May 4, 2025 4 min read

The Frontier League’s spring training is only two weeks, less than half the length of a major league camp.

That means there are fewer opportunities for coaching staffs to evaluate players, less time for those players to impress the coaches, less time for installing game-situation plays, and less time for decisions to be made on which players to keep on the roster at the end of camp.

Throw in rain that cancels exhibition games and practices, and you have a less-than-ideal situation for streamlining a professional baseball team’s roster for opening day.

“I have decisions to be made today and many of them are up in the air,” Washington manager Tom Vaeth said Sunday before the Wild Things played an exhibition doubleheader at home against Lake Erie. The teams were rained out Saturday in Avon, Ohio, and opted to play two games Sunday instead of the planned single game.

“There are a lot of things I want to see because we still haven’t come to final conclusions,” Vaeth said. “It has never been like this at this point (in spring training).”

There wasn’t much for Vaeth and his coaching staff to like in the opening game, an 8-4 loss. Lake Erie hit three home runs, including two in a four-run third inning off Washington starter Ivan Oviedo.

The second game was much better for the home team. Sammy Infante, a former second round draft pick of the Washington Nationals, hit a two-run homer, Tommy Caufield added a solo blast and five Washington pitchers combined on a two-hitter for a 5-1 win.

Starter Zach Kirby allowed one hit and run over four innings in the second game.

The Frontier League required all teams to trim their rosters to no more than 28 players by Sunday night. One more round of cuts must be made by Wednesday. This year, the Frontier League will allow teams to open the season with 25 active players instead of the former limit of 24, but the extra player must be dropped by June 1.

After the doubleheader, Washington released pitchers Edwar Polimir and Jason Hughes, catcher Jake Sisto, infielder Andy Blake and outfielder Kadon Morton. The Wild Things also traded pitcher Santiago Florez to Southern Maryland of the Atlantic League for future considerations. The moves leave Washington with 27 active players.

Blake went 2-for-4 in the doubleheader. Sisko and Morton each had a hit in the second game and Polimir tossed one scoreless inning of relief. Hughes gave up one run in an inning of relief during the opening game.

Lake Erie trimmed its roster to 27 players on Saturday.

“It is a short time,” Lake Erie manager Jared Lemieux said of the Frontier League’s spring training. “It’s not much time to get the pitchers ramped up. We had a couple of days where as soon as we finished practice it started raining. We’re lucky that we have an indoor facility and the pitchers can get their work in there when we get rain. For other teams, it might be tough.”

Lemieux said the Crushers had not missed any practice time – other the game Saturday – because of rain.

Washington played three exhibition games last week and took Friday off when PennWest California was playing a doubleheader at EQT Park. They had not been on the field since playing an exhibition game against Florence on Thursday, which made Vaeth’s evaluation process tougher.

“We lost days,” Vaeth said. “Friday was expected. The schedule demanded we take Friday off and then losing (Saturday) hurt. That’s a day of evaluation gone.

“You need to have enough time. We’ll be making decisions on some guys based on one appearance.”

Vaeth is a veteran of more than 20 years in independent baseball and understands the problems a short spring training brings for managers and players.

“There is no right formula,” he said. “Independent baseball is not affiliated ball, so you don’t get a month. That’s why guys have to show up in shape. Don’t tell me you’re feeling your way through it.”

Added Lemieux, “The players have to have some accountability and show up to camp in shape and ready to play. The ones who don’t, you can see who they are.”