Thursday, December 30, 2010

New Year's 9

The arrival of New Year's Day means . . .
  1. Nasty weather. A week ago they were predicting a beautiful New Year's Eve, light jacket weather for those who plan to be out and about. I predicted NOT. New Year's always brings nasty weather. And, true to form, the high Friday is supposed to be around 60. and then that afternoon and evening the temperature is going to drop like a can of corn and hit 20 by the time 2011 arrives.

  2. The most non-productive week of the year. Nobody wants to do much of anything at work during the week between Christmas and New Year's. Me? I'm writing a blog post about how nobody wants to do anything productive during the week between Christmas and New Year's.

  3. Darkness. I drive to work before the sun comes up. I drive home after the sun is going down. It's too cold to go out and do much of anything. There's nothing on TV but bowl games and reruns of Glee (aka, Muzak disguised as a sit-com). No wonder so many people are depressed this time of year.

  4. College Football is finally going to be over. Can there be anything less exciting than a sport that plays only 11-12 games in a season, punctuated at the end by a meaningless bowl game? Picture that schedule being applied to basketball or baseball. It's laughable, right? So why does it make sense for football?

  5. The new BBCOR bat standards go into effect on January 1st, bringing about significant changes to the style of baseball we've gotten used to in college baseball. It will be interesting to see how it all works out.

  6. Looking back. Every program, every magazine, every blog (except this one) has a Top Stories of the Year list. The first one is mildly interesting, and then they start to blur together. And when I look back on MY 2010, hardly any of those Top Stories rank in my top 10. My family moved, my job got crazy, my best baseball buddy moved away, a dear friend was released from prison after 32 years, my son experienced major changes in his life, a former foster child came back into our lives after nearly two decades, my father died, and I discovered the truth that every Baby Boomer discovers, that I'm now responsible for a parent in need. Those are the stories that really impacted my life.

  7. New Year's Resolutions. Lots of people make them. Few keep them. There's a good read and a unique take on the subject at Titus2Tea. What's your 1 resolution for 1/1/11?

  8. Mid-Winter Baseball Deprivation Blues. This time of year I'm reminded of a scene from Field of Dreams. Ray Kinsella has built the field and then waits for weeks and months while nothing happens. there's a quick scene during the holidays. His relatives are in the background making merry, and he's sitting and looking out the window at the snow-covered field. Waiting. New Year's is the low spot for most baseball fans, the middle of the long off-season wait.

  9. New Year's Eve marks exactly 7 weeks until Opening Day of the 2011 College Baseball season! The season ticket renewal forms will be in the mail any day now. The announcement of the date for the First Pitch Celebration will be made any day now. Mizzou-RAH!!!

    Those who think the baseball world revolves around the Major Leagues have 13 weeks until opening day. No wonder they're depressed.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Top 9 Online College Baseball Resources: Boyd's World

We're taking a look at my top 9 favorite (in no particular order) online resources for College Baseball information.

BoydsWorld.com used to earn my uncontested my vote as the #1 online resource for College Baseball.

It's still a great website, but Boyd Nation has moved on to other (more profitable) interests and now sells his incredibly detailed stats and analysis of college baseball players and trends to those with the big bucks to pay for it, like major league baseball and scouting groups.

He used to write a weekly column called Breadcrumbs Back to Omaha, for which devoted college baseball fans would eagerly wait and then argue about for days (or weeks . . . or years). He no longer writes that column, but the archives are available on the website and worth your while to read. All of them. Trust me.

Here's an example from a 2005 column on The Racial Composition of College Baseball:

Here then, are the numbers for the 8,591 players checked:
  • White 90.4%
  • Black 5.3%
  • Hispanic 3.5%
  • Asian 0.3%
  • Pacific Islander 0.4%
The number for black participation is skewed in a way that needs to be mentioned. If the two HBCU [historical black colleges and universities] conferences are removed from the numbers, that number drops to 2.7%, which is much closer to the generally perceived number.

"Asian", in the college game, means something different than in the professional sense. While almost all Major Leaguers of Asian descent are from the Far East, in college the numbers of players of Far Eastern and Middle Eastern descent are roughly equal, with a couple of Indian ancestry thrown into the mix.

The Pacific Islanders are highly concentrated in the two Hawaii schools, of course, but are present in reasonable amounts in many of the Western schools. This is in contrast to MLB, where as far as I know at this time, the presence of Pacific Islanders depends entirely on whether Shane Komine is with the A's or in AAA.
Be sure to read the rest of that article and check out the other archived articles.

Even without the weekly Breadcrumbs, what makes the site still worth frequent visits during the season are the sabermetric rankings and lists that he updates frequently (some of them daily), including his Pseudo-RPI, Strength of Schedule, Iterative Strength Ratings (ISR), Individual Leader Board, and the Pitch Count Watch.

All of these are great for knowing just how Mizzou and Mizzou players rank among other teams and players in D-1 baseball.

Also be sure to spend some time rummaging around in The Filing Cabinet.

And check out the Team Schedule Calendars. When he updates them for 2011, you can download MU's entire schedule to your Outlook calendar or Apple Calendar.

Like d1baseball.com, boydsworld.com is a plain vanilla site as far as graphics and flashy stuff (an intentional choice by Boyd Nation). But it is a treasure trove of information.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

MU in the Majors: Justin James

A little late news . . .

Brewers claim RHP Justin James off waivers from Oakland (mlb.com)
The Milwaukee Brewers today claimed RHP Justin James off waivers from Oakland and selected C Martin Maldonado from Triple-A Nashville. Both players have been added to the 40-man roster.
. . .
James, 29, went a combined 2-1 with 1.83 ERA (39.1ip, 8er) and 5 saves in 28 appearances between Double-A Midland and Triple-A Sacramento in 2010. He went 0-0 with a 4.50 ERA (4ip, 2er) in 5 appearances as a September call-up with Oakland while making his Major League debut this season. He had his contract purchased by Oakland from Kansas City of the independent Northern League in June. James was drafted by the Blue Jays in the fifth round of the 2003 First-Year Player Draft and was traded to Cincinnati on December 5, 2007. He is currently pitching in the Arizona Fall League.

James waiver claim (brewers.mlbblogs.com)
"I found out about the claim just before today's game," James said. "When I found out, you know you don't have control over that stuff, you just want to compete. Being here in the Fall League really opens up a lot of other doors for you as a player and for many people to see you. There are a large number of scouts at every game watching everyone."

James has bounced around throughout his career between the Reds, Blue Jays and A's organizations as well as a stint in 2009 in the Independent Northern League with Kansas City. He made his Major League debut this season with the A's.

"If I'm not pitching for Oakland or another organization, I might as well be pitching for the Brewers. I really am looking forward to being with Milwaukee and I think I can help the organization win. I want to finish up strong here in Arizona with the Fall League, do what I did last year and come back ready to go in Spring Training."


■ And an interesting message board conversation about Justin James on brewerfandemonium.com

Monday, December 27, 2010

MU in the Minors

Twins pitching prospect Kyle Gibson looks forward to taking the mound at Target Field (twincities.com)
The Twins had intended to have him pitch in the Arizona Instructional League, but Gibson (07-09) reminded them he was going to be married during that time. In fact, as we spoke by phone the other day, he and his new bride were wrapping Christmas presents. He's aware the Twins are in need of starting pitching, especially if Carl Pavano signs elsewhere.

Said Rantz: "He's kind of on the fast track. To be upfront, obviously he'll be in the mix at spring training. But we see him at Triple A with a chance to see the majors next year."

"I'm getting pretty excited," Gibson said, "but I'm trying not to overthink it. I'll show up and work hard with whoever I'm working with. They'll send me wherever they send me, and I hope to throw well and have a year like last year. Hopefully, even better."

More 2011 Schedule info

Oklahoma State released their 2011 schedule, which confirms the dates for the MU-OSU series on April 8,9,10 in Stillwater. We now have the scheduled times as well (6:30, 2:00, 1:00), which we have added to our tentative 2011 MU Schedule.

The only games still unconfirmed are those against SIU-Edwardvsville game and the neutral site game against Kansas.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Waiting . . .

Annual Christmas postThe countdown clock tells us there are 55 days until the first game of Mizzou's 2010 season. Even as the weatherman predicts a very white Christmas in the next couple of days, I can hardly wait for Baseball.

My grandson, on the other hand, is four years old and bouncing off the walls right now because he also can't wait . . . for Christmas. Having a child around brings a whole different meaning to Christmas-time, doesn't it?

Then again, you could say that having a child around is exactly what gives the meaning to Christmas. For centuries and centuries, people of faith waited and waited and then waited some more, for the promised son of God. And then, when He finally arrived, many missed it entirely because He came as a child, born to an ordinary mother in a less-than-ordinary setting.

I would hate to wait through the next 57 days and then miss the actual arrival of Mizzou Baseball.

Wise men still look every day for the signs of Jesus among us, as He offers blessings and provides opportunities.

A Merry Christmas to my Mizzou Baseball friends, and a sincere wish that you would seek God as eagerly as He has been seeking you.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Tentative 2011 MU Baseball Schedule

Edited 12/27/2010

We had previously posted an unofficial 2011 schedule, based on a tentative schedule in circulation among the team. Most of the other D-1 schools have now posted their official schedules, and I have been able to verify nearly every one of these scheduled match-ups and the dates and the times.

At this date, only SIU-Edwardsville, among MU's opponents, has not published an official schedule for 2011.

The other game on this schedule that is very much in doubt is the April 19th game against Kansas, scheduled to be played at Kauffman Stadium. That location and time appears both on the unofficial MU schedule I received AND on the official posted KU schedule. And yet, as I pointed out before, the official Kansas City Royals 2011 schedule shows them playing the Cleveland at the K that night. So we'll have to wait and see on that one.

The only game I have moved on this schedule is the MU-Illinois game, since the Illini officially posted scheduled shows the game at Busch Stadium on March 29th, not a week later as earlier reported.

(All times Central)

FRI 2/18 • Southern Cal @ USC (4 PM)
SAT 2/19 • Cal Poly @ USC (4 PM)
SUN 2/20 • North Carolina @ USC (1 PM)

FRI 2/25 • @ UNC-Charlotte (3 PM)
SAT 2/26 • @ UNC-Charlotte (DH: 11 AM / 2:30 PM)
SUN 2/27 • @ UNC-Charlotte (11 AM)

FRI 3/4 • Illinois-Chicago @ MU (6 PM)
SAT 3/5 • Illinois-Chicago @ MU (DH - 1 PM / 4 PM)
SUN 3/6 • Illinois-Chicago @ MU (1 PM)

TUE 3/8 • Gonzaga @ MU (4 PM)
WED 3/9 • Gonzaga @ MU (2 PM)

FRI 3/11 • Lemoyne @ MU (6 PM)
SAT 3/12 • Lemoyne @ MU (2 PM)
SUN 3/13 • Lemoyne @ MU (1 PM)

FRI 3/18 • Central Michigan @ MU (6 PM)
SAT 3/19 • Central Michigan @ MU (DH - 1 PM / 4:30 PM)
SUN 3/20 • Central Michigan @ MU (1 PM)

TUE 3/22 • Central Arkansas @ MU (6 PM)
WED 3/23 • Central Arkansas @ MU (4 PM)

FRI 3/25 • Oklahoma @ MU (6 PM)
SAT 3/26 • Oklahoma @ MU (2 PM)
SUN 3/27 • Oklahoma @ MU (1 PM)

TUE 3/29 • Illinois @ Busch Stadium, StL (6:30 PM)

WED 3/30 • @ Texas State (6:30 PM)

FRI 4/1 • @ Texas (6 PM)
SAT 4/2 • @ Texas (2 PM)
SUN 4/3 • @ Texas (12 Noon)

FRI 4/8 • @ Oklahoma State (6:30 PM)
SAT 4/9 • @ Oklahoma State (2 PM)
SUN 4/10 • @ Oklahoma State (1 PM)

WED 4/13 • SIU-Edwardsville @ MU (6 PM)

FRI 4/15 • Kansas @ MU (6 PM)
SAT 4/16 • Kansas @ MU (2 PM)
SUN 4/17 • Kansas @ MU (1 PM)

TUE 4/19 • Kansas @ Kauffman Stadium, KC (6:30 PM) - This date has since been shown to be in conflict with the Royals' published schedule)

THU 4/21 • @ Baylor (6:30 PM)
FRI 4/22 • @ Baylor (3 PM)
SAT 4/23 • @ Baylor (12 Noon)

TUE 4/26 • Eastern Illinois @ TR Hughes Stadium, O'Fallon, MO (6:30PM)

WED 4/27 • Missouri State @ MU (6 PM)

FRI 4/29 • Texas A&M @ MU (6 PM)
SAT 4/30 • Texas A&M @ MU (2 PM)
SUN 5/1 • Texas A&M @ MU (1 PM)

TUE 5/3 • @ Missouri State (6:30PM)

FRI 5/6 • @ Kansas State (6:30 PM)
SAT 5/7 • @ Kansas State (2 PM)
SUN 5/8 • @ Kansas State (1 PM)

FRI 5/13 • Texas Tech @ MU (6 PM)
SAT 5/14 • Texas Tech @ MU (2 PM)
SUN 5/15 • Texas Tech @ MU (1 PM)

FRI 5/20 • @ Nebraska (6:35 PM)
SAT 5/21 • @ Nebraska (6:35 PM)
SUN 5/22 • @ Nebraska (2:05 PM)

WED 5/25 • Big 12 Tournament @ Oklahoma City


I count 56 regular season games, so this schedule is likely very close to what will actually take place.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Top 9 Online College Baseball Resources: Baseball-Reference.com

We're taking a look at my top 9 favorite (in no particular order) online resources for College Baseball information.

Baseball-Reference.com may seem like an odd fit for this list of College Baseball Resources. The website is well known as an online repository of historical details about everything MLB. It's the more nuts-and-bolts version of the more fan-friendly Baseball-Almanac.com.

But there is a feature of Baseball-Reference.com that the curious college baseball fan will find very interesting: the Collegiate Baseball Information page.

On this page you can find a list of every player who was ever in the major leagues who played at the University of Missouri (35 total, at this point). Or Haskell Indian Nations University (1). Or the University of Southern California (102 -- 2 more than the #2 school, Texas).

When you bring up the list of a college's alumni, you can sort the list based on a full range of statistics. For example:
• Homer Summa (MU '18) leads MU alums in career MLB batting average at .302 (among players with a significant number of at-bats)

• Glenn Wright (20-23) leads with most games played (1119) and plate appearances (4480), as well as home runs (94), although Ian Kinsler (03) is due to take the HR lead, having 92. Kinsler leads in slugging % (.466)

• Sonny Siebert (58) has a strong lead among pitchers with a 140-114 record, but is edged out by Darold Knowles (60) in ERA (3.12 vs. 3.21). Knowles is far and away the leader in saves (143)

If you're a casual fan, you'll take a look, shrug your shoulders and go, "Well, huh."

If, like me, you're a fan of college baseball history, don't be surprised if you get lost in the depths of BaseballReference.com.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Collegiate Baseball 2011 Pre-Season Poll

TCU No. 1 in Collegiate Baseball Pre-Season Poll (collegiatebaseball.com)
Big 12 teams ranked:
#6 Oklahoma
#7 Texas
#8 Texas A&M
#37 Kansas State
#39 Baylor
Also receiving votes: OSU, MU, NU

Pre-Season All-America Teams

Louisville Slugger Pre-season All America Team (collegiatebaseball.com)
From the Big 12, Taylor Jungman (UT)and John Stilson (A&M) are listed on the First Team. No Missouri Tigers are on the list.

NCBWA also released their Pre-Season All-Americans list.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Compliance: Mid-Year Transfers

Mid-Year Transfer Reminders (informedathlete.com)
1. Baseball players transferring TO an NCAA Division I program at midyear cannot be eligible until the following academic year. This is true regardless of whether the athlete is transferring from a two-year or four-year school.
. . .
4. Athletes in baseball or basketball looking for immediate eligibility upon transfer need to look at NCAA Div. II, Div. III, NAIA, or a two-year college.

Informed Athlete is a compliance consulting service provided by Rick Allen, a former MU Baseball parent and former D-I compliance director.

Friday, December 17, 2010

SimmonsField.com announces massive layoffs

SimmonsField.com, the leading Mizzou Baseball blog on the internet, announced today that several staffers have been laid off. Sources close to management tell us, however, that the layoffs are actually terminations, prompted by repeated embarrassing copy editing blunders. The unidentified minions had been put in charge of compiling the last of nominees for the You Make the Call Poll. Reportedly, they made the list, but failed to check it twice to find out who is newbie or not.

Trripleplay, the founder and CEO of SimmonsField.com has gone into seclusion after releasing a terse statement:
"Vote Early. Vote Often."

What goes around comes around

Cales testing loyalties with continued progress (mlb.com)
The razzing is kept to a minimum when David Cales comes home for the offseason. The Cubs' Minor League pitcher is a Chicago native, but he grew up on the South Side. His mother, Mary Weiss, has worked for the White Sox for more than 20 years.
. . .
He didn't start his baseball life as a pitcher but began as a shortstop. It wasn't until his freshman year at Missouri that he started pitching, and that wasn't exactly planned.

"We were playing an intrasquad game in college my freshman year," Cales said during a break in AFL play last month in Mesa, Ariz., "and [my coach] said, 'Why don't you get on the mound and throw?' I did well, and he said, 'Why don't you stay there and we'll put you at third base every once in a while to let you keep hitting.'

"The mental part of pitching was easier for me because I never thought about it -- it was just, get on the mound and do it."

If Cales makes it to the big leagues, give an assist to Missouri coach Tim Jamieson.

"I always had a good arm," Cales said. "In high school, I dabbled [at pitching]. I went to the University of Missouri as a position player, and that's where I came into my own."

Ironic. My understanding back at the time was that Cales left because he strongly disagreed with TJ wanting him to focus on pitching instead of hitting. Click HERE for his Mizzou Bio is here

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Arizona State penalized by NCAA

Arizona State dealt heavy sanctions (espn.com)
Arizona State's baseball team must vacate 44 of its wins from 2007 and is banned from the postseason in 2011 under sanctions announced by the NCAA on Wednesday.

The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions ruled former head coach Pat Murphy failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and committed numerous recruiting and other violations from 2004-08.
NCAA drops the hammer on Arizona State (collegebaseball.rivals.yahoo.com)
While the Sun Devils received stiff punishment, former coach Pat Murphy escaped the NCAA investigation in better-than-expected shape after sitting out a year following his forced removal from the baseball program in November, 2009. Murphy received a one-year show-cause penalty, which includes a year of banishment from making recruiting phone calls to prospective student athletes
NCAA bans Arizona State from 2011 post-season (baseballamerica.com)
"The university agrees it could have monitored—and now does monitor—the program more closely and for that reason it self-imposed significant sanctions, including vacating all wins during the 2007 baseball season, including a conference championship and College World Series games," ASU said in a statement sent out by Renzulli. "However, many of the record keeping related violations were highly technical (some are not even violations under current NCAA rules) and one of the NCAA’s added sanctions is unduly harsh under the circumstances.

"Thus, ASU intends to appeal the NCAA report because the university disagrees with some of the findings of fact and the characterization of some infractions as major rather than secondary. The university also intends to appeal the additional sanction of banning post-season baseball play in 2011, which punishes many student athletes and coaches who were not involved in the rules violations."

Top 9 Online College Baseball Resources: D1Baseball.com

We're taking a look at my top 9 favorite (in no particular order) online resources for College Baseball information.

For pure numbers and the details of the game, D1Baseball.com has no rival.

The home page for D1Baseball.com is about as unflashy as it gets. A banner logo at the top, followed by three columns of links and drop-down menus. But those links are the portal to all the facts, ma'am, that you could want:
  • Complete Composite Schedule calendar of the baseball season, sortable by date (with every scheduled game with opponents, score, box score link, recap link and other miscellaneous info). The "complete" 2011 calendar is now up and being added to frequently.

  • Conference standings, Conference schedules, Conference Head-to-Head Results, Schools' Schedules

  • Links to Current Polls, Baseball sites, Summer League sites

  • And archives of nearly all the above data for every season going back through 2003

The home page says they're working on an iPhone app and improved mobile-ready website

Again, you're not going to get any commentary or opinions or photo spreads or interviews here. Just all the day-to-day information about what's happening, going to happen or already happened in College Baseball. And because there's no flash or fluff, you get it fast.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Top 9 Online College Baseball Resources: NCAA.com/NCAA.org

We're taking a look at my top 9 favorite (in no particular order) online resources for College Baseball information.

If all else fails, you can always go to the NCAA.com Baseball page.

I say "if all else fails" because NCAA.com, like Big12Sports.com and most conference websites, is seldom the first online source on the mind of anyone who is seeking information about college baseball.

There is apparently an unwritten rule that being the official website of an athletics organization requires there to be nothing of high entertainment value on the website. No witty commentary and no speculation. Nothing of the sort of stuff that typifies the vast majority of sports-related websites.

And yet, when you really want to know something so arcane that the fun sites don't care about it,NCAA.com or NCAA.org may just be the sites you need.

The other unwritten rule about official websites, however, seems to be that actually locating the information you need is not necessarily easy or intuitive. The NCAA carries this to a new level, offering both NCAA.com and NCAA.org, which makes it difficult to know which site will have what you want. NCAA.com seems to being trying offer the sort of information (and relentless merchandise hawking) aimed at the fans, while NCAA.org seems to be more about the business of college athletics, aimed at the insiders and the truly obsessive fans (people like me).

Here are some links to my most-visited sections of NCAA.com and NCAA.org:

  • NCAA official RPI rankings: About halfway through the college baseball season the NCAA begins posting their official RPI rankings. This is interesting, since those rankings play a part in the selection and ranking of teams for the NCAA Tournament field of 64. What the list doesn't show is the actual RPI numbers themselves, or the formula and methodology behind the statistic.

  • NCAA Insider is a weekly blog highlighting the week's NCAA news, most of which is pretty dull. But occasionally you can find a nugget in the sand. Other Blogs cover other aspects of the arcane proceedings of the business of college sports.

  • NCAA Baseball Official Rulebook: Yes, you can buy a copy and wait for them to send it to you. Better yet, just download the PDF file for free.

  • NCAA Baseball D-1 Record Book: The official record of who did what the most and when - unless you're looking for obscure records (e.g., most consecutive scoreless innings pitched).

  • NCAA D-1 Manual: This manual is for all NCAA athletics. It covers the rules of recruiting, playing seasons and the like. This is the short version of the NCAA rules that give ulcers to even the most conscientious of college coaches. Like any legal document, some of this stuff begs for explanation and interpretation. Again, you can buy a copy and wait for them to send it, or just download the PDF file.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Early Signing Period

Jayhawks add 10 during early signing period (kuathletics.com)
Kansas baseball head coach Ritch Price announced Monday that the Jayhawks have added 10 players to the 2011-12 roster during the early signing period. KU had eight sign letters of intent to play at KU and added two other walk-ons.

Catcher/right-handed pitcher Nathan Arnold (Pittsburg, Kan.), left-handed pitcher Wes Benjamin (St. Charles, Ill.), right-handed pitcher Robert Kahana (Ewa Beach, Hawaii), left-handed pitcher Cody Kukuk (Lawrence, Kan.), infielder Joe Luvisi (Scottsdale, Ariz.), outfielder Connor McKay (Parker, Colo.), infielder Justin Protacio (Pearl City, Hawaii), outfielder Dakota Smith (Leavenworth, Kan.), right-handed pitcher Colin Toalson (Lawrence, Kan.) and left-handed pitcher Justin Vander Tuig (Baldwin City, Kan.) will all suit up for the Crimson and Blue next season.

Monday, December 6, 2010

National Past-Time

Apparently it is no longer true that baseball is the only team sport without a clock. The details on that and other topics discussed by the Baseball Committtee:

D1 baseball committee opts for stopwatch over time clock (NCAA.org)
Umpires also will keep the time on the field between innings, when teams have a 90-second limit to start play in nontelevised games. The committee is considering a 108-second time limit between innings of televised games, but that may be longer depending on existing television agreements.
. . .
The committee considered having 32 first-round regional sites that would be conducted in a best-of-three format among just two teams per site. It could possibly be followed by eight four-team, double-elimination super regionals. Another option is for the entire tournament to be conducted in a best-of-three format until the CWS. This would call for an additional weekend to complete the tournament.
. . .
Weiser said the conversation about tweaking the RPI had a familiar tone. He has served two terms on the committee, and this topic is always up for debate.

One possibility could be adding more weight to road wins, which is similar to what the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee did in 2005.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Early Signing Period: Aggie signing class

Aggie baseball signing class breakdown (TexAgs.com) [includes video]
Chance Bolcerek,OF Childress' Take: "He's a special player. He plays with a chip on his hsoulder and plays extremely hard. He doesn't like the team in the other dugout, and you can see that by the way he hustles on and off the field and plays with an edge."

Friday, December 3, 2010

Gone in 20 seconds

Base umps to enforce 20-second rule in tourney (rivals.yahoo.com)
Base umpires will enforce the NCAA’s new pace-of-play rules at the College World Series and other national tournament games in 2011.


Base umps to enforce 20-second rule in NCAA tourney (Washington Post)
There is a 20-second limit between pitches when no runners are on base and a 90-second limit between innings during non-televised games.

After one warning, a ball or strike will be added to the count depending on whether the pitcher or batter causes a violation.

10 things College baseball needs

Crystal ball: Ten things college baseball needs (rivals.yahoo.com)
With the sport slated to welcome a sparkling new facility in downtown Omaha next June that will host the College World Series, it's time to analyze ten things that could be done better or added to college baseball to make the sport better.
. . .
Speaking of roads we've traveled down before, it's a no brainer that college baseball should increase its scholarship totals. As has been the case for years, most programs have scholarship totals of 11.7. However, there's no question the sport is shafted from a scholarship standpoint when compared to other comparable Division I sports. The argument against increasing scholarships is many programs still aren't at 11.7. However, increasing scholarships, in most instances, would force administrators to make a greater commitment to the sport. It's a win-win for most.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Mizzou Baseball: Longest Simmons Field Home Runs

■ There's a great discussion at the Tigerboard.com All Sports Board, prompted by the photo we posted earlier this week of W.T. Hoover, titled Longest Homerun. Various fans have chimed in on the longest HR they've seen at Simmons Field - whether by a Tiger or an opposing player.
JR Warner hit a moonshot on a windy Friday night that cleared the top of the yet-to-be finished roof.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Early signing period: Texas Tech

Raiders' signing class addresses specific needs (redraiders.com)
Tech released its fall signing class Tuesday, which comprised just six players — two right-handed pitchers, one-left-handed pitcher and three infielders. Five of the six players will be entering their high school senior seasons in the spring.

“Our signing class was very specific to what our needs were,” head coach Dan Spencer said in a statement from the school. “We really like the six guys that we signed. With only one senior, we will have to wait and see how the draft plays out to see whether or not we will add a guy in the spring or not.”

Top 9 Online College Baseball Resources: Rivals.com

We're taking a look at my top 9 favorite (in no particular order) online resources for College Baseball information.

Rivals.Yahoo.com/ncaa/baseball (aka collegebaseball.rivals.com) has become a true heavyweight in the world of college baseball.

Kendall Rogers started a little website and message board when he was a college student at Texas A&M, and called it Big12Baseball.com. It focused, logically, on Big 12 Baseball only. Then the conference yelped about his unauthorized use of the trademarked "Big 12" moniker. So the site became RosenblattReport.com, under the theory that the road to Rosenblatt Stadium (site of the College World Series) goes through the Big 12. Shortly thereafter, he expanded coverage to all of college baseball, and that's when the hobby became a full-time pursuit for Kendall.

At some point early in that process he joined up with the Rivals.com network of sites, which has since been bought out by Yahoo.

Since Kendall became the full-time paid guru of whatever you want to call the site now, he has become a nationally recognized expert on college baseball and a writer and reporter with an audience that has to be ranked with Baseball America as the reigning co-kings of the college baseball mountain. But unlike BaseballAmerica, this site is 100% free.

His nearly daily reports and summaries and interviews can range from the news-breaking and trend-setting to the elementary and repetitious. Granted, it's hard to produce original daily material during the off-season.

Some of what I find elementary, repetitions and boring is probably just what the college baseball novice needs, though. And Kendall is very definitely a man on a mission to proselytize baseball fans everywhere to join the growing throng of college baseball fandom.

And then there are the interviews with college coaches. Some of them are full of the usual canned answers and generalities (coming from coaches who have learned to talk in generalities), while others reveal unexpected news and candid opinions. Either way, Kendall gets the quotes because college coaches have learned that he has the ears and eyes of a very large audience of college baseball fans.

A good example of Kendall's ability to get the quotes is a recent article updating readers about Pat Murphy, the Arizona State head coach who resigned amidst allegations of wrongdoing nearly a year ago.
Murphy joined the San Diego Padres organization after his removal last November. That opportunity catapulted him into a position as manager of the Class A short-season Eugene (Ore.) Emeralds.

“I’ve learned so much about myself throughout this process. I’ve realized that life simply doesn’t have to be fair all the time,” he said. “In some weird sort of way, I think I’m going to be in a better place when the dust settles on this situation. I’m almost thankful for going through it.”

Personally, I spend more time on the College Clubhouse Message Board than anywhere else on the site.

Like any sports message board, there are plenty of homers and rude "yahoos" that are best ignored. But there are many participants on the boards who are highly knowledgeable about their favorite teams and conferences, and about college baseball in general. I learn a lot about other teams and other conferences just by reading their comments.

It says something about this message board that several of the guys who run other websites on my Top 9 Resources list are regular participants on the Rivals.com message board.

Another valuable message board on the site is the Scoreboard. Operating just like any other message board, this is the best placed I've found to get up-to-the-minute updates on scores from across the nation. It's more current than you'll find just about anywhere else because it's maintained and updated by the fans themselves who are listening or watching the games they're updating. It's an excellent example of how the new social media can compete with and out-perform the traditional news media.

While we're talking about Rivals.com, I should also mention SEBaseball.com, another member of the Yahoo-Rivals network. Started as SECBaseball.com, the owners ran into similar trademark problems and expanded their coverage to all teams and conferences in the Southeast part of the country - which actually made the site much better. While the articles and the message boards focus primarily on that region's teams, there are some very good conversations and some very informative articles about college baseball in general. Mark Etheridge's reputation as a college baseball guru ranks near that of Kendall Rogers, and his other regular contributors and message board commentators share a wealth of information and insight.