2012 Roswell Invaders Season Recap - A Talented Team Unravels Under Simon Walters

The 2012 Roswell Invaders entered the season as defending Pecos League Champions. One year earlier, Roswell had established itself as the league's first championship franchise. The Invaders had built a strong relationship with the community, developed a loyal fan base and created an atmosphere at Joe Bauman Stadium that helped establish Roswell as one of the Pecos League's strongest markets.

The expectation entering 2012 was simple: do it again. The talent was there. Roswell won 41 games. The Invaders had good hitters, enough pitching to qualify for the postseason and, for a brief period, one of the most dominant relief pitchers the Pecos League has ever seen in Charlie Short.

But something was wrong. The defending champions never developed the chemistry or community support that had defined the 2011 team. Manager Simon Walters became confrontational with players and people around the organization. The clubhouse deteriorated. The relationship with fans deteriorated. Attendance collapsed.

Although Roswell still managed to finish 41-29 and qualify for the playoffs, the season ended immediately with a first-round loss to the Las Cruces Vaqueros. The official Roswell Invaders franchise history would later describe 2012 as the worst season in the team's early history despite the winning record.

It wasn't the number of victories that made the year disappointing. It was everything surrounding them.

View the official Roswell Invaders franchise history.

Trying to Follow a Championship

Roswell entered 2012 in a completely different position from the year before. In 2011, nobody knew exactly what the Roswell Invaders would become. The Pecos League itself was new, professional baseball had to earn credibility in the community and the Invaders did exactly that.

They won. They developed support. They won the first Pecos League Championship. By the end of the summer, Roswell had become one of the league's signature franchises.

That made 2012 the first season in which the Invaders entered with real expectations. Roswell wasn't trying to establish itself anymore. It was trying to defend a championship.

Chris Paterson Leaves Roswell

The first major change came before the season. Chris Paterson left the Invaders and moved to White Sands. Roswell's official franchise history later identified Paterson's departure as a significant loss for the organization.

The Invaders initially planned to hire veteran United League manager Dan Schwam. Schwam had extensive experience and was viewed as someone capable of managing the defending champions, but his teaching commitments prevented him from arriving early enough for the Pecos League season.

Roswell had to make another choice. That choice was Simon Walters. It would become one of the most consequential managerial decisions in franchise history.

Read the official Roswell Invaders history of the 2012 managerial change.

Simon Walters Takes Over

The baseball team itself had talent. The problem quickly became the environment surrounding it.

According to the official Roswell franchise history, Walters became confrontational both within the community and with his players. That mattered enormously in Roswell. The Invaders were not an organization that operated independently from the community around them.

Fan relationships mattered. Host families mattered. Local sponsors mattered. Supporters around Joe Bauman Stadium mattered. A Pecos League manager couldn't simply manage nine players on the field and ignore everything outside the dugout. The manager was part of the public face of the organization.

In 2012, that relationship broke down. The Roswell history says that only two weeks into the season, much of the fan base had already lost interest in supporting a club led by Walters.

That is an extraordinary statement considering what had happened only one year earlier. The 2011 Invaders had built one of the league's strongest followings. By 2012, attendance was collapsing.

A Winning Team That Fans Stopped Supporting

The strangest part was that Roswell wasn't losing every night. Far from it. The Invaders ultimately won 41 games, remained above .500 and qualified for the playoffs.

Normally those results would create enthusiasm around a professional baseball club. Instead, the opposite happened.

Roswell's postseason organizational review described attendance as dramatically lower than the previous year. The Invaders eventually finished last in the league in paid attendance.

The situation became so unusual that Roswell became the only team in Pecos League history to sell more merchandise than game tickets during a season. The alien-themed brand was still popular. The baseball operation was not.

Read the Pecos League's later review of the problems surrounding the 2012 Roswell season.

The League Even Considered Putting Roswell on the Road

The deterioration became serious enough that the Pecos League considered converting Roswell into a road team. That possibility would have been almost unimaginable twelve months earlier.

The Invaders had gone from champions with one of the league's best markets to an operation whose relationship with its own community had deteriorated badly enough that the league was evaluating whether continuing home games made sense.

It was an organizational crisis hidden underneath a winning baseball record. And yet the players kept playing. They kept winning enough games to remain in postseason contention.

That says something important about the talent on the roster.

The Invaders Could Still Hit

Roswell had several productive offensive players throughout the year. Mike Miller became one of the club's most productive hitters. Miller appeared in 33 games and collected 59 hits in 147 at-bats. He scored 44 runs, hit seven doubles, three triples and three home runs while driving in 34. He also stole eight bases.

Casanova Donaldson provided another dangerous bat. Donaldson played 51 games and collected 58 hits. He scored 38 runs, hit eight doubles and 10 home runs and drove in 34. He stole 18 bases while being caught only once.

There was legitimate athletic ability throughout the roster.

View complete 2012 Roswell Invaders statistics.

Opening Night Shows the Team's Fight

The season itself began dramatically. Roswell entered the bottom of the ninth inning of Opening Night trailing by one run. There were two outs, the tying run was on second and the count reached two balls and two strikes.

Patrick Penyo delivered a walk-off home run. Roswell won.

It was exactly the kind of moment that should have launched another exciting summer at Joe Bauman Stadium. In many ways, it demonstrated the character of the players. Even Walters later acknowledged that his team never seemed to believe it was out of a game.

The Invaders continually battled from behind and produced memorable comebacks. The problem was that those moments weren't enough to repair what was happening around the club.

Read the official 2012 Roswell season archive.

Liam Zenger-O'Brien Throws a One-Hit Shutout

There were excellent individual performances on the pitching staff as well. One of the biggest came from Liam Zenger-O'Brien.

Against Las Cruces on June 8, Zenger-O'Brien threw a complete-game shutout. Roswell won 16-0, and he allowed only one hit over nine innings.

The performance became one of the signature pitching moments of the season. It also demonstrated something that would become important later. Roswell was capable of beating Las Cruces. The Invaders could dominate the Vaqueros on the right night.

Unfortunately, they would not do it when the postseason arrived.

View the official recap of Roswell's 16-0 victory over Las Cruces.

Charlie Short Arrives

No player better demonstrates the talent that passed through Roswell in 2012 than Charlie Short. Short was a right-handed pitcher from Miami who had played college baseball at Barry University.

He joined the Invaders bullpen and immediately became almost unhittable. The official statistics are extraordinary.

Charlie Short appeared in 12 games and threw 15 innings. He allowed seven hits and only two runs, just one of them earned. He walked one batter and struck out 28.

Short finished 1-0 with a 0.60 ERA and six saves. His WHIP was 0.53.

In 15 innings, Short struck out nearly twice as many hitters as innings pitched. He struck out 28 hitters while walking exactly one, a 28-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Few pitchers in the history of the Pecos League have produced a more dominant statistical stretch.

View Charlie Short's official 2012 Roswell Invaders statistics.

1-0, 0.60 ERA, Six Saves, 28 Strikeouts, One Walk

Short's numbers deserve to stand alone.

Games: 12
Record: 1-0
ERA: 0.60
Saves: 6
Innings: 15
Hits Allowed: 7
Earned Runs: 1
Walks: 1
Strikeouts: 28
WHIP: 0.53

This wasn't a pitcher merely having a good Pecos League season. Short was dominating professional hitters.

The affiliated baseball world noticed.

The New York Yankees Sign Charlie Short

In the middle of the 2012 season, Roswell received the type of news every independent professional baseball organization hopes to receive. The New York Yankees purchased the contract of Charlie Short.

Short was leaving Roswell and entering affiliated professional baseball. The Invaders lost their most dominant relief pitcher in the middle of a playoff race.

But for the Pecos League and for Roswell, the signing was a major success story. One of the purposes of independent baseball is to give overlooked players another opportunity to be seen.

Short took that opportunity and turned it into a contract with one of the most famous organizations in professional sports.

Read the official announcement that the New York Yankees signed Charlie Short from Roswell.

Short Immediately Succeeds in Affiliated Baseball

Short's Roswell performance was not an illusion created by independent baseball. He immediately demonstrated that he could strike out hitters in the Yankees organization as well.

After signing in 2012, Short pitched for the Charleston RiverDogs in the South Atlantic League. He appeared in 11 games and struck out 23 hitters in 16.1 innings.

In 2013, he became even better. Across three levels of the Yankees organization, Short went 6-2 with a 2.02 ERA. He struck out 85 hitters in 62.1 innings.

At Charleston, he posted a 0.71 ERA. At Tampa in the High-A Florida State League, he went 4-1 with a 2.20 ERA and struck out 59 in 45 innings. Eventually he reached Double-A with the Trenton Thunder.

Short appeared for Trenton in 2013 and again in 2014. The pitcher who had been closing games at Joe Bauman Stadium had climbed all the way to Double-A in the New York Yankees organization.

View Charlie Short's complete professional record, including the New York Yankees organization and Double-A Trenton.

One of Roswell's Greatest Player Advancement Stories

Short's promotion became one of the clearest examples of what the Pecos League could do for a player. He arrived in Roswell without an affiliated contract, dominated, got noticed and was signed by the Yankees.

Then he climbed through their system: Charleston, Tampa, Trenton and Double-A baseball.

His 2012 Roswell stat line remains one of the most remarkable short-term pitching performances in franchise history.

Ironically, that individual success occurred during one of the most disappointing seasons in team history.

The Team Keeps Winning Despite the Problems

Even with all of the off-field turmoil, Roswell kept finding ways to win games. On May 26, the Invaders defeated Las Cruces 21-4. Wes Kartch went 4-for-5 and homered.

On May 28, Roswell defeated Las Cruces 8-4. On June 8 came Zenger-O'Brien's 16-0 one-hit shutout. Two days later, Roswell beat Las Cruces again, 8-4. On June 11, the Invaders defeated the Vaqueros 9-6.

Roswell clearly had enough talent to compete with the team it would eventually face in the playoffs.

View the complete 2012 Roswell schedule and results.

Roswell Reaches 37-21

By July 19, the Invaders had reached 37-21. That night Charlie Short earned another victory as Roswell defeated Santa Fe 5-4.

The record showed that Roswell was still a legitimate playoff team. But the organization surrounding the players was in a much different condition.

The fan support that had defined 2011 was gone. The relationship between management and the community had deteriorated. Inside the clubhouse, the problems with Walters had taken a toll.

The Invaders were winning games without building momentum. That is difficult to sustain over a long season.

The Clubhouse Unravels

Eventually, the internal problems caught up with the team. Roswell's own historical account says Walters was confrontational with his players.

Once a manager loses the confidence of the clubhouse, baseball becomes much more difficult. Every losing streak becomes harder to stop. Every disagreement becomes larger. Players begin operating as individuals instead of as a team.

That is particularly damaging in independent baseball, where rosters are already under constant pressure from promotions, releases, injuries, travel and financial realities.

Roswell had talent. What it increasingly lacked was stability.

The team that had been 37-21 began to fade.

41-29 - A Winning Record That Felt Like a Losing Season

Roswell ultimately finished the regular season 41-29. On paper, that does not look disastrous.

Forty-one wins is a strong number. A .586 winning percentage would be considered successful for many professional baseball teams.

But the record hid what had happened to the organization. Roswell finished third. The Invaders had lost the support of much of their fan base. Paid attendance had fallen to the bottom of the league. The clubhouse had deteriorated.

The defending champions were entering the postseason without the confidence and unity that had defined the previous season.

View Roswell's official historical record - 41-29 in 2012.

The First Round - Roswell vs. Las Cruces

The postseason opponent was the Las Cruces Vaqueros. Roswell knew them well. The clubs had played repeatedly throughout the summer.

The Invaders had demonstrated they could beat Las Cruces. They had beaten the Vaqueros 21-4. They had shut them out 16-0. They had won several other games in the season series.

But postseason baseball doesn't care what happened in June.

The first-round game was played in Las Cruces at Apodaca Park. The Vaqueros took control.

Las Cruces defeated Roswell 12-3. Erik Gonsalves earned the victory for the Vaqueros. DJ Stinsman took the loss for Roswell.

The final result dropped the Invaders to 41-30 including the postseason.

And just like that, the defending champions were gone.

View the official August 3 playoff recap - Las Cruces 12, Roswell 3.

From Champions to a First-Round Exit

The contrast with 2011 could not have been greater. One year earlier, Roswell had celebrated a championship. The team had strong community support. Fans had embraced the Invaders. The organization had established itself as one of the league's success stories.

Now Roswell was going home after the first round.

The official team history would later summarize 2012 bluntly. It called the Walters hiring the worst move in team history. It pointed to his confrontational relationship with players and the community, noted how quickly fan support disappeared and documented that the league actually considered putting the Invaders on the road.

Those are remarkable developments for a team that had won the championship only twelve months earlier.

2012 Roswell Invaders - By the Numbers

Regular Season Record: 41-29
Regular Season Winning Percentage: .586
Regular Season Finish: Third Place
Playoff Opponent: Las Cruces Vaqueros
Playoff Result: Lost in First Round
Playoff Score: Las Cruces 12, Roswell 3
Overall Record Including Playoff: 41-30

Mike Miller: 59 H, 44 R, 7 2B, 3 3B, 3 HR, 34 RBI in 33 games
Casanova Donaldson: 58 H, 38 R, 8 2B, 10 HR, 34 RBI, 18 SB

Charlie Short: 1-0, 0.60 ERA, 6 saves, 15 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 28 SO, 0.53 WHIP
Brandon Godfrey: 2-2, 2.45 ERA in 21 appearances
Marc Gomez: 22 SO in 17.1 IP
Reed Alfieri: 2-0 with 4 saves

View complete 2012 Roswell Invaders statistics.

The Numbers Don't Explain the Disappointment

That is the strange thing about the 2012 Roswell Invaders. If someone looked only at the record, they might wonder why the season is remembered so negatively.

Forty-one wins. A playoff berth. A player signed by the New York Yankees. Several memorable games. That sounds successful.

But professional baseball organizations are more than their won-loss records. The 2012 Invaders had lost something much more important.

They had lost the connection that had made Roswell special in 2011. The fans were disappearing. The community relationship was deteriorating. The clubhouse wasn't functioning the way a championship clubhouse needed to function. The manager was at the center of much of that conflict.

The season unraveled despite the talent.

Charlie Short Was the Exception

If the 2012 season represented disappointment for the organization, Charlie Short represented exactly what the Pecos League was supposed to accomplish for an individual player.

He arrived looking for an opportunity. He dominated. The Yankees noticed. They signed him. He went directly into affiliated baseball and then kept climbing.

In 2013, Short pitched across Class A, High-A and Double-A and posted a 2.02 combined ERA. He struck out 85 hitters in 62.1 innings and eventually reached Trenton, the Yankees' Double-A affiliate.

That is remarkable progression for a player who began the previous summer pitching for the Roswell Invaders.

His 0.60 ERA and 28-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio remain among the most eye-catching pitching numbers in the history of the franchise.

View Charlie Short's career after Roswell, including Double-A Trenton.

The Organization Had to Be Rebuilt

When the season ended, Roswell didn't treat the first-round loss as an ordinary baseball disappointment. The organization understood that deeper changes were required.

The Pecos League began evaluating and restructuring the Invaders almost immediately. Community members contacted the league with concerns about whether Roswell would even return in 2013.

The league publicly stated that it intended to keep the Invaders in Roswell but acknowledged the frustrations surrounding the 2012 season. The goal was to restore the operation to the standards established in 2011.

Read the league's message to Roswell fans following the 2012 season.

The Fan Base Had Disappeared

The attendance numbers illustrated the scale of the problem. Roswell had led the Pecos League in attendance during the championship season of 2011.

One year later, the Invaders finished last in paid attendance.

That was not a normal year-to-year fluctuation. That was a collapse.

The league later specifically cited problems involving hotels, coaches and general organizational confusion as contributing to the decline. Many of Roswell's original supporters had turned against the team.

The Invaders were still selling merchandise because the alien brand remained popular. But people were not buying enough tickets.

The organization famously sold more merchandise than tickets during the season. That is a remarkable statistic for a professional baseball club, and it was not something to celebrate.

The Simon Walters Era Ends After One Season

There would be no second season under Simon Walters. The relationship was over.

His only Roswell team had gone 41-29 and reached the playoffs. But those numbers couldn't overcome the damage surrounding the club.

The clubhouse needed to be repaired. The community relationship needed to be repaired. The fan base needed to be brought back.

Roswell needed a different kind of manager. The Invaders needed someone capable of rebuilding both the team and the culture around it.

That person would be Chris Ebright.

2012 Creates the 2013 Invaders

In retrospect, the failure of 2012 became one of the most important events in Roswell franchise history. It forced the organization to make changes that might not otherwise have happened.

There would be no attempt to patch together the existing roster. There would be no minor adjustment.

When Ebright took over for 2013, Roswell completely cleaned house. The entire 2012 team was replaced. Ebright started from scratch with an entirely new group of players.

The community expectations for players and coaches were reset. The organization committed to repairing its relationship with Roswell.

The results would be extraordinary.

The 2013 Invaders would go 50-17. They would go undefeated in the playoffs. They would win the Pecos League Championship.

The Pecos League would later rank them as the greatest team in league history.

That transformation makes the contrast between 2012 and 2013 one of the most remarkable year-to-year changes the league has ever seen.

A Season of Disappointment

The 2012 Roswell Invaders should have been remembered as a talented defending champion trying to win another title. They had players capable of winning. They won 41 regular-season games. They had memorable performances.

They had a pitcher so dominant that the New York Yankees signed him in the middle of the season. Charlie Short went from Joe Bauman Stadium to the Yankees organization and eventually reached Double-A Trenton.

That alone gave the season a permanent place in Pecos League player-development history.

But the team itself never became what its talent suggested it could become. The manager became confrontational with players and people in the community. Fan support disappeared. The clubhouse deteriorated. The league considered taking the team on the road.

When the playoffs arrived, Las Cruces ended Roswell's season immediately.

41-29.

Normally that would look like a successful year. In Roswell, it felt like failure.

One year after celebrating the first Pecos League Championship, the Invaders were eliminated in the first round with their organization in need of a complete reset.

Simon Walters was gone. The fan base needed to be rebuilt. The clubhouse needed to be rebuilt. The roster would soon be rebuilt too.

The disappointment of 2012 created the conditions for the greatest season in Roswell history.

Chris Ebright would arrive in 2013. He would release everyone. He would start over.

And twelve months after one of the most frustrating seasons in franchise history, the Roswell Invaders would become the best team the Pecos League had ever seen.