into it. I just have to trust that work. Limit the strikeouts, raise the walks, have the barrel quality go up. That has been a big focus in the offseason.”
Vaeth said he’s not putting a huge emphasis on Edwards’ hitting – as long as the Virginia Beach, Va., native plays defense to his potential, which is very high.
“You can show your speed off on the bases, but you can also do it on defense,” Edwards said. “That’s what I love to do – chase the ball around.”