Naturals return home in 1st place
SPRINGDALE — Northwest Arkansas played .500 ball on its recent 12-game road trip and returned to Arvest Ballpark leading the Texas League North Division.
The Naturals split six games at Springfield and jumped the Cardinals to lead them by a half-game in the division. They will host the Wichita Wind Surge, the Class AA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, for six games beginning today at Arvest Ballpark.
In addition, the Naturals announced several personnel moves, which included former Arkansas Razorback Cayden Wallace, a third baseman, getting promoted to Northwest Arkansas. Wallace’s promotion was announced Monday afternoon along with pitcher Tyson Guerrero, outfielder Gavin Cross and infielder/ outfielder Javier Vaz getting the bump to the Naturals.
Wallace, a second-round pick from Greenbrier, was hitting .261 with 10 home runs, 22 doubles and 64 RBIs in 97 games with Class A Quad Cities. Cross, the ninth overall pick of the 2022 Major League First-Year Player Draft, was hitting .206 with 12 home runs, 21 doubles, 58 RBI, and 23 stolen bases in 94 games with Quad Cities. Vaz was hitting .270 with 49 runs scored, 39 RBI, and 26 stolen bases.
Guerrero, a 6-1 left-hander, went 2-4 with a 3.63 ERA in 18 games (17 starts), and struck out 106 batters in 84 1/3 innings at Quad Cities.
Naturals Manager Tommy Shields likes what he’s seen from his team recently, especially going 6-6 on the road against Arkansas and Springfield — two of the teams the Naturals are battling in the division. Arkansas won the North Division in the first half.
“I think the kids are really competing hard,” Shields said. “They like each other. They are pulling for each other. I gotta mention Dillon Shrum, he’s just been hitting the crap outta the ball. He’s really, I don’t want to say carried us, but he’s come dang close to carrying us.”
Shrum has put up the numbers to back up Shields’ praise. He hit his fifth home run in August on Sunday night and has gone 7 of 20 (.350) with 11 RBIs in his last six games.
The Naturals’ starting pitching has also been strong lately, Shields said.
“We’ve had the lead I think in the sixth inning like nine of the [last] 11 games,” Shields said. “You’re in games all the time, which is big.”
Tyler Tolbert is another player who has been consistent offensively, Shields said. He’s 9 of 29 (.310) in August and currently fourth in the Texas League with 38 stolen bases.
“Tolly has really had consistent at-bats,” Shields said. “He has consistent at-bats and hits the ball hard, gets on base and wreaks havoc. He’s having a good year. He’s been very good all year. And he seems to be getting stronger as the year progresses.”
Arkansas won the first half, so the Travelers are out of the race in the second half. With that being said, the Naturals are right in the middle of a playoff race with more than 30 games left in the season.
But Shields isn’t ready to talk about playoffs quite yet.
“They are all big [games] and they’ll get bigger if we keep winning,” Shields said. “So hopefully they get bigger. I think guys know, but it’s still too early to go ‘Hey, we’ve got a big series against Wichita.’ The thing I like is these guys are pulling for one another and competing every game. They are keeping it simple and they are doing a really good job of that.
“So I don’t really want to change anything. I don’t really want to say ‘Hey, we got a big series coming up.’ and get all excited. I think their focus is perfect. I think they are concentrating well and competing good. We’re not gonna change much. We’re just gonna keep rolling them out there.”
Northwest Arkansas is still tied for last in the league for team batting average at .238 and next to last in runs scored. But the Naturals have shown improvement defensively. The Naturals have climbed from last in the 10-team league in fielding to sixth.
Shields is pleased with the progress the team’s made.
“I think we started so badly defensively in April and May, we were way behind,” Shields said. “We crawled out from the cellar in the defensive rankings, but it took a long time to get up there. We’ve made less errors. When you give teams 27 outs instead of 30 your chances go up a lot. “You throw out the 15-0 game where we made five errors and should have been six, we’ve played really good defense for the last month. We’ve been solid. We’re making teams earn it. That’s fun to see because they’ve worked hard at it.”