Miners hope to return to winning ways
May 9—More than a decade into existence, the West Virginia Miners have been through a lot since their debut in 2010.
"This will be our 12th year. We've had the good, the bad and the ugly," Miners manager Tim Epling said, laughing.
Undoubtedly, the bulk of the bad and ugly came over the last three seasons (not counting the 2020 cancellation due to the coronavirus). That includes the 2019 season, when the Miners went a franchise-worst 18-42. They followed that up last summer by just missing out on winning the first half of the season, only to have the bottom fall out in the second half, when they won just seven games after mounting injuries and several players calling it a summer.
The Miners will try to get things turned around and return to the good that has been missing since 2016 — when they won their third Prospect League championship — with the season opener on June 1 against Johnstown at Linda K. Epling Stadium.
Epling, who returned to the dugout last summer after resigning before the 2019 season, is looking forward to getting more normalcy and consistency this year. And he's cautiously optimistic about the players he is bringing aboard.
"I'm excited about the year that they're having (in college)," Epling said. "But things change when they get here. I've had guys who had good numbers come in here and just not be able to handle it. Then I've had guys who have not had good numbers come in here and just kill it. It's just one of those things you have to deal with."
Among those players is Barrett Riebock, an outfielder at Paris (Texas) Junior College. The 6-foot-1, 175-pound freshman leads the National Junior College Athletic Association with 58 stolen bases.
Epling said that fits into what the Miners plan to do offensively this season.
"We'll be able to manufacture runs and do some things, based on what we have. We have a lot of speed," he said. "I look for us to be able to put pressure on people this year. We haven't really done that in the past couple of years like I used to; you have to make adjustments based on what you have."
That speed will also come in handy on defense, a philosophy Epling says he took from the Kansas City Royals and manager Ned Yost, who he got to know during his days as a Minor League umpire.
"We've got some guys that can track down balls, because runs that you save in the outfield, that's just as good as getting an RBI," Epling said.
Catcher Jake Killingsworth, who plays at Wallace Community College-Dothan, leads the Alabama Community College Conference in batting (.427) and runs batted in (57). He transferred to Wallace after playing his freshman season at UAB of Conference USA.
Epling and assistant coaches A.B. Brown, John Odom and Greg Turner are also optimistic about infielders Blake Lazaris (Trinity International; .376, 9 HR, 40 RBI) and Colton Olasin (Bethune-Cookman, .257, 28 R).
Ben Cornelius, a 6-foot, 205-pound left-hander, is 3-1 with a 4.76 earned run average and has thrown three complete games for Union College. He is averaging 11.81 strikeouts per nine innings.
Three members of the 2021 Miners will be back this summer: LHP Andrew Talkington, catcher Zach Doss and outfielder Brennan Holmes.
Also, right-handed pitcher Peyton Brown, an Alice Lloyd product who graduated from Scott High School, was briefly with the team last summer.
Email: gfauber@register-herald.com; follow on Twitter @gfauber5
