Range Riders start hitting town in a week

In one week 45 baseball players, give or take, will be in Kalispell preparing for a short training camp, with the goal of playing in the Pioneer League.

Nick Hogan, the 35-year-old manager of the Glacier Range Riders, bench/hitting coach Stu Pederson and general manager Erik Moore are tasked with whittling nearly four dozen players down to 25 ahead of the 2022 season. That begins May 23, on the road, with five games against the Rocky Mountain Vibe in Colorado Springs.

Things are about to speed up.

“We have probably about 45 players coming into town on the eighth,” Moore said last week. “Then we’ll be doing a spring training-slash-tryout camp. That will last a couple weeks, and then we’ll make cuts so we can get on the road on the 21st.”

“We’ll do the medical clearance and all that,” said Hogan, a veteran coach in the Sun Belt Summer League in Georgia whose relationship with the Range Riders’ owners, the Kelly family, dates back to 2012. “Then we’ll really get cranked up on the 10th.”

Hogan envisions a team of excellent players and people, who’ll entertain baseball fans in the Flathead Valley in the summer and potentially add to the local workforce when the season ends.

“Guys that got overlooked and are college graduates, or are close, and want the opportunity to compete at this level,” he said. “Our hope is these guys like it out here, stick around and maybe be a part of the community.”

Ten players have signed contracts, which if it doesn’t necessarily guarantee a spot on the team gives them pretty good odds.

“We’ll build a team around defense, good speed and strike throwers,” said Hogan. “We have some really good middle infielders coming out, where we can keep most and disperse the rest to other positions.”

Two players that have signed are out of Georgia’s Gwinnett College. Last June, roughly 5 1/2 hours from Kalispell, Gabe Howell and Griffin Keller helped the Grizzlies win the NAIA championship in Lewiston, Idaho.

Howell, from Georgia, hit .373 with 10 homers and 64 runs batted in. Keller, from Pilot Butte, Saskatchewan, had an even gaudier slashline: .469 average, 18 homers, 89 RBIs.

“I don’t know why he didn’t get drafted,” Hogan said of Keller. “His numbers say he should have been.”

Work visas for Canadian players — the Range Riders have also signed infielder Cole Warken out of Regina, and he’s hit .319 over three summer league seasons — could be problematic, but roster changes are nothing new to the PL.

Example: Last year Missoula got off to a great start, lost several players to Major League development contracts and kept rolling to the league championship.

“I’ve worked with the Kelly family the last seven or eight years, working with their summer league team,” Hogan said. “Being new to the league, we want to put our best product on the field for the fans of the Flathead Valley. We have some good players under contract and some good candidates coming into camp.”

Hogan noted he expects at least some of the tryouts to be open to the public: They’ll find a spot and invite people out to watch the players go through the paces.

The Range Riders are still looking for host families. Information on that and season and single-game ticket sales can be found at www.gorangeriders.com.

“We’re making great headway,” Moore said. “We’re looking for just a few more, and then we’ll be good to go. The community has been very positive and receptive to that.”

Hogan says this aspect of his job has cost him sleep more than any other. Finding the right match for a ballplayer or ballplayers isn’t simple. The goal is to “do everything we can to make their lives easier, so they can keep their focus on baseball.”

Flathead Field, nearing completion on McDermott Lane, should help. The home opener is June 14, when Billings starts a nine-game home stand.

“Chris Kelly has done an outstanding job of designing and putting this all together,” Hogan said. “This stadium is going to be, in my opinion, one of the best setups in minor league baseball.

“It’s been challenging but it’s been a lot of fun. I think the Flathead community is going to really appreciate what we have to offer. A team to call their own, so they don’t have to make that two-hour drive to Missoula.”