Dalton Shuffield, now with the Cedar Rapids Kernels, has played everywhere

CEDAR RAPIDS — There must be times when Dalton Shuffield wakes up in the morning and has to think about which town he is in.

Which team he is with, which league and level of minor league baseball he’s playing.

The utility guy is with the Cedar Rapids Kernels right now, in high-Class A and the Midwest League. He’s getting some roll, too, playing for the fifth time in the 10 days since he’s been here, batting seventh and playing shortstop Wednesday afternoon in C.R.’s 6-4 loss to Lake County at Memorial Stadium.

“With the at-bats that I’ve gotten here, I’ve gotten more comfortable in the box. That definitely helps,” Shuffield said. “But even if you go a couple of weeks, a week, without playing, when you get a start, you’ve got to muscle down and produce. You’ve got to get after it. You’ve got to have a good mindset going into things.”

This is the third season the 25-year-old from Texas State University has been in the Minnesota Twins organization, and he has hit every level, sans the big leagues.

Rookie ball in the Florida Complex League? Check.

Low-A at Fort Myers in the Florida State League? Yup.

Double-A Wichita? For sure.

Triple-A and Saint Paul? Yessir, he’s been there.

He was at four levels last season and three so far this season: High-A, Double-A, Triple-A.

“It is cool,” he said. “Getting to meet all the guys and everything has been really nice. Everyone is kind of down to earth everywhere you go. Just different environments are really cool to see. So I’ve been enjoying it.”

But there is no question about the difficulty of all the movement, no question that playing sporadically (this was just his 16th game) is not optimal.

“I mean, you’re tired most of the time,” Shuffield said. “But you wake up, and you just say to yourself ‘Let’s get after it today.’ I try to bring energy every day. That’s just the type of guy I am.”

His opinion is the biggest jump a guy makes is going from high-A to Double-A.

“The Triple-A pitchers, I think, don’t have as much velocity, but I think they just have a lot more control with their pitches,” Shuffield said. “How they tunnel their fastballs and use sliders off of it. But everywhere you go there is going to be talent, so it’s all difficult. But, you know, you just try to make do with what you’ve got.”

The Kernels (28-18) dropped their second straight in this series to Lake County, which leads the Eastern Division of the Midwest League. Cedar Rapids went into Wednesday night’s play 1 1/2 games behind Wisconsin for first place in the Western Division.

Lake County starter Austin Peterson struck out 13 in seven innings of great pitching. The Captains built a 5-1 lead, with the Kernels rallying for a run in the sixth and three in the eighth, stranding the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position.

Just not meant to be.

“We swung and missed at a lot of fastballs today,” said Kernels Manager Brian Dinkelman.

These teams continue their series Thursday night at 6:35.

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Photos: Cedar Rapids Kernels vs. Lake County Captains

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