T-Spoon gives MWL all-stars a dose of his talent

DAVENPORT - If you watched Travis Witherspoon win a unique Midwest League's All-Star Home Run Derby on Monday night, you'd never guess what he's been working on a ton lately.

His bunting game. Honest.

"I'm bunting a lot now in batting practice," the Cedar Rapids Kernels outfielder said. "That's something the coaches and I have been working on. It's something to add to my repertoire. It's something I should do, I need to do a lot more often. I'm getting comfortable with it, and it's starting to pay dividends."

Witherspoon is one of the fastest players in the parent Los Angeles Angels farm system. He's got a ton of raw ability, which he got to show off again Tuesday night at Modern Woodmen Park.

T-Spoon, as he's known, hit leadoff, was the starting center fielder and played the entire game for the Western All-Stars as they beat the East, 8-3, in the MWL's 48th All-Star Game. Witherspoon went 0-for-4 with a walk and stolen base.

"An adrenalin rush," he said. "It's been tremendous, man, to have the opportunity to come out here and play with a bunch of great guys. A lot of great talent. For me, it's just been a lot of fun. That's what this game's all above. Having fun."

It's fun when you win, and Witherspoon did that twice. He claimed a Derby that included lost points for hitting foul balls or missing pitches and bonus points for hitting objects placed around the outfield such as bedpans and empty pizza boxes.

Witherspoon edged Fort Wayne's Nick Blackwood by hitting a ball to the warning track in dead center for the winning points. I don't get it, either.

"I didn't understand (the scoring) at the beginning," Witherspoon said. "But as the Derby went along, people started explaining it to me a little more. I feel like it worked a little bit more in my favor instead of his favor because he was a big dude."

Witherspoon has just a .224 batting average but 31 stolen bases. Like his Kernels team, he began the season hot but cooled off significantly the final month of the first half.

"For me, this season has been a roller coaster," he said. "For the most part, you try and keep that roller coaster in the middle. I've had my ups and my downs. It's a game of adjustments, and that's what I've learned so far this first half."

The other two Kernels all-stars also got to play Tuesday, with Dakota Robinson pitching relief in the seventh inning to two batters and retiring one. Max Russell struck out the lone hitter he faced in the ninth.

"It's like we were talking earlier," Robinson said. "It's one thing to play against guys like this, but it's another to stand in the same dugout with them, knowing that these are the best of the best. One day, if I don't make it, I can turn on the TV and say 'Hey, I played with that guy.' Pretty cool."

The West got a solo home run from Chris Dennis of Wisconsin and two-run shot from Nino Leyja (Burlington) in a 12-hit offensive attack to win a game that saw 57 players participate. Leyja was named the game's Star of Stars.

Former Iowa Hawkeye pitcher Steve Turnbull of Lansing played for the Eastern All-Stars, throwing one inning, allowing a hit and striking out two.

Here's video of Witherspoon's second at-bat, a walk: