Former Colony standout to play for Mat-Su Miners

PALMER — The magic of baseball in the Mat-Su Valley gets to live through J.D. Mayo, at least for the summer.

The Colony High product is the most recent Alaska-grown baseball player to earn a green-and-gold Mat Su Miners uniform. The 5-foot-11 Mayo adds a left-handed bat and experience in right field at Hermon Brothers Field to the Miners roster.

“When you’re 6 years old chasing down foul balls and getting signatures from (Miners) players, it’s a dream to play on that field,” said Mayo, a 2010 Colony High School graduate. “I was pretty speechless when I got the call.”

Mayo got that call and a contract this past winter from Miners general manager Pete Christopher. The former Knights outfield made two first-team All-Southcentral Conference teams and was named to the second team once during his high school career. Mayo was also twice a first-team all-state player for the local American Legion team. He played the last two seasons at Colombia Basin College at Kennewick, Wash. Columbia is part of the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges.

He said he hopes a summer with the Miners can earn him a roster spot at a four-year program.

“I basically watched him grow up,” Christopher said of adding Valley talent to his roster. “He’s been hanging around the ballpark with his dad since I’ve been here for 10 years. He was a good ballplayer in high school, so I’ll take any chance I can to help him to get to a four-year school.”

Mayo returns to join the elite competition of the Alaska Baseball League June 16 for a four-game series with the Peninsula Oilers.

“I’ll be playing against top kids anywhere from junior college to D-I chucking 90 mph hitting with wood bats,” Mayo said. “It’ll be tough.”

Mayo becomes a second-generation Valley ABL player. Mayo’s father, former Colony head coach Jamie Mayo, played for the franchise when the team was called the Valley Green Giants.

“Kids in Alaska, especially the Valley, have it tough,” Christopher said. “There aren’t really a lot of baseball fields. In Anchorage, they’ve got better coaching and stronger leagues. Baseball (locally) loses out to the other sports. To see a kid play ball in college from the Valley is quite an accomplishment.”

Mayo becomes one of just a few Valley products who have made the step from chasing down foul balls to be the one signing autographs for young baseball fans.

Contact Tim Rockey at 352-2252 or tim.rockey@frontiersman.com. Follow @trockeynews on Twitter.