By Steve Mims
Springfield’s roster is almost set and the travel itinerary is nearly finalized.
“We’ve got some 10-day contract guys to still pick up, but we are to the point now where we are putting together day-to-day plans,” new Drifters coach Jeff Lyle said. “It is getting real.”
The Drifters are less than six weeks away from starting their fourth season in the West Coast League against Walla Walla on May 30th at Hamlin Sports Complex. Springfield opens the 59-game summer schedule with eight straight home games and plenty of hometown players will be on the roster.
Thurston High School senior Connor Molony, who has signed to play at the University of Oregon next year, will be on the pitching staff along with Kaden Starr, a Marist grad playing at University of Portland. Bushnell’s Blake Stavros, a Willamette High grad, will also be on the mound for the Drifters.
Michigan infielder Cooper Mullens, who played at Marist, and University of Portland’s Nolan Miller, who prepped at Sheldon, will be in the lineup.
“It’s a good roster,” Lyle said. “For my first year here, we got some local kids back and that was a big deal to us. I know this community and sometimes there are good players in the area that go off and play college elsewhere and are not back home again for four years. To get Kaden Starr and Blake Stavros, guys like Molony, Miller and Mullens and keep them home was a big deal for us.”
The current roster features 27 players, but as Lyle mentioned, some temporary additions will need to be made to start the season.
“If nobody gets hurt, this is pretty much our roster,” Lyle said. “We have done the preliminary work on our guys to see their last day of school and when the conference tournaments ends and we will need about 10 guys on 10-day contracts because there are a lot of guys whose conference tournament ends on May 27th. You might think we don’t start until the 30th, so they will be here, but a kid from Fordham is not taking three days to get here after his last game of the season.”
The WCL season begins right as many college seasons end so it forces teams to be flexible on the roster.
“Honestly, it’s really crazy because in a collegiate summer league it is tough to know exactly what you are getting,” Lyle said. “Being my first year, we got started a bit later than a lot of teams so we are really young, but our roster has players from good schools like Oregon, Michigan, USC, Grant Canyon, UNLV and Portland.”
Pitcher Carl Legrone arrives from UNLV along with catcher Kaden Schuck and outfielder Demetriz Lewis Jr. Catcher Isaiah Ibarra and infielder Logan Honma have signed to play at USC next year while infielder Austin Matranga is at Grand Canyon University.
Mullens is bringing Michigan teammate Joonsung Park with him while catcher Caden Young plays at Fordham. Junior-college outfielder Jeremy Comer has signed to play at Oregon.
Lyle, who was born in Eugene before moving to Arroyo Grande, Calif. as a youngster, played baseball at Merced Junior College before moving back to Eugene in 2004 to coach youth baseball.
He spent a couple years at Thurston High School before taking a job as a scout with the Atlanta Braves. In 2008, he began a nine-year run as an assistant baseball coach at Lane Community College.
Lyle spent the summer of 2012 in the West Coast League as pitching coach of the Klamath Falls Gems and later worked with the Medford Rogues in the WCL and Great West League, including a GWL championship in 2017.
He helped coach an American Legion team in Casper, Wyo. in 2018-19 before assisting the Springfield Timbers in American Legion during the summer of 2019. He served as hitting coach of the Ogden Raptors in the independent Pioneer League in 2021 before spending the next two years in the same role with the Missoula Paddleheads of the Pioneer League.
Lyle, who bought a home about one mile from Hamlin with his fiancé, Amy Coates, was hired by the Drifters in November.
His staff includes pitching coach Dean Stiles, another Eugene native who has coached for more than 40 years including college stints at the University of Oregon, San Jose State and Florida International. He has also coached in the pros with the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Dean will handle all the pitchers and be our bench coach,” Lyle said. “It is so weird because Dean and I have been best friends for 20 years and coached together before, but usually I am his right-hand man and now this is a role reversal. In our eyes, we are just coaches who work together. My name will be on the bottom of the lineup card this year and I will help him with some pitching stuff and he will help me with hitters and infielders. We will handle in-game management together. He’s my guy and he’s free to do whatever he needs to do.
Matt Hubbs, a 2016 Willamette High School grad who played at Lane Community College, returns for a second straight year on the staff.
“Matt is the MVP of this staff, he does a lot of stuff for us,” Lyle said. “He heads ups our analytics and he’s the only guy returning from last year, so he knows how the whole facility works and how it is all set up. Dean and I are leaning on him because we have been in pro ball the last few years, so we ask Matt to help us in college and West Coast League stuff.”
