'96 Panner Young finally tasting October

Rangers' franchise player has waited a decade to see the post-season. 

Photo courtesy of Goldpanners.com

 

After completing his MVP season with the Goldpanners in 1996, Michael Young went pro. By 2000, he'd reached the major leagues; since 2001 he has been a permanent fixture with the Texas Rangers, and despite being shuffled around the field and seeing highly-touted stars come and go, he's been the constant in a sea of change.

Through it all, Young has put together a pretty impressive resume. Six consecutive all-star appearances. Career .302 batting average. A Gold Glove. Consideration, lukewarm as it may have been, for MVP on several occasions. An MLB-best .331 average in 2005. But there's been one thing missing:

A playoff appearance.

That will all change tomorrow, when the Texas Rangers take on the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS. The first pitch is slated for 1:35pm eastern.

During spring training, team President Nolan Ryan -- whose son played for the Anchorage Bucs -- predicted that the Rangers would win 92 games en route to the post season. They fell just short of that, with 90 W's on the standings board, but with second-place Oakland struggling to break even (81-81) on the year, those two wins didn't make a whole lot of difference. Now, with over 1500 playoff-less games to his credit (good, or should I say bad, enough for second among active players) Young will finally get his shot.

Souting Video: Zach Vincej

SS Zach Vincej
2010 Anchorage Bucs
Height: 5'11" - Weight: 165lb
Bats: Right - Throws: Right
2010 Level: DI Freshman
2010 School: Pepperdine
Draft Eligibility: 2012 (DI Junior)
Previous Draft: N/A
Posts regarding Zach Vincej

10/2/10 Odds & Ends

Alright, folks. There's some important stuff to talk about this weekend...but I'm hitting the road for Missoula, Montana today and I need to be on that highway like, right now. So let's get right to the nuts & bolts:

- The teams are right back at it, hitting it hard in preparation for the next season, and the Glacier Pilots are no exception. The team is holding a fund-raising extravaganza that involves a World Series watching party/Chili Cookoff/Raffle/pumpkin carving contest at the Bear & Raven theater in Anchorage. They need ticket buyers, ticket sellers, and world-class home-made chili to enter into the contest. Tickets are $50 and only 50 will be sold. If you want to get involved in any of the above-mentioned festivities, give 'em a buzz at (907) 274-3627.


- Over at Bus Leagues Baseball, a blog featuring commentary on all levels of non-MLB ball, they're doing their year-end awards, which I have been chosen as a panelist on. Well, former Anchorage Buc Paul Goldschmidt has tied for fifth in the voting for Minor League Player of the Year. Congrats Paul! And be sure to check out the Bus Leagues Baseball blog, one of my favorites.


- Remember the great Alaska Baseball League documentary, Touching the Game? Well the creators of the film have made a blog post to their website discussing the whereabouts of some of the players depicted in the movie. It's a short piece but well done and is a great look at what the future may hold for the stars of today's ABL.

9/18/10 Odds & Ends - Blogging on Blogs edition

Alright folks, I'm off to my usual late start, but my struggles with punctuality have been compounded this week by a crippling addiction to the computer game Hearts of Iron III and an obligation to channel every ounce of dad-ness in my bones as my wife attempts to get a handle on her grad school projects. Fortunately, I had a few little leftovers from the week that didn't get written about, including a few things about some blogs that are probably a million times cooler than this one:

- Jonathan Cisneros (Miners, 2009) has made the jump to pro ball after going undrafted this spring, spending some time in the independent United League. Cisneros was signed by Amarillo and spent a whopping eight games with the club before being traded to Laredo for a player to be named later despite hitting .406 with two homers. In 70 total games in the indy league, Cisneros posted a .375 batting average with 6 HR and 47 RBI. Congrats to Cisneros on inking the deal and posting some big numbers, and let's hope that he might  make the jump to affiliated ball.

- As a newbie prospects blogger, one guy I have come to greatly admire and even relate to is Mike Newman at the blog "Scouting the Sally", in which he scours the Single-A South Atlantic League for big-name prospects and sleepers alike. It occurred to me the other day to look through his backlog of posts for former ABL players, and I turned up a few. Mike's got reports on Matt Thompson (Oilers, 2007), Sean Ratliff (Bucs, 2007) and Joshua Satin (Miners, 2004). I wholeheartedly suggest giving those a read!

- Speaking of other blogs,  I have been invited to participate in the very awesome Bus Leagues Baseball year-end awards voting. I have received my ballot in the good ol' electronic mail and will be doing my duty to baseball to help pick the most awesome minor league players of the year for recognition. A cursory glance over the options shows that at least a couple former ABLers are up for some of the very coveted awards, but of course I will be as unbiased as possible and not let my man crush on all players to have ever come through the ABL taint my voting...at least not a whole lot anyway.

The end! Scouting video on Monday!

Trio of Anchorage players transferring

Bucs Schiller, Matulis on the move; Pilot Cederquist rumored to be leaving also.

Rumor has it that Clay Cederquist has taken off,
but where will he land?

The season is over, and for the student-athletes who have played in the sacred dirt of Alaska, the fall semester has arrived (whether they like it or not!). As always, several former ABLers have traded in one jersey for another in the college ball scene.

Making the jump from JuCo to NCAA Division I is a player who should be fresh in the minds of Bucs fans, 2010 recruit Cam Schiller. Schiller will be packing up his locker at Yavapai, because he's headed up to Oral Roberts to play ball next season. Schiller's season with the Bucs in 2010 was shortened, as the team sent him home as a precaution after a minor back injury, but in his .295 batting average led the team in the overall stats column (he hit .273 in league play, second behind Chris Serritella).

A guy who we haven't seen for a while, but should be no less memorable, is former Buc Chris Matulis. Matulis is vacating the Louisiana State pitching staff and is headed down to join the ballclub of Central Florida. Matulis, of course, was taken as a prep player in the 2008 MLB draft and struck out 33 in 33 IP overall for the 2009 Bucs.

9/11/2010 Odds & Ends - Housekeeping Edition

"Spaceman" notches another pro win; Gorgen heads to D-Backs.

The oldest pitcher to win a pro game.
Photo courtesy of Goldpanners.com

Hey folks, we've got some actual news this week. And I'm backing that up with some info on where this blog is headed. Basically, it's time for some "fall cleaning" around here and I want your input, so see below!

- So oldschool Goldpanner Bill "Spaceman" Lee won his outing for the indy Brockton Rox this past week and has apparently become, at 63 years of age, the oldest player to win a professional baseball game. It took him only -- wait for it -- 63 pitches in 5 1/3 innings to pick up the victory, and he did not walk a man. Here's one little article on the event.

- In some pro prospect news, former Anchorage Bucs reliever Matt Gorgen has been sent packing to the Arizona Diamondbacks organization. He was a "player to be named later" in the Chad Qualls trade, and was leading the class-A Southern League in saves this year with 22. Matt was previously with Tampa Bay.

- Considering that it's the off-season and things have slowed down a bit, and we've got some time to figure things out before the next season, I'd like to open up the floor to any suggestions or comments about how to improve 49thStateHardball.com. Tell me what you like, tell me what you don't like. Tell me something you'd like to see that I don't do. Tell me something that I do do, that you don't want to see. It can be about the content of the site, the layout, a specific type of article, whatever. One specific idea I've been toying with since, well, the beginning of this site has been moving from a classic blog format to something more like a news-style website as far as the layout and organization is concerned, so any comments in that department would be much appreciated!

ABL to AFL: First look at 2010

A look at the former ABLers on the initial rosters for the Arizona Fall League

Chris Kissock will state his case in the AFL
this off-season.
Photo courtesy of Goldpanners.com

One of the coolest things, if you're a prospect watcher, once the pro season ends is winter baseball. Particularly the Arizona Fall League, which has become the most notable prospect winter league. For those of you unfamiliar, the AFL runs six teams (plus, this year will feature appearances from Team USA and Team China) to which each MLB team can designate a handful of their minor league players.

What makes the AFL interesting is that the players are usually those poised to make some sort of a move. On the one hand, you've got guys who are considered some of the top prospects in a system and are sent to polish up their games before making the final push toward the majors. On the other, you have a lot of guys who might have struggled in their pro careers and are getting some extra work to figure out their issues and hopefully avoid getting the cut. In a nutshell, there are plenty of compelling stories to follow in the fall.

Of course, anywhere you find an assortment of professional baseball players, you're bound to find a few guys who have logged time in Alaska, and the Arizona Fall League is never an exception. The AFL teams have released their initial rosters, and I've caught wind of some ABL alumni who are going to Arizona to represent their organizations. Last year I followed all the former ABLers in the league with a little blurb on each and concluding with a "report card"; I imagine I'll do at least as much this year. But first, let's just have a look at who made the initial rosters (which are, of course, subject to change).

2008 Buc Goldschmidt named Cal League MVP

D-Backs prospect and former ABLer muscles his way to honors.

In his first full year of professional baseball, former Anchorage Bucs slugger Paul Goldschmidt (2008) has been named the California League's Most Valuable Player for 2010.

Goldschmidt, who has manned first base for the Class A+ Visalia Rawhide, has been very productive in the minors this season. So far on the year (130 games) he's driven in 97 RBI's and knocked 33 homers. That number is good enough to tie him for first place in all of the minor leagues for homers, sharing the #1 slugger spot with Jerry Sands of the AA Chattanooga Lookouts. Goldschmidt is also hitting at a very respectable .305 average and .967 OPS.

As a first-year full-season player, Goldschmidt has also taken home the Cal League's Rookie of the Year award. Consideration of this award does not include his 2009 campaign, in which he served a short-season tour of duty with the rookie-level Pioneer League's Missoula Osprey. At that level, he batted to a tune of .334 with an OPS of 1.045.

In Alaska in 2008, Goldschmidt was one of the Bucs' best hitters. In league play, the right-hander posted a .310 AVG and led the team in homers (3), RBI (20), doubles (13), and hits (45). According to a close acquaintance of his host family, Goldschmidt still keeps in touch with his summer parents and has a reputation as an all-around good guy.

Anchorage Bucs searching for 2011 skipper

TJ Bruce's ABL career may end after one season.

Photo courtesy of AnchorageBucs.com

The Anchorage Bucs have posted a job listing on their website for a new head coach for the 2011 season.

This would appear to signal that 2010 manager TJ Bruce will not be returning to the ABL -- or at least not as field manager with the Bucs -- for the 2011 season. In Bruce's first season in the league, he led the younger Anchorage squad to a 17-27 league finish (.386, 23-33-1 overall). The team ranked fifth in batting average (.238) and fourth in ERA (3.49).

Despite the team's struggles this year, Bruce has moved up the ladder in the coaching world, moving from the volunteer assistant position at Long Beach State to a full-on assistant coaching job at UCLA. According to the UCLA press release, "Bruce will serve as the infield coach, assist recruiting efforts and work with the hitters with assistant coach Rick Vanderhook."

The Bucs have now gone back to the drawing board, looking for an experienced coach to lead the team on their 2011 campaign and assist in the recruiting process. The job requires previous experience coaching at the collegiate or professional level. Coaches will be furnished with a vehicle and apartment during their stay in Anchorage, as well as plane fare to and from the state. The full job ad is available on the Anchorage Bucs website.

Scouting Report: Coley Crank

C/LF/DH Coley Crank
Height: 6'0" - Weight: 220lb
Level: DI Sophomore
School: Michigan
Draft Eligibility: 2011 (DI Jr.)
Previous Draft: 2008, rd. 47, Oakland
Scouting Video
Posts regarding Coley Crank

Scouted:
June 17, 2010 - Heroes of the Diamond at Bucs (live)
July 17, 2010 - Oilers at Bucs (live)
August 1, 2010 - Pilots at Bucs (live and video)

Description: Coley Crank has a big, stocky, football-player build. Thick and muscular from head to toe. Crank's load and swing goes through three distinct points. He starts in a wider, balanced stance. Loading up, he takes a step back into a narrow, upright stance, and then strides back into the wide set-up as he unleashes his swing.

Strengths: Power is Crank's number one asset. He has a lot of pop in his bat. He has great raw physical strength in that stocky body, and his swing looks mechanically sound. Despite his striding swing, he's able to keep his head on the ball -- even on the low-and-away pitches -- so he can utilize that momentum to generate power. He puts good wood on the ball with a nice level swing. Shows good patience at the plate for a slugger; he's definitely willing to take some pitches and work the count. Not afraid to take a walk. In the outfield, Crank has displayed some flashy defense. He's willing and able to grind out a big play when necessary.

Scouting Video: Coley Crank

C/LF/DH Coley Crank
2009-10 Anchorage Bucs
Height: 6'0" - Weight: 220lb
Level: DI Sophomore
School: Michigan
Draft Eligibility: 2011 (DI Jr.)
Prev. Draft: 2008, Oakland, Rd. 47 (HS)
Posts regarding Coley Crank
Scouting Report

Glacier Pilots win 2010 Mayor's Cup

Pilots take pair of close games to retain the trophy

The stadium lights at Mulcahy warming up on Sunday night
could only mean one thing. The end of the season is near.

The Anchorage Glacier Pilots edged out cross-town rival Bucs in a pair of games to seal their victory for the 2010 Mayor's Cup tournament. Last night's 2-0 victory and the 6-5 nail-biter the previous evening were enough to clinch the hardware in the two-out-of-three event.

The two teams have been bitter rivals since the Anchorage Bucs -- then known as the Cook Inlet Bucs -- formed in 1980 to challenge the Pilots' dominance of the Anchorage baseball scene. While the teams once took out their anger at each other with stunts like stealing the stadium PA before the next team's home game, today they keep things a little more civil and leave it on the field in the annual exhibition tournament.

2010 marks the fifth year running that the Pilots have taken the cup. The two teams will square off tonight for one farewell match; the Pilots going for the sweep and the Bucs attempting to end their season on a high note in the last game of ABL ball played on Alaskan soil for the year.

7/30/2010 Odds & Ends: The Final Countdown edition

Here it is. The last stand. The league title will be determined tomorrow...and then? The off-season. UGH! But, don't worry. 49thStateHardball.com will be with you all winter long to give you your ABL fix. In the mean time, here's some quick shots from the past week:

- In case you missed it, I was the special guest on this week's Valley Sports Huddle on AM 1430, live from Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer. So this was my first radio appearance and it went pretty good I think, other than a couple hitches. Such as when I said "uhhhh" for about 20 seconds while trying to think of a certain pitcher's name (LIAM BARON! I remembered it as soon as I was driving home). But I had a blast talking ABL with host Jeremiah Bartz and I'm always glad to do something to get the good word out there. Big thanks to Jeremiah and the Hometown Radio folks for having me on the air.

- For those of you who are wondering how the NBC tournament will fall out, as far as Alaska is concerned anyway, the bracket is set. The Miners have gone on record saying that they will not go to Wichita, which means the Oilers and Panners are our teams regardless of how the 1-2-3 standings turn out in the league. Miners GM Pete Christopher told me today that the Oilers are already on their way to Kansas. The Panners have to finish out tomorrow with the Miners to see who gets the league title, but it's inconsequential for the tournament as the doubleheader split tonight earned the Goldpanners the #1 Alaska seed spot. So who's playing who when? The Oilers will take on the League City Hornets on Tuesday, Aug 3rd and the Goldpanners will follow up against the Hutchinson Monarchs on the 4th. The complete bracket (in PDF version) is available here.

2010 Player Profile: Zach Vincej

Zach Vincej, the scurviest Buc to ever sail the high
seas of Cook Inlet.  Photo courtesy of Rachel Leask
& the Anchorage Bucs.

#7 Zach Vincej
SS - Anchorage Bucs
Height: 5'11" - Weight: 165lb
Bats: Right - Throws: Right
School: Pepperdine
Year: Freshman
Hometown: Saugus, California
More articles regarding Zach Vincej

Zach Vincej is only a freshman at Pepperdine, but he's already a veteran of the Anchorage Bucs. The shortstop came up with the Bucs in 2009 straight out of Saugus High in California, where he was one of the most highly-touted players in the state until the Waves won the battle for him. The member of the Youth World Championship gold-medal team fielded recruitment calls from several big-name baseball programs. After his rookie campaign with the Bucs, he made his debut at Pepperdine and nailed down all-freshman honors in the WCC as well as all-conference honorable mention.

Having already garnered such acclaim, as well as the illustrious 49th State Hardball Player to Watch status, it's easy to forget that Vincej has yet to begin his sophomore year of college. But as a Division I player, he won't be draft eligible until 2012. In a way, that's good for him; he'll have another two full years of college ball (and dare I say, another season as a Buc?) before he goes on the market. That being said, he's already shown some skill on the diamond that pro teams would love to have.

Photo Post: Oilers @ Bucs, 2010 Showcase

CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE GALLERY 

41 Photos 

7/10/2010 Odds & Ends - the Brett and Bret edition

Brett Atwood is Back in Black (and gold)
Photo courtesy of AnchorageBucs.com

Well, it's Saturday, and as happens on (nearly) every Saturday, I'm writing an Odds & Ends post. This week I actually have some interesting stuff to write about. You see, I started taking notes for the O&E throughout the week so I didn't forget all the interesting stuff, and go figure, now I don't have to scratch around for boring junk to fill a page with. How awesome is that?

- Great news: Brett Atwood is in Alaska. He was originally scratched from the Anchorage Bucs' opening day roster, and I had crossed him off the Players to Watch list. Well, he's finally made the trip up and been added to the team. Great to see, because he's a very exciting player and a second-year Buc. Accordingly, I've un-crossed him from the Players to Watch list, and while I was at it I fixed some table wonkiness that I hadn't noticed until that point.

- On the other side of the Bucs transaction coin, their roster has been updated, and just look at how many people are on the DL. We talked about Brian Bello last week; he's one of the DL-listed players so I guess that's a pretty good indication that he went home with an injury. Bummer! Maybe we'll see him next year.

2010 Player Profile: Ryan Pineda

Ryan Pineda
IF - 2010 Anchorage Bucs
Bats: Right - Throws: Right
Height: 6'0" - Weight: 180lb
School: Cal State Northridge
Year: Junior
Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada
More articles on Ryan Pineda

Ryan Pineda is a very promising prospect out of Cal State Northridge who has signed on with the Anchorage Bucs this season. The business major, who calls Las Vegas his home, lit up the Big West conference for the Matadors this year, hitting .316, batting in 66 RBI, and stealing 24 bases. For his efforts, Pineda was picked first-team all-conference this year and was the first Matador to have the honor bestowed up on them since 2005.

If Pineda has professional ambitions, he could be very close to achieving them. In fact, perhaps some of the best odds of all out of any ABL player this year, considering he is just a name on the dotted line away from being property of the Oakland Athletics organization. Pineda was drafted in the 28th round of this year's draft by the A's. But don't worry, Bucs fans. He has all summer to sign and if he opts not to, will be eligible for next year's draft also.

07/03/2010 Odds & Ends

Brian Bello is, sadly, done for
the year.
Photo: AnchorageBucs.com

I've got a few interesting tidbits for you guys on this soggy Saturday. Cutting right to the chase, here they are:

- An update on one of my favorite Bucs players: Brian Bello has apparently packed it in for the year. He really struggled this season, hitting .083, but from what I've seen of Bello I doubt that's the reason he's headed home early. He really seemed to be, in many ways, the heart of the Bucs' clubhouse and I don't think he's the kind of guy who has "quit" in him. It's most likely a personal reason and we'll leave it at that. Whatever the case, it's a bummer to see him go, and here's wishing Brian the best in wherever the road may take him from here.

- Oilers fans should check out the latest Clarion Call, "Oilers face Interior challenge", which goes on to describe the challenges that the Oilers will face on their Fairbanks road trip if they plan to keep up their run at the ABL title this year. Of course, they got off on the wrong foot, getting spanked by a suddenly fearsome-looking AIA Fire squad, and the Bucs are looking like they might climb out of the basement as well. Early on it looked like the Miners and Oilers were going to run away from the rest of the league, but it's shaping up to be more or less as I predicted (except for the Pilots, who still haven't found a groove): a tight race.

- I took my four-year-old daughter/assistant to the Miners game on Thursday and it came off pretty good. She had way too much energy and I had to keep telling her to keep her fingers out of the fence, but she enjoyed herself. Here's my tip for parents of little kids who can't sit still for a ball game (read: every little kid, ever): get a bag of peanuts. My daughter and another little boy we sat near were entertained for about six consecutive innings shelling the peanuts. They didn't even eat them, they gave most of them to me, which kept my hands free for writing/stopwatching. Good work to the kiddos! But really, the ABL games are all really kid-friendly, in different ways, and once they get a little bit older I think there's plenty of promotions and other fun stuff for them to do around the park.

Reflections: Bucs @ Miners, 7/1/2010

The Bucs' Eddie Rohan has a strong upper body
and a compact, crouched batting stance.

After a long break from the park, I finally got down to Hermon Brothers to see the Bucs take on the Miners tonight. I didn't get any photos; my main focus tonight was to flesh out some of my scouting reports, which I accomplished, and to keep my assistant/four-year-old from throwing rocks on the field or knocking her head on the ground, which I had more mixed success with. In any event, I feel like I got a good look at some guys I hadn't seen before, and some more bits to flesh out the reports on some that I have.

First, a preliminary note. Miner Quinn Pippin was a late scratch from this game; word is that he rolled his ankle in batting practice and took the game off as a precaution. Apparently it's not a big deal, though, and he should be good to go tomorrow (thanks to Troy for the tip).

Now, on to the players. Casey Hauptman took the hill for the Bucs. He's one of the more well-known players on the club, the big right-hander out of Nebraska. He came into the first inning and established himself immediately. It looked like he was throwing a good, hard fastball mixed in with a change and a curveball with late break. (Edit: I should also note that he displayed good defensive reaction, knocking down a comebacker with his bare hand, although in hindsight that might not have been the smartest thing to do.) He seemed like he cruised through the first four innings, but in the fifth inning things changed for him. It looked like he was out of gas and I could see a noticeable drop in velocity. I don't have access to a radar gun, or box seats to sit behind the people who do, so I have no empirical evidence to support this, but it just didn't look like he had a good crisp fastball after the fourth and that he was relying more on his other pitches to get outs. Still, he went strong through three more innings, pitching 7.0 and giving up 3 R (2 ER).

6/26/2010 Odds & Ends

Jason Castro: now a major leaguer

It's Saturday, time again for another Odds & Ends post. In keeping with the tradition of not writing a whole ton on Saturdays during the season, this will be another short one. It just seems that the real news is the games and that's what I spend the rest of the week covering. That being said, there are a few notable events in ABL-land that have occurred away from the ballparks: 

- Tuesday was the Major League Baseball debut of a former ABL player and the guy who I ranked the #1 Top Pro Prospect among ABL alumni this season, Jason Castro (Bucs, 2006), catcher for the Houston Astros. He really showed off his powerful arm in his debut, throwing out two runners. I've said it before, but with the kind of abilities that Jason has combined with the fact that catcher is a pretty shallow position in MLB right now, Castro has the potential to be a very big star. Congratulations to Jason! You can read the full story and see his first at-bat here.

- Some photos from the Midnight Sun Game have been going around the series of tubes we know as the internet. One really cool photo was posted on, of all places, TampaBay.com of the St. Petersburg Times. Check this out, third photo down. It's pretty cool that somewhere as far away as Florida would sit up and take note of this event. Now, on the other hand, if you're not satisfied with a single artsy photo, the Fairbanks News-Miner has a whole slideshow of pics.