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.

2010 Player Profile: Martin Medina

#22 Martin Medina
3B - Goldpanners
Height: 5'10" - Weight: 200lb
Bats: Right - Throws: Right
School: CS Bakersfield
Year: Sophomore
Hometown: Ventura, California
All posts regarding Martin Medina

Martin Medina is another one of those Goldpanners who is familiar with the friendly confines of Growden Park. A second-year Panner, Medina returned in 2010 a year older, a year wiser, and a year better with the stick, and has thus far put up a season worthy of first-team All-ABL honors.

Medina was firmly established as an every-day player in the Division I ranks a year ago as a freshman, when he started all 50 games for Cal State Bakersfield -- making him the only player to do so. He followed up in the 2010 collegiate season with a .311 average and team-best 51 RBI. He's also been utilized both ways, proving his versatility by putting up 11 decent innings pitched for the Roadrunners.

2010 Player Profile: Stephen Piscotty

#25 Stephen Piscotty
UTIL - Peninsula Oilers
Height: 6'3" - Weight: 190lb
Bats: Right - Throws: Right
School: Stanford
Year: Freshman
Hometown: Pleasanton, California
More articles regarding Stephen Piscotty

Hailing from the most pleasant town in California (Pleasanton) comes Stephen Piscotty, the big right-handed play-anywhere (including pitcher) guy who has been turning heads all summer in the ABL. Believe it or not, I was actually going to write this profile before he took home league honors for Best Prospect and Silver Slugger in 2010, and that only fuels my desire to get as many words written down about this dude as possible, because it's obvious that he's going places.

Piscotty is a strong pro draft candidate, having been previously selected out of high school in the 45th round by the Dodgers. However, he committed to Stanford and went to school this last season to play for their ball club (making him next draft-eligible in 2012). Down in Palo Alto he paced the DI team with 17 doubles, hit .326 and put up a .454 SLG%. Since coming up with the Oilers he's proven to be one of the team's most consistent hitters, batting out of the meat of the order, and has definitely earned the aforementioned acclaim (and did I mention, 49th State Hardball Player to Watch status?).

2010 Player Profile: Scott Sitz

#13 Scott Sitz
RHP - Mat-Su Miners
Bats: Right - Throws: Right
Height: 5'9" - Weight: 215lb
School: Florida State
Year: Freshman
Hometown: Jacksonville Beach, Florida
All articles regarding Scott Sitz

The Mat-Su Miners, and the Alaska League in general, has had great success bringing up Florida kids this year, the least of which is valley hurler Scott Sitz straight out of Jax Beach. Sitz did his freshman season at Florida State this year, splitting his time between the starting rotation and the relief corps (six starts in 17 appearances). Sitz held opposing batters to a .207 average in Division I play for the Seminoles before coming up to Alaska.

Since heading north for the Miners, Sitz has been even more stellar. The rightie has posted a 2.74 ERA and has been even stingier with his BAA, dropping it down to .160. The highlight of his season was quite possibly the complete game no-hitter he threw -- one measly walk away from a perfect game, no less -- at the Scout's Showcase in Anchorage against the Fire. That was definitely one of my most memorable experiences at a baseball game, that's for sure.

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.

2010 Player Profile: Matt Addis

#17 Matt Addis
RHP - AIA Fire
Height: 6'2" - Weight: 185lb
Bats: Right - Throws: Right
School: Sinclair CC
Year: Freshman
Hometown: Fairborn, Ohio
More articles on Matt Addis

Representing the great state of Ohio in the ABL this year is rightie Matt Addis. Addis -- whose father, Greg, is a college baseball veteran out of Wright State -- is somewhat of a "local product" for the Athletes in Action organization. AIA fields teams in numerous other summer leagues around the country, but is headquartered in Xenia, OH. As a pitcher for Sinclair, Addis shared a home field with AIA's Xenia Scouts of the Great Lakes league. It was only natural, then, that the Fire would catch wind of this talented but largely unknown pitcher and snatch him up.

For Sinclair last year, Addis put up a great freshman season. In 18 innings of work he struck out 31 and walked just 8. He surrendered 4 earned runs for a 2.00 ERA. Jumping up from a freshman in JUCO ball to playing with the big-school kids in the ABL has been a challenge for Addis, and he's hit some bumps in the road, but he's also shown what I believe is solid potential. 

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.

2010 Player Profile: Derrick Chung

#6 Derrick Chung
IF - 2010 Goldpanners of Fairbanks
Bats: R - Throws: R
Height: 5'11" - Weight: 185lb
School: Sacramento State
Year: Junior
Hometown: Cypress, California
All posts regarding Derrick Chung

Derrick Chung's face is one that should be familiar to PannerFans. In 2009, Chung paced the Goldpanners in batting average (.355) and has returned in 2010 to establish himself as a franchise player for the Fairbanks club...or as close to a franchise player as one can be in summer ball, anyway.

Chung hails from Cypress, California and is a business management major at Sacramento State. After starting 51 games for the Hornets at shortstop, Chung missed all but sixteen games (all starts) for the team this year. Before coming up with the Goldpanners last year, he played his freshman season with the Humbolt Crabs of the up-and-coming West Coast League, so he's never had a summer off from baseball.

When I first saw Chung in person, he looked like a little guy to me, but he's not as small as he looks. At 5'11" 185lb, I'd say he's pretty average as far as baseball players go, but the Goldpanners have a pretty big team this year, making an average guy look smaller than he is. The other thing is that he has a pretty athletic build. 185 is a pretty solid mass for a guy under 6', especially in a league like this where there are a lot of players who have "projectable" frames.When you're looking at a league of beanpoles, the guy with the solid athletic build in good baseball proportions stands out.

2010 Player Profile: Ryan Gebhart

Ryan Gebhart
OF - Peninsula Oilers
Bats: S - Throws: R
Height: 6'0" - Weight: 175lb
School: U. Missouri
Year: Sophomore
Hometown: Waco, Texas
All posts regarding Ryan Gebhart

When you think of the top prospects for the 2010 Peninsula Oilers, who comes to mind? I can think of one guy, who shall not be named, that probably comes first on a lot of peoples' lists. But if Ryan Gebhart isn't near the top of your ranking, I think you need to go back and have another look. This is a guy that we could be seeing a lot of in the future, starting with the 2011 MLB draft.

Ryan is an old ABL hand, up for his second year after a successful campaign with the AIA Fire in 2009. One reader commented that Gebhart looked like "a young big leaguer" during the year of '09. At the conclusion of the ABL regular season, Gebhart was adopted by the NBC runner-up Glacier Pilots for the amateur World Series tournament (stats), where he came up big and helped propel the Pilots to the championship game. This past season for Mizzou he was limited to 20 games (all starts). He put up very good numbers in those games, though, and managed to walk 20 times (though he struck out 28).

2010 Player Profile: Pablo Bermudez

Pablo Bermudez
CF - Mat-Su Miners
Bats: Right - Throws: Right
Height: 5'11" - Weight: 190lb
School: Florida International
Year: Sophomore
Hometown: Miami Shores, Florida
All posts regarding Bermudez

I've been writing plenty about the Miners, that's for sure. But did you know that they're the only team I haven't written a player profile for (until now)? And if I'm going to rectify that situation right here and now, and I have to pick one guy to be my first Miner profile of 2010, who better to choose for a subject than the one guy who gets every Miners fan hooting and hollering every time he comes to the plate? The big fan favorite this year is Pablo Bermudez, and here's his profile.

Bermudez was Florida International's starting center fielder this past season and appeared in all of their games. For his effort he was awarded second-team all conference honors. Last summer he played in the Valley League, and I exchanged e-mails with John Leonard of the fine blog All Things Valley League for his take on Pablo. John pointed out that one of the more unfortunate parts of Pablo's legacy out there is his free-swinging plate approach which led to 58 strikeouts in 170 at-bats. However, people who saw him play in the Valley last year should note that he has tightened up his pitch selection and is reaping the benefits, striking out only 15 times in 86 at-bats, which is actually really good. As a result, he's getting some good pitches to hit, putting up a .372 average and a .973 OPS (.426 + .547). His walk-to-strikeout ratio is 7/15 which is pretty decent as well.

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.

2010 Player Profile: Aaron Parnell

Aaron Parnell
3B - AIA Fire
Bats: Right - Throws: Right
Height: 5'10" - Weight: 180lb
College: UNC Pembroke
Year: Sophomore
Hometown: Benson, North Carolina

After a slow start to open the season, the Fire have been clawing their way out of the basement as of late, and one of the biggest players in their recent effort has been infielder Aaron Parnell.

Parnell hails from way back east, in North Carolina, and is attending college close to home at UNC Pembroke. The sophomore has a year of junior college ball under his belt, having played down at Florence-Darlington Tech in the other Carolina. With Division II Pembroke last year, the sports management major was one of their best batters -- hitting .343, driving in 42 runs, and posting an OPS of 1.024 (.607 + .417).

I saw Parnell in the first ABL game I attended this season, and his best tool that I could note is his speed (and that's my favorite one, because it's a common tool to many skills both offensive and defensive). Parnell has above-average speed; actually, he is probably one of the fastest players I've yet to note in the Alaska League this season. He's stolen six of seven bases so far this season, so he's definitely a threat to run, and the Fire have been batting him at the top of the order for the bulk of their campaign to date. His bat hasn't been so impressive overall this year, but lately it's been coming around, as he's picked up some good hits and been a part of the Fire's better fortunes of late.

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.

Alaska Grown: Colin Zimmerman

Colin Zimmerman
UTIL - 2010 Anchorage Bucs
Bats: Left - Throws: Right
Height: 5'9" - Weight: 165lb
College: Hawaii Hilo
Year: Junior
High School: West High (Anchorage)

Straight outta Anchorage comes Colin Zimmerman, utility man for the DII Hawaii Hilo Vulcans. The Z-Man has been recruited to play for his hometown Anchorage Bucs in 2010.

Zimmerman was a standout athlete for the Eagles of Anchorage's West High. As a prep hardball player, Zimmerman was chosen All-District and made the Legion All-Star team twice each. He also participated in the school's track and football squads.

2010 Player Profile: Garrett Wittels

Garrett Wittels
3B/RHP - Peninsula Oilers
Bats: R - Throws: R
Height: 6'1" - Weight: 195 lb
College: Florida International
Year: Sophomore
Hometown: Bay Harbor Island, Florida

Garret Wittles is a two-way player, manning the third bag as well as the mound for Florida International. He hasn't seen a lot of inning son the mound for FIU this year, though, because he's had something else going on: one of the longest hitting streaks in NCAA Division 1 history. That, along with his great stats -- team-best .408 average, a OPS of .982, and a handful of steals to boot -- caught ESPN's attention on their First Take program. At the time of writting, Wittels is in third place all-time in DI ball with 45 consecutive games.

This is obviously a monumental feat, but Wittels' 45 game streak is of interest to Alaska League fans for another reason: he's just two shy of taking sole control of second place away from another ABL alumni. Phil Stephenson (Panners, 1980-81) set what was, at the time, the longest hitting streak in DI history in 1981 with 47 games. His record stood until 1987 when Robin Ventura hit 58.

2010 Player Profile: Kevin Lusson, Glacier Pilots

Kevin Lusson, leading off first for the Horns
Photo Credit: Chris Kosho

Kevin Lusson
3B/OF - Anchorage Glacier Pilots
Bats: S - Throws: R
Height: 6'1" - Weight: 205lb
College: University of Texas
Year: Sophomore
Hometown: Austin, Texas

Straight outta that other state that is supposed to be big comes a new Glacier Pilots recruit for 2010: 3B/OF Kevin Lusson. He's in the midst of his sophomore season with the D1 Texas Longhorns who, in case you haven't heard, are kind of a big deal in college baseball.

Lusson has come on strong as of late, but his stats have been hampered by a slow start and, according to College Splits, a tough schedule and a pitcher-friendly park. At time of writing, Lusson's line reads .260 29RBI 8HR and an OPS of .884, but adjusted for park & schedule it's more like .298/33/9/.987.Those are the kind of numbers that the Pilots are hoping he puts up for them this year in Anchorage.

Where is he now? 2006 Glacier Pilot Casey Weathers

Casey Weathers
CP - Anchorage Glacier Pilots, 2006
Bats: Right - Throws: Right
Height: 6'1" - Weight: 205lb
College: Sacramento City, Vanderbilt
Drafted: 2006, 24th Rd, Detroit...2007, 1st Rd, Colorado

Casey Weathers might have never thrown off a mound. He could have stuck out his time in college ball in the outfield and gone on to be an accountant or a car salesman or something perfectly respectable like that. That is, if fate had not interveined in the form of a bet against a teammate over who could throw harder. When Weathers hit the mid-90's on the radar gun it was pretty obvious that he was meant to be a pitcher.

2010 Player Profile: Tony Cingrani, Goldpanners

Tony Cingrani
SP - Alaska Goldpanners
Bats: Left - Throws: Left
Height: 6'4" - Weight: 200lb
College: Rice
Year: Junior
Hometown: New Lenox, IL

In case you haven't had enough of a look at Rice's pitching staff after our recent preview of Bucs recruit Tyler Spurlin, we've got another player to get a glimpse at today: potential Panner Tony Cingrani.

Cingrani, now a Junior, is a transfer to rice from junior college South Suburban. It was there, where he played in 2008 and 209, that he established himself as a strikeout pitcher, breaking the school's single-season and career records for strikeouts (104 and 195 respectively). His juco experience has served him well as he enters his first Division 1 season with the opportunity to become the ace of the Rice staff.

2010 Player Profile: Tyler Spurlin, Bucs

Tyler Spurlin
P/IF - Anchorage Bucs
Bats: Right - Throws: Right
Height: 6'3" - Weight: 185lb
College: Rice
Year: Freshman
Hometown: The Woodlands, Texas

The Anchorage Bucs face a challenging decision when it comes to prep star and Rice freshman Tyler Spurlin. Every morning when Bucs skipper TJ Bruce gets out of bed he's going to have to ask himself, "Which do I need more today, his arm or his bat?"

All lineup quandaries aside, the Bucs' abundance of two-way and multi-position players puts them in an enviable position, and the recruiting of pitcher-infielder Tyler Spurlin by the Anchor-town club will prove to be a key part of their versatility. The consensus among scouts is that the atheltic, projectable prospect's ticket to pro ball will be on the mound, and for good reason. His young arm packs a low-90's fastball, and he's been developing a curve and cutter to add to the power slurve which serves as the backbone of his breaking stuff.

Where is he now? 2008 Miner Garrett Richards

I know I said I would do a 2010 Player Profile on an Anchorage Bucs player, but I changed my mind. In order to avoid burning through the entire Bucs and Panners rosters before any other team posts theirs up, I decided to take a break from the 2010 players this week and take a look back at a 2008 ABL alum and catch up on where they are now.

Garrett Richards

RHP - Mat-Su Miners, 2008
Bats: Right - Throws: Right
Height: 6'3" - Weight: 210lb
College: University of Oklahoma
Drafted: 2009 1st Round (supplemental), #42, LAA Angels
View Scouting Video

In the Alaska League:

Upon hearing that Richards had been drafted by the Angels, Miners GM Pete Christopher remarked, "I figured he'd be a first round pick". Garrett was one of the most talented in the ABL in 2008 and it was obvious that he was going places.