Under the Radar: 4 Players Who Might Sneak Up On You

		Your Junk my Happy Zone
		by Brandon Corbett

Spring is the time to not only get back your feel for the game, but also the time to check out the new talent, improvements made in a returning player's game, size up the league, and make predictions about what is coming up this season. Going into our second year, we have approximately fifty returning players we think we know a good deal about. We also have a large rookie class entering the league. With all this talent running around, there are some players left to fly under the radar. These are four players whom I think will use that element of stealth to their advantage.

Craig Spring  -  Manchester Punchouts To be fair, the entire Punchouts roster are only rookies in relation to WSEM. However, we all know about the pitching and hitting talents of players like Evan Bortmas and Sam Hatt. They along with another previous-unknown, Logan Zigila (aka "Godzilla", aka "the Silver Surfer", aka "Wolverine") and his monstrous power at the plate are taking the light away from what Spring brings to the team: Craig brings that extra base power, too, but he also brings lightning-quick speed. If the ball gets past the pitcher, he has a good shot of reaching first base safely. His speed also helps him make great, wide-ranging plays in the field; including coverage of a large swath of foul territory. On a team full of "rookie" players already receiving a lot of praise, Craig is poised to take the league by storm.

Adam Cosby  -  Jason Mattseals Some of us have experienced what the new Mattseals ace brings to the mound, but most of the league has no idea about him and thinks of Hewlett as the crown jewel of the 'Seals roster. Soon, however, everyone will learn how much they are missing when they see Cosby pitch. One thing that may help keep Cosby's cross-section low is the amount of talent spread across the other new Mattseals' pick-ups: the bat of Mike Myers or Greg Franzen's managing, for example. In his first competitive Wiffleball games, though, Adam easily handled Wiffleball veterans with his assortment of pitches. He is not a dead-to-rights fireballer, but he does have respectable velocity. Adam also pairs that velocity with good movement and deception. Oh, yeah, he brings a good stick to the other side of the plate, too.

David Castle  -  Belgian Wiffles Taking stealth to a new level: this is the highest quality shot we have of David! (Sorry, David, we will get a better one soon.) The serious reason why Castle is flying below the radar in buzz around the league, though, is that his fellow Belgian rookie, Chandler Philips, is already being sized up as a Diamond Digit winner waiting to happen. Nick Walker is also the most recognized name and face of the new Belgian roster. Thus, Castle was quietly able to go about throwing a gem in the innings he pitched against the Thunder Ducks during the satellite tournament. David is confident and impressive on the mound, and gave his team the opportunity to go up 3-0 against the reigning champions in his first Wiffleball start. He is definitely going to be talked-up much more as this season advances and he racks up innings.

Josh Nagorski  -  Thunder Ducks Josh is another victim, or benefactor (depending on your outlook), of playing with teammates who steal the spotlight. Obviously the NWLA Strike-out King and Clown Shu winner, Dennis Pearson, commands a lot of attention. As does the acquisition of Dr. Riser, Chris Lewis, as number-two pitcher in he off-season. Nagorski has thus been improving his game in the shadows. You may have missed it, since your team had been knocked out, but Josh's batting average blew up in last year's playoffs: a stout .304, which was third best among players with more than two games played. He put that number up in seven games, while he only saw action in eight games during the regular season. "Naggie" expects to feature much more regularly in the 2012 Thunder Ducks lineup, and I expect we will see his numbers continue to grow steadily alongside his appearances.