The Stark Truth

Kitsap BlueJackets manager Matt Acker checked in Wednesday with what I think is a pretty good idea for local baseball.

He’s proposing a night for area coaches of all levels — from college to high school to legion and select baseball to junior high and Little League — to sit down and talk about baseball. It would be an informal session at the Eagle’s Nest, located at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds. Acker, also the head coach at Green River CC, says he’ll provide the beverages.

I think he’s on to something here. It’s chance for coaches to share ideas and make contacts and, well, talk about anything they want. 

Here’s some other local baseball tid-bits:

* Outfielder Caleb Brown, former Central Kitsap standout and now a freshman at the University of Washington, will play for the BlueJackets this summer. And Aaron Johnson, another ex-CK player who’s at the Citadel, is returning.

The BlueJackets will also welcome back outfielder Doug Buser, who transferred from Oklahoma to Seattle U, which will field an NCAA Division I team in 2010. Other returnees include popular first baseman Bucky Aona (Southern Utah), outfielder Kyle Baskett (Sacramento State), catcher Max Kwan (UW) and pitcher James Douglas (SMU).

After coming up short in the arms race a year ago, Acker said the Jackets have signed 28 pitchers. He knows he’ll lose some of those arms, but is pretty confident it’s the best staff he’s put together.

Acker’s also high on Chris Escobar, a middle infielder who previously played for the Wenatchee AppleSox. He’s at the University of San Francisco. “We couldn’t get him out,” Acker said.

* The Olympic College Rangers have reached an agreement the Bremerton School District to use the old East High/Bremerton Junior High gym. They’ve got an indoor batting cage and there’s room for a couuple more. And the gym is nearly big enough to hold a regulation infield. And the adjoining auxiliary gym is a good spot for pitchers to throw bullpens.

I know it’s on the backburner, but the school district, OC and city of Bremerton have talked about turning the East High/Junior High site into a recreation area. It could be the hub for the city. There’s room for softball/baseball/soccer fields with a running track and trail for walks. The city could move its parks and rec department to the building. You could keep some of the classrooms. Yeah, yeah, nobody has any money to develop anything right now. Too bad because the potential is unbelievable.

But we’re talking baseball, right?

* Two 2009 grads — Central Kitsap’s Dan Zylstra and Klahowya’s Rusty Devitt — are at Western Nevada College in Carson City, Nev. Western Nevada College is ranked 18th in the preseason poll put out by
Collegiate Baseball Magazine for Division I Junior Colleges. Zylstra figures to be the starting shortstop and Devitt, a pitcher, is expected to be used in relief and as a spot starter.
Western Nevada starts playing games on Jan. 30, traveling to Las Vegas to play South Mountain Community College.

* Olympic College, by the way, opens the season on Feb. 28 against Centralia. The NWAACC just came out with its preseason poll and it includes four North clubs: No. 2 Bellevue, No. 3 Edmonds (defending NWAACC champs), No. 6 Everett and No. 7 Skagit Valley. Lower Columbia is No. 1.

* Drew Vettleson, a junior at Central Kitsap, is the top-ranked player in the state for players in the Class of 2010), according to Baseball Northwest. The pitcher/outfielder is one of the most polished young players I’ve seen come out of the area in a long time.

* South Kitsap pitcher Colin Monagle (Washington) and shortstop Brady Steiger (Washington State), Kingston pitcher Tyler Sullivan (Washington) and North Kitsap outfielder Andy Smith (Washington) all signed letters of intent in the fall. Monagle’s ranked No. 4 by Baseball Northwest among players in the 2009 class. Steiger is No 10, Sullivan No. 31. Bainbridge infielder Tanner Bogardus (No. 49), Bainbridge pitcher Colin Feldtman (No. 64), Central Kitsap infielder Nate Roberts (No. 73), Central Kitsap 1B/LHP Casey Bohlman (No. 104) and Gig Harbor catcher Cameron Holcomb (No. 135) are also ranked.

Don’t know why Smith’s not rated. The kid is one of the fastest players to come out of the area. He reminds me of Steve Lusk, a 1969 West High grad who played for the semi-pro Kitsap Outsiders. Lusk, a lefty, could fly.

* In addition to Vettleson, Northwest Baseball also ranks the following among the best in the class of 2010: No.  36. David Bigelow INF Gig Harbor; 62. Jordan Halstead RHP Olympic; 68. Riley Crow RHP/OF Olympic;
91. Kevin McCormick C Bainbridge; 101. Blake Johnson OF Olympic.

I have no idea how accurate these rankings are, but I do know we’ve got a lot of good, young talent in the area.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at 12:06 am by cstark and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.