Third chance paying off for Howell, Range Riders

In 2020 Gabe Howell was enjoying what he called his second chance: Four years after being drafted by the Atlanta Braves, he was hitting .396 for the Savannah Bananas of the Coastal Plains (Summer) League.

That’s because his pro career lasted all of seven games. The 20th-round draft pick fractured a thumb playing in the Gulf Coast League, missed the rest of the season and was released.

Which makes this year the third chance for Howell, who a year ago dove for a ball and injured his glove-side shoulder in the first game for the Glacier Range Riders.

“Dislocated my shoulder and tore my labrum,” Howell said Wednesday, before Glacier’s Pioneer League game against the Missoula PaddleHeads. “First game of the year. I just kept grinding through it but it popped out four or five more times after that.

“We finally decided I needed surgery.”

It was a tough call: He was hitting .358 for the Range Riders at the time, with five home runs in 23 games.

Now, batting leadoff and playing shortstop for the 11-7 Range Riders, the 25-year-old is back playing professionally, enjoying opportunity No. 3.

“Seems like it,” he said, smiling. “God keeps giving me chances. Gotta take it and run with it, right?”

Through 18 games Howell leads the Pioneer League in walks (22), ranks third in steals (10; teammate Crews Taylor is co-leader at 12), is fourth in on-base percentage (.511) and 11th in runs scored (20). He’s also hitting .348.

Howell is the easy choice as leadoff man for the Range Riders, who open a 3-game home set against Missoula Friday.

“He’s probably the best shortstop in the league, as far as the whole package,” Glacier manager Stu Pedersen said. “He can hit, field, run … he’s the whole package. There’s a reason he played affiliated ball, why he was drafted.

“He does what you want. He gets on base, and he also has some juice in his bat where he could hit doubles, home runs. He proved that last year.”

Howell feels good, though he no longer goes head-first on his steal attempts.

“No I don’t,” he said. “But that’s just cautionary. Though I think it’s quicker to steal, feet-first.”

It was former Range Riders’ manager Nick Hogan that contacted Howell about coming to Montana in 2022. Baseball had taken Howell a lot of places, including to Lewiston, Idaho, where his Georgia Gwinnett squad won the 2021 NAIA World Series.

“I went up to finish the season in the Frontier League with the (Washington, Pa.) Wild Things,” Howell said. “At the end of that season, (Hogan) got in touch. They were the first team to call me back. I jumped at the opportunity.”

Minus the current 3-game skid, all on the road (the Range Riders are 5-1 at Glacier Bank Park), things have gone well in Year II. That goes for Howell, and his team.

“Last year, I felt like I was swinging the bat well, and seeing the ball well,” he said. “It felt like everything was going right. That’s usually when things go wrong, especially in this sport, you know? There’s ups and down, it comes around and goes around, you’ve got the 3-for-4 days and the oh-for-4 days.

“Coming back in, the main goal was being healthy. (But) I’m not doing too bad at the plate, we’re winning… The Range Riders are hot.”

Speaking of thumbs, it was that digit that cost catcher Keegan O’Brien his season. He was hitting .412 in four games with the Range Riders, but took a foul tip off his throwing hand in Glacier’s home opener on May 30.

“It was unfortunate he got hurt,” Pedersen said. “He’s pretty much done for the year. I told him to go home and get ready and maybe next he’d have the opportunity to come back.”

The Range Riders have had some turnover at the position. Drew Sims and Austin Bates, two familiar names from last year, have been hurt though Bates has returned.

The good news is that Nevada product Matt Clayton, who’d driven in from California the day before, was ready to take over on May 30. He’s hit .352 in 14 games, with four home runs. He put a ball in the Clark Fork River on Tuesday.

“We lost Drew Sims in spring training, but we went and got a guy, Matt Clayton, who;s come in and done a really fine job,” Pedersen said.

Then he added that the quest for talent is never-ending, injuries or no.

“I told the guys all the time, we’re always looking. We’ll never stop looking for talent,” Pedersen said. “We’ll have some guys coming in a week or two that could replace guys that aren’t playing well. It’s just the nature of the beast.”

CLIFF NOTES: Pedersen hopes to get pitcher Michael YaSenka on the bump soon. “He’ll be a good addition. He’s got a chance to be one of the better pitchers in this league. He’s pitched AA baseball, he’s 93 to 95. He has the resume.” … The Range Riders activated infielder Dean Miller Tuesday, and he went 3-for-4 with two doubles in Wednesday’s 7-3 loss to the PaddleHeads. … Glacier’s team batting average of .301 ranks sixth out of 10 teams. Missoula leads at .342. Missoula also leads in team earned run average at 4.06 and Glacier is third at 5.26.

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