The Valley League website is doing a really cool thing this year- team previews!

This is a great idea to raise the level of interest and knowledge even before the season starts (which is the end of next week, by the way!). Keep in mind, of course, that things can change drastically in the league from one day to the next. It’s quite possible that the players who are planning to come to the Valley won’t be able to for some reason or other. Each article highlights a couple players who are planning to play for that team, along with any awards they may have earned along the way. I strongly encourage everyone to take a look!

All of the articles can be found under the “News”  link on the home page of the website.

Here are the first five on the website! (Click on the team name to see the entire article)

1. Woodstock RiverBandits: The biggest, most important returner to Woodstock is head coach Philip Betterly, back for his third season. (I’ve found that coaches that have experience in the league can be pretty important to team success.) The team returns only one player: righthander Greg Ostner. One other important addition is coach Donn Foltz, who was the head coach in Woodstock from 2004 to 2010.

2. New Market Rebels (written by Dom Calandra): The Rebels also return their head coach, C.J. Rhodes. He will be assisted in part by former VBLer Jeff Jefferson, who played with the Luray Wranglers for three years- 2008-2010. They also return four players: shortstop Brandon Gum (named the 3rd best hitter in the league by this website), catcher Walker Haymaker, righthander Jake Perkins, and righthander Joshua Falbo.

3. Harrisonburg Turks (written by Brian Reese): The Turks, coming off a season in which they had the best regular season record in the league by far, are expecting a whopping 13 players to return to Harrisonburg from 2013. The list includes infielder Thomas Smith, who was ATVL’s #2 hitter in the league, Logan Onda, the #5 reliever, Connor Kaden, the #15 starter, and Eric Kalbfleisch, the #6 hitter. Of course, the head coach, Bob Wease, also returns. If all four of those players return (plus the other nine), it would seem that the Turks should be preseason favorites for another regular season title.

4. Winchester Royals (written by Michael Lynch): The Royals had a tough year in 2013, going 13-30, one game worse than Rockbridge. The team will have a new skipper for 2014, but not a new face to the Valley- Stu Richardson, who owned the Woodstock franchise from 2004 to 2009. Winchester has one player returning from last year: Wesley Hoover.

5. Front Royal Cardinals (written by Michael Lynch): The Cardinals also have a new head coach, Brad Neffendorf, but he, like Richardson, is not new to the Valley: he served as Winchester’s pitching coach in 2011. Neffendorf will be assisted by Keaton Neeb, who played for three seasons in the Valley: Winchester in 2010 and 2011, and Front Royal AND Harrisonburg in 2012. The article does not list any returners.