Last week the La Crosse Loggers announced the signings of their first two pitchers for 2010. Today, they know who they’ll be throwing the baseball to as team officials announced the signing of a pair of freshman catchers in Bennet Pickar (Oral Roberts) and Chris O’Dowd (Dartmouth).

Highly touted freshman Bennet Pickar turned down an offer from the Atlanta Braves this past spring when they selected him in the 15th round of the 2009 MLB Draft out of Eaton High School (Colo.). At 6-2, 200 pounds Pickar is a very athletic backstop who has tremendous potential at the collegiate ranks and in the future as a pro.

As a senior in high school, Pickar batted .603 with 11 doubles, four home runs and 33 RBI, landing a spot on the Denver Post All-Colorado first team. He led Eaton to consecutive Class 3A state titles as a junior and senior. This past summer Pickar batted .416-10-60 for the Greeley GoJo Sports American Legion squad, which won the Colorado state championship.

Chris O’Dowd, the son of Colorado Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd, is certainly use to being around high levels of baseball. The switch-hitting, very athletic catcher was drafted in the 40th round of the 2009 MLB Draft by the Oakland Athletics, but chose to pursue his hard-earned education and further his baseball career at Dartmouth University in the Ivy League.

O’Dowd hit over .500 as a senior at Regis Jesuit High School (Aurora, Colo.) and was selected to play in the annual Top 50 Prep Senior All-Star Game, which happened to take place at his father’s office, Coors Field, in June of this past year. O’Dowd impressed scouts while there when he hit a home run over the Frontier Airlines sign at Coors Field.

The elder O’Dowd has served as the general manager of the Rockies for the past 10 seasons. Before taking the reins of the Rockies, he spent the past 15 years working for the Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Indians.