Well, we’re just about ready to fire up another Valley League season! While we’re all impatiently waiting for Friday’s start of the season, here are the last four team previews published on the league website.

1. Staunton Braves (written by Dom Calandra): The Braves are returning a large number of players from last year- in fact, the second most in the league, behind Harrisonburg. The biggest returners are first baseman James Vazquez, ATVL’s #4 hitter from 2013, infielder Tommy Williams, and righthander Chris Huffman. They also return their manager, George Laase, which may be the best news of all. Laase will be assisted by Jeremy Thorne, a former pro pitcher who threw for the Braves in 2005 (and Waynesboro in 2006). This looks to be a strong team!

2. Charles Town Cannons (written by Brian Reese): The Cannons return their president and head coach, Brett Fuller, along with one of the best starters from 2013, Adam Parks (the #6 starter in the league, according to ATVL). Adam threw the game of the year last year- a 7-inning perfect game against Woodstock in June. Matthew Gandy, who played in Covington in 2013, will share catching duties. Two other items of interest: Justin Harris stole 44 bases at Emporia State this spring, and righthanded reliever Forrest Arnold is 6-10, which would make him the tallest Valley Leaguer, probably, since Harrisonburg’s Jon Rauch.

3. Covington Lumberjacks (written by Dom Calandra): The ‘Jacks’ new head coach, Charlie Bernhert, will be tasked with turning the Covington franchise back to its previous winning ways in 2014. He’ll have two returners to help him accomplish that: untility player Demetrius Moorer and catcher John Wilson. Covington finished 17-27 in 2013, and the franchise has not had a winning record since 2008 (although the team advanced to the finals in 2009 after a 21-23 regular season).

4. Strasburg Express (written by Brian Reese): Jay and Parker Neal are still running the organization, but Strasburg has a new coach this year: Ben Moore, an assistant at Randolph-Macon. The Express have five players returning this summer, including David Hafer, from Rider, who is the first three-year player for Strasburg. The biggest name they have coming is probably Scotty Ward, from Florida Tech, who had a 1.98 ERA this spring.