Wild Things’ Coles hopes to make ’em take notice
Though he has played only one year of professional baseball, Chad Coles is savvy enough to realize that nobody in the minor leagues is happy with their current situation.
Every player wants to be elsewhere. Players in Class AAA want to be in the major leagues. Players in the lower levels of the affiliated minor leagues want to move up to a higher level. Players in independent baseball want to get picked up by a major league organization. Coles falls into the latter category.
“As any baseball player will tell you, I’m ultimately looking to get picked up by an affiliated team,” Coles said when asked what he hopes to get out of his second season as a relief pitcher for the Wild Things.
“Everybody in baseball wants to be somewhere else. Everybody wants to be working their way up. That says a lot about baseball that nobody is content with staying where they are. The ultimate goal is to be picked up by an affiliated team and if that happens it would be great. From a bare bones standpoint, I want to show that I’m still a good pitcher, and I especially want to have fun. I want to pitch my best for the team that’s closest to me.”
Coles (6-2, 235), who played in the WPIAL at Norwin High School and in college at Youngstown State, pitched plenty for the Wild Things last year after being acquired in an early season trade with the York Revolution of the Atlantic League. Coles pitched in 31 games and his 2.19 ERA was the lowest posted by any Wild Things pitcher who logged more than five innings. He settled into a setup role for closer Lucas Herbert, who this spring is being given an opportunity to win a job as a starting pitcher.
Just how the bullpen roles will shake out is something that will be determined in spring training and the early weeks of the season.
“He’ll be somewhere in the back end of the bullpen,” Washington manager Tom Vaeth said of Coles.
It took Coles a few outings to get in a groove last year, but once he did the results were fantastic. After June 21, Coles allowed only three earned runs over his final 23 appearances and had an ERA of 0.93 during that stretch.
“That might have been the best season I’ve ever had,” Coles said.
That it took Coles some time to get into that groove should not have come as a surprise. The righthander underwent Tommy John surgery in the spring of 2023 while he was at Youngstown State, and because of the timing of the injury, it delayed his start to pro baseball by two years, making his a story of hard work, determination and patience.
It paid off with a good season in Washington, but the major league scouts didn’t come calling with a contract in hand for Coles. As a result, the righthander believed he had to add more to his arsenal this year. In the offseason, he worked on adding a curveball. Last year, he relied on a fastball, sweeper and splitter.
“There are always things you can improve upon, either from a velocity standpoint, pitch design or overall command,” Coles explained. “So going into the offseason, I re-evaluated and said ‘OK, the velo is there. What can I do to make myself just a little bit better?’ I wanted to add another pitch, so I worked on developing a curveball.”
Extra bases
The Wild Things played their second exhibition game Monday morning, against the Florence Y’alls. Washington won in the regulation nine innings, 5-4, and play was continued through 11 innings. Outfielder Jeff Liquori hit a three-run homer and finished with four RBI. Andrew Czech doubled and scored twice. Herbert tossed three scoreless innings and Tyler Davis struck out three in one inning of relief. … Washington will play exhibition games Wednesday at Florence and Thursday at Lake Erie before hosting the Crushers on Sunday afternoon. … The first roster cutdown day for the Frontier League is Sunday, when teams must get down to 28 players. Washington has 36 players in camp.