Saturday, January 29, 2011

Mizzou Recruits

Around the horn with Brett Graves from Francis Howell HS (prepbaesballreport.com)
From an individual standpoint, Graves has dedicated his offseason to the development of his secondary pitches. To complement a fastball that reportedly touched 91 mph this past summer, he has begun throwing his curveball with greater velocity and is also learning to throw a splitter with consistency. Graves is also hoping to incorporate a change up into his arsenal this spring, a pitch that he has struggled to get a feel for thus far.

"It's something that I will constantly be working on," he said. "There are nights where I lay in bed holding a baseball, trying to get a feel for the grip."
2011 season begins (ntcceagles.com)
The Northeast Texas Eagle baseball team will begin their 2011 season Saturday January 29th at home againt Cedar Valley Community College. The Eagles will play two 7 inning games with the first pitch of game one at 2:00 PM. Game one starting pitcher will be sophomore Austin O'Donnell and the game two starting pitcher will be sophomore Kyle Barbeck.

Pitching a mystery

Pitching a mystery for Tigers (Columbia Tribune.com)
After losing ace Nick Tepesch to the MLB draft and waiting on heir apparent Eric Anderson, who is coming off shoulder surgery, Pitchers U is more like Pitchers Who?
. . .
[Dane] Opel, also coming off shoulder surgery, might not be ready for the outfield, so he could play some at first base. First base is also an option for [Eric] Anderson
. . .

Friday, January 28, 2011

Kendall Rogers joins Perfect Game

From http://twitter.com/KendallRogersYS:
  • I'm extremely honored and exciting to announce I have joined forces with @PerfectGameUSA to continue our elite college bsb coverage

  • PerfectGameUSA is ready to make a strong commitment to college baseball, and I'm looking forward to a fantastic and long relationship

  • I will provide a wealth of free content and will also have an "insiders" premium board/section for those interested. launches next week.

  • You can find the @PerfectGameUSA college page here, but look for a "user friendly" redesign of how page is setup

College Baseball Online: More News

Good News/Bad News (CollegeBaseballToday.com)
The good news is that ESPN.com is going to be amping up their college baseball coverage a bit more this year than they have in recent years. The bad news? Looks like I’ll be a major part of that amping up additional content.

So yes, ESPN will become Eric Sorenson’s Propaganda Network for a full year. As you guys might recall, I wrote the weekend previews for the Worldwide Leader in Sports during the month of May last season after Baseball America stopped providing the content for them. Oh and of course I can’t wait for the ‘anonymous’ people and their angst-filled comments after each column, ripping me a new one. Remember how bad the South Carolina fans got on my ass last year? It should be much worse this time around… but I love it.

Not sure exactly what the weekly content will be for ESPN.com, but it probably involve the weekend preview “Notebook” as I wrote last season, but they’ve also mentioned some video aspects to the site and another writer getting involved with some SEC/ACC coverage too. So I won’t be alone in this coverage.
. . .

There will be a small redesign/layout change on the site real soon as the boys at Easton are working on that as we speak. In the meantime, I’ve gotten out of the cave for a few days and am on a ski vacation in Mammoth, California. When I get back, I’ll begin posting my voluminous conference-by-conference, team-by-team previews on the site. My internet connection up here is quite spotty at best, so I can’t work on much of anything up here anyway. And again, this IS a vacation for me. As long as I avoid the trees.

Simmons Field Photo: 3 Weeks to Opening Day

Phil McCormick

Thursday, January 27, 2011

College Baseball Online: Changes at Yahoo

Yahoo Sports, aka Rivals.com, is reportedly going to be dropping College Baseball as one of their websites.

Kendall Rogers, who built that website and has become one of the most knowledgeable writers about College Baseball, will - for the time being - be posting his information and stories on his Twitter account and at Kendall Rogers' College Baseball HQ on Wordpress.

I heartily urge followers of SimmonsField.com to follow Kendall on Twitter. He's going to land somewhere soon with a new website and message board, and I'll let MU fans know how to find him.

Nobody knows college baseball better than Kendall Rogers.

Baseball America Preseason Poll

2011 Preseason College Top 25 (baseballamerica.com)
  • #1 Florida

  • Oklahoma is the top Big 12 team at #5, followed by UT at #6

MU in the Majors: Top 50 Prospects

Breaking down the Top 50 prospects list (mlb.com)

Gibson, Hicks represent Twins on prospect list (minnesota.twins.mlb.com)
On Tuesday, Aaron Hicks and Kyle Gibson were ranked 39th and 40th, respectively, on MLB.com's Top 50 Prospects list for 2011.
. . .
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire spoke about Gibson during last week's western leg of the Twins Winter Caravan. Gardenhire said that last spring he went over to the Minor League side of the club's Spring Training complex to watch Gibson pitch while Jason Kubel got in a few extra at-bats.

"Kyle Gibson carved Kubel up, and as we walked back to the Major League side right after he finished hitting, Kubel said, 'Who was that guy?'" Gardenhire said with a laugh. "I said, 'Don't worry, you'll be playing behind him before you know it.'

"He can really pitch. He's got a great arm. He handles himself really well. A big kid, and that's a steal, we got a steal in the Draft. He'll probably end up going to Triple-A to start the year, but you'll see him probably sometime this year I would imagine."


Wednesday, January 26, 2011

MU Alums: In & Out

LeBlanc joins Oregon coaching staff (goducks.com)
“The Duck baseball program is very excited to announce Bryson LeBlanc as our new assistant baseball coach,” Oregon head coach George Horton said. “Bryson will be a great addition to our coaching staff as we move forward toward developing a nationally-prominent baseball program. Since Bryson was a part of our baseball staff and directed camps, most of our athletic department has become acquainted with his Bryson’s excellence as a person and administrator. His knowledge, enthusiasm, and experience in developing student-athletes will now be a great asset to our program and coaching staff."
. . .
A 2006 graduate of the University of Missouri with a degree in biological sciences, LeBlanc played baseball for Coach Tim Jamieson and the Tigers for two seasons after transferring from Delgado Community College in 2004.

As a senior, LeBlanc helped Mizzou reach the Super Regionals for the first time in school history, advancing out of Malibu as a No. 4 seed before losing to Coach Horton’s host Cal State Fullerton squad. That season, he was named Mizzou Baseball Performance Athlete of the Year.
■ According to Baseball America, Kyle Mach has been released by the San Francisco Giants organization

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Don't wait for the extra innings


Pass it on (27up27out.blogspot.com)
There are many things that are passed on from generation to generation. There are bad things, like abuse. There are annoying things, like male-pattern baldness or the shape of your nose or ears. And, there are good things, like an old pocket watch, Grandma’s wedding ring, the Du Pont family fortune, and baseball.

More specifically, the love of baseball.
Playing catch (ArtOfManliness.com)
America’s pastime has brought fathers and sons together for over a century. Sure, it’s a bit cliche, but there’s something about playing catch with a baseball that can really bond a father and son. What’s nice about a playing catch with your son is that it can provide opportunities to really open up and have deep conversations with him about life. Even if you don’t get all philosophical, the time you spend in the front yard showing your son how to throw a split seam will be a memory he’ll keep for the rest of his life.
Fathers, Sons and Baseball (SimmonsField.com)
Thank your fathers for passing on their love of the game, and for all the other invaluable things they have bequeathed to you.

Don't wait for the extra innings. They are rare.


Monday, January 24, 2011

Top 300 !?!?

300: The College Baseball Today power ranking (collegebaseballtoday.com)
This time around we’ve got an even 300 teams competing in Division 1 baseball to keep track of for 2011. And to me, it doesn’t really make sense to just rank the top 25 teams and leave out the 275 other teams that compete out there. That’s just silly. So here is this year’s all-inclusive Top 300 Power Ranking for the 2011 preseason.

His #1 is Texas. Missouri is ranked at # 71:
". . . Coach Jamieson will be the manager for Team USA this summer. Though he’d love to delay that assignment with a deep post-season run here."

MU in the Majors: Max to start home opener for Tigers

Scherzer won't start Tigers' second game . . . for good reason (Detroit News)
After Justin Verlander pitches the first game of the season on March 31 at Yankee Stadium, which manager Jim Leyland said at TigerFest on Saturday that he will, Max Scherzer won't start the second game.

"We're not pitching him until the third game," Leyland said.

Why?

"So he can pitch the home opener."

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Intended Strength of Schedule

I did a preliminary calculation of Mizzou's 2011 Intended Strength of Schedule back before we had the official schedule. Now Boyd Nation has posted his annual list of Intended Strength of Schedule for all D-1 teams, with rankings. Since he knows more about statistics than I ever will, I recommend you take a look at his complete list, as well as his explanation of the ISS at BoydsWorld.com.

By his calculations, Missouri has the 57th toughest overall Intended Strength of Schedule, and the 138th toughest non-conference schedule.

MU's ISS over the past several years, according to BoydsWorld:

YEAR Overall; Non-Conference
2011: 107.2 ; 100.4
2010: 109.6 ; 101.8
2009: 109.1 ; 104.3
2008: 108.4 ; 104.0
2007: 107.5 ; 100.3
2006: 107.9 ; 102.2
2005: 106.3 ; 98.0
2004: 105.7 : 97.8
2003: 110.0 : 104.5
2002: 108.8 ; 103.9
2001: 106.9 ; 102.6
2000: 108.3 ; 102.5
1999: 107.2 ; 100.0

The 2011 overall intended schedule strength is 9th on that list of 13 years. Considering MU is always in the same conference, there's not much they can do about the ups and downs of the conference, which impacts the conference strength of schedule. 2010 was kind of a down year for the Big 12, and that's reflected in these numbers.

The 2011 non-conference intended schedule strength is the 2nd highest on that list of the past 13 years. That indicates the coaches have gone out worked at putting together as competitive a schedule as they could. It still is only 138th on the entire D-1 list, but it shows an improvement for MU in regard to their historical strength of schedule.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

MU inthe Majors: Ian Kinsler among "most underrated"

Most underrated players in the game (ESPN.com)
. . . And the only active players at any position, in either league, who can top his 85.5 percent stolen-base success rate are Carlos Beltran and Chase Utley. If you're stunned by any of that, thanks! You just helped me justify this whole selection.

Big 12 Assistant Coaching Hokey Pokey

Kansas State announces baseball staff changes (kstatesports.com)
Kansas State head baseball coach Brad Hill announced today a restructuring of his coaching staff with the hiring of two new assistant coaches and the transitioning of long-time assistant coach Sean McCann
.
Former Kansas hitting coach John Szefc (pronounced CHEF) has been named Associate Head Coach and will serve as the team’s hitting coach. Also, former Wildcat assistant Josh Reynolds has been hired as the pitching coach.

McCann, who has served as the Cats’ pitching coach and recruiting coordinator since Hill was named head coach prior to the 2004 season, has resigned from his full-time position due to health reasons. While reducing his workload, McCann will remain on the staff for the 2011 season as a volunteer assistant coach.

“I can’t express enough gratitude to Sean for everything he has done at Kansas State,” Hill said. “He has been an invaluable member of my staff at K-State since day one and has poured his heart and soul into making this program what it is today. He has been one of the biggest reasons K-State baseball has grown over the past several seasons. But it has taken a toll on Sean's health. We are happy he has decided to stay on staff this year in a reduced role, and we will continue to rely on him for his wealth of knowledge about the game and our program.”
. . .
A 21-year coaching veteran who has helped guide teams to seven regionals and four conference championships at the Division I level, Szefc becomes the first Associate Head Coach under Hill at Kansas State. He will be the team’s hitting coach, direct the Wildcat offense and also work with the infielders. He replaces Andy Sawyers, who resigned on January 14, to become Associate Head Coach at Texas A&M.


Pitching coach Graves elevated to Associate Head Coach (kusports.com)
In an important decision for the future of the Kansas baseball program, Head Coach Ritch Price announced Friday that long-time assistant coach Ryan Graves has been elevated to the position of Associate Head Coach effective immediately. Graves will continue to coordinate the Kansas pitching staff and also be the position coach for the team’s catchers.

“We’re promoting Coach Graves to Associate Head Coach to reward him for his commitment, loyalty and the success of our pitching staff,” Price said. “Ryan has a proven track record of preparing players to succeed at both the collegiate as well as the professional level. He plays an extremely important role in keeping our program at the Top 25 level.”

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Luke Cassis, Head Coach

Cassis named interim baseball coach (tiutrojans.com)

The Trinity International University Baseball Program is pleased to announce that Luke Cassis will serve as the interim Baseball Coach. Coach Cassis currently serves as an assistant coach under the direction of former Head Coach Tom Raven. As an assistant at Trinity, Coach Cassis was responsible for coaching infielders and running the team's strength/conditioning program.
. . .
With the stellar foundation provided by Coach Raven, the upcoming season has great promise. The Trojan Baseball Team is looking to continue to develop excellence academically, athletically, relationally and spiritually under Coach Cassis.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

BBCOR Bats


NCAA and NFHS rules on compliant baseball bats for 2011 (dirtdogbaseball.com)

Good source of basic information about the new bat standards, including how they will apply to high school baseball as well.
NCAA Certified Bats Website (Baseball Research Center - University of Massachusetts-Lowell)

This web page will be used to list all bats that have been submitted to the University at Massachusetts at Lowell Baseball Research Center (UMLBRC) for NCAA certification and have passed. All bats are tested per the NCAA Ball Exit Speed Ratio (BESR) Protocol or Bat-Ball Coefficient of Restitution (BBCOR) Protocol. Table 1. summarizes the bats which have been submitted and run through the BESR and/or BBCOR certification process and passed.

NCAA Baseball bat standards and procedures (NCAA.org)

If an illegal bat is detected, umpires are directed to remove the bat from play and place the bat in a secure area away from the offending team, either personally or with the assistance of game management. The bat shall be returned to the offending team, on their request, at the conclusion of the series or in the case of a single game, at that games conclusion.

All umpiring crews are expected to have a full copy of legal and illegal bats in the locker room. In addition, all umpiring crews are expected to have a copy of the illegal bat list available to them on the field during a game for reference in case a bat is challenged as illegal due to having a composite barrel.

■ From http://twitter.com/#!/MUTigerBaseball:

Just got our shipment of new TPX Omaha bats. Check out the new paint scheme. http://yfrog.com/h4n4psxj

Friday, January 14, 2011

Hunter Mense returns to MU Baseball - on the air

From MUTigerBaseball on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/MUTigerBaseball
New voice on @espnktgramfm along side Tex Little for Tiger Baseball! @hminliberty our new color man... Welcome back Hunter!
Hunter has been tweeting over the past couple of weeks about being back in Columbia and getting ready to return to classes at MU.

Mense played for the Tigers from 2004-2006 before being drafted by the Florida Marlins organization. He spent 4-1/2 years in the Marlins' minor leagues. He racked up the frequent flyer miles for the Florida Marlins organization in 2010:

• April 8-21: Jupiter Hammerheads (Single-A)
• April 22-May 15: New Orleans Zephyrs (AAA)
• May 16-26: Jacksonville Suns (AA)
• May 27-31: New Orleans Zephyrs (AAA)
• June 1-4: Jacksonville Suns (AA)
• June 5-7: New Orleans Zephyrs (AAA)
• June 8: Jacksonville Suns (AA)
• June 9-July 12: Jupiter Hammerheads (A)

In his own words: I've been everywhere, man (The Life and Time of Aitch)

After July 12th, though, the road trip ended, as the Marlins gave him his release.

And then his season got really interesting.

On July 28th, outfielder Hunter Mense signed with the Kansas City T-Bones of the independent Northern League . . . as a Left-handed Pitcher. He pitched a total of 9 innings in 8 appearances, racking up a 3.00 ERA.

And now he's back in Columbia and ready to take on the task of carrying Tex Little's luggage.

Glad to have you back, Hunter!

Simmons Field Photo: 5 Weeks to Opening Day

Eric Garcia

American Baseball Coaches Association convention

NCAA Tournament, "no agent" rule could change (baseballamerica.com)
The other interesting bit of news to come out of the ABCA convention was Weiser's announcement that a subcommittee has been formed to study instant replay. Three members of the D-I Baseball Committee will explore whether replay should be adopted in the College World Series, as well as possibly in the rest of the NCAA tournament.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Big 12 Baseball: Baylor's Steve Smith

CBD Interview with Steve Smith (Baylor) (CollegeBaseballDaily.com)
When the season was over last year, I thought Oklahoma was the best young team. I thought they were a really talented young team with their position players. Texas has still got a good bunch of guys coming back and they’ve still got a real thing going on down there with pitching, so that will definitely put them in the hunt. Kansas State is also returning a bunch of guys off of maybe one of the best teams they’ve ever had. I suspect Texas A&M will be pretty competitive again, but I don’t know that there’s any team that’s just clearly separated from the rest. It’ll be very competitive from top to bottom

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Goodbye Football!!

G'bye College Football. Thank God for College Baseball (collegebaseballtoday.com)
Okay, college football is finally over. Painfully and thankfully. Can we now just all move on to college baseball please? ‘Bout damn time, don’tcha think?

MU in the Minors

Scouting Rangers prospect #48: Nick Tepesch (scout.com)
Right-hander Nick Tepesch has yet to throw an official pitch in professional baseball, but he is an intriguing arm with a good fastball and three offspeed pitches. Lone Star Dugout takes a look at the 22-year-old prospect with an in-depth scouting report. (subscription required)

MU in the Majors: Max in the Big Leagues

Max Scherzer talks life in the big leagues (citysbest.com)
What are the chances we'll ever see you in a Cardinals uniform?
[laughs] Man, I don't know. I still have four years of free agency [left], so you're going to have to ask the GM to make a trade!

When you come home to St. Louis, what's the first thing you do?
Play with my dog, Auggie. I never get to see him enough.

What do you miss most?
Toasted ravioli! [laughs]

Monday, January 10, 2011

Rivals.com Big 12 Preview

Red River rivals headline Big 12 (collegebaseball.rivals.com)
MU must improve in the power department, as they enter the season without 28 of their 53 homers from last year. Conner Mach and others had strong falls. Will they elevate their game?

You Make the Call: 2011 Success

A pair of "You Make the Call" polls are up in the left hand column. We want to know your opinion on how the Tigers are going to do in 2011 - in the Big 12 and in the final NCAA rankings.

Our previous poll finished a few days ago with James Hudelson edging out Ryan Yuengel for the title of Most Friends and Family Members Willing to Stuff the Ballot Box. It's all in fun, and the real proof comes on the field.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Official 2011 Baseball Schedule released

Mizzou baseball announces 2011 schedule (mutigers.com)
Once again in 2011, Mizzou has games scheduled in both of the Major League Baseball stadiums in Missouri. MU and Illinois will meet at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on March 29 and the Tigers will face Kansas in a non-conference game at Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium on April 6. The game at Kauffman Stadium will follow the Royals-White Sox game earlier that afternoon.
PDF printable schedule

The one big question that has still been unsettled since we posted the tentative schedule here at SimmonsField.com was the MU-KU game at Kauffman. the paragraph above explains the rescheduling and details of that game.

Other differences:
  • Some game times have changed

  • There will be a double-header on March 12th, making the Lemoyne series a 4-game set

FAQ: Tickets

Season Tickets

Prices are unchanged for 2011

2011 Season ticket renewal notices were mailed out on February 9th, with a deadline of March 3rd (the day before the first home game).

Also available is the KMIZ-ZOU Spirit Pass. See below for details

2011 Season ticket costs
(Reserved/assigned seats)

Single Ticket: $60

Youth/Senior Citizen Ticket: $30

Family (2 adults + 2 children): $150

KMIZ-ZOU Spirit Pass


The Spirit Pass is an all-purpose pass to most sporting events at MU (excludes Football and Men's Basketball). It does not include reserved or assigned seating, and does not include post-season events

Individual: $60

Couple: $110

Family Pass:(2 adults, 2 kids) $200

Faculty/Staff Family Pass: (2 adults, 2 kids)$100


Individual Game Tickets will be for sale at the gate on each game day (I've never know there to be a complete sell-out).

The price for 2011 will still be $5 per ticket, with a discount price of $3 for children under 12 and for senior citizens.

Where can I get tickets?

By phone:
1-800-CAT-PAWS (228-7297)
or in Columbia
884-PAWS (884-7297)

Ticket Office:
Mizzou Arena, North Entrance
Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Closed on Saturday and Sunday

By mail:
Missouri Athletic Ticket Office
PO Box 675
Columbia, MO 65205-0675
You may also fax in an order form to 573-884-1677.

E-mail: tickets@missouri.edu


Offical MUTigers.com Tickets Page

Check out our SimmonsField.com GameDay FAQ for details on the seating chart of Taylor Stadium and other facts about Going to the Game (parking, concessions, etc.)

Official MUTigers.com Tickets page

MU in the Majors: Ian Kinsler's power

The worries of the Texas Rangers' Ian Kinsler (bleacherreport.com)
In spring training last season, Kinsler suffered a sprained ankle that held him out until April 26. If you look at Kinsler's ISO splits, you will notice that he gained more power each month, which tells me that it took him a little while to regain his power stroke. This is an encouraging sign for the coming year . . .

NCAA Baseball 2010 Attendance Leaders

2010 NCAA Baseball attendance leaders (collegebaseballdaily.com)
The NCAA released their 2010 NCAA Baseball Attendance Figures which is led by four SEC schools. The LSU Tigers lead the pack with an average of 10,673 fans in 37 games. Arkansas comes in second with 7,704 fans while Ole Miss comes in third with 6,759 fans edging out fourth place South Carolina by an average of one fan. Texas is the first non-SEC school in fifth place with an average of 6,571 fans. You can check out the rest of the Top 50 below.

See the link above for the rest of the list. Missouri, Oklahoma State and Kansas are the only Big 12 teams not on the list.

Simmons Field Photo: 6 Weeks to Opening Day

Ryan Clubb

Thursday, January 6, 2011

MU in the Majors: Scherzer came back in style

Scherzer came back to majors in style (mlb.com)
Knapp sees Scherzer's slump and revival as evidence that even the best players are works in progress.

"There is no such thing as a finished product," he said. "There's no such thing as a guy who's so well wired that he's got his [stuff] together from now to the end of time.

"What I was hoping to get out of Max last year was exactly what we got. I wish we had ironed it out in March instead of in May, but I'm happy with the way it all worked out."

Scherzer, too, is glad to have worked through the arm slot issue and returned to form in the Majors. But the hurler who blazed into the big leagues in his second pro season knows the trip down was educational in another way too.

"There's a lesson to be learned here: Never take anything for granted."

MU in the Majors: Kinsler to lead off?

Ian Kinsler could return to Rangers' leadoff spot (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
"The time I had Kins up there doing it before we got the best out of the lineup," Washington said. "I want to use Elvis at a position that I haven't decided yet where I can get the most out of his abilities."

FAQ: RockMNation Guide to Columbia

If you're coming to Columbia for a ballgame and are wondering where to go for food and drink in CoMo, I recommend you check out RockMNation's Guide to Columbia.

With dozens of categories and a humorous, irreverent take on the topic, you can't go wrong taking the advice of the local lunatics who hang out at that site.

  • Breakdown of several categories under the "Best Bar" umbrella, including Best Bartender and Best "Scenery"

  • In the Best Restaurants category, there's Best Food Item, Best Late Night Food Stop, Best Breakfast, Best Coffee and many more

Daily Dose of College Baseball

Daily Dose - Postseason format changes (sebaseball.rivals.com)
The NCAA postseason could be changed.

Yep, that's sort of like giving John Grisham writing lessons or Salma Hayak a beauty makeover. Maybe you can tweak it a little, but don't get crazy here. What we have now is pretty doggone good.
Mark Etheridge is posting a series of "Daily Dose" articles each day until the beginning of the season. Other topics have included Hitting Streaks and Neutral Sites. They are worth the daily read to carry you through until February 18th.

CBL Preseason Top 30

College Baseball Lineup Top 30 Rankings (collegebaseballlineup.com)
CBL, formerly ping.com, has their preseason rankings list out. Florida is #1. Oklahoma is the top ranked Big 12 team, with UT, A&M and Baylor also representing the conference on the list. Mizzou is not ranked.

One interesting feature of their rankings: Next to each team listed is a little graph icon. Click on the icon and it will show a graph of that team's rise and fall in the rankings as the season progresses.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

MU in the Minors: Mathis signs

Tribe adds pitching depth, signs Mathis (mlb.com)
The Indians continued to add to their pitching depth on Wednesday, signing free-agent pitcher Doug Mathis to a Minor League contract. The deal includes an invite to attend Spring Training with the big league club.
. . .
Excluding a forgettable outing on May 14 in Toronto, where Mathis was charged with eight earned runs over just 1 1/3 innings, the righty had a 3.00 ERA out of the Rangers' bullpen. His second stint with Texas in July consisted of four scoreless innings.

Top 9 Online College Baseball Resources: Might-bees, Newbies & Wannabees

Over the past 9 weeks we've listed my 9 favorite online resources for College Baseball. Here's a list of 9 (well, 10 actually) sites that didn't quite make the cut, some of them quite worthy of your time, others not so much:

BlackCollegeBaseball.com: At first glance, this may seem an odd topic for a website (kind of like JewsinBaseball.blogspot.com). But BCB.com is devoted to the conferences made up largely of the historically black colleges, most of which play in a small handful of conferences, which makes it not much different in focus than SEBaseball.com or any other site devoted to a conference or a region. And I guarantee that if you spend some time poking around at BCB, you will be rewarded.

College Baseball Foundation: These are the folks behind the College Baseball Hall of Fame, located somewhat arbitrarily in Lubbock, Texas (because some folks from Texas Tech were the first ones to have the gumption to get a Hall of Fame going, so they stuck the thing in Lubbock). The site has information about, well, the Foundation and the Hall of Fame. It's worth a look, just not a really long look.

Informed Athlete: The website of former Mizzou Baseball parent Rick Allen is a great resource for information about recruiting, eligibility and compliance. Lots of free information and advice, including a recruiting calendar and calendar-specific advice on what to be paying attention to at each step of the way. He's also advertising his consulting service and his book, Both Sides of the Plate.

CollegeBaseballLineup.com: formerly known as Ping Baseball, these folks say they're planning to to ramp up their coverage. They've got some blogs and some off-beat stuff. The jury is still out.
"Originally a labor of love and tiny operation in Omaha, Nebraska, College Baseball Lineup (formerly Ping !Baseball) has grown to become a robust, national group whose dynamic membership celebrates the athletes, excitement and emotion of the game."
Baseball-Links.com: One of the grand-daddies of baseball websites, John Skilton has been compiling thousands of baseball-related websites since 1995. His list has become so huge that it's hard to keep up with, resulting in a good number of broken links. But it's still an excellent source to find hidden treasures among the vast internet.

Active.com Baseball Community has a message board where people ask and answer questions about NCAA Baseball rules. Not a lot of people, but enough to be interesting.

CollegeSummerBall.net is a blog devoted to the collegiate summer wood bat leagues. Coverage is somewhat uneven and spotty, but what's there is informative.

College Baseball Insider & CollegeBaseball360: CBI and CB360 are somewhat like The College Baseball blog, somewhat like Rivals.com, somewhat like College Baseball Today. For the most part, they are somewhat interesting and somewhat not. Somewhat.

Collegiate Baseball Newspaper : Collegiate Baseball Newspaper is an "old school" print publication over 40 years old. Their online presence looks "old school" as well, as in circa 1995. A few links, a few lists, and a long list of pages with very little content. For example, their page on Baseball History is unbelievably sparse for a publication so steeped in the history of the college game. The page consists of the following:
Google - Baseball History
Google - Baseball Historical
Thanks. I don't think I could have found Google without your help.

Monday, January 3, 2011

College Baseball in 2011

Top 10 storylines for 2011 season (CollegeBaseballDaily.com)
6. How will the pitch clock affect games?

The NCAA has put in a pitch clock when no runners are on base this season. It never came into play during the 2010 SEC Tournament where it was experimented. I believe this will be mainly a non-issue this season but the media has already started to talk about it.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

NCAA Bat standards go into effect today

New bat standards were approved in May, 2009, with the due date of January 1, 2011 for all bat manufacturers to comply. Of course, nearly all have already met the new standards, in anticipation of the deadline. The details are murky and deep, but wade in as you will:

NCAA Standard for testing baseball bat performance: Bat-Ball Coefficient of Restitution (NCAA.org)

Summary of Pass-Fail Criteria
  1. The bat must meet the size and weight specifications.

  2. There are no tolerances for length-weight differences (no greater than three units without the grip) or for maximum barrel diameter.

  3. The bat must have an MOI (6 in. from the base of the knob) greater than or equal to the minimum allowable for the bat’s length class.

  4. The bat ring must pass over the entire length of the bat before and after every hit.

  5. The BBCOR, as determined from an average of six (6) consecutive valid hits at the maximum BBCOR location described above, must not exceed 0.500.

College baseball's new bats take swing at cutting down offensive stats (inside vandy.com)
Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim Corbin noted that the new bats could in turn produce some head-turning stat lines from pitchers around the nation.

“A guy with average stuff is going to have a chance to go longer in games,” he said. “Really you just have to throw strikes, because if you’re not throwing strikes to these bats and getting contact, then shame on you. That’s what it is — the ball’s not going to leave.”