Official League Website
League Strength: ***
Alaska League top 25 prospects (list)
The
measuring sticks to gauge the Alaska League’s impact on summer
baseball have traditionally been the league’s performance at the
annual National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kan., and
the number of future big leaguers produced.
On
those counts, no other existing summer league has as enviable a track
record. Alaska League teams have won the NBC World Series 16 times
through the years, and finished second on 17 occasions. In six
different tournaments, the championship game has pitted two Alaska
teams.
It’s
been 10 years now, though, since the last Alaska team won an NBC
title, and this year’s Kenai Peninsula Oilers became just the third
Alaska club in the decade to even play in the title match. The
Oilers, NBC champions in 1977 and 1993-94, fell 1-0 to the Santa
Barbara (Calif.) Foresters to finish second.
The
Alaska Goldpanners, the Alaska League’s flagship franchise, has won
a record six NBC championships through the years and produced the
staggering total of 198 future big leaguers—a total no amateur team
in history can come close to matching. In 1983 alone, the Goldpanners
boasted 14 players who went on to play Major League Baseball, among
them future first-rounders Barry Bonds, Shane Mack, Joe Magrane and
Oddibe McDowell.
But
the Goldpanners’ procession of future major leaguers has slowed to
a trickle in recent years and the club didn’t even play a formal
Alaska League schedule this summer for the first time, citing
financial reasons. Instead, the team played a three-week exhibition
schedule that centered on the 105th renewal of its
showpiece event, the annual Midnight Sun Game, but otherwise spent
most of the 2011 season on the road. It is unclear whether the team
will return to the league in 2012, or in what form.
The
Goldpanners may be the most-storied team in summer-baseball history,
but their downslide in recent years has been somewhat symbolic of the
direction of the entire Alaska League, which lost its place as the
nation’s premier summer league in the mid-80s to the Cape Cod
League. The Cape’s decisions to recruit more aggressively on a
national scale while implementing a switch from aluminum to wood bats
was critical in it moving past the Alaska League, and the gap has
only continued to widen.
With
a lack of central leadership and a tendency to live off its
reputation, the Alaska League has since been surpassed by several
other, more progressive summer leagues. Whether it can arrest its
downward spiral in 2012, and beyond, will depend to a significant
degree on the future direction of the Fairbanks-based Goldpanners,
though not having that team in the league this summer resulted in
much-less travel as the other teams are concentrated in and around
Anchorage.
The
decision of the Goldpanners, who began operating in 1960, to withdraw
from the Alaska League for the 2011 season cast a pall over the
league initially, but the Oilers provided a positive spin with their
inspired play throughout the season.
They
easily won the league title on their way to a gallant run at the NBC
tournament. Moreover, the Oilers produced more than their share of
the league’s best potential major-league prospects with a total of
11 players on the accompanying list of 25, though they were upstaged
by the Anchorage Glacier Pilots, who boast the top two.
FAST
FACTS
Year
League Established: 1974 (reunited
1998).
States
Represented in League: Alaska.
No.
of Teams in League: 6 (Alaska
Goldpanners took a leave of absence in 2011).
Regular-Season
Champion: Kenai Peninsula Oilers.
Post-Season
Champion: NONE. Kenai Peninsula
Oilers represented league in National Baseball Congress World Series,
Wichita, Kan.
Teams,
PG CrossChecker Summer 50/Final Ranking:
No. 10 Mat-Su Miners, No. 45 Mat-Su Miners.
No.
1 Prospect, 2010 (per PG CrossChecker):
Stephen Piscotty, of, Kenai Peninsula Oilers (Stanford; played in
Cape Cod League in 2011).
First
2010 Player Selected, 2011 Draft: Tyler
Grimes, ss, Kenai Peninsula Oilers (Wichita State; drafted by
Twins/5th round).
Player
of the Year: Mike Miller, ss, Kenai
Peninsula Oilers.
Top
Prospect (as selected by league):
Aaron Judge, of, Anchorage Glacier Pilots.
BATTING
LEADERS (League games only)
Batting
Average: Mike Miller, ss, Kenai
Peninsula Oilers (.364).
Home
Runs: Cael Brockmeyer, c/1b,
Anchorage Glacier Pilots; Troy Channing, 1b, Kenai Peninsula Oilers;
Patrick Wisdom, 3b, Kenai Peninsula Oilers (4).
RBIs:
Patrick Wisdom, 3b, Kenai Peninsula Oilers (26).
Stolen
Bases: Dominic Francia, of, Mat-Su
Miners (20).
PITCHING
LEADERS (League games only)
Wins:
Jordan Mills, lhp, Kenai Peninsula Oilers (5).
ERA:
Mark Anderson, lhp, Mat-Su Miners (1.03).
Saves:
Tyler Bayless, rhp, Anchorage Glacier Pilots (8).
Strikeouts:
Charlie Gillies, rhp, AIA Fire (50).
BEST
TOOLS
Best
Athlete: Spencer Judge, of,
Anchorage Glacier Pilots.
Best
Hitter: Mike Miller, ss, Kenai
Peninsula Oilers.
Best
Power: Patrick Wisdom, 3b, Kenai
Peninsula Oilers.
Fastest
Base Runner: Keenyn Walker, of,
Anchorage Glacier Pilots.
Best
Defensive Player: Keenyn Walker, of,
Anchorage Glacier Pilots.
Best
Velocity: Kyle Finnegan, rhp,
Anchorage Bucs.
Best
Breaking Ball: Trevor Bayless, rhp,
Anchorage Glacier Pilots.
Best
Command: Jon Maciel, rhp, Kenai
Peninsula Oilers.
TOP
25 PROSPECTS
1.
AARON JUDGE, of, Anchorage Glacier Pilots (Fresno State/SO in 2012)
SCOUTING
PROFILE: At
6-foot-7 and 230 pounds, Judge is an impressive physical specimen. He
also oozes athleticism as he was a three-sport star at a California
high school, with Division I offers in football and basketball, and
was actually more hotly-pursued by scouts in the 2010 draft as a
pitching prospect. Power may ultimately become Judge’s best tool as
he routinely put on an impressive show in batting practice this
summer and hit balls over the light towers in the Alaska League’s
Home Run Derby, but it has not translated yet into games. He failed
to go deep even once on the season for the Glacier Pilots, while
hitting .289. Even as Judge led Fresno State in hitting as a freshman
(.359), he homered just twice. His approach at the plate is geared to
drive balls to the opposite field, and he’ll need work on his swing
mechanics in order to pull balls more consistently to fully tap into
his raw power. The rest of Judge’s game is solid. He has a powerful
arm in right field and though not a burner, he is a faster runner
than he looks, enabling him to cover plenty of ground in the outfield
and be an asset on the bases. If his power develops over the next two
years, as expected, Judge will be a legitimate candidate for the
first round in the 2013 draft.
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