Miners add pitching coach

PALMER — Like most baseball players who grow up in the 49th state, Matt Greely closely followed the Alaska Baseball League.

As an athlete at Juneau-Douglas High School, Greely played in state tournament games at Growden Park in Fairbanks, the home of the ABL’s Alaska Goldpanners. As a teenager, Greely also had the chance to stay at the home of Red Boucher, a founding father of both the Goldpanners and the ABL.

Now, Greely is part of the league he’s admired for so many years. Greely has been named the pitching coach of the Mat-Su Miners.

“I’m super excited,” Greely said by cellphone from Arizona, where he is currently the pitching coach at Arizona Western College. “I’m very excited to come back to my home state and be part of something special.”

Greely, a 2004 graduate of Juneau-Douglas High School, already has experience coaching at three different colleges in addition to his four years with the Thunder Mountain High School program. Greely’s opportunity to add the ABL to his coaching resume came after Arizona Western head coach Drew Keehn introduced Greely to Mat-Su Miners head coach Ben Taylor.

“Drew introduced us and we kept in contact. I expressed interest in the job. I was really hoping to get back up (to Alaska) somehow. It’s a really good league, and a really high level of baseball,” Greely said. “Ben and I really seem to get a long. It seems like a good fit.”

Greely is currently in his first season as the pitching coach at Arizona Western, working in the same league as Taylor, the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference. Taylor (who returns to Palmer this summer for his third season at the helm of the Miners) is the associate head coach at Chandler-Gilbert College.

“I’m excited to come up to a winning program,” Greely said. “I’m going in with my ears open. I’m excited to learn, get better as a coach.”

Prior to his start in Arizona, Greely spent the 2014 season as the pitching coach at Everett Community College in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges. There, he helped the pitching staff of the Seattle-area program post a 2.18 earned run average.

Greely was also an assistant coach at the College of Idaho following his playing career.

After spending a season on the College of Idaho staff, Greely returned to Juneau to complete his master’s degree. While in Juneau, Greely joined the baseball coaching staff of then-new Thunder Mountain High School. He was the pitching coach during his first year, and the head coach in the three seasons that followed.

“It was a great experience,” Greely said of his time with the Falcons. “The people there were great. I loved coming back to Alaska to see family and friends, give back to the community that had given to me.”

The former Crimson Bear athlete followed his prep career with stops as a player at Walla Walla Community College in Washington, University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky and the College of Idaho.

Taylor said there are a number of reasons why he felt Greely is a good fit for the Miners staff.

“His energy, first and foremost, is off the charts,” Taylor said by cellphone from his home in Arizona recently. “He has a great reputation for being personable with the players, being able to relate to the guys.”

Taylor said Greely’s overall interest and knowledge of the league was also important.

With the addition of Greely, both of Taylor’s assistants on the Mat-Su staff currently work in ACCAC. Miners assistant coach Sean Winston is also in the conference as an assistant coach at Paradise Valley Community College.

“I’m really excited to have both of my assistants, Sean and Matt, come out of the ACCAC,” Taylor said. “I’ve always wanted to do that, help two young coaches from Arizona. I’m really excited about that.”

Taylor said the experience Greely is getting while coaching in the ACCAC will help prepare him for success in the ABL.

“To coach in the best junior college conference in the country, after a season in this league, he’ll be more than battle-tested and prepared for what the ABL is going to throw at him,” Taylor said.

Taylor said he’s also excited about another season with Winston on the staff.

“The nice part is, Sean is going to take on some added responsibility,” Taylor said of Winston. “Sean is my right-hand man. I couldn’t be more blessed or excited to have an assistant like Sean Winston.”

Greely will replace Brad Baker on the Mat-Su staff. Baker, also the head coach of Blue Mountain Community College in Oregon, spent two summers as the Mat-Su pitching coach.

“We were fortunate to have Brad for the two years. I’m thankful for all he did for us, the organization and myself as the head coach of the Mat-Su Miners,” Taylor said of Baker.

Taylor said he’s excited about the addition of Greely, and the opportunity to see Winston return. That, combined with his relationship with Miners general manager Pete Christopher and Christopher’s wife, Denise, makes for a good foundation for the organization.

“My relationship with Pete has evolved into a really special thing. Pete and Denise have become like family to my wife and I,” Taylor said. “I can’t wait to get up to the Valley.”