Fitt Projects NCAA Field

In a daring move, Aaron Fitt of Baseball America takes an educated guess at this year's NCAA Tournament field. Yep, he predicts all 64 teams and regional sites almost a month before the first pitch of the season.

Here's the question I presume you are pondering "Who makes the field from the Big Ten?". Well, I'm happy to report that Mr. Fitt predicts two teams from the conference making The Dance. Indiana, who is tabbed as the automatic berth from the Big Ten, and Michigan, as an at-large team, are in.

If the Big Ten can land two teams into this year's tournament, it will be a banner season. I'm leery about the RPI-quality of Indiana's schedule and Michigan has plenty of holes to fill. Nonetheless, I think we should all embrace Mr. Fitt's optimism.

Hervey Blogs For Ping!

Indiana's Chris Hervey is blogging for Ping! Baseball. Go check out Chris' posts.

Rogers Previews Big 10

Rivals/Yahoo college baseball editor Kendall Rogers offers up his preview of the 2009 Big Ten baseball campaign.

Midnight Madness: Baseball Style

Central Michigan head coach Steve Jaska decided to use a basketball marketing idea in baseball. CMU and Florida Gulf Coast will begin the new baseball season at 12:01 a.m., yes, one minute past midnight, on February 20. According to the blog post from Aaron Fitt at Baseball America,

"... Jaska hatched the midnight madness idea as a way to build excitement for the start of the season."

Technically, the two programs will play a split doubleheader on that day as both sides meet again at 8:00 p.m.

It's a bit crazy, but I kind of like it. A tip of the cap to Coach Jaska, the Chips and FGC for giving it a shot.

Captains Announced

Indiana has named three captains for the 2009 season. Chris Hervey, Joe Vicini and Matt Bashore are the Hoosiers' tri-captains.

Back in the fall, Michigan announced they would have tri-captains this season. Kevin Cislo, Chris Fetter and Tim Kalczynski were selected by their teammates as '09 captains.

Michigan State maintained the trio of captains pattern. The three Spartans selected were Eric Roof, AJ Dunn and Nolan Moody.

Justin Miller, perhaps the most underrated player in the conference, is Ohio State's lone captain in 2009. Miller was a co-captain last year.

The Dinner (Or Lunch) Circuit

Another sure sign that Opening Day is right around corner is the announcement of various team meet-and-greets. The names and formats of these events vary between each program, but they are all just a warm-up for the new season. (And, often, a helpful fundraiser.)

Illinois has a Hot Stove Banquet scheduled for February 6. The special guest is former big leaguer Andy Benes.

MLB umpire Tim McClelland headlines Iowa's Lead-Off Dinner. The date is February 17.

Former Spartan Steve Garvey will be the keynote speaker at MSU's First Pitch Dinner on February 8. The former Los Angeles Dodgers star will receive the 2009 MSU Baseball Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Ohio State's annual Meet The Team Luncheon is scheduled for February 14.

I believe Northwestern usually has an annual event, although I haven't found any details for such an occurrence this year. I know Michigan does have a casual gathering shortly before each season begins, but, here again, no details have been posted. Keep your eye on each university's website or even this space for updates.

All-Ping! Picks

The gang over at Ping! Baseball have submitted their annual All-Ping! Pre-season Teams. Four Big Ten players made their way onto one of Ping's list. Indiana's Josh Phegley is the first team catcher. Michigan's Chris Fetter was a second team All-Ping nominee. Iowa's Justin Toole made the third team at shortstop and Dan Black, of Purdue, was a "For Your Consideration" choice at thirdbase.

Michigan # 30 In Writers' Poll

The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association has released their pre-season poll. While the University of North Carolina claimed the top spot, one Big Ten program did make the Top 35. The University of Michigan begins the year number thirty in the writers poll.

Rich Maloney's team continues to garner an unusual amount of respect from the national media this pre-season. Historically, the voters ignore northern programs (Notre Dame being the lone exception). To see Michigan still slide into the polls, albeit barely, after losing a significant portion of their team to the pros, is a refreshing change.

The only other Big Ten program that got a sniff from the voters was Ohio State. The Buckeyes fell into the "others receiving votes" bundle.

Rounding out the NCBWA Top 10 are LSU, Rice, Texas A&M, Georgia, Florida State, Arizona State, Texas, Stanford and Cal St. Fullerton.

Lists And More Lists

The pre-season lists continue to fill-up the internet and my inbox. Today, I share Rivals rankings of the top seniors and juniors in the land. For those just wanting the Big 10 perspective, Michigan's Chris Fetter was named as one of the top seniors while Minnesota's Matt Nohlety showed up on "The Next Five" heading. Indiana's Josh Phegley was chosen as one of the nation's top juniors.

In addition to Kendall Rogers' lists, Brian Foley at the College Baseball Blog recently cranked out CBB's Top 50 players. Brian doesn't have any Big 10ers amongst his top fifty.

Gophers' Fornasiere Is Lauded

Rob Fornasiere, of the University of Minnesota, won the 2008 Assistant Coach of the Year Award. The honor is given annually by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Baseball America. BA's Aaron Fitt submitted this piece highlighting Fornasiere's dedication.

Rogers' Ranks Each State

Kendall Rogers, the big cheese at Rivals/Yahoo! college baseball, is in the process of evaluating each state's college baseball programs. This is admittedly an unscientific endeavor. As such, his rankings aren't exactly going to warm the hearts of the stat geek community -- not lots of numbers and equations to back up his opinions.

And, as they are merely Rogers' two-cents on this issue, they will no doubt generate some level of debate. We all know I don't much trust the perspective of college baseball's media elite, as their vision seems to extend no further west than Austin, Texas and no further north than about Knoxville, Tennessee. However, that doesn't mean the evaluations are void of merit.

Rogers has been watching this game longer than most sitting in front of a computer and knows lots of people in college baseball. I'd hesitate to toss his opinions aside out-of-hand. At minimum, his rankings should provide us with some indication as to the perception each Big Ten program has nation-wide. (Which both you and I realize isn't very good.)

I'm not going to provide links to every single state, just those in the Big Ten footprint. As of December 22, neither Minnesota or Wisconsin were included. I'm presuming that's forthcoming.

Read and discuss at your leisure.

Illinois/Indiana
Michigan/Ohio
Iowa/Missouri/Kansas/Nebraska/Oklahoma
Pennsylvania/Virginia/Maryland/Delaware

More All-America Attention

'Tis the season for pre-season All-America Teams. This one is courtesy of Collegiate Baseball and Louisville Slugger. The Big Ten names remain the same. Indiana's Josh Phegley and Michigan's Chris Fetter have both claimed All-America status. Once again, Phegley, IU's catcher, is a member of the first team and Fetter has grabbed a second team pitching honor.

CB Has Michigan At # 29

Earlier today, Collegiate Baseball released its pre-season poll. One Big Ten side did manage to slide into CB's rankings. Michigan finds itself starting the season at number twenty-nine in the nation.

I'll admit that I'm surprised that Michigan made the Top 30. I thought many would take one look at the talent that left Ann Arbor this summer and dismiss them as just another northern school. Yet, it would appear that several at CB like Rich Maloney's side again in '09.

Two other Big Ten programs found themselves amongst the ever-popular "Others Getting Votes" category. Ohio State and Purdue both caught the attention of the CB pollsters.

At this point, I would be remiss in my self-appointed duties (not to mention bypass a shameless opportunity to appear to be an "insider"), if I didn't offer a word of advice to the poll voters. Take note of Indiana. That's all. Take note of the Hoosiers. The rest is up to you. (And, yes, them.)

Nonetheless, for the Big Ten to have one Top 30 program and two others garnering votes is a small victory in my book. Even if it is only the pre-season poll.

(While I'm sure all of you will click on the link provided above and review the entire poll, as a customer service, I'll let you know that Louisiana State claimed the top spot overall. LSU was followed by North Carolina, Rice, Georgia and Stanford.)

Columbus To Host '09 Conference Tourney

I didn't see this one coming. Yesterday, the Big Ten Conference announced it's going to hold the 2009 conference baseball tournament at a neutral site. Huntington Park, the home of the Columbus Clippers, will host next year's conference tournament. I'm pleasantly surprised.

Regular readers of BTH will confirm that I've lobbied for a neutral site conference tournament for about as long as I've run this blog. The reasons for my desire for a neutral site venue are numerous, but let me allow Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany's comments from the press release highlight a few of them.

“Moving the baseball tournament to a neutral site will allow the conference office and the local organizing committee to promote this event throughout the season. In addition, playing at an outstanding facility like Huntington Park will enhance the experience for our student-athletes, coaches and fans. We’re looking forward to the first pitch of the tournament in May.”

I couldn't agree more. I can't believe I just agreed with Jim Delany. I must have spent too much time out plowing snow today. Regardless, having the conference's regular season champion host the tournament was a logistics nightmare for all the programs. Knowing where the tournament will be and not placing such a large burden on the host school's athletic department should be warmly greeted by everyone across the Big Ten.

While this seemed like an obvious move to me, and quite a few others, I was told routinely that such a transition wasn't on the horizon. What changed the thinking around Chicago? Here's my guess.

This move was motivated by the conference's new baby -- the Big Ten Network. As the conference now operates a television network, they need live programming. Let me re-phrase that just a bit. They desperately need programming. The conference baseball tournament could be one of those live events, but the conference simply cannot afford to have a university host the tournament when their ballpark doesn't have lights. No lights = no television. That's not an equation the Big Ten Network embraces.

In addition, I can't imagine the conference would want to broadcast their premier baseball event from a glorified junior high school ball field -- with or without lights. It is kind of quaint to see such simple surroundings for college baseball, but as we heard in the marketing days of old, image is everything. I doubt anyone in the Big Ten office really wants the rest of the nation to see just how limited some of the program's baseball facilities really are. (Yes, most are improving, but not all are up to par quite yet.)

The bottom line appears to be this. In order to maximize their product's (both BTN and baseball) visibility and reputation, the conference office conceded to common sense and moved the baseball tournament to a neutral site. Whatever the rationale, it's still a good, long overdue move and one I whole-heartedly applaud.

Now, before the comments and email starting popping up, let me say that this plan isn't perfect. Many will rightly argue that having the tournament in Columbus is a home game for Ohio State regardless of what field in the city they play upon. I can't disagree.

Would I have preferred -- strictly from a perception standpoint -- the tournament being held in Toledo, Dayton, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids or some other slightly more truly neutral location? Yes. However, I'm thinking the Columbus folks might have made a bigger, better pitch for the event than anyone else. Quite possibly, they made the only pitch for the event.

Let's not toss the baby out with the bathwater here. There's no mention of anything beyond 2009, so I'm going with the notion that another host city can be found in the future. Yes, it's in OSU's backyard next year, but that doesn't mean a neutral site championship isn't a good idea.

I also do have concerns about attendance if Ohio State gets eliminated from the tournament early or if, cover your eyes my Buckeye friends, they don't make the field at all. However, that's the case even if the regular season champion hosts the tournament. If the home team is out, attendance drops dramatically. Columbus is centrally located in the conference's geographic footprint, so I'm hoping that will make travel more appealing to fans across the region, thus minimizing some of that affect.

First, the conference disposed of those seven-inning Saturday doubleheaders I disliked in favor of a single nine inning game. Now, after years of my complaining about it, they've opted for a neutral site conference tournament host. The Big Ten has eliminated two of my biggest pet peeves about the way it runs it's baseball schedule. I wonder what should I campaign for next?

Phegley, Fetter Get NCBWA Nod

Indiana catcher Josh Phegley and Michigan pitcher Chris Fetter have been named National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's pre-season All-Americans. Phegley grabbed a first team selection and Fetter was tabbed as a member of the second team.

Ebert Talks Big Ten

Patrick Ebert, of PG Crosschecker.com, talks about Indiana's dynamic battery mates -- Josh Phegley and Matt Bashore -- and wonders if the door to the Big Ten title has opened with Michigan losing so many impact players in his most recent column.

Wallace Award Watch List '09

The 2009 Brooks Wallace Award Watch List has been released. The College Baseball Foundation's pre-season list of nominees for their annual Player of the Year Award has been released. This year's crop is littered with names familiar to readers of this space.

Indiana tops the list with two players -- Matt Bashore and Josh Phegley. The Hoosiers' duo is joined by Illinois' Brandon Wikoff, Iowa's Justin Toole, Michigan's Chris Fetter, Minnesota's Matt Nohelty, Northwestern's Jake Goebbert, Ohio State's Justin Miller and Purdue's Dan Black.

I'm pleased to see so many representatives from the Big Ten dotting the initial list. Yet, and you knew there was going to be a "yet" tossed in, I'm immediately struck by the omission of Michigan State's Chris Roberts. That's just a gut reaction, however. There could be others that merit the honor, but as you know, I've been away from BTH and I could be forgetting someone.

Roberts' omission doesn't diminish the fact that there are nine players from the conference on the list. That's a strong showing from a conference routinely ignored.

Early Scheduling Update

Three Big Ten programs have released their 2009 baseball schedule. Indiana, Iowa and Michigan have announced their '09 opponents (the inevitable alterations notwithstanding, of course). Kudos to all three for getting this information out so early. I'll probably be reviewing these in greater depth at some point down the road, so click on the links and get a look at what the Hoosiers, Hawkeyes and Wolverines face in the coming year.

I should also note that the long-awaited Big Ten/Big East baseball challenge has been finalized and will begin play next year. While this will never be as big as the ACC/Big Ten basketball challenge, I love the concept of this baseball tournament.

The reason for my interest is that I believe that the Big East gets the traditional "east coast media bias" even in college baseball. This format provides the Big Ten with the opportunity to display how they stack up against their fellow (mostly) northern foes. (With or without global warming, USF isn't going to be in the snowbelt anytime soon.)

Yet, this series probably could not come at a worse time for the Big Ten, as one would expect the conference to take another step backwards this year. I'm not sure how the Big East stacks up in '09, but I'm not expecting the Big Ten to provide more than one NCAA tournament team next year. (The good news is that I'm often wrong. The other piece of good news is that it's only September. I've got plenty of time to retract my prediction.)

I haven't heard if there will be any television coverage, but it would seem like an ideal situation for the Big Ten Network. Although, that would require the conference to commit money to baseball, which they are generally opposed to.

Here's the tournament schedule:

BIG EAST/BIG TEN CHALLENGE MATCHUPS
February 20-22, 2009

Day 1 - Friday, February 20
Ohio State vs. Notre Dame
Penn State vs. St. John's
Illinois vs. Iowa
Michigan State vs. Connecticut
Michigan vs. South Florida
Northwestern vs. Georgetown
Minnesota vs. Seton Hall
Indiana vs. West Virginia
Purdue vs. Cincinnati

Day 2 - Saturday, February 21
Michigan vs. Cincinnati
Purdue vs. South Florida
Penn State vs. Northwestern
Ohio State vs. Connecticut
Indiana vs. Georgetown
Illinois vs. Notre Dame
Minnesota vs. West Virginia
Michigan State vs. Seton Hall
Iowa vs. St. John's

Day 3 - Sunday, February 22
Michigan vs. St. John's
Ohio State vs. Cincinnati
Minnesota vs. Michigan State
Northwestern vs. Connecticut
Indiana vs. South Florida
Iowa vs. Georgetown
Purdue vs. Notre Dame
Penn State vs. Seton Hall
Illinois vs. West Virginia

Summer Notes

Here's a brief list of just some this summer news courtesy of each university's website. At some point, I might attempt to do a bit more research on summer league action, but for now I'll use this as a review for both of us.

I'll work in reverse alphabetical order, giving Purdue the the leadoff spot.

Coach Schreiber has two new coaches. Ryan Sowers joins the Boilers staff as pitching coach and ex-Boilers star Chadd Blasko returns in the role of volunteer assistant.

Ohio State hurler Eric Best had a strong summer in Alaska. Best was named as his team's pitcher of the year. Fellow Buckeyes Drew Rucinski and Zach Hurley both grabbed some recognition this summer.

Kenneth Avila, of Northwestern, was named the starting secondbaseman for the Hawaii Summer League All-Star Game. NU's Eric Jokisch blogged for the university's official website from his summer league stint in New England.

Minnesota's Derek McCallum and Nick O'Shea both made the Northwoods League All-Star Game. Kyle Knudson and AJ Pettersen were also having good years in the Northwoods.

The Gophers also added Sam Ryan to their list of recruits eligible in 2009.

Michigan State's AJ Shindler also made the Northwoods League All-Star team. New Spartans' head coach Jake Boss, Jr. named Mark Van Ameyde and Billy Gernon to his staff.

Rich Maloney, of Michigan, claimed his second straight ABCA Division I Mideast regional coach of the year.

Iowa named Chris Maliszewski as their new pitching coach. Maliszewski is an Iowa alum.

A number of Indiana players had strong summers. Evan Crawford, Matt Bashore and Kipp Schutz all played in the high profile Cape Cod League. In addition, Matt Carr was named an All-Star in the Great Lakes League and Joey O'Gara went 5-0 in the GLL. Jerrud Sabourin hit well in San Diego.

IU also announced three late signings. JUCO SS Jake Dunning may move into the starting lineup. Righty Wyatt Hoff and left-hander Matt Igel join a recruiting class that included five signings in November.

Illinois' website chronicles nearly all their players summer league seasons. The university's sports information department also has blog-like posts from several Illini players. Former Illinois catcher Chris Robinson represented Canada in the Summer Olympics.

A September Post

For the first time in years, I actually went an entire month without posting something here. I believe the last time that happened was the autumn of 2005. It wasn't, however, from a lack of material. I just chose to take a break.

After this self-imposed layoff, I'm back today and I'll start by sharing a couple of items out of my email inbox. First, Tom at The Baseball Zealot attended Illinois' first practice of the new school year. He took a few photos, as well.

When you are attending fall practice, it's official -- you've got college baseball fever. That's some diehard dedication. (Not that I'm above that, mind you.) Tom, if I'm partly to blame for your zeal, I apologize.

Patrick Ebert, of Perfect Game, drops me a note about this year's Dairy Queen Classic field. The 2009 DQ Classic will feature Notre Dame, Washington and Hawaii in addition to the host, Minnesota.

Let's be honest. This isn't the strongest field in DQ history. All three programs the Gophers have invited can play, but they lack the marquee appeal of some previous DQ opponents. I'm also not sure how much any of the four programs will be helped, RPI wise.

Thanks to both Tom and Patrick for dropping me a line.