Baseball America tabs Miners outfielder as ABL’s top prospect

PALMER — Throughout the 2017 summer season, Mat-Su head coach Ben Taylor called Miners outfielder Quin Cotton the top player in Alaska Baseball League.

Baseball America agrees.

The national publication, and baseball authority, listed Cotton as ABL’s top player and professional prospect in 2017.

“The best is yet to come with that kid,” Taylor said late in the season. “He’s had a fantastic summer, maybe as good a summer as anybody in the country.”

Cotton, who was also named the Alaska Baseball League Player of the Year, won the league’s batting title with a .331 average. The Parker, Colorado, native and Grand Canyon University sophomore also led the league with 51 hits and a dozen doubles.

“He’s as special of a hitter as I’ve had up here in five years,” Taylor said. “And he’s as great of a human being as he is a hitter.”

Mat-Su, which won its second straight ABL title in 2017, has five players listed among Baseball America’s top 10 ABL pro prospects for the 2017 summer season.

Texas A&M sophomore lefthanded pitcher Jon Doxakis is ranked second on the list. Southeastern Louisiana senior righthanded pitcher Josh Green is sixth, Mississippi State junior outfielder Elijah MacNamee is seventh and Central Florida junior pitcher Thaddeus Ward is 10th.

This marks the fifth straight year a Mat-Su Miner player has been listed at the top of Baseball America’s top prospects list for the ABL. Last year, Texas A&M pitcher Stephen Kolek was the league’s top-ranked prospect according to Baseball America.

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