Quad Cities Report: Staying Positive, No Pressure Helping River Bandits
Although I am a Chicago Bears fan, I’m going to quote Green Bay quarterback by saying “R-E-L-A-X”. There probably aren’t many fans worried about a minor league team starting a season going 2-10 unlike a pro football team starting 0-2 but if you are one of them, do not fret with this team early troubles. I am a season ticket holder for the Quad Cities River Bandits. I have witnessed these struggles and addressed them in my articles, and not one time have I panicked. This team is full of potential with three top Astros prospects on it (Tucker #4, Cameron #5, Abreu #12) along with other young talented guys. After getting swept at home, how would they respond on the road?
What does a coach say during a skid like this, I was wondering about this so I took it upon myself to ask a player who has recently turned his early struggles at the plate to hard hit baseballs for hits. Dexture McCall who went 3-for-26 at the plate for the first nine games has gone 9-for-18 in the last eight he told me “I just went back to the basics, looked for a good pitch to hit and hit everything somewhere up the middle”. When asked about what coaches have been saying about struggles “Coach (Omar) just has been telling us go out there play the game loose, have fun there’s no pressure.” With every strikeout, groundout, flyout piling up the pressure mounts hindering future at bats. However the recent turnaround at the plate for a lot of players possibly means they have taken Lopez’s advice and play the game free and easy.
Another player who started off the season struggling and who has also heated up at the plate in recent games 2B Brooks Marlow says he has stayed positive through his struggles. Starting 3-for-16 at the plate in the first nine games, he finally broke out in style hitting a HR vs the Cougars of Kane County and hasn’t really looked back going 10-for-20 hitting a steady .245 after returning home from a recent road trip. Marlow said, “Just stay positive and do what I do best play the game hard. Good things will come during the game.” Knowing a lot of the guys on the team they have this same mentality as Brooks, they aren’t worried about this start of the season.
Playing with this mentality of “Stay Positive, No Pressure” really worked out for them after getting swept by the cougars at home, going 5-2 on the road taking 2 of 3 from Wisconsin and taking 2 of 3 and getting revenge from the Cougars. The bats were solid with Aaron Mizell highlighting the trip with a inside the park 2 run homerun and great pitching highlighted by Pitcher Jose Hernandez going 4.2 Innings 5 hits 1 ER 1 BB 6 strikeouts but the pitchers had a great week altogether. After losing 2 of the first 3 games in 2014 Green Bay Packers landed in the conference championship so Bandit fans alike R-E-L-A-X.
**Photo Credit: Richard Guill**
