One of the main concerns Red Deer Riggers manager Curtis Bailey has each season is pitching depth.
That doesn’t appear to have changed this year, in fact two of last year’s starters — Brent Lazzarotto and Colin Hodgson — won’t be back.
“We have a good core of veterans and a couple solid newcomers, but pitching depth is a concern, as usual,” said Bailey, who has 13 veterans on the roster, although both Delton Kruk and Alex Fay are part time.
The Riggers do have left-hander James Dykstra back on the mound along with Joel Peterman and newcomer Brant Stickel, who was in the Los Angeles Dodgers chain for a time and is now living in Camrose.
Stickel, a six-foot-four left-hander from Stettler, is expected to see his first action with the Riggers Tuesday when they host the St. Albert Tigers in their Sunburst Baseball League opener at 6:30 p.m. at Great Chief Park.
The other new face on the roster for sure is catcher Curtis Mazurkewich, who played college in Texas.
“There’s some talk a couple other younger kids who played midget last year, are interested as well,” said Bailey.
Jaret Chatwood, who has caught the last couple of years will see more action at third base and on the mound this year while Jason Chatwood returns at shortstop, Denver Wik at second and Matt Fay at first.
Mike Ronnie, who can also play third, Bailey, Shayne Court, Jordan Weinkauf and Mark Fay are in the outfield.
“I like what I see and if we stay healthy we’ll be alright,” added Bailey.
Bailey also likes the fact the Sunburst League means something this season. The winner will represent the province in the Canadians next season.
“That’s a change, which has been discussed for a couple of years. There’s more on the line for the league games, which in the past didn’t mean that much and teams didn’t take it as seriously as they could have.”
Teams also can’t just add players for the provincials, they need to play five league games to qualify.
“That’s better as well,” continued Bailey. “It takes away from teams just suddenly coming up with guys for the provincials and forces players to be more dedicated.”
If other teams in the province wish to challenge for the provincials they can do so with the league semifinals a best-of-three and the final a best-of-five.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com