HI NOTES: Recruit Wows 'Em, Game Day Arrives, Coaches in Speedos

♦ Check out 2012 Missouri Baseball: Previewing The Season With trripleplay at RockMNation.com


RECRUITING

♦ You'll want to click the link and read this whole article about one of MU's Fall 2012 signeesRash quiets crowd at PG Indoor (Perfect Game)

“A bit of a hush fell across the crowd as RHP Alec Rash took the mound,” PG scouting coordinator/blogger Ben Collman wrote after Rash’s pitching session Sunday. “Video cameras popped up behind home plate as the top-ranked pitcher in Iowa” made his appearance.

Rash’s fastball had reached 92 mph at previous Perfect Game events and it set at 92-93 during his outing Sunday. The 93 mph velocity tied Minnesota right-hander Mitchell Brown as quickest at the showcase and fell just short of the event record of 94 mph shared by four hurlers.
. . .
Rash committed to the University of Missouri early in his high school career and has signed his national letter of intent. And, of course, the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft is coming up in early June.

“I’m looking forward to it. College baseball would be fun,” Rash said of his commitment to Mizzou. “We pay attention to (the draft) and we talk to a lot of people about it and they’ve said I’ll get more of an indication (of where he might slot-in) when spring rolls around.”

QUOTE

No looking back now. 

  MU Coach Dan Pietroburgo

GAME DAY

♦ Auburn opens 2012 baseball season today against Missouri (AL.COM)

During Auburn's last trip to the NCAA tournament in 2010, the lineup had veteran sluggers who tattooed so many baseballs that it was dangerous to park outside the right-field wall at Plainsman Park. When the Tigers open the 2012 baseball season today against Missouri, the emphasis -- by necessity -- will be different. Auburn will have new starters at almost every position. Players accounting for 34 of last year's 39 homers are gone. Only three players who hit a home run last year will be on the roster. If the Tigers are to defy preseason projections and claw their way back into the postseason, they will do so not with power but with speed, defense and pitching.

COLLEGE BASEBALL 

♦ Follow College Baseball on Twitter:  I've compiled a College Baseball Twitter List that follows 30+ bloggers, journalists and other self-proclaimed experts and commentators on NCAA Baseball.  It's a good way to keep up with what's going on during any College Baseball Game Day.  https://twitter.com/#!/trripleplay/college-baseball

♦ Stitch-Head-in-Chief Eric Sorenson has some good suggestions for the improvement of College Baseball in The Night-Before Proposals (College Baseball Today)

4- I propose a livelier bat. Not crazy-livelier. Not back to where 98-pound weaklings hit bombs off the handle. It’s just that last year’s deadened bats mighta gone just a tad too far. How about this; How about if we give ‘em enough pop so that Arkansas won’t feel compelled to move the right field fence in 10 feet so other programs can’t use that lame excuse to recruit against them. Deal?

14- I propose letting head coaches wear pants, polo shirts, suits, whatever, etc. For the longest time I’ve advocated a change of culture in baseball to not require coaches to wear the team uniforms during games. Mainly because there are some coaches out there you just don’t want to see in the tight pants and relatively tight jerseys. Let them do as they do in football, basketball and hockey… let ‘em wear whatever the hell they want. They’ll look better and outfielders won’t mistake coaches in the coaching box for baserunners. I mean really, what if Olympic swim coaches had to wear what the swimmers wore? Ummmm… Ew.

♦ Baseball season starts Friday - *College Baseball (faniq.com)

Several factors have held baseball back from the promised land where college football and basketball reside.
. . .
Third, college baseball is invisible in much of the country. For years the South East, Texas, and the West Coast have dominated the sport. Since 1966 only one school from the rest of the country has won a title, Wichita State in 1989. Most of the country doesn't pay attention because their teams don't compete. A Big-10 championship in football or basketball earns a player superhero status on campus. A Big-10 championship in baseball earns them a four seed in a four team regional playoff.

Despite these factors, college baseball may have better days ahead. The advent of Conference TV networks will put more games on the air. Omaha just built a spectacular new facility for the College World Series. Players like MIke Leake, Drew Storen, and Stephen Strasburg are jumping straight from the college game into the Bigs. Maybe baseball fans across the country will start to take notice, but maybe not.