Summertime means baseball. Around Beckley that means Prospect League baseball and more specifically, West Virginia Miners baseball.
This year, the Miners hit the field hoping to end some struggles and make their way back to the postseason for the first since 2017.
Although the team has struggled the last three seasons, the Miners organization has been no stranger to success over the years.
From 2011-2016 the Miners reached the Prospect League Championship series five times, winning three titles over that span.
The recent struggles with success the last three seasons can be linked in large part to pitching.
In 2018 the Miners posted a team ERA of 5.01, which rose to 7.03 in 2019 and 7.18 in 2021. The Prospect League was cancelled in 2020 because of the Covid pandemic.
“We have won in several different ways,” Miners manager Tim Epling said. “But, the rule of thought is, if you don’t have pitching and catching and you can’t play defense, you are not going to be very good. Right from the start, we put the pressure on the pitchers and catchers. We tell them if we win, it is because of the team. If we lose, it is because of you and me. We win with players, we lose with coaches and pitchers.”
So, the question becomes, what type of pitching staff with Epling have going into the 2022 season?
“I am not sure right now. Everything is good on paper. There are only two things that are perfect, God and a resume’,” Epling said laughing.
Truth be told, the entire team is somewhat a mystery with a limited roster in the early going because players are just now finishing up their collegiate seasons.
“We still have a couple of middle infielders coming in. We have signed three or four shortstops and a corner guy,” Epling said. “We have a left-handed kid that can bang it a little bit who will be coming in from Bethune Cookman. I am anxious to see what we will have on the corners. If we can save runs on defense out there, that is just as good as driving runs in. This will probably be more kids than we have had in the past.”
Everything, however, will not be a mystery when the Miners welcome the Johnstown Mill Rats to Linda K. Epling Stadium Wednesday for the season opener.
“I think overall we have six or seven No. 3 hitters in the line-up. I don’t know if we will hit a lot of balls out of the park, but with the guys that have hit in the middle of the line-up, we feel like we can move some people around and manufacture stuff,” Epling said.
The Miners will also be solid behind the plate with the return of Zach Doss from Shepherd University along with several other solid prospects.
“Our catchers are all first-team all-conference catchers. Zach is back with us and he talked about how last year helped him out so much,” Epling said. “He made first-team all-conference in the (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference). The PSAC is probably the second best Division II conference in the country.”
A name that Epling feels fans will get to know quickly is Paris Junior College product Barrett Riebock who will man centerfield. Riebock swiped 58 bases and was only caught stealing six times.
The ultimate success of the Miners this year will be based on the development of the players and how they handle the rigors of playing baseball almost everyday this summer.
“There is motivation to get back to the playoffs, but every team is different. My mindset has changed a little bit,” Epling said. “We teach kids how to compete. If you do the competitive stuff, one pitch at a time, everything will take care of itself.
“There is a part of the mental game that these kids have not experienced,” the Miners skipper went on to say. “It is easy to go to college, play a handful of games, go back to school, get rested up and play again. This is the first time they will experience getting tired from both travel and play with hardly having any days off. The mental side is what they will have to fight through and see where it goes. My goal is to get these kids into professional baseball. We still had six guys last year sign pro contracts. We are over 90 players now in the pro’s in just over 12 years.”
Wednesday’s opened will start at 6:35 p.m. and the two teams will meet at the same time Thursday at Linda K. Epling Stadium.
The Miners will then travel to Chillicothe Friday before returning home to face the Paints Saturday. The first fireworks display of the year will follow Saturday’s game.