Aug 31, 2013 4 min read

The Frontier League will announce its all-star team and award winners later this week, and several Wild Things can make strong cases for postseason honors.

Second baseman C.J. Beatty leads the league in total bases and is among the top four in many offensive categories, including home runs and RBI. Right fielder Stewart Ijames leads the league in doubles and is among nine finalists on the ballot for Rookie of the Year.

One other player Washington manager Bart Zeller thinks should get strong consideration for league honors is shortstop A.J. Nunziato. The second-year player from South Setauket, N.Y., is having a sizzling second half of the season with the bat and continues to play stellar defensively, leading all shortstops in fielding percentage.

“When our coaching staff saw him in spring training, we said he’s a kid who has a strong arm, good range and can make all the plays,” Zeller said. “His hitting has really picked up over the last month.”

Nunziato’s offensive surge actually began in mid-July, exactly one year after he broke into professional baseball. The Wild Things signed the former Lander (S.C.) University standout in July of 2012, and he finished with only a .238 batting average in his first professional season. But the slick-fielding shortstop impressed so much with his glove that he was rated the No. 4 prospect in independent baseball by Baseball America.

This year, the switch-hitting Nunziato (6-1, 185) began the season on the disabled list with an ankle injury and was hitting only .242 at the all-star break. In the second half of the season, however, Nunziato has been not only one of the hottest hitters on the Wild Things but also in the league.

Nunziato is batting .303 (47-for-155) with 20 extra-base hits since the all-star break. Thirteen of his 25 doubles – tied for fourth in the league – have come since July 29.

In the Wild Things’ 6-3 loss to the Florence Freedom Saturday night at Consol Energy Park, Nunziato hit his sixth homer of the year, a two-run shot to right centerfield in the third inning.

“I’ve never seen Nunziato hit a ball that far and that hard before,” Zeller said afterward.

Nunziato says the bump in batting average is not the result of major changes in his swing or approach at the plate. It has much to do with being more consistent and getting used to professional pitching.

“Not much has changed,” Nunziato said. “It’s the same approach. I’ve just been more consistent with my swings, leading to a higher batting average.”

Zeller says keeping his shortstop on an even keel has helped. Nunziato admits that he’s often his own worst critic.

“I’ve been very hard on myself my entire career,” Nunziato said. “I want to get a hit every at-bat, though that’s impossible. I’ve been trying to do a good job of leaving every at-bat in the dugout so it doesn’t impact my defense.

“It all comes down to the mental approach. This is a hard game. You fail seven out of 10 times and you’re an all-star.”

The only knock against Nunziato’s hitting is his strikeout rate. He has struck out 77 times in 279 at-bats.

“That’s too many for a shortstop,” Zeller said.

Those swing and misses might be all that is preventing Nunziato from being picked up by a major league organization. The scouts certainly like Nunziato’s fielding. He has committed only seven errors all season, and each has been a throwing miscue. The sure-handed Nunziato has not made a fielding error all season.

When Nunziato made a throwing error last week at Traverse City, it was just his third error since June 2, a span of 67 games.

“If he keeps it up, he’s the kind of guy you’ll never hesitate to recommend to an affiliated organization, because he will wow them with the glove,” Zeller said. “He’s worked long and hard at improving. He’s got the toolset for a shortstop. He’s a guy an organization can take a chance on not be disappointed.”