2010 Players to Watch: Bucs

Downtown Anchorage in winter. Yes, the snow will melt before the season starts.

For those of you who missed it, the Anchorage Bucs posted their 2010 roster about a week ago. And as promised, I've taken the time to pore over it a little bit and come up with my Players to Watch for the 2010 Anchorage Bucs. Bucs fans will be happy to know that the team has brought back some of their more talented players from 2009 for a second go-around with the team. We'll have a look at some of those players, as well as a few notable first-timers:

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OF Bret Atwood
Texas State
Junior - 5'8" 160lb

Atwood returns to the Bucs after hitting .350 and stealing 9 bases in 2009. With Texas State he has been an upper-order threat; the lefty is a high-average hitter who can get on base and use his speed to get into scoring position. He is also a considerable defensive talent who rarely surrenders and error and has a good outfield range due to his speed. His play for Texas State in 2009 was good enough for third-team All Conference honors; the only question surrounding his 2010 Bucs campaign will be whether or not he can match his performance from 2009.




RHP Andrew Benak
Rice University
Junior - 6'5" 215lb

Andrew Benak is an intriguing prospect out of Texas. He's a big stout kid and was highly touted as a high school player, making the Rawlings/Perfect Game regional All Senior high-school team in 2008. His Sophomore season with Rice wasn't particularly impressive (1-1 with a 5.70 ERA in 2009) but he made up for it with a respectable summer-ball campaign in the New England league. In 2009 with the Vermont Mountaineers of the NECBL he went 4-1 in five starts, logging a 3.71 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP in 34 IP. Baseball America liked him enough to call him the #9 prospect in that league. My take on Benak is that he is a legitimate prospect but still raw; he's got a solid four-pitch arsenal which is great for a young player, but he still needs to get some parts of his game together, such as being tougher on lefties. We'll see if the NCAA season and his ABL stint this summer can help him polish his game a bit.


C Coley Crank
University of Michigan
Sophomore - 6'0" 210lb

Sophomore Michigan backstop Coley Crank, a second-year Buc, is another player to keep an eye on in 2010. Crank is a strong, hard-hitting offensive talent who put up good numbers in his Freshman year (.294 with 2 HR and 10 RBI in 68 AB) and is expected to become one of the top hitters for the Wolverines. His defensive game is a little on the mediocre side, and is something he will hopefully be working this spring and summer. On the other hand, Crank was a stud in High School, earning seven letters in three sports. That tells me that he's got the toughness to endure long seasons of everyday play without self destructing, and also the maturity to make his game -- or whatever else he aspires to in life -- a priority and be successful at it.


C Eddie Rohan, Jr.
Winthrop University
Junior - 6'0" 202lb

Rohan is another power-hitting catcher, playing his springtime ball for Winthrop. Eddie's a wood-bat veteran who played with the Hyannis Mets of the Cape Cod League last summer. He's logged a lot of games as DH which might suggest his defense is lackluster, but for what it's worth, he didn't give up an error in the field for Winthrop at 2009. He did, however, manage to hit .348 with 14 homers and 53 RBI's for a 1.032 OPS, winning conference Player of the Week honors in the process. My suspicion is that assigning Rohan the role of DH -- as well as 1B and OF -- was an attempt to get his bat in the lineup anywhere while upperclassman John Murrian (who has since signed with the Detroit Tigers) manned the plate, and not necessarily a knock on Rohan's defense. It's obvious that Rohan is a serious talent, but this was confirmed when he was selected third-team Preseason All-American. The only question for ABL fans this summer will be whether or not his defense can match his bat.


2B/SS Zach Vincej
Pepperdine
Freshman - 6'1" 160lb

Vincej is an intriguing player, not so much for his impressive college resume, but quite the opposite: he's largely unknown. Bucs fans, however, may remember him as he joined the 2009 Anchorage squad straight out of high school and put together a respectable offensive season before ever taking a swing in NCAA baseball. Vincej will return to Alaska a bit less green this year after he completes his first college season with Pepperdine, and things are looking good: in the team's fall exhibition games, Zach was the team's best hitter. Hopefully he has a great regular season and ABL campaign and can show the rest of the baseball world what Bucs fans already know.


Peripheral Vision: Brian Bello, Justin Hopper, Andrew Stumph, Richard Pedroza, Cam Schiller, Sean Sullivan

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As with my preview of the 2010 Goldpanners, this is not an exhaustive list. I've done a little research on all the players on the team, and these are the ones who stuck out to me; that being said, I'm not a professional scout with a library of scouting reports on all these guys. It's quite possible that I overlooked someone deserving of "Player to Watch" status, and after all, they're ALL good players. The good news is that YOU can leave me a comment and let me know what you think. And, of course, I'll be keeping an eye out for the other teams to drop their rosters on us, so that I can complete watch lists for the Oilers, Pilots, Miners and Fire.