Reflections/Photo Post: Fire @ Miners, 7-14-2010

Tyler Ruch's walk-off sac fly put the Miners over
the Fire in the bottom of the 9th.

EDIT: I made some corrections to this. I got my middle infielders dyslexified and referred to Matt Wessinger as Bret Schwartz. My bad. I am now giving Wessinger the credit where credit is due, and Schwartz is still cool. Thanks to the reader who made the catch; and let this be a lesson to those who would blog at 1 a.m.

It was a month ago to the day that I first saw the AIA Fire take on the Mat-Su Miners for my first game of the ABL season. Well, as chance would have it -- and I totally did not plan it to be this way -- I found myself, again, at a Fire at Miners game on the 14th of the month, which was last night. I took some pictures and made a few notes, but  most of all I was trying to get some video footage for the series of scouting videos I plan to post up on YouTube over the off-season. But for now, I'll share some of my thoughts and photos from the game with you.

One guy I should have had the camera on was Matt Wessinger (Miners). He looked phenomenal at second base tonight. He made some very good plays with the glove, including a great charge and off-balance flip to first to beat Will Watson by the thinnest hair and save an infield single against his team. Very good soft-handed defense on his part.

I have to tip my hat to Fire pitcher Harrison Helms, if for nothing else, creativity. With Miners on first base, Helms was having a fun time making them get their uniforms dirty diving back under the tags as he tried to keep them close. His best pickoff move of the night, though, was probably the one where he hid the ball in his hat as he pretended to wipe the sweat from his brow before making the throw to the bag. I suppose I could have just missed it all these years but I have never seen that before.

2010 Players to Watch: Team-by-team updates.

Liam Baron, the "thunder from down under", is a
new player to watch for the Goldpanners.
Photo courtesy of Goldpanners.com

This past off-season, several ABL teams released their rosters relatively early. And of course, I was all over that, writing up "Players to Watch" lists as fast as I could get to them. There's one problem with that, though, and that's the volatile nature of summer ball rosters. Injuries, academic problems, transferring to schools with new coaches that have other ideas, and all sorts of other academic/athletic/personal issues can lead to a player bailing or being held back from coming up to AK. For the three early-bird teams that we covered, nearly half the players that I had listed on our watch lists will be doing something else this summer. (For the other tree teams, the previous lists still stand).

But fear not, ABL fans. Those players have been replaced by other players, many of whom are just as good or better. So tonight I'd like to take a moment and look at some of the "replacement" players to watch so that we can get a good crop of intriguing guys to keep an eye on before we get too deep into the season. Just like the main team lists, these aren't necessarily a "best of" ranking, but guys who stand out because of internet buzz, potential, statistics, personal background, whatever. And if someone is flying under my radar that you like, feel free to leave a comment and let me know!

Now, onto the list...

AIA Fire:

IF Kellen Bozeman
Delta State
Junior - 6'0" 195lb

Kellen Bozeman will be one of the top offensive threats for the Fire this season, and so far he hasn't disappointed. He's a tough out, he'll hit high for average, and he'll even swipe a few. Perfect Game ranked him as the top prospect on Delta State for 2009; he wasn't drafted this year but if I'm not mistaken he has another year of eligibility, and I'll eat my hat if he's overlooked again in 2011.

Fire ablaze with roster moves

With about two weeks to go until the season begins, the AIA Fire have made some moves to set up their roster. We're getting pretty close to the season, the spring semester is over and for most of the college baseball world, so is the spring season. We must be getting pretty close to having all the rosters down pat. So let's see what changes the Fire have made since they first announced their roster a while back.

Who's In:

The Fire have picked up three pitchers -- Matt Addis, Harrison Helms and Chris Turner -- plus an infielder (Kellen Bozeman) and an outfielder (Ryan Matthews).

Out of all the pitchers, the one I like the most is Harrison Helms, a 6'2" 200lb senior southpaw. He's been very successful at the NAIA level with MNU, where he was the team's top starter this year. In 2010 he led his team in games (14), wins (6), ERA (3.18) and IP (76.1). He isn't super consistent with his outings (who at this level is?) but when he's on his game he's been awesome this year. One plus that he brings to the Fire this season is that he's a lefty, Justin Denbow being the only other left handed pitcher on the roster at the moment.