Miners hire new head coach

PALMER — Earlier this year, Mat-Su Miners general manager Pete Christopher was on the phone with former Miners head coach Bill Mosiello.

Christopher called Mosiello, an assistant at the University of Tennessee, looking for talent for the Miners’ 2013 roster. But as it turned out, that phone call led to Christopher’s biggest find of the offseason — the new head coach of the Miners.

The Miners have named Chandler-Gilbert Community College assistant coach Ben Taylor as the new head coach of the Miners.

“I’m massively excited to be here,” Taylor said during a visit to the Valley late last week. “This is a real special opportunity to come up here. I think Pete and Denise (Christopher) for bringing me up.”

Taylor, who brings a winning track record and 11 years of coaching experience to the Valley’s Alaska Baseball League program, has been a longtime friend of Mosiello, who served as the head coach of the Miners in 1990.

“Bill said, you got a coach yet?” Christopher said, recalling his conversation with Mosiello. “He said, I’ve got a guy.”

That recommendation led to Christopher calling Taylor, who replaces former Miners head coach Chris Gordon. Christopher also called former Miners standout Tyler Ruch, who is also from the Phoenix, Ariz., area. Like Mosiello, Ruch gave Taylor rave reviews.

Taylor, who has served as an assistant coach and hitting instructor at Chandler-Gilbert since 2011, has also been the head coach of the East Texas Pump Jacks of the Texas Collegiate League for the last four years. Taylor left the Kilgore, Texas, summer baseball squad as the winningest coach in Texas Collegiate League history.

Taylor put together a mark of 136-76-1 during his four seasons with the Pump Jacks. He also won six postseason games, and led East Texas to the league title in 2012.

Taylor said it was tough to leave Kilgore.

“It was a hard decision because my wife is from East Texas,” Taylor, 34, said. “We had made such great friends in East Texas. From the baseball, the business side, the decision was very easy. It was time for a change, time for a new opportunity to coach a different team.”

After getting the opportunity to visit the Valley last week, Taylor said he is excited for similar experiences in the Mat-Su.

“The relationships you build over the course of several summers are really special, and that is hard. Knowing Palmer is a small town, that appealed to us very much,” Taylor said.

Taylor — a former collegiate catcher and third baseman who played at Lower Columbia College in Washington, Centenary College in Louisiana and Division I Oregon State — has 11 years of college coaching experience. Taylor is in his eighth year as a summer baseball coach, and fifth as head coach. He also has 10 years of experience as an associate scout for Major League Baseball teams such as San Diego, Tampa, Milwaukee and Kansas City.

Taylor also has experience coaching internationally. He’s served as the catching coordinator for the Chinese National Team since 2005.

Before earning a spot on the Chandler-Gilbert staff, Taylor spent eight years at Scottsdale Community College in Arizona, and as an assistant and associate head coach, Taylor helped guide Scottsdale to the Junior College World Series in 2007 and 2009. That Scottsdale 2009 team included former Palmer High pitching star Mike Carlson.

Taylor started his college coaching career at Phoenix College, and also served as the hitting coach and bench coach for the San Luis Blues, a summer baseball team in California.

Taylor will bring that vast experience to a Miners organization that has been one the top ABL teams of the last decade. The Miners have won three league titles since 2004, including back-to-back in 2009 and 2010. Mat-Su also finished in a tie for first in 2007, and had a league-high 21 wins in 2008, but finished with a .600 winning percentage, just behind the Anchorage Glacier Pilots at .667.

“I’m just excited about the tradition,” Taylor said. “to get a chance to play against some of the teams where some of the best players in the game have played. The tradition and the allure of the league is really what drew me to come up here.”

Taylor described himself as an aggressive coach, and a recruiter of players who play a special brand of baseball.

“I like hard-nosed guys. I’m a hard-nosed coach. I’m aggressive. I’m an aggressive coach. I’m not afraid to gamble. I play a West Coast style of baseball. I love to hit and run, love to bunt. I love to steal bases,” Taylor said. “We play up-tempo baseball.”

Taylor said he has not named his assistant coaches.

“They’ll be guys who have either played for me, or are on my coaching tree,” Taylor said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com, follow him at matsu_sports and find him by searching Valley Sports Huddle on Facebook.