1/9/10 Odds & Ends

Hey there, baseball fans. I'll be traveling back to Montana for school tomorrow, but don't worry. I've got a TON of stuff already written up and slotted for the coming week, so you'll still have plenty of ABL goodness to read here. My Alaska vacation was great. I got a little fatter, got a little wiser, did a lot of writing, took some good photos, met some cool people in the Bucs and Miners organizations, and other than that I pretty much just got some long needed couch-chill-out sessions in.

But now the break is over, and for college baseball fans that's a good thing because the season is nearly upon us. And for ABL fans, that's good, because to us the college regular season is kind of our pre-season. However you look at it, the baseball world is definitely gearing up for spring, and there's been a lot of little tidbits of info out there this week that will interest Alaska Baseball fans...

Box Score:

- In case you've been living under a rock, legendary ABL alum Randy Johnson (Pilots, 1984) has announced that he will hang up his spikes after 22 major-league seasons. Johnson's jersey and cap will definitely join Sean Timmons' in Cooperstown. I think the only thing that could stop that would be a steroids allegation, but seriously, the guy looks more like Skeletor than He-Man so I doubt that'll happen. Anyway, in case you haven't figured out why I'm not giving this monumental occasion more of a writeup, let's just say I already had something like that lined up for a few weeks down the road (that's a hint). If you have an insatiable desire for the Big Unit, though, here's some links: FanGraphs 7th Inning Stache BoSox Injection



- The College Baseball Blog has ranked 2009 Bucs hurler Kevin Jacob, the fireballer out of Georgia Tech, #15 on its Top 100 Prospects countdown. You may remember that Jacob had a phenomenal summer up here last year, striking out 45 on 26.2 IP. Good to see an ABL product getting some love from the outside world.

- Legendary college skipper Mike Gillespie has been chosen for the ACBA Hall of Fame. His career includes a long and successful tenure as head coach of the USC Trojans, as well as his more recent stint with California Irvine. But did you know that he was also an ABL manager? Gillespie was at the helm of the North Pole Nicks for three seasons, from 83-85, including a second-place finish at the NBC World Series. Congrats, coach!

- Outfielder Ryan Enos (Fire, 2009) has been selected second-team Pre-season All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association. On the NCAA season last year, Enos hit .376 with 17 homers and 56 RBI's in 55 games. In ABL play he hit at a .315 pace with 2 homers and 25 RBI's.

- The Mat-Su Miners and the Peninsula Oilers both earned brief mention in their local newspapers' "Best of 2009" features...one for their great season and one for their not-so-great season. Some quick stats from both articles: The Miners have won 2 championships in the past 5 years, and since 2005 have won more games than any other ABL team. The Oilers' 18-27 finish in 2009 was their worst since 2001. Dennis Machado will become the 25th manager of the Peninsula Oilers.

- John Sickels of the Minor League Ball blog ranked Robbie Weinhardt (Fire, 2006) #13 on his Detroit Tigers Top 20 Prospects list, noting him as a "pitcher who could quickly help". Will we see Robbie in the bigs in 2010? I'm not sure, but I gave him a good grade in my 2009 AFL report card.

- On a blog-related note, our Facebook page broke 20 fans and we now have over 40 followers on Twitter. That is a small milestone, perhaps, but a milestone nonetheless. Among the people who have signed up are various ABL and baseball personalities, so this is your chance to be among an elite crowd. Won't you join us, also? It's a great way to make sure you're up-to-date on what's going on this site, and I try to get a little bit of a conversation going sometimes.

- Finally, here's a wrap of this past week's stories.  On Tuesday I ran the first part in our weekly series, the Top 20 ABL Players of All Time. The first part was the intro and players 20-16. On Wednesday we had a quick look at the 2010 ABL schedule; Thursday was a player profile on upcoming Buc Justin Hopper.

On Deck:

- Tomorrow will be a special treat for statheads. I've calculated Runs Created (RC) for some of the better hitters in the 2009 ABL season. I'll compare the hitters who won league award honors last year, plus a notable hitter from each team that did not make the list. Just a little exercise in statistical analysis.

- Monday will feature another player interview, this time with returning Bucs slugger Brian Bello. Bello was near the top of the list in practically every offensive category in 2009, and he answered a few questions on the upcoming season for me. So be sure to check that out.

- Tuesday's post will be the next in our countdown of the Top 20 All-Time List; this time it'll be numbers 15-11, plus a special shout-out to a real badass.

- Wednesday: A look at this year's exhibition games, and a little Alaska Baseball history.

- Coming up on Thursday we'll have the next player profile. This week it will be Jacob Stewart, a freshman OF for the 2010 Panners. Stewart is a very promising young prospect; I don't want to give away too much but let's just say that he's very highly touted. The only question is how I managed to completely overlook him when putting together my 2010 players to watch. Which brings me to my next point...

- At some time I will make an addendum to the Players to Watch list for players I missed. I realize that if I completely overlooked one player who will easily be one of the most exciting prospects in the league this year, I will probably miss a couple more. Of course this post won't come until I've got all the rosters in hand, have done Players to Watch on all of them, and have had time to recognize my goof-ups. When will that be, June? BUT! I would appreciate any feedback on these lists if possible. Go ahead and leave me a comment and say "Dude, how you can list Player X and not Player Y?" I'm not saying I will automatically add everyone suggested but I won't be offended in the least by your suggestions and I will definitely research them.

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Alright, then, that's it. Thanks, Alaska, you've been great. See you at the ball park this summer!