BOYS OF SUMMER

PALMER — With six exhibition games leading into the start of the official Alaska Baseball season, Mat-Su head coach Brian Yocke is going to have a chance to tinker with the Miners lineup. It’s a good thing for the Miners. Yocke and his assistants will have a half-dozen games to see the 2011 pool of talent before the Miners launch into the ABL slate.

But it could also work out for the players as well.

With 13 position players currently on the roster — many of whom play multiple positions — there’ll be ample opportunity to show what everyone can offer.

“A lot of these guys are young and they’re still trying to get some more playing time at their schools, so they’re trying to get time at as many positions as possible,” Yocke said Monday. “We’re going to use that versatility as much as possible so we can get these guys playing time and at-bats.”

Yocke said the Miners will experiment with players throughout the field and the batting order, starting tonight when the Miners open exhibition play against the Anchorage Glacier Pilots at Mulcahy Field in Anchorage.

The Miners are currently carrying three catchers, five infielders and five outfielders on the 2011 roster.

Mat-Su has a trio of freshmen — Western Carolina’s Adam Martin, Oklahoma’s Casey Coyle and San Diego State’s Denny Vigo — behind the plate. Martin, who hit .291 in 40 games with Western Carolina, is expected to start early in the season for Mat-Su. Yocke said Coyle, a redshirt freshman, has a cannon for an arm. Vigo is an athlete scouts feel can play just about anywhere.

Virtually all of Mat-Su’s five infielders have played shortstop at a high level at some time in their careers. Yocke said, just like targeting center fielders, shortstops make for attractive prospects.

“Baseball in general, shortstops and center fielders are what you look for because they’re the best athletes,” Yocke said. “Look at pro ball nowadays. Look at the (San Francisco) Giants. They have shortstops all over the place.”

Oklahoma State junior Kevin Lum, Middle Tennessee sophomore Ryan Ford, Tennessee-Wesleyan junior Stephen Branca and Massachusetts-Lowell junior Cam Kneeland all played at short for their respective schools. San Diego State’s Tim Zier started 53 games as a freshman at second base.

Three of the five batted at least .300 during the 2011 season. Kneeland led his team with a .328 average. He drove in 53 runs and scored 39 more. In 60 games, Branca batted .332 with 80 hits and scored 54 runs. Zier hit .301 with 64 hits. Ford stood at .281.

Lum did not play as a junior, but batted .365 at Vernon Junior College in Texas as a sophomore.

Yocke said all of the infielders also bring good speed to the base paths.

Brigham Young’s Jaycob Brugman hit .317 in 53 starts as a true freshman with the Cougars. Florida International sophomore TJ Shantz, who can also play in the infield, hit. 290 during the college season. Shantz started all 57 of his team’s game.

The Miners also have a pair of young players in the outfield: Dominick Francia, who saw limited action as a freshman at Louisiana-Lafayette, and St. Mary’s redshirt freshman Nick Rosso.

Rounding out the list is Santa Clara recruit Michael Suiter, who recently finished his senior year at Punahou High School in Hawaii.