AquaSox players improved

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, September 7, 2006

EVERETT – For the Everett AquaSox, what started out as a memorable 2006 evolved into a season to forget.

When Everett won eight of its first nine games, it looked as though the AquaSox were on their way to a special season. Instead, the bottom fell out and the AquaSox skidded to a halt, finishing the season Wednesday with a 31-45 record. That left Everett in last place in the Northwest League’s West Division, a whopping 24 games behind division-champion Salem-Keizer.

And with 14 losses in the final 17 games, it’s certain many of the AquaSox were ready for the season to end.

“I thought, from an organization standpoint, that the players got better,” said Everett manager Dave Myers, culling the positive from the season. “The players who were sent here were ones the (Seattle Mariners) felt needed to play at this level, and to a man they got better. It didn’t necessarily translate to a lot of success in terms of wins and losses, but I was pleased with the individual progress.

“I thought we got good effort,” Myers added. “You couldn’t fault the effort.”

As far as Everett’s record is concerned, the statistics are self-explanatory. Everett scored the second-fewest runs in the league (313), batting .241 as a team. Meanwhile, the AquaSox gave up the second-most runs in the league (404) with a bloated team earned run average of 4.29.

Add it all up and it equals a lot of losses – as well as questions about how the AquaSox got off to such a fast start in the first place.

“We had an advantage over other clubs in that the lion’s share of our team came from extended spring training,” Myers explained about the quick start. “We didn’t have many guys transitioning from high school or college, so we were a little ahead at the beginning in terms of fundamentals. Our rotation was solid with three guys from extended spring training who were where they should be. But once we started having to change the rotation, that’s when we started to run into trouble.”

There were many factors in Everett’s turn for the worse. Several of those were beyond the AquaSox’s control. Catcher Adam Moore, outfielder Kuo Hui Lo and infielder Chris Minaker, three of Everett’s most-effective offensive players, were promoted soon after arriving. Center fielder Gregory Halman, a prodigious talent, sustained a season-ending hand injury during a bench-clearing brawl. And Doug Fister, Everett’s top starting pitcher at the beginning of the season, was sent to the bullpen after just four starts in an effort to preserve his arm.

However, the AquaSox didn’t do a lot to help themselves, either. Everett’s bats never found a groove, particularly with runners on base. The AquaSox were also suspect defensively, with a tendency of making decisive errors late in close games. Shortstop Ogui Diaz was particularly culpable in that regard, finishing the season with 24 errors.

Ultimately, Everett was handcuffed by an overall lack of top-notch talent. Perhaps the two best prospects to play for the AquaSox this season were pitchers Tony Butler and Chris Tillman – both of whom were throwing for their high school teams four months ago and both of whom are several years away from being ready for the majors.

“If we were just trying to win games we would have used our personnel a little differently,” Myers said. “I think there were some priority guys who had to play or pitch for their development. Even though they got better, it wasn’t always good enough to win games. If we had to do it all over and only worry about wins and losses, we could have gotten our record to around .500.”

Despite the struggles in the standings, Myers was happy with some individual efforts. He singled out outfielder Gavin Dickey and reliever Ari Kafka as two players who made big strides during the season.

Dickey, who was a football quarterback at the University of Florida before committing full-time to baseball a year ago, had a modest .216 batting average with five home runs and 21 RBI. But he showed good speed, good defense, and Myers was satisfied with the way he eliminated the uppercut from his swing.

Kafka, a right-hander who was used mainly in middle relief, finished with respectable numbers. He went 1-0 with a 4.35 ERA. In 31 innings he gave up juts 22 hits and 13 walks, striking out 32.

Myers also listed pitchers Butler (1-2, 2.76 ERA), Tillman (1-3, 7.78 ERA), Fister (3-5, 2.25 ERA, four saves), Kameron Mickolio (1-0, 2.78 ERA, four saves) and Ricky Orta (4-5, 5.20 ERA) as players he thought had a chance of reaching the majors. In addition to Dickey, he also mentioned catcher Jair Fernandez (.230, one home run, 19 RBI) as a position player with potential to make the show.

Everett’s top statistical performers compared to the league were outfielder Bryan Sabatella, who tied for second in stolen bases with 22, and first baseman Joe White, who led the league in walks (56) and tied for third in on base percentage (.424).