ALL-STAR STARTING PITCHERS PREVIEW
By: Andrés Tejeda & Jenn Malti
Washington, PA - Starting pitchers set the tone for a team, in an all-star game the feel can be different as you have an all-star line up of pitchers coming in every inning. Frontier Division reporters Andrés Tejeda and Jenn Malti spoke with the managers and starting pitchers to get a preview for this year's all star game!
EAST:
The East Division All-Stars will led by Pat Scalabrini, the manager for the Quebec Capitales, will be managing the team after guiding the Capitales to 42-15 halfway through the season putting them at first place for the East Division and Quebec's Miguel Cienfuegos will be the Starter for the East.
Scalabrini is looking forward to the game and seeing the team have fun.
Scalabrini said "We're here to have fun. There's going to be a lot of eyes on us and the players deserve to be here, and they want to shine and perform well."
While having fun, Scalabrini also commends the players for what they've done to get to the all-star game.
"It's a celebration of what they've been doing and how well they've played," Scalabrini said.
When asked who would start, the answer was clear for Scalabrini.
"We're gonna start with Miguel Cienfuegos. He's our best starter in the league statistically, so he deserves it and I'm happy to give him that," said Scalabrini.
Miguel Cienfuegos has helped guide the Capitales to their first place rank with a 7-1 record and 1.80 ERA. Cienfuegos also has 67 strikeouts in 80 innings pitched.
Cienfuegos was happy to be named an all-star.
"It's a special feeling, I didn't expect it. it was one of our objectives that I had for this season, but I didn't expect it to happen and especially I didn't expect for me to get the chance to start the game and so I'm just excited and thanking god," Cienfuegos said.
When named the starter for the All-Star Game for the East, Cienfuegos was excited and looks forward to having some fun.
"All the guys are here and they are all stars and they're all good guys so it's going to be fun to be around them and playing with different guys behind you and so honestly I just want to go out there and do what I have been doing and having fun and playing ball," said Cienfuegos.
WEST:
The West Division All-Stars will be led by the host team manager Tom Vaeth of the Washington Wild Things, and starting pitcher, Rob Whalen, also from the host team Washington Wild Things.
Tom Vaeth and the Wild Things are currently leading the West division standings with a record of 36-21. They lead ahead of the Evansville Otters by two games. Vaeth says that he is excited to be managing the West for the All-Star game, especially at his home stadium.
"I'm excited for our guys (Washington Wild Thing All-Stars) who made it but also to meet the other guys from around our division" Vaeth said. "It's nice to get to know them better and compete with them."
When asked about the season Vaeth says that his team has been exceptional, which rings true as the Wild Things broke the Frontier League record for sending the most players (9) from one team to an All-Star game.
Rob Whalen, the starter for the West division, has quite the stat line. He has 9 wins this year, which leads the league among pitchers, with a 3.36 ERA in 69.2 innings pitched and averages 7.88 strikeouts per game. This is the first all-star game he has appeared in his 10 years of playing professional baseball and he is very thrilled to be a part of it.
"This is a pretty cool experience, (I am) truly excited to be here" Whalen said, "I'm just gonna go have fun out there and try to make the first three batters look silly."
Whalen is a part of the West leading Wild Things and credits a lot of credit to Tom Vaeth and the culture built with the Wild Things club.
"I came in around the last half of the season with these guys (Washington) and we had a great push to the end even though we didn't finish on top" Whalen said. "We had a players meeting during our last series of the first half to right the ship, won the 3-game series and we believe that we are the best team in the league."
Tickets are available online at bit.ly/FLASG22TIX
Gates open at 6 p.m. with the Hall of Fame Ceremony starting at 6:40 p.m. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. with a fireworks show to follow.
