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.

Fastest Guns in the ABL

Six of the quickest catchers of the 2010 ABL at a glance

As someone who's just kind of dabbling into the scouting world, one thing I really liked to take to the park with me this season was the stopwatch. A lot of other scouting info can only be gained only through experience and judgment, and while I think my talents in those areas are developing, there's nothing like empirical evidence. And one area in which I managed to gather data was catchers' moves from home to second base.

This can be accurately defined as a "glove to glove" time; that is, from the time the pitch hits the catcher's mitt until the ball hits the glove of whoever is covering the bag. Therefor it includes not only the strength of the catcher's arm but the quickness of his hands.

Below I've included all the catchers who've shown what I consider to be above average moves to second in 2010. And since we're prospecting here, I'm going to by MLB standards. Obviously this is significantly higher than college standards, so the handful of guys listed below are exceptional in this category. Sometimes a catcher will also make a "lazy" throw down to second, or maybe they juggle the ball a bit, so I've thrown out any obvious statistical outliers and averaged what was left.

But first, I'd like to make a few caveats. First off, these are all based on a small sample size so there may be a significant margin of error. Second, just because a guy didn't make this list below doesn't necessarily mean that his arm sucks. There could be plenty of other reasons why so-and-so didn't make the cut, up to and including the fact that I never got a time for some catchers in the league. so with that out of the way, here's the data:

Three transfers and a commit

Dickson, Newalu and Vawter-Scoggins move up from juco; Richter goes DI

Zach Vawter-Scoggins is headed to Valdosta
State for the 2011 NCAA season

 Fall semester is in full swing and the boys of college ball are already into full-on team practice and gearing up for fall scrimmages. As we try to catch up with who went where in the summertime college-ball shuffle, we've uncovered three more ABL players who will be transferring from junior college up to four-year ball, and one former prep star who will be moving into the college game.

2010 third-bagger and Glacier Pilots masher O'Koyea Dickson will be moving up from the College of San Mateo, will be a Seawolf in 2011. No, Alaska Anchorage isn't adding a baseball program; Dickson has transferred to Sonoma State of the Division II CCAA conference. Sonoma State is one of the more noteworthy DII baseball programs in the country, turning out three mid-draft picks and an indy-ball signee in 2010. Dickson was a mid-summer pickup for the Pilots in 2010 and brought a sweet power swing (scouting video) to the Anchorage club.

Another 3B, Blake Newalu of the 2008 Mat-Su Miners, is on the move. Newalu will be leaving Chipola CC behind for the University of Mississippi. "Ole Miss", of course, plays in the Division-I Southeastern Conference (SEC) and gave rise to first-round, #5 overall pick in the 2010 MLB amateur draft, Drew Pomeranz. The Rebels have also been awarded eight consecutive NCAA regional seeds, so Newalu will be in good company talent-wise and have a good opportunity to continue making a name for himself.

Scouting Video: O'Koyea Dickson

3B O'Koyea Dickson
2010 Anchorage Glacier Pilots
Height: 5'10" - Weight: 220lb
Bats: Right - Throws: Right
2010 Level: JuCo Sophomore
2010 School: College of San Mateo
2011 Transfer: Sonoma State
Draft Eligibility: 2011 (DII Junior)
Previous Draft: N/A
2010 Player Profile
Posts regarding O'Koyea Dickson

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.

2010 Player Profile: Jimmie Pharr

 #4 Jimmie Pharr
C/LF - Anchorage Glacier Pilots
Bats: Right - Throws: Right
Height: 5'11" - Weight: 185lb
School: Texas Christian
Year: Senior
Hometown: Flower Mound, Texas
All posts regarding Jimmie Pharr

Pharr was a late arrival to Alaska for the Pilots, since he was tied up with his TCU squad in a little thing called the College World Series. The Horned Frogs came within a breath of the championship game, dropping their final match-up before the championship round to UCLA.

Upon arrival with the Pilots, Pharr helped solidify some fielding positions that had kind of been in limbo up until that point. He provided a much-needed backup to Trent Garrison behind the plate and got regular playing time as a starter in left field. He also brought his bat. He didn't hit for a high average, but he did tie with O'Koyea Dickson for a team-best three homers.

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.

Photo Post: Goldpanners @ Glacier Pilots, 2010 Scout Showcase

CLICK HERE FOR FULL GALLERY
83 Photos

2010 Player Profile: O'Koyea Dickson

#31 O'Koyea Dickson
3B - 2010 Anchorage Glacier Pilots
Bats: R - Throws: R
Height: 5'10" - Weight: 220lb
School: College of San Mateo
Year: Sophomore
Hometown: San Francisco, California
All posts regarding O'Koyea Dickson

O'Koyea Dickson, the big, strong California masher out of the Bay Area, joined the Glacier Pilots half way through their 2010 campaign after a very successful year with the College of San Mateo. CSM has a reputable young community college baseball program which is quite adept at developing players for university and professional baseball, and I have no doubt that Dickson will soon join those ranks.  On the college season this past year, Dickson posted a -- no typo -- 1.155 (.455 + .700) OPS, .369 batting average, belted ten homers and drove in drove in 42 RBI's in 34 games (33 starts).

As a juco sophomore, Dickson has flown under the radar a little bit the last couple years as far as national media attention goes, but he should have no trouble transferring to a four-year school. He was also one of the most prolific players in the state in high school, leading California in a plethora of statistical categories, even cumulative ones, despite missing time for injury.

Reflections/Photo Post: Miners @ Pilots, 7/6/2010

Gene Escat: The Smaller Unit

Hello again, friends. I promised some scouting notes on last night's Miners at Pilots match-up, and here they are. I also said that I wouldn't take many photos...well, I took a few. I'm running a little behind though, so I'm going to forego the typical introduction and cut straight to the notes.

- Gene Escat (Pilots) reminds me of Randy Johnson in so many ways. It was like hopping into a time machine and going way way back. He doesn't throw sidearm like The Big Unit but geez. Tall, skinny, a little bit of a wild man (from his control to the mop of hair sticking out the back of his hat), all wrapped up in the same Glacier Pilots uniform. He's listed as 6'3" 175lb; but he looks taller than that, probably due to his lankiness. Maybe we should call him the Smaller Unit? Anyway, Escat threw a lot of pitches and looked like he had trouble finding the zone, and the Miners hammered him early on. After a bad first inning, though, he looked like he settled down a bit and looked pretty decent in innings 2-4. By that point, though, he was just out of gas and had to get the hook.

- Pablo Bermudez (Miners) showed us some of that power when he took Escat yard. There are several things that I noted watching Pablo. First of all, he drove that homer to the opposite field and sent it sailing over the right field wall. It's great to see a guy hit a ball the other way with authority. Second, he got way ahead in the count and jumped on a good pitch. Last year he played in the Valley League and his strikeout rate was atrocious. I don't remember what it was, and I don't care to look it up, because I would hardly believe it if I did. His rate in Alaska this season is far better; still not fabulous or anything but within an acceptable range. In any event, it seems like he may be working on his plate discipline and in this case it paid off. Third, I observed his stance and compared to the other guys around the league these days, and he's got some different swing mechanics. Other players (Matt Ozanne is a good example) take a batting stance with their legs spread wide, and when they load up they barely go up on their front toe before shifting forward. Bermudez starts with a narrow-legged stance and takes a big stride forward. There are various reasons why players would choose not to take this stance (it can jolt the batter's eyes off the pitch for one) but he makes it work for him and it seems intuitive that it might generate more power.

Scouting Video: Tim Maitland, OF, Glacier Pilots

Tim Maitland

OF - Anchorage Glacier Pilots

Bats: Left - Throws: Right

Height: 5'11" - Weight: 170lb

School: Texas

Year: Sophomore

Hometown: Colleyville, TX
More information on Tim Maitland

Tim Maitland, the Glacier Pilots' and Longhorn outfielder, is the subject of my first-ever scouting video. Maitland is a sophomore this year and will be eligible for the 2011 MLB draft. You can view our entire catalog of Tim Maitland info by clicking here. Please feel free to leave feedback on my video.

Pre-Game: Miners @ Pilots, 7/06/2010

Hey everyone! I'm headed into the Glacier Pilots game tonight. Here we are half way through the year and this is the first time I'll be seeing the Boys in Blue, so you can imagine that I'm pretty stoked. In light of that (and perhaps this will become a regular thing), I just wanted to make a pre-game post to share some of my thoughts with you.

For a little take on the game, the Pilots are hoping to turn their fortunes this season around with a solid home stand. But they'll have to stand up to the Miners, who have been in the thick of the three-way race for the top spot in the league all season long. This is a very significant game for both teams; if the Pilots want to make a run for the title or even a winning finish, tonight's doubleheader could make or break that. On the other hand, the Miners will have to take advantage of their games against a thus-far weaker team if they hope to keep pace with the Oilers and Goldpanners. Two wins tonight could be big for either team, but two losses could be even more devastating.

Tonight I'm going to show up, relax, and focus mainly on player-watching. I really wanted to get a good photo post out of it at first, and I was going to show up early and try to get in to take in warmups & BP. But, plans changed when I got a call this morning for a job interview in Wasilla at 5:15pm. I made a clutch decision and decided that a job was more important than a baseball game (obviously having an income and a decent job with a steady schedule will facilitate my blogging, despite the obvious decrease in free time, so it's worth sacrificing part of a game now to improve my abilities for the rest of the season). So, yeah, we're probably not going to have a photo post tonight/tomorrow, but look for some scouting notes then.

2010 Coach Profile: Pat Perry

#27 Pat Perry
Hitting Coach - Anchorage Glacier Pilots
Coaching Experience: University of Northern Colorado assistant coach, 2010
Playing Experience: Otero Junior College, 2002-03
University of Northern Colorado, 2004
MiLB, Red Sox organization, 2004-05
Ind. Minor Leagues, Can-Am/Frontier leagues, 2006-09
BaseballReference Profile

It was early in the season, during the Pilots' exhibition series with the Mat-Su Miners. I was still out of state during this time, so I was listening to the game on streaming audio. I heard the radio commentators mention that the Pilots' hitting coach -- a guy called Pat Perry -- was playing catcher for the team because both of their regular catchers had yet to arrive in Alaska. Of course, not being able to see what this assistant coach looked like, I had images of a portly middle-aged man hobbling to the plate. How funny is that? And then, he got a hit. Hillarious, right?

And then I did some research. And I realized that the guy was THE Pat Perry. And I found out that he was THE Pat Perry who won the 2004 NCAA DI Batting title. And I learned that he also won the DI All-American and Independent Player of the Year that year. And then I learned that he was the same Pat Perry who was taken by the Red Sox in the seventh round of the draft.

And then I introduced my foot to my mouth.

Reflections: Oilers @ Pilots, 6/10/2010

This is going to be a quick one today; I am packing up to get on the airplane and get to ALASKA! I've got the league schedule up and I'm planning out my first three games so I can see some matches in person and give you real reflections, plus some photos. But I just caught the first half of the audio of this game, so I only have half as many impressions to offer.

For this game, although my impressions were based on the audio, I had the opportunity to confirm my thoughts with some people who were actually there, including Joel London who hooked me up via Twitter: "[Pilots starter Joe] Sawicki was hitting his spots all night, but got hit hard in the 1st and got kinda wild in the 5th" and "[Oilers SP Kolby] Moore was all over the place Thurs but was helped by the Pilots inability to get timely hits. Had 1-hitter thru 4" This is basically the assessment I got out of it.


Joe Sawicki sounded like he was really working the corners and getting most of the calls all night -- despite the protest of some batters. This is the second time we've had a look at Sawicki and so far he seems really good. I think it took him through the first to get settled in, though, and by that time the Oilers' potent offense had seized the opportunity to do some damage. Ryan Gebhart really showed an aggressive streak for the Oilers, lining the first pitch off the game by Sawicki and then swiping second base. He did well in the leadoff spot tonight to get things going and he could be a real spark plug for the Oilers this year. He's got a lot of fans down in Oilerland and I have to say that I'm starting to come around on him.

Reflections: Pilots @ Miners, June 7 2010

Last night's preseason exhibition between the Anchorage Glacier Pilots and the Mat-Su Miners was a good one. I'm still in Oregon, so I had to catch the game audio online at the Glacier Pilots' website, and participated in the live chatroom available from the Miners. But the play-by-play was excellent and I'll share my thoughts with you from afar.

It was kind of a bad night for Ben Mount. He gave up three runs in the first two innings, and he's lucky to have escaped without more than that. He seemed like he was hit-or-miss on the night; it sounded like his breaking stuff was sharp but had trouble with his location. In any event, he racked up almost 60 pitches in the first two innings and the Pilots lifted him for local product Jesse McCartney.

After that it was solid pitching. And where the heck did McCartney come from? He's a local guy from the Anchorage adult league, listed as a fielder, but after Mount got smacked around he came in to pitch and totally tamed the Miners' bats. I don't know if he's for real or not, but A+ performance. On the other side, how about Miners left-hander Blake Dieterich out of the University of Georgia? To me, it didn't sound like he was treating it as a preseason warm-up; he was in it to win it. He pitched into the fifth when Bradley left-hander Joe Birch and then Florida State rightie Gage Smith came in to successfully close it out. Both looked very good.

Reflections: 2010 Bucs/Pilots DH opener

Hello baseball fans. As you may know, yesterday marked the first contests between the Bucs and Glacier Pilots of Anchorage at Mulcahy Stadium. It was a beautiful, sunny summer day in Anchorage...or so I hear. I was on the road traveling from Montana to Portland and my day was far less sunny. More like driving through the world's longest car wash. Of course, that meant that I couldn't take in the games, or get them on the radio. My next recourse was to have a good buddy who has expressed interest in potentially contributing to this blog live-blog the games for you, but I was too busy packing to get that set up for him in time.

But on a monumental occasion such as this, I can't let things pass me by without a few words on the matter. So after immersing myself in the recaps & box scores, here's my thoughts...

Just to set the record straight, this was a seven-inning home/away twin billing for the teams, for exhibition purposes. Despite the fact that they're both ABL teams, the results aren't part of the "league" standings. This is kind of a departure for the league which usually ships up a few traveling teams for its warm-up series. As stated in a recent ADN article on the matter, this is mostly due to financial reasons; it doesn't pay to import teams up to the great white north with the economy and traveling costs the way they are these days. With the exception of the Heroes of the Diamond military all-star squad, the ABL has turned to internal options, such as this match-up.

2010 Season Preview and semi-bold predictions!

It's the dawn of a new baseball
season in Alaska

It's finally here. In a mere two days the Pilots and Bucs will open the season with an exhibition doubleheader at Mulcahy Stadium, and after that the other teams will spring into action. Before the next weekend is out, every team will have started playing games that count in the league standings and the season will finally be in full swing.
Tonight I'd like to do something that will hopefully become an annual tradition at 49th State Hardball.We're going to summarize each team, including their performance in 2009, their opening and key games throughout the season, and how they look for 2010.


Season Preview:

AIA Fire
2009 Record: 16-26 (.381) league, 18-27 overall
2009 Finish: 6th Place - 10.5 GB
2010 Openers:  Sunday, June 13 at Oilers (road), Wednesday, June 23 vs. Goldpanners (home)
Notable games: July 4th two-way doubleheader w/ Oilers & Panners
2010 Prognosis: Will the Fire climb out of the basement this year? On the surface, they don't seem to be flush with eye-popping prospects, but they have a few players who could be real stand-outs, such as Helms and Bozeman. And I would definitely hesitate to count this team out any season; this is the club that set the standard for going from underdogs to completely destroying everything in their path in 2007. They might not look stacked on paper, but the rest of the league will have to watch their backs.

2010 Players to Watch: Anchorage Glacier Pilots

The Anchorage Glacer Pilots' roster has been out for a couple weeks now, and I've been chomping at the bit to dig into it and see who grabs my interest. With the draft looming large, we've been pumping out draft previews for each team, but I figured it's time to switch gears and stop neglecting the historic Anchorage team's squad.


The following is a list of players who I have designated "players to watch". Those eligible to be on this list are not necessarily the best players, but rather those who have a combination of talent, web buzz, good stats, or interesting background. There are also a few "peripheral vision" picks afterward, these are just a few guys who also caught my eye but, for one reason or another, I didn't have as much to say about. So here goes nothing...


RHP Chris Garrison
Oregon
Sophomore - 6'4" 180lb

There's a lot of stuff that I like about Garrison. For one, he played in the Northwoods League last season and did pretty good -- 2.03 ERA, .193 BAA -- and I always love to see guys from other summer leagues come up and see how they stack up. Second, he apparently sat out all of 2010, which introduces some variables. Will he be too rusty to be effective? Or will he be well rehearsed and ready to get back on the hill? Third, he was a draft pick of the Baltimore Orioles in 2008, so someone has already felt that he's had pro potential. There are lots of questions and lots of upside with this kid, so it'll be fun to see how he handles the great white north.

5/29/10 Odds & Ends

The Bucs' and Pilots' new infield is
open for business.
Photo courtesy of Anchoragebucs.com

We're getting really close now. Tomorrow will open the last full week before two big events: the start of baseball in Alaska, and the MLB draft. There are a lot of posts I want to have done before then and I'm blogging like a madman to keep up. I've gotta do two more draft eligible lists and the draft ranking ASAP, and I also want to do a season preview. It's gonna be a race to the finish, but once its over we can focus on the fun stuff...ABL baseball! But right now, let's wrap up the little tidbits of the past week...

- The Goldpanners have a couple articles, penned by none other than Don Dennis himself, up on their website. One is regarding the "first wave" of Panner players who will be coming up to open the team's season, and the other is about the old days of summer ball and a little history on the Panners and how the whole scene got started.