A’s Preparing to Launch 59th Season
Posted: May 20, 2022
The start of the Sheboygan A’s 59th baseball season is only a day away and the usual preseason excitement abounds.
But this year the excitement is guarded, restrained. Why?
Because last year the club got a reminder on just how stiff the competition is in the Wisconsin State and Northeastern Wisconsin Leagues. Last year the A’s thought they had a pretty strong club going into the season and could do no better than .500 in both leagues.
The 2022 edition of A’s baseball debuts on Saturday, May 21, a day when Wildwood Baseball Park definitely will be the place to be in Sheboygan. The party starts at 8 a.m. with the annual 5K Home Run/Walk presented by Citgo. Following the Run’s awards ceremonies, a bracket of the Play Ball tournament will be held at Wildwood.
The A’s open their season with an 11 a.m. game against Manitowoc. Following that game, Manitowoc plays Appleton and following that, the A’s play Appleton. Tournament officials have optimistically scheduled that game for 3 p.m.
The winner of the Sheboygan pod advances to the tournament finals on Sunday in Ashwaubenon at Ashwaubemay Park. With a number of players still playing in college, the A’s will not be at full strength for the tournament, but the other teams are suffering with the same problems.
The 2022 team, however, is coming together nicely and should be a contender.
The A’s feel that their top four starting pitchers – Jared Reklaitis, Brad Rindfleisch, Eric Schmitz, and Joey Pettit – rank among the best in the league, plus their other starters – Noah Imrie, Davis Wilson, Bryce Lovisa, and Sam Hernandez have also been effective. The returning pitchers accounted for 31 of the team’s 32 wins and 484 of the 510 strikeouts posted last year.
And there’s some new guys coming in with pretty good arms. Blake Kuhn from South Dakota State is a big man and a hard thrower. This spring was his first year of playing college baseball after three years on the football team. Riley O’Connell from West Bend, who is headed for UW-Stevens Point, will contribute along with Elliott Danhoff who was a reliever in 2019, last year’s go-to reliever Mac Doherty, Dawson Selvoski, and newcomers Dylan Davis, a lefthander from Marian University, Blake Roach and Jackson Schmitz.
But what could turn the A’s pitching prospects from good to outstanding would be the acquisition of Jonah Landowski, who made a practice of beating up on the A’s when pitching for Greater Green Bay. He’s tearing it up for Marian, hitting .348 as an outfielder and posting a 5-2 pitching record.
Catching should also be strong. Sage Stellmacher is back, TJ Roberts is back on a part-time basis, and the big addition is Caleb Lorbecki from UW-Milwaukee.
Four new young players could impact the infield and outfield. Six solid infielders return – Harry Steldt, Jimmy Juergensen, and Jacob Neese are back at the corners and Pettit, Bennet Becker, and Cooper Gosse are in the middle, although Gosse, who was hitting the ball well last year before hurting his knee, can play outfield as well. One of the key additions this year is infielder Ryan Blanchard, who at last check was hitting .379 with 20 extra-base hits for Feather River CC, a baseball factory in California, which was 33-8. He is committed to open the season with the Wisconsin Woodchucks until the D-1 players show up. Another highly-regarded newcomer to the infield is Riley Palmquist of Marian.
Back in the outfield are Jacoby Endreas who is hitting .333 at UW-Stout with eight doubles, five home runs, and 24 runs batted in, Ross Krist who is hitting .380 with eight doubles and seven home runs at UW-Platteville, and veteran Cole Miklavcic who has taken on a mentoring role these past couple years but may be pressed into action this year. New to the club this year are outfielders Gus Walker and Brady Zackrisen from Marian, and University of Michigan commit Johnathan Kim.
The 2022 season is presented by Meijer. Group areas are filling up fast on the Budweiser Party Deck, Advanced Comfort Systems Skybox and Meijer Tailgate Pavilion. Contact us today to setup your outing.
The Sheboygan A's are members of the Wisconsin State League and Northeastern Wisconsin Baseball League. The A's have helped develop more than 43 players that have reached professional baseball, including 2002 World Series Champion Jarrod Washburn (Anaheim Angels). All Sheboygan A's home games are played at Wildwood Baseball Park in Sheboygan. Connect with the A's on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
