Salt Lake Bees: Counting on new faces in new places

SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake Bees will open the season tonight in Las Vegas, where the Bees will field a team that has a number of new faces at key positions.

But that's not a bad thing according to manager Bobby Mitchell.

It means several of the veteran Bees of the past few seasons are now getting opportunities on a bigger stage.

Gone are long-time Bees like Brandon Wood, Bobby Wilson and Terry Evans — who made the opening-day roster of the parent Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. And Sean Rodriguez, the Bees' second baseman the past two seasons, is now with the Tampa Bay Rays, while corner infielder Matt Brown is in the Texas Rangers' organization.

"I'm excited about this year and all the new guys," said Mitchell at the team's media day Wednesday afternoon at Spring Mobile Ballpark. "We're going to have to do more teaching, which is always fun for me. The young guys are all excited to be here. ... They are eager to learn and they work hard, and I look for a really big season from all of them. Hopefully, as the season goes on, we'll get better and better."

The Bees will feature several of the top young prospects in the Angels' organization, including today's starting pitcher Trevor Reckling, a 20-year-old lefty who had a 2.93 earned-run average in Double-A Arkansas last season. Other top newcomers include catcher Hank Conger, center fielder Peter Bourjos and first baseman Mark Trumbo.

Salt Lake will have some veterans as well — headed by third baseman Freddy Sandoval, catcher Ryan Budde and outfielder Nate Gourneault, one of the all-time leaders in many Bees offensive statistics even though he last played in Salt Lake in 2007.

The Bees will open the season with a four-game set in Las Vegas against the 51s and then will stay in Nevada but travel north for another four games against the Reno Aces. The home-opener will be April 16 against Tacoma.

Here's a look at the 2010 Bees by position:

INFIELDERS

With Freddy Sandoval at third and Gary Patchett at shortstop, the left side of the infield has plenty of experience with the Bees. The right side of the infield is new with Hainley Statia at second base and Mark Trumbo at first. Nate Sutton, who spent most of last season with Arkansas but played in 24 games for the Bees, will be the utility player who can play all the infield and outfield positions.