MANCHESTER, N.H. — One of the Portland Sea Dogs’ best hitters, Jantzen Witte, walked into the visiting clubhouse Friday morning, sporting a cast on his left wrist.

You could feel the gloom in the air. Teammates came to Witte’s locker, shaking their heads.

It has been a season of commiseration instead of celebration.

“We’ve had a lot of bad breaks this year,” said first baseman Dave Chester – no pun intended – one of the first to reach out to Witte, who was hit by a pitch Thursday night and broke his wrist.

Injuries, trades and good players promoted are just part of the story of the 2015 Portland Sea Dogs.

This is a team with few prospects and which little was expected. But the group has underperformed beyond expectations.

“This is the worst Sea Dogs team I’ve ever seen,” said a longtime scout from another organization before Friday’s game against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

That Friday game was a 2-1 loss – on a walk-off walk in the ninth inning. The defeat dropped the Sea Dogs to 32-61. They are easily trending toward the worst record in franchise history (59-83, set in 2011), and one of the Eastern League’s worst in recent years. Since 1991, only three league teams have failed to win 50 games.

“It’s certainly a little more difficult right now than I thought it would be,” Manager Billy McMillon said. “We’re certainly not going to put our tails between our legs and concede defeat. We’re going to go out and battle.”

McMillon has had only one losing season in the past five years, and that was 68-69 in 2012. In 2013 he guided Salem to the Carolina League championship, and in 2014 led Portland to a franchise-best 88-54 record.

That 2014 team was full of prospects.Seven have reached the major leagues.

“Coming after last year, this year is pretty tough to swallow,” said starting pitcher Mike Augliera, in his second season with Portland. “Obviously, losing is never fun. We have a lot of people who haven’t had the season they hoped for, and I’m one of those guys.”

NUMBERS SHOW THE PROBLEM

Augliera was 8-10 last year with a 4.56 ERA, averaging six innings a start. This year he’s 2-13, 5.88, averaging five innings a start.

Augliera is one loss from tying the franchise record but is hardly the sole cause of Portland’s collapse. Improvement was expected from two pitchers promoted to the Sea Dogs late last year. In 2014, Justin Haley was 3-2 with a 1.19 ERA and Luis Diaz was 3-4, 3.72.

This year Haley is 3-11 (5.62) and Diaz 1-8 (5.99).

“I don’t really have an answer for it,” Haley said. “It’s not going the way we’ve planned.”

Command has been a problem for Haley (38 walks in 75 innings) and for the whole staff, which has the most walks in the league (324), 15 more than the next team.

William Cuevas (8-5, 3.40) and spot starter Mike McCarthy (4-4, 3.95) have been Portland’s best starters. Joe Gunkel (5-2, 2.73) might have been included in that group but was traded to Baltimore for outfielder Alejandro De Aza.

Portland’s ERA (4.22) is 11th out of the 12 league teams. Its best pitchers have been relievers and three were promoted to Triple-A – Dayan Diaz, Jonathan Aro and Pat Light.

Offensively, Portland is 11th in runs per game (3.66) and home runs (39), and tied for ninth in average (.249).

Three of the Sea Dogs’ top six hitters are gone – Marco Hernandez (.316) was just promoted, and Witte (.283) and Blake Tekotte (.275) are out for the season with injuries.

The other three top hitters have all played less than 22 games because of injuries (Tim Roberson, .314) or they were recently called up from Class A Salem – Sam Travis (.286) and Manuel Margot (.275).

A NON-PROSPECT YEAR

Portland’s struggle after last year’s stellar season is not unique. The last four league teams to win less than 50 games (New Britain in 2010; New Haven, 2001; Erie, 2000; and New Britain, 1991) all reached the playoffs the season before.

Good teams see their best players move on. Replacing them is key.

The 2014 Sea Dogs were full of high draft picks – Blake Swihart (first round), Henry Owens (first), Deven Marrero (first), Brian Johnson (first), Sean Coyle (third), Noe Ramirez (fourth), Mookie Betts (fifth), Augliera (fifth), Henry Ramos (fifth) and Haley (sixth).

Swihart, Owens and Betts were all drafted out of high school in 2011, moved quickly through the system, reaching Double-A in their third full season as a pro.

The 2015 team featured Ramos but, like last year, he was injured early in the season (and just returned 10 days ago). Light (first round, 2012) began in Portland but was promoted.

While the 2011 and 2012 drafts provided Portland with prime players, the second-, third- and fourth-round picks from 2012 are still in Class A – pitchers James Callahan (Greenville), Austin Maddux (Salem) and Ty Buttery (Salem).

And none of the top eight picks from 2013 have reached Portland, although the top two picks, pitchers Trey Ball and Teddy Stankiewicz, are in Salem (the fourth and fifth-round picks in 2013, Myles Smith and Corey Littrell, were traded).

So several prospects are eventually on their way, not to mention Travis (a second-round pick in 2014) and Margot (a top international signing) already here. Plus, Greenville features three of Boston’s top infield prospects – Yoan Moncada, Rafael Devers and Javier Guerra.

WORKING THROUGH IT

The Sea Dogs have been through seasons similar to 2015, including the inaugural one in 1994 (60-81) when the expansion Marlins were building their system. The 2002 Dogs (63-77) were the last one as a Marlins affiliate and went through the upheaval of new Marlins ownership and few prospects.

The 2011 Sea Dogs (59-83) had some future major leaguers like Stephen Fife, Alex Wilson, Ryan Lavarnway, Tim Federowicz and Will Middlebrooks. But there were struggles (pitching prospect Stolmy Pimental’s 0-9 record), along with injuries, trades and promotions.

This year all the Sea Dogs can do is plug away. They have been in close games; 44 percent have been decided by two runs or less (but Portland is 14-27 in those contests).

“There is not a lack of effort,” said McCarthy, the pitcher who was also here last year. “Guys are running out ground balls. Guys are laying out for balls in the gap. Pitchers are going out, trying to pitch the best they can.

“When you get into (losing) situations, it feels like it is snowballing on you – here we go again. Breaking that (mindset) is a big part of it.

“We have to continue to fight and see where it goes.