2023 college baseball/softball thread

[micropolitan guy]

I wish to revise and extend my remarks. You are correct. “Death” is not yet the case for all have-nots. Oral Roberts was a stupid omission on my part.
My revision is that I don’t think you’ll see another Fullerton — a baseball-first athletics program that makes it to Omaha multiple times in a five- or six-year span. Maybe they were the giant unicorn in this thing anyway.

You mean Vanderbilt?

 

[Cosmo]

Coastal Carolina is still a good baseball program, but it also has made significant investments in moving to FBS football since their CWS title back in 2016. I think it thinks of itself as much as a football school as a baseball one. That probably wasn't the case when it was in the Big South.

 

[swingline]

If you leave after 2 years, do you owe the Pentagon the amount of money your education would have cost?

As I understand it, no.

 

[micropolitan guy]

If you leave after 2 years, do you owe the Pentagon the amount of money your education would have cost?

What I can find:

"The first two years are freebies. You can complete two years of academic study and leave the (USMA) Academy and owe nothing. Generally with enough credits that you only need one more year at a traditional college to graduate with a BS.

Once you begin classes in your 2° (junior) year, you incur an Active Duty Service Commitment (ADSC). Depending on how long you continue before you leave will determine how much time (and in what grade) you will be required to repay. As I understand it, there is an option to repay that time not in service but in dollars as well."

What happens if you flunk out of a military academy (West Point, Annapolis, Air Force Academy)? Do you you have to repay tuition? - Quora

 

[ChrisLong]

All the things I've read and heard about Skenes are, he is a wonderful person. He left Air Force with the coach's blessing, and the coach showed up in Omaha to support him. Everything about his military requirements are above board. He promises that when his baseball career is over, he will enlist in the military and serve, to honor family members who were in the Navy. And he was the one who put the injured catcher on his back and carried him out to the on-field celebration after LSU won.

Last week, I was skeptical, too. Whenever someone comes along who "experts" say is the best-ever, blah blah blah, I hope they get their ass handed to them. Skenes did everything that was expected of him. We'll see what happens next. But, remember, there were people on here who thought Shohei should have started his career in the minors.

 

[tapintoamerica]

All the things I've read and heard about Skenes are, he is a wonderful person. He left Air Force with the coach's blessing, and the coach showed up in Omaha to support him. Everything about his military requirements are above board. He promises that when his baseball career is over, he will enlist in the military and serve, to honor family members who were in the Navy. And he was the one who put the injured catcher on his back and carried him out to the on-field celebration after LSU won.

Last week, I was skeptical, too. Whenever someone comes along who "experts" say is the best-ever, blah blah blah, I hope they get their ass handed to them. Skenes did everything that was expected of him. We'll see what happens next. But, remember, there were people on here who thought Shohei should have started his career in the minors.

If he has the kind of career the draft experts think, he won't need to enter the military until his late 30s. (And may be contractually prohibited from it because of the risk.) At that point, are there any physical jobs for which he could enlist? How does that work?

 

[Alma]

If he has the kind of career the draft experts think, he won't need to enter the military until his late 30s. (And may be contractually prohibited from it because of the risk.) At that point, are there any physical jobs for which he could enlist? How does that work?

He doesn't need to enter at all. He left Air Force before it became compulsory.

 

[tapintoamerica]

You mean Vanderbilt?

Here's what I'm getting at: Schools outside the power structure. No big revenue from any other athletics program, no conference TV cash to speak of. So I'm excluding Florida State, Miami and South Carolina from the definition of outsiders. I'm including Louisville and TCU from their days as Group of 5 members as outsiders, but I could be persuaded to amend.
* Oral Roberts is the first outsider to make it to Omaha since Cal State Fullerton in 2017. The other 39 appearances from 2018-23 were made by teams with football cash backing them up.
* One or more outsiders made it to the College World Series in 34 of the 38 years from 1980-2017. In the five CWS held since, only this year's Oral Roberts team qualified.
I'm working on EADA data now to see if I can actually prove my point about finances.

 

[tapintoamerica]

He doesn't need to enter at all. He left Air Force before it became compulsory.

Correct. I was referring to the fact that he has said he'll enlist voluntarily in the military after his playing days are over.

 

[dixiehack]

I think you can include Michigan in your list of Omaha underdogs. I know Blue prints money but recruiting to a northern school for baseball is so difficult that it erases any financial advantages, as evidenced by the fact they haven’t even hosted a regional since that 2019 run. Oregon State is more baseball-centric but operates under the same handicap with a fraction of the overall athletic budget.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Here's what I'm getting at: Schools outside the power structure. No big revenue from any other athletics program, no conference TV cash to speak of. So I'm excluding Florida State, Miami and South Carolina from the definition of outsiders. I'm including Louisville and TCU from their days as Group of 5 members as outsiders, but I could be persuaded to amend.
* Oral Roberts is the first outsider to make it to Omaha since Cal State Fullerton in 2017. The other 39 appearances from 2018-23 were made by teams with football cash backing them up.
* One or more outsiders made it to the College World Series in 34 of the 38 years from 1980-2017. In the five CWS held since, only this year's Oral Roberts team qualified.
I'm working on EADA data now to see if I can actually prove my point about finances.

Yeah, I know, I was just goofing around. But considering the perennial sad state of Vandy FB, and the current sad state of basketball ...

 

[micropolitan guy]

I think you can include Michigan in your list of Omaha underdogs. I know Blue prints money but recruiting to a northern school for baseball is so difficult that it erases any financial advantages, as evidenced by the fact they haven’t even hosted a regional since that 2019 run. Oregon State is more baseball-centric but operates under the same handicap with a fraction of the overall athletic budget.

Very true that OSU's baseball budget is a smaller part of the overall budget (which is smaller compared to an SEC budget), but it doesn't scrimp. Gonna start work on a $7 M hitting facility in CF when the local summer-league team's season ends.

It has a well-funded booster group, several years ago they needed to raise $75K to refurbish part of the stadium and they doubled that in about a week. Pat Casey really connected with the fan base. Ellsbury donated $1 million for the locker room about five years ago, Darwin Barney gave a chunk to fancy up the in-game alumni room and there certainly are hopes Rutschman, Conforto, Rasmussen, Madrigal, Boyd, Larnach et all will pony up some for future improvements.

But boosters can't do anything about the weather, that's for darn sure. The past two seasons have been miserable.

 

[dixiehack]

Very true that OSU's baseball budget is a smaller part of the overall budget (which is smaller compared to an SEC budget), but it doesn't scrimp. Gonna start work on a $7 M hitting facility in CF when the local summer-league team's season ends.

It has a well-funded booster group, several years ago they needed to raise $75K to refurbish part of the stadium and they doubled that in about a week. Pat Casey really connected with the fan base. Ellsbury donated $1 million for the locker room about five years ago, Darwin Barney gave a chunk to fancy up the in-game alumni room and there certainly are hopes Rutschman, Conforto, Rasmussen, Madrigal, Boyd, Larnach et all will pony up some for future improvements.

But boosters can't do anything about the weather, that's for darn sure. The past two seasons have been miserable.

Right, but Oregon State isn’t relying on a bottomless supply of dollars from football and TV contracts, which stands in contrast to the @tapintoamerica thesis. They’re closer to an East Carolina or Southern Miss where they found a comparative advantage in baseball and ran with it. A huge contrast from Oregon where Daddy Phil literally stroked a check to stand up a team out of nowhere.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Pat Killkenny wrote the checks for Duck baseball, Phil doesn't do much because he doesn't want anything stealing the spotlight from T&F, which essentially now plays in what resembles a lower-level Premiere League stadium, that is totally over-the-top and 3/4 empty for every home track meet except the trials and the Pre meets.

Oregon baseball is good for the Pac-12. But it's a total case of being born on third base thinking you hit a triple.

OSU could only dream of having a bottomless supply of dollars.

 

[Batman]

Baton Rouge kid wants Paul Skenes to plow his mom.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Georgia 1B Cole Wagner, the star of the 2015 U.S. Little League champs, is walking away from the game before his junior year in Athens.

Red Land graduate, Georgia's Cole Wagner walking away from baseball

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

He hit .276 and .200 in two seasons for Georgia. Why is this a story?

 

[jr/shotglass]

He hit .276 and .200 in two seasons for Georgia. Why is this a story?

Because he was a top-30 prospect before hitting the skids. And as a kid, he was a LL sensation on the level of Cody Webster and Chris Drury.

 

[SixToe]

WTH is going on at Auburn with softball?

Players scrambling to leave, including the 2022 Freshman of the Year who transferred to Arkansas. One player scorched the coach on her way out with, of course, "now deleted" tweets.

https://www.al.com/auburn/2023/07/a...hen-you-fail-you-are-immediately-benched.html

Current coach replaced a former coach with baggage whose son was fired or punted for unsavory activities. So it's been 8-10 years of turmoil with softball.

Tough coach(es) and players who can't handle it, or another toxic situation? Maybe both?

 

[HanSenSE]

Technically, they're right.