Out of the bullpen; Catawba College catcher seeing time in starting lineup

PALMER - Kevin McMillan came to the Mat-Su Valley knowing he had a fairly specific role.

The Salisbury, N.C., product was signed by the Mat-Su Miners to simply be the team's bullpen catcher. And he was fine with that. When the Catawba College freshman hit Hermon Brothers Field for the first time this summer, he thought his only action would be receiving the pitches tossed by the relievers during a warm-up.

But as the shorthanded Alaska Baseball League squad scrambles to fill the lineup as it waits for members of the team to trickle into the Valley, McMillan has found himself in the starting lineup.

&#8220I'm a little bit surprised, but very pleased,” McMillan said. &#8220I get the opportunity to show everybody what I can do.”

And he's producing.

&#8220Kevin has been doing everything we could ever ask,” Mat-Su head coach Matt Dorey said. &#8220The very first day I told him he's going to get an opportunity early to earn a job and play himself out of the bullpen role and into one where he's on the

roster. I think he's grasped

that.”

In Mat-Su's first four games, McMillan is hitting .308 with a team-high three RBI. In the Miners' 3-0 win over Lake Erie on Wednesday, McMillan posted a pair of singles, and drove in the team's third run. He also notched a two-out single to keep the inning alive in the sixth inning. That hit helped set up Joe Ercolano's two-run single later in the inning.

&#8220For the success he's had with the bat, I think he's done a better job behind the plate,” Dorey said.

To add to his two hits, McMillan gunned out a pair of Monarch runners in the Lake Erie win.

In the sixth, McMillan caught Kevin Leady trying to steal third.

McMillan caught Leady again in the eighth. This time the Lake Erie right fielder was try to take second.

McMillan also gunned out a runner in the first game of the season.

&#8220I think he was a little overwhelmed at first, catching all of these new arms,” Dorey said. &#8220It's not an easy thing to do. But he's done an outstanding job.”

McMillan, a backup catcher for one of the top Division II programs in the country, has already had the chance to be the backstop for pitchers from solid Division I programs such as Notre Dame, Washington State and California.

This is the first time the Catawba freshman has had the chance to compete in a summer wood bat league. Before he committed to come to Alaska, McMillan had considered playing another year f American Legion baseball in North

Carolina.

McMillan said even if he never lined up behind home plate during a game, just being a part of an ABL squad would be great for his career.

&#8220I figured it'd be a great experience just catching bullpen,” McMIllan said.

Mat-Su pitching coach John Hendricks is the pitching coach at Lenoir-Rhyne College, a program in the same league as Catawba. McMillan said Hendricks contacted his coach about becoming the bullpen catcher for the Mat-Su squad.

&#8220I hopped on, knowing I wasn't going to get a lot of playing time,” McMillan said.

Dorey said it takes a special attitude for a player to travel across the country knowing he would be relegated to a minor role.

&#8220It takes a kid that really wants to embrace Alaska, and be a part of one of the best leagues in the country,” Dorey said. &#8220You can go somewhere else and get a bunch of at bats, but not feel like you get any better. I think he's coming up here with the mindset that he wants to get a lot better. He wants to play around the best players.”

Mat-Su recruited a pair of Pac-10 players - Stanford freshman Brent Milleville and California junior Travis Howell - to be its top two catchers. Milleville won't arrive until this weekend. Stanford advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals. The Miners found out this week Howell will not be making the trip to Alaska. He's staying in school for a summer session to fulfill academic requirements.

The Miners have added another catcher, Tony Jones, a Lower Columbia College sophomore. Jones is a promising prospect, but considering McMillan's success, Dorey said Milleville and Jones will not necessarily be the team's top two catchers.

&#8220Nothing says that he's going to come in and be the number two guy,” Dorey said. &#8220He's going to have to come up and earn his stripes a little bit. Because Kevin has done everything to earn his.”

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.