First baseman Robbins utilizes his bat well

By David Dorsey
Fort Myers News Press

Fort Myers Miracle first baseman Whit Robbins had boosted his batting average to .381 entering Monday.

Having connected on 16 of 42 at-bats, his average is almost 100 points higher than Steve Tolleson's .293 (17-of-58).

"He's doing well," Miracle manager Kevin Boles said of Robbins. "Whit and Erik Lis have really picked up the offense lately. They're getting better pitches to hit. Guys are getting comfortable. It just takes some time to get adjusted."

Pitching rotation

Oswaldo Sosa (0-1, 5.11 ERA) is scheduled to start at 7:05 tonight at Hammond Stadium against the Clearwater Threshers.

Alexander Smit (0-0, 5.56 ERA) is scheduled to start at 10:35 a.m. Wednesday against the Threshers in a rare morning start for Education Day, for which local schoolchildren will be bused to the stadium.

A doubleheader in Dunedin, scheduled for Friday, likely will shake up the rotation, which also includes Jay Rainville and Kyle Waldrop.

Normally, you'll have a bullpen day," Boles said of having a reliever start. "Or if not, the next day you would have a bullpen day. It happens quite often. With the 13 pitchers, we should be covered. It really helps us out as far as not extending guys too far."

Closer by committee

In the early part of the season, reliever Eddie Morlan has excelled in the ninth inning, picking up two saves and one win. He has yet to give up a run and therefore has a 0.00 ERA.

Zach Ward, Angel Garcia and Frank Mata have one save each, and Boles said the closer-by-committee approach would continue.

"It's just like last year," Boles said. "We don't have set roles for our guys. Like last year, we didn't have a set closer. What we do, is we try to match them up in certain situations."

Naming a regular, ninth-inning closer could happen, Boles said, but not for awhile.

"Not this early," he said. "Maybe down the road. We give all of our guys opportunities to pitch in every part of the game. We have plenty of able arms."