Pilots bring back five, announce new skipper

The Anchorage Glacier Pilots today unveiled the first batch of names to be stitched on the back of their jerseys for the 2010 campaign. Not that these guys will need them; all six of them -- five players and the team's new field boss -- should already have Pilots jerseys hanging in their closets.

Making his return to Anchorage after a five-year hiatus will be former assistant coach Yogi Cox, who will take over the helm left vacant by the move of Dennis Machado to his hometown Oilers. Cox has previously been an assistant for the Pilots on three separate occasions, most notably the league-champion 2002 club. In addition to his ABL experience, Yogi has coached at all levels including high school, collegiate, and professional baseball.

Cox will take command of a 2010 Pilots roster featuring several veterans of the 2009 NBC runner-up squad: Trevor Hairgrove, Bryan Harper, Alex Keudell, Ben Mount and Charlie Robertson.



Hairgrove, the Junior infielder for UC Riverside, was an everyday starter for the Pilots in 2009 despite putting up pretty mediocre numbers (.217, 11 RBI, 1 HR, and a team-high 18 errors). Seven games into the young Division 1 baseball season, though, Hairgrove is hitting at a much more encouraging clip: six hits, including two doubles, in 19 at-bats. Hairgrove did not make the trip to Wichita with the Pilots last season for the NBC tournament.

Bryan Harper's name may sound familiar to prospect-watchers because of the recent gushing over his little bro, uber-prospect Bryce Harper. The older of the Harper brothers, now a senior, threw sixteen innings in relief for the Pilots in 2009 plus 2/3 of an inning for the team in Wichita. Baseball Beginnings has a scouting video on #33, who they describe as "a lanky left-hander learning his way" with "some arm speed to work with and has yet to physically mature."

Rightie hurler Alex Keudell, the sophomore Oregon Duck, will be coming back to AK looking to improve upon last year's showing, in which he posted a 7.36 ERA in 7 league starts. Keudell will come back to the Alaska League a little more seasoned and looking to build upon the success he found at least year's NBC tourney, where he threw 5.2 scoreless innings on the way to the win in his sole tournament start.

Ben Mount, the USC right-hander who picked up the loss today against UCLA, was solid as a reliever & spot starter for the boys in blue last year. Mount was good for a 2.83 conference ERA and held opposing ABL batters to a .222 average. Mount also did not factor into the team's NBC run last year, but was definitely one of the more effective Glacier Pilots pitchers in 2009.

Sophomore Tyler Robertson closes out the second-year ABL group. The Fresno State reliever & infielder was a 29th round pick of the Texas Rangers in 2008. Robertson posted a 2.49 ERA in Alaska last season over 25 innings of relief. He also worked his way onto the offensive scoresheet as a pinch hitter, managing to score three runs after reaching base on one hit, one walk, and one taken for the team. Robertson was key to the Pilots NBC title run as he threw 8.2 innings of scoreless baseball.

That wraps up our look at the first few 2010 recruits that have been announced by the Pilots. There's no telling when more will come, but when when they're posted you can be sure that we'll have background info on all the players right here, so stay tuned baseball fans.