Isn’t a team supposed to exploit its strengths and make things happen?
Bisons can’t hit, refuse to run under Oberkfell
One thing we know about the Buffalo Bisons is they’re most assuredly steroid-free. They can’t hit. They don’t run. Heck, they don’t even walk. Nothing in the way they do business indicates performances illegally enhanced.
You keep waiting for them to emerge from their offensive funk because common sense, not to mention the law of averages, suggests no Triple-A team can be this unproductive for such an extended period. Yet April has given way to May and soon we’ll be halfway to June. Who’d dare to imagine, given the road we’re traveling, what lies in wait come the dog days of July?
Optimism flourished when the Bisons hooked on with the New York Mets after being divorced by the Cleveland Indians, their parent club of 14 years. New York had, on paper, a nice mix of prospects and veterans, hitters and pitchers, seemingly all the ingredients necessary to field a competent team. That’s really all you can ask for at Triple-A, a chance to contend well into the summer. Ha. These Bisons couldn’t even hang tough to Mother’s Day.
The most exasperating part of Buffalo’s 6-21 plight is that the team has been solid in two of the main three facets of the game. The Bisons have pitched well enough to rank in the top half of the league. Their defense is typically of high caliber. What the Bisons can’t do is hit, not even a bit, which makes for some of the most mind-numbing baseball you’ll ever see. Their team batting averages are .208 overall, .167 with runners in scoring position and .119 with two out and runners in scoring position. Saturday afternoon’s 5-1 loss to Norfolk at Coca- Cola Field was their season on a flash card: 0-13 with runners in scoring position, one walk drawn, no steals attempted.
The faithful have seen this play out time and again and they’re already sparing themselves the grief. Despite a ferocious wind blowing out to left— the kind of conditions that make anything possible—all of 71 fans could be counted from the press box as the Herd came to bat in the ninth. The fans know the deal. Only once have the Bisons won after trailing by more than one run, and that was Thursday at Lehigh Valley, when they fell behind by two.
“We’ve tried about everything we can think of,” said manager Ken Oberkfell.
Some of Buffalo’s woe can be blamed on the best laid plans gone awry. First baseman Nick Evans, one of the organization’s top prospects, is such a mess that Oberkfell doesn’t play him every day, or even every other day. Evans’ .097 average hits on his misery. The fact he’s tied for first on the team in homers and third in RBIs despite his diminished role hits on the Herd’s misery.
“He was a very big part of this club going into this season and he’s struggled mightily,” Oberkfell said. “We’ve tried a lot of different things trying to get him out of it. We’re trying to put him in now in situations where he can have some success. He’s got to hit. We need his bat.”
Outside of some lineup shuffling, little has been done to jolt the Bisons out of their exasperating stupor. They don’t draw many walks and don’t work many counts, tendencies that reflect poorly upon hitting coach Luis Natera. They’ve converted a higher percentage of steal attempts than any team in the league and yet they’ve only made 21 attempts, tied for fewest in the league.
“When you say draw more walks, the pitcher’s got to cooperate, too,” Oberkfell countered. “He’s got to be throwing balls.”
And as for becoming more attack-oriented on the bases?
“We’ve been aggressive,” Oberkfell said. “I think we’re 90 percent with stolen bases.”
What kind of logic is that? Isn’t a team supposed to exploit its strengths, make things happen, especially when its offense has produced one run or less in 13 of 27 games?
Everyone keeps waiting for Oberkfell to flip the postgame buffet, go off on a rant, give some indication that the volcano has blown. After all, this isn’t a young team. Seventeen players on the roster are 28 or older.
“I’ve always been a positive guy,” he said. “I’m going to stay positive.”
Well, someone has to. But what’s interesting is that Tony Bernazard, the Mets’ vice president of player development, had some harsh words for the team when he paid a visit about 10 days ago. And that makes it seem as though the Mets expect Oberkfell to be a push-button manager, leaving the psychology and the tantrums to the guys in the front office.
If that’s the case, this could be a long and anguishing season. Players are quick to discern the extent of a manager’s authority, if his command is being undermined, and that’s never a good thing.
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