Southpaws could be key to Mat-Su staff

PALMER — In any team in any league, there’s always turnover during the offseason. Rosters are victims of perpetual change, even during the weeks leading up to the start of the season.

The 2011 edition of the Mat-Su Miners features a handful of players picked up during the final weeks of recruiting. And three of those players — a trio of southpaws — could prove to be key to the team’s game plan.

Left-handed pitchers Mark Anderson, Ben Graff and David Gibson are all late pickups, brought in to fill holes in the staff. But combine them with St. John’s junior Brendan Lobban, and the Miners just may have a formidable force of lefties.

“In general, I love lefties,” first-year Mat-Su head coach Brian Yocke said. “I like lefty starters because they can shut down a running game a little bit.”

Yocke said it’s too early to say where each of Mat-Su’s 12 arms on the staff will fit into the 2011 game plan. Roles will be defined as players take the mound and Yocke and pitching coach Chris Gordon see them live in action. With Yocke’s appreciation of starting southpaws, the likes of Anderson, Graff, Gibson and Lobban could get the early nod to take the ball and the beginning of games.

Lobban has plenty of experience as a starter. As a junior, Lobban was 6-2 with a 4.04 earned run average and 54 strikeouts in 80 innings and 15 starters. Anderson made eight starts in 13 appearances as a sophomore at Brigham Young University this season. He finished 4-2 with 28 strikeouts and a 5.03 earned run average.

Gibson, who was named 2011 NCCAA All-Mideast Region, averaged a strikeout per inning at Bluefield College.

Regardless of a player’s role in college, Yocke said a place on the team will be determined by the ability to throw strikes.

“The guys who can throw strikes will be at the beginning and end of games,” Yocke said. “The question marks will be the ones in between.”

Roles also may change for other reasons. Starters during the spring may be used out of the bullpen during the summer.

“It depends on how the kid feels, depends on how many innings he’s thrown,” Yocke said.

Yocke proves his point with a blast from Mat-Su’s past. Former Miner Nate Garcia arrived in 2007 fresh off a spring in which he’d tossed more than 80 innings as a starter. Former Mat-Su skipper Jeff Pritchard told Garcia he’d be Mat-Su’s closer that summer.

“He did a good job of it,” Yocke said of Garcia. “And they can grow from that. In pro ball just because you’re a starter in college doesn’t mean you’re going to get drafted and start your first game as a starter.”

Half of the Mat-Su staff started at least nine games during the spring college season. St. Josephs junior AJ Holland was 2-8 with 50 strikeouts in 13 starts. Santa Clara sophomore Brock Simon was 3-8, starting nine of the 19 games he appeared in. Ryan Dull, the ace of the North Carolina-Ashville staff, was 2-6 with 66 strikeouts in a dozen starts.

Holland and fellow St. Josephs junior Ryan Kemp both touch 93 miles per hour, Miners general manager Pete Christopher said. Kemp fanned 42 hitters, while walking only 12, in 28 innings. He and Georgetown sophomore Neal Dennison each collected four saves during the college season.

The Mat-Su staff isn’t overflowing with power arms, but Yocke said that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“A lot of times, especially going for younger guys, power arms usually don’t work in summer ball. They’re usually all over the place,” Yocke said. “Walks are the last thing you want in summer ball.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.