Mat-Su Miners 2015 season preview: Club loaded with talent

PALMER — As Mat-Su Miners field manager Ben Taylor talked about his 2015 club Monday afternoon, conversation made a quick detour to the Major League Baseball Draft.

Taylor, a third-year skipper for the Valley’s Alaska Baseball League squad, excitedly rattled off names from recent Miners memory.

Cody Ponce. Christin Stewart. Gio Brusa.

All three players are among former Miners expected to be selected early in the MLB draft, which started Monday evening. The players, members of the 2013 Mat-Su team, helped lead the Miners to the first of back-to-back runner-up finishes in the ABL, and are examples of the quality of talent recruited by the Palmer-based club in recent years.

As good as the 2013 and 2014 teams were, the 2015 squad — at least on paper — has the potential to be even better.

“We’ve got a collection of former (MLB) draft picks as normal, but this year we have more individual conference award winners than we’ve had in three years,” Taylor said.

Mat-Su’s 26-player roster includes, Texas Christian outfielder Connor Wanhanen, the reigning Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year. Texas A&M right-handed pitcher Kyle Simonds was the 2014 National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Pitcher of the Year, and Nebraska infielder Jake Schleppenbach, a teammate of Simonds at Hutchinson Community College last year, was the 2014 Jayhawk West Conference Player of the Year. Those highly decorated players are among a list of Division I all-conference selections peppered throughout the 2015 Mat-Su lineup.

“We have a good squad, some really good players,” Taylor said. “We always do, but this year’s squad is really good.”

Taylor, a longtime summer league mentor who left the Texas Collegiate League in 2012 as the winningest head coach in league history, looks for a certain mix when assembling his roster.

And he likes what he sees when he scrolls down 2015’s list of talent.

“We’ve got a great mix of guys who played every day and put up huge numbers, and hungry freshmen that will be everyday starters for their clubs as sophomores,” Taylor said. “The mix is fantastic.”

Mat-Su currently has 13 pitchers on the 2015 staff, nine right-handers and four southpaws.

“This is the best mix of power arms and the ability to throw strikes we’ve had up here,” Taylor said. “It’s the best mix since I’ve been up here. Best mix of the guys with inning totals where we will be able to do basically whatever we want with them.”

Simonds logged the most innings of any pitcher on Mat-Su’s roster during the college season, pitching 51 for the Aggies. Only two others, Gonzaga’s Eli Morgan and Grand Canyon’s Zebastian Valenzuela, had 40 or more innings pitched.

“Some guys get up here after pitching 90 innings, and they’re tired,” Taylor said.

That won’t be the case this year.

Taylor said the type of competition these pitchers have faced is also important.

“These guys have thrown big innings for big teams in big conferences. That’s every important,” Taylor said. “In the ABL you have to be ready for that. If guys haven’t had that experience, it can be very difficult.”

Taylor and first-year Mat-Su pitching coach Matt Greely hope to get just about every pitcher work on the mound during the Miners first two games of the year, nonleague contests against the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks tonight at Loretta French Field at 7 p.m. and Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Hermon Brothers Field. Specific roles will be learned in coming days.

“We have a general idea of who’s going to start and some roles, but there’s always going to be surprises,” Taylor said. “We have some big personalities on our pitching staff, which is great. The sooner a pitching staff can find its identity as a group, the better they’re going to perform.”

Much like his pitching staff, Taylor also loves the mix and versatility he sees in the Miners position players.

“With a smaller roster, you’ve got to look at things differently. A two-way guy becomes very important for a small roster like this,” Taylor said. “Guys who play multiple defensive positions become very important.”

The versatility shows throughout the lineup. Paradise Valley Community College sophomore Brick Paskiewicz has been nominated for a Gold Glove at center field, and he can come out of the bullpen and pitch. Kansas State junior Tyler Wolfe is any everyday shortstop who can also pitch. Central Florida sophomore Matt Diorio is a proven middle of the lineup hitter, who can catch and play in the outfield. Gonzaga junior Caleb Wood can play all over the infield. Pomona Pitzer sophomore Tanner Nishioka can play all three outfield spots, second and third base. Stetson sophomore Vance Vizcaino is another utility man who can play multiple positions.

Diorio is one of three catchers on the Mat-Su roster, with Washington State freshman Justin Hancock and TCU freshman Zack Plunkett.

“Diorio is a middle of the lineup, proven guy. Hancock and Plunkett are both outstanding defensive catchers, who have both caught big games in their conferences,” Taylor said. “I’m very excited about my catching corps.”

In the infield, Schleppenbach was an everyday second baseman as a sophomore at Nebraska and Wolfe started every game a short stop for Kansas State as a junior. Washington freshman Nyles Nygaard emerged as the starter for the Huskies at third base. New Mexico sophomore Jack Zoellner is a middle of the lineup hitter who can play first for the Miners.

In the outfield, Wanhanen received major Big 12 honors and St. Johns junior Alex Caruso was a unanimous first-team All-Big East selection. Nishioka put up big numbers for Pomona Pitzer, Taylor tabbed Paskiewicz as the wild card, a JUCO standout who has committed to play at Grand Canyon. Tennessee junior Chris Hall is a player with national championship experience, helping lead Cumberland University to an NAIA World Series title in 2014.

The Miners also welcome back Utah outfielder Hunter Simmons, who returns for his second summer with the Miners.

“It’s nice to have a veteran Miner,” Taylor said of Simmons, a late addition to the 2015 roster. “Hunter had some big at bats for us (last year). He knows how the league works.”

More than half the Miners position players hit .300 or batter for their college teams. Caruso led the Big East Conference with a .382 batting average. Zoellner (.352) and Paskiewcz (.351) each hit more than .350. Vizcaino led Stetson with a .341 batting average. Nine players on the Mat-Su roster scored at least 32 runs and seven drove in at least 23 runs.

On the base paths, Nishioka was a perfect 22 for 22 in stolen bases. Paskiewcz swiped 17 bags.

Taylor said Wanhanen is a plus-runner, and Hall can run as well as just about anyone in the league.

Following a pair of nonleague games today and Wednesday, Mat-Su opens ABL play against the Chinooks Friday at 7 p.m. at Hermon Brothers. Mat-Su follows with road games at Chugiak Saturday and the Anchorage Bucs Sunday, before a three-game home slate that starts June 16.