Osprey watch: Roster coming soon
Missoula Osprey career home runs leader Bobby Stone will begin his third season in Missoula on Monday. Photo by TOM BAUER/Missoulian
Just a week after the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, the O’s parent club, the Arizona Diamondbacks, is slowly beginning to reveal who will make up Missoula’s opening day roster when the team begins the 2010 Pioneer League campaign Monday night in Helena.
In the next 48 hours, we should know a lot more about the team than the eight players who have currently been assigned to play for the Osprey. Most likely, that information will come Wednesday or early Thursday – the Osprey are slated to arrive in Missoula on Thursday evening and hope to work out at Ogren-Allegiance Park on Friday.
Since the draft was completed, I’ve kept a close eye on the transactions wire. But I’ve yet to see any indication that a single player from this year’s draft has signed a contract with the D-backs.
That makes me wonder if Missoula’s roster will see multiple changes over the course of the first month of the season as draftees begin to sign on the dotted line.
The Diamondbacks can’t evaluate new talent and assign freshly-signed players to a minor league team without working them out. That leads me to believe the Osprey will be heavy on players who have previously been in the D-backs’ system when the season begins.
And that’s good news for Osprey fans. Over the years I’ve noticed the division-rival Billings Mustangs, who always field a competitive club, tend to stock their team with players who have at least a year of professional experience.
It’s no secret the transition from the high school or college ranks to even the lowest level of pro ball isn’t easy and sometimes a titanic struggle. Most of the hitters have little experience with a wood bat, often making the first few weeks in the minors an adventure at the plate. And the pitchers have never faced lineups with professional-grade hitters in all nine spots in the order.
If as I suspect, the majority of the original Osprey roster will feature those with minor league experience, it’s quite possible Missoula will have and early upper hand in claiming the league’s first-half championship and guarantee the Osprey a spot in the PBL playoffs.
– Michael Heinbach