Rogers heads up East All-Stars Mount Ararat graduate among nominees for Mr. Baseball

Fifty of Maine’s top schoolboy baseball players will converge on Mahaney Diamond at the University of Maine at Orono on Friday night for the 12th annual Maine High School Senior All-Star Baseball Game.

Among them will be Mark Rogers, the hard-throwing righthander from Mount Ararat of Topsham who was the 2004 Gatorade National Player of the Year and the fifth overall pick in the June 7 amateur draft by the Milwaukee Brewers.

Rogers, who was selected to the East squad, will be on hand along with his father Craig, the Mount Ararat coach who earned a berth on the East staff by leading the Eagles to the Eastern Maine Class A title.

“Both of them plan to be there,” said Stephanie Rogers, Mark’s mother and Craig’s wife. “I’m not sure in what capacity Mark will be there in, but he plans to be there.”

Mark Rogers is not expected to pitch in the game, but he is considered the favorite to win the Dr. John Winkin Award that will be presented before the nine-inning contest, which is set to start at 7 p.m. That honor, presented to the top state’s senior player, is considered the Mr. Baseball award for Maine.

Rogers is one of four finalists for the Winkin award, along with Adam Vachon of Cony of Augusta, Ryan Reid of Deering of Portland and Ryan Copp of Greely of Cumberland Center.

Rogers flew to Arizona on Wednesday to set up living arrangements in anticipation of joining the Brewers’ rookie league team in Maryvale, Ariz., once he signs a contract with the National League club. He was scheduled to return to Maine on Thursday.

“He went out there to set up a bank account and things like that,” said Stephanie Rogers.

Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel in Thursday’s editions that he expected negotiations between the club and Rogers’ representative, Steve Springer, to be concluded by the end of the week.

“That’s the way it’s looking,” Melvin told the Journal-Sentinel. “We don’t expect any problems. One of the reasons we drafted him was because we thought we could sign him fairly quickly and get his career started.”

According to estimates from the baseball commissioner’s office, the Orrs Island native is in line for a signing bonus of about $2.3 million.

The 25-player East and West rosters for this year’s senior all-star game include fairly balanced representation from the top three classes – 18 players from Class A, 14 from Class B, 14 from Class C and four from Class D.

Four players – Reid, Harrison Hines of George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill, and Dan Bartlett and Matt Curran of North Yarmouth Academy – are coming off state-championship seasons at their high schools.

Six others – Rogers and Brent Williams of Mount Ararat, Bill Bart and Phil Cayford of Hermon, and Ryan Turgeon and Ian Pullen of St. Dominic – won regional titles this spring.

Craig Rogers, Mark Farnham of Hermon and Dan Kane of George Stevens will coach the East team. Randy Harris of Lee Academy also earned a spot on the East coaching staff but will be unable to attend, according to all-star game director Ray Cota.

West coaches are Mike D’Andrea of Deering, Todd Day of Cape Elizabeth, Allan Turgeon of St. Dominic and Bruce Poliquin of North Yarmouth Academy.