2-way talents: Versatile athletes key to success of Mat-Su Miners

PALMER — During the 2015 summer season, former Mat-Su Miners pitcher and outfielder Brick Paskiewicz took the Alaska Baseball League by storm. Paskiewicz finished second in the league in batting average and led the league with 14 saves. He earned All-ABL nods at multiple positions, and was named the league’s player of the year.

Paskiewicz played only one season with the Miners, but his impact is still felt in regard to how Mat-Su Miners head coach Ben Taylor puts together his teams. When recruiting athletes Taylor puts an emphasis on versatility, and this season the Miners once again have two-way talents helping Mat-Su stay on the top of the ABL standings.

“I like to have one or two. If I had three I’d like it a lot,” Taylor said of the number of players on his roster that he can use on the mound, at the plate or in the field. “We like to have a couple of those guys every year.”

Taylor said the two-way talents help maximize potential with a fixed number of players on the roster.

“With the roster size in the ABL, with only a 26-man roster, those guys give me added versatility,” Taylor said.

First-year ABL players Jacob Hughey and Tyler Wyatt have filled the two-way role for the Miners this year, working big innings on the mound, in addition to work at the plate and in the field. In what would normally be a 13-man pitching staff, Hughey and Wyatt essentially stretch the staff to 15 arms.

“It gives me more versatility, more depth on my pitching,” Taylor said.

During a recent span, in which the Miners played eight games in 10 days, the versatility of Hughey and Wyatt played a particularly big role in Mat-Su’s success.

“On a long stretch like that, I’ve always got that extra bat and extra arm,” Taylor said. “It’s like an ace in the hole.”

July 11, Wyatt pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief, earning the victory on the mound, helping Mat-Su score a 7-4 victory over the Anchorage Glacier Pilots. Two days later, Wyatt blasted his first home run of the season to help spark the Miners in a 10-2 win over Chugiak.

As of July 18, Wyatt has appeared in six games on the mound, and has made four starts. He’s 3-1 with a 2.48 earned run average, and 18 strikeouts in 25 1/3 innings pitched. Wyatt has also appeared in 11 games in the field, making starts at first base, third base and catcher. Taylor said versatility and athleticism have long been part of his makeup. In high school, Wyatt a native of Peoria, Arizona, was a multisport star. Wyatt was a first-team all-state quarterback for Liberty High School, and was named the 2015 Gatorade Arizona Player of the Year for baseball. That translated to college. As a freshman at Grand Canyon University, Taylor said Wyatt started three days a week at third, and would be the team’s starting pitcher on Sundays.

“He has serious pedigree,” Taylor said of Wyatt.

According to Wyatt’s biography on the Grand Canyon athletics website, his father, Tim, played college football at Eastern Illinois University and was the center with quarterback Sean Payton, who is now the head coach of the NFL’s New Orleans Saints. Wyatt’s uncle, Greg Wyatt, played college football at Northern Arizona University, and is in the school’s hall of fame.

Taylor said he expected versatility from Wyatt, but his ability to work behind the plate was a surprise. As the Miners were battling injuries at the catcher position, Taylor said Wyatt stepped in to fill the role.

“He earned a lot of credibility and trust with his teammates,” Taylor said. “I didn’t think he’d catch. He did a really nice job.”

Hughey has been one of Mat-Su’s most productive hitters in mid-July. During a 10-day stretch this month, Hughey hit .352 with six hits and four RBI. Overall, Hughey is hitting .381, exceeded Taylor’s expectations for the California native at the plate.

“I didn’t think he was going to hit like this,” Taylor said of Hughey, who finished with one hit in one at bat as a freshman at Long Beach State.

Regardless of whether the Miners have needed him on the mound or in the designated hitter spot in the lineup, Taylor said Hughey has continued to work on his swing.

“He takes (batting practice) every day, and he hammers it,” Taylor said.

Hughey showed great versatility as a four-year varsity player for Millikan High School in Long Beach, California. He boasted a career batting average of .343, and career ERA of 1.86.

“I think of him more as a baseball player than a pitcher who hits or hitter who pitches,” Taylor said.

This summer Hughey is 2-1 on the mound for the Miners, with a 3.07 ERA in five starts. The lefty has fanned 33 hitters in 26 1/3 innings.

The entire league got a glimpse of what Hughey could do at the plate during the ABL All-Star Game Sunday in Anchorage. Hughey was named the game’s most valuable player after he hit an opposite field home run, and drove in the game-winning run to lead Team Gold to a 6-5 victory over Team Blue.

Overall, Taylor said two-way talents are making a bigger impact on the collegiate level.

“It’s more and more common now than it’s ever been,” Taylor said.

College baseball even has the John Olerud Award, established in 2010 to honor the top two-way player in the country.

The Miners also have an award attached to a top two-way talent. The Mike Kelly Award, named after the former Monmouth University standout who pitched and played in the field for the Miners in 2003.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.