PAGE A18, KEIZERTIMES, MAY 06, 2022
Mavericks League
managers' roundtable
By JOSHUA MANES
Of the Keizertimes
Last week we began our sit down with
the managers of the four Mavericks League
teams. Part one can be found in last week's
issue, or the story can be read in its entirety
online at keizertimes.com.
Does the roster building this late take
focus away from other parts?
Dave Wong (Salem Senators): That’s
about the only focus right now, getting that
roster filled out and seeing where we stand.
The start of the season is always the toughest
because you’ve have some guys coming in
that are college guys or I’ve got a guy that’s
coaching high school and he’s not getting
out until June. So we’ll be missing some guys
early on, just trying to get enough numbers
to get it going and hopefully keep it together
for the first month of the season. .
Tony
Torcato
(Salem-Keizer
Volcanoes): We’re trying to get the roster
filled out, but the highest quality at the same
time. It’s not easy, but it can be done. I think
by opening night all the teams will have their
guys, so I’m not too worried, even though I
have a couple roster spots to fill. It’ll be fine.
Alex Alvarado (Campesinos de Salem-
Keizer): The whole recruiting process has
been about a three or four month process. We
all started in early January figuring out who’s
who and who can come out. I think we’re all
picking at the same local guys right now.
There’s only a handful of local guys that can
play at this level. I’ve made calls where these
guys already made calls. One thing I think
we can do, I think more host families would
make the league a little bit better quality wise
so that we can get a whole team of guys from
other states, maybe even other countries.
Scott Binder (Portland Mavericks):
I would say maybe I’m at a little bit of an
advantage versus you three because you
three are down in that area, I’m an hour north.
I’ve been able to sign some guys from up in
this area which help us with those local sign-
ings you guys talked about. At the same time
I’ve got a player coming in from Venezuela,
and his cousin just got released last week
from the Royals.
Right now I have 11 players that need host
families. If I sign him, I have 12 players and
we’re supposed to be at 10. My hands are tied
a little bit, I told him I have to figure out if I
can create a roster spot for him.
DW: You’ve got a big house, Scott. Put
him up in your house.
SB: Yeah, he can sleep with my labradoo-
dle. Get the labradoodle off my bed. Right
now the goal is just to make sure we have
enough bodies so we can produce a pretty
good product for the first weeks of the season
when we bring a couple more
players in. The last thing I
want to do is add somebody
for the short term and then
turn around and tell them
“Sorry, we’re going to have to
release you.”
TT: Some guys don’t deserve to be
released, but it does happen.
DW: That’s the unfortunate side of the
business, and it’s at every level. If you’re in
high school you have to cut guys, in college
you have to let guys go, in pro ball you release
guys. The game comes to an end for every-
body sooner or later and everybody that
thinks it doesn’t is totally messed up because
we’ve all been there and done that. Played the
game and been released or what not. There’s
a time and when the time’s the time it’s the
time.
TT: I’ve been released twice, designated
for assignment, signed late in the year. I’ve
done it all so I feel what we have to do. It’s
not an easy job to tell somebody that. That’s
probably the hardest part for any of us.
Heading into the second season of the
league, what did you take away
from last year?
DW: I don’t know if there’s any more
lessons to be learned. The progress of the
league and how things are run, obviously we
had some hiccups last year but we have them
ironed out before this year. It’s an ongoing
process that’ll never end, there’s always bet-
ter things you can do, better ideas that come
up. We just have to find the best way to do it
and make this league the best we can. Like
Alex said, success wise if you look at the guys
that are now playing in different independent
leagues, paying leagues, it's a pretty high per-
centage ratio. I think we’re on the right track.
AA: I wasn’t part of the league last year,
but what I hope for this year is a good com-
petitive game from inning one to inning
nine. I think that’s all we can ask for. It is hard
getting a roster you want to continue with
for the entire year because releasing guys is
tough and having new guys show up is even
harder. I think what has been hard, at least for
me personally, is trying to get a roster that I
can be committed to until the last game.
SB: I think last year if you look at the
Campesinos, they had the least turnover, I
believe. If you can create a network of men
2
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that are getting to know each other and they
become comfortable with each other and
know what to expect from each other then it’s
no different than any level. The team that is
in it at the end and wins it, the chances are
they’ve been the healthiest through the sea-
son as well.
We hope that we can create a network of
guys that at the end of our season, all four of
us, that we can look back and say we kept a
very strong nucleus of players together and
there wasn’t a whole lot of turnover. But the
fact is there will be turnover. There’s guys
we’re bringing in that aren’t going to be
who we thought they’d be and you can’t help
them become a better baseball player going
forward. But hopefully the community will
support what we’re trying to put out there for
them and come out to a baseball game.
Who has the best uniforms in the
Mavericks League?
DW: Campesinos, bar none.
AA: No, definitely not the Campesinos. I
think the classic Volcanoes got it.
DW: Yeah, I think the Volcanoes’ Fourth
of July uniform is the best uniform we’ve
seen all year.
TT: I know, I wish we could wear those
every game. Those are pretty sweet and the
players really enjoyed those. They were like
“Thank you so much for letting us wear
those.” If we wear those a few more than just
one game that’d be great.
DW: I think if everyone had two sets of
uniforms that would be more even.
SB: I’d like to put a request in that we cre-
ate a different uniform for the Mavericks.
DW: I love those red pants, man.
TT: You guys were on Netflix for crying
out loud.
SB: If you don’t ask you don’t get. But the
problem for us when it was 115 degrees last
year and you’re out there playing in those
thick uniforms.
TT: I like the baggy old school. I love
them. Some character, right?