This year’s Modesto Nuts benefit from 2014’s successful harvest

One look is all it takes to see that this is a new Modesto Nuts team.

All but three of the players from last year’s 43-97 disaster are gone. Some have been promoted; many are out of the game. In their place is a nearly fresh group of 25 players, including new manager Fred Ocasio and 17 members of the 2014 South Atlantic League champion Asheville Tourists.

So that first glance, coming at Tuesday’s media day, revealed an easy camaraderie from a team that already has scaled one summit and is ready to establish a new base camp to begin another long climb.

“We have a nice little swagger about us and a great group of guys that is really tight knit,” said first baseman Correlle Prime. “We’re ready to go and ready to win some ballgames.”

The 140-game trek begins Thursday night when the Nuts open a seven-game trip at Lake Elsinore. The home opener is set for April 16 against Inland Empire.

Before the first pitch, the Nuts will have come to terms with realities that will guide their opening months. First, the California League isn’t the Sally League. Second, last year’s championship won’t get them a refill on this year’s coffee.

“I don’t think you’ll ever hear anyone talk about what was accomplished last year, because that’s over,” Ocasio said. “And no one will talk, I hope, about what happened here in Modesto last year with the wins and losses. All we know is that we had a special team last year in Asheville. At the end of this season, if these guys win a championship, then great. But the bottom line is that they need to get better.”

Slow and steady progress is what the Nuts want and, more importantly, what the parent Colorado Rockies demand. At the same time, these new players bring some impressive credentials to Modesto.

Five of the new Nuts hit better than .300 last year, with second baseman Mike Benjamin, son of the former San Francisco Giants utility infielder, leading the way at .341.

Four players making the move upward hit 12 or more homers last year, and two of them – Prime and third baseman Ryan McMahon – are the youngest position players on the Nuts’ roster. Prime, 21, hit 21 homers and drove in 102 runs last season, while McMahon, 20, had 18 homers and 102 RBIs.

“We’re still a little on cloud nine from last season, and we just got our rings in spring training,” said McMahon, a second-round 2013 pick by Colorado out of Santa Ana’s Mater Dei High School. “But last year means nothing because this is a new league, a new team and a new day. We have a great pitching staff and a lot of great players. We like what we have and we just have to put it all together.”

Asheville accomplished that last year, leading the 14-team Sally League with a .292 team batting average.

“On paper, this team is capable of doing great things,” Ocasio said. “One thing the fans in Modesto will see is a group of guys who will bust their butts and be aggressive and play exciting baseball.”

But as the players walked out of the clubhouse Tuesday, most wearing their Nuts jerseys for the first time, they invariably looked toward the scoreboard, seeing the sign that indicates the fence at that point is a prodigious 393 feet from home plate.

No, Dorothy, they’re not in North Carolina anymore.

“The park is a lot bigger than Asheville, but you have to have the swagger about you and you have to keep it through the year,” Prime said. “There are going to be some tough times, but that’s true during any baseball season when you play 140 games. We’re well-prepared and we’re ready to go.”

This story was originally published April 8, 2015 at 7:13 PM with the headline "This year’s Modesto Nuts benefit from 2014’s successful harvest."