Miami Doping

Miami doping questions puts a damper on a bright team and shows that drugs are still very much a part of baseball.

By Kelvin Read

AP Photo/ Willfredo Lee

With new PED reports coming out in the past couple of weeks linking players from Alex Rodriguez to Gio Gonzalez to PEDs, college students have come away almost unscathed. One person being linked to drug use is Miami strength coach Jimmy Goins. Goins is currently under investigation by the MLB, but hasn’t been convicted of any illegal activity yet.

The University of Miami released a statement saying that none of their students had tested positive for steroids since 2005, when it started to release its test results, but that doesn’t mean that untested and illegal substances aren’t being used. There is no test for HGH, a commonly used drug for injured players. Additionally, we recently learned about Deer Antler Spray and its mischievous usage. Drugs like these are common in baseball and other sports. Oddly, though, there are no plans to implement more severe testing procedures in order to diminish the prevalence.

Miami is currently ranked 29^th in the first week of college baseball. While this investigation is unlikely to impact the team’s season, a shadow has been cast on Miami’s success. More testing needs to be done. Drug use is rampant in junior college baseball, where players are striving to get picked up by more competitive teams. Players like Rodriguez are not the real problem. It’s young men that use drugs starting in their teens and twenties. It’s unfortunate that we must have such a watchful eye on the young men who are enjoying their prime years, but the Miami report means that oversight of their superiors is needed.

High school and college testing will have to become much more severe. College may be a time where you can make some mistakes in your life, but PED usage to gain an advantage should not be allowed.

College Baseball: A Hidden Gem

By Kelvin Read

It’s college baseball season again. While perhaps not the most beloved sport in the world, college baseball is certainly entertaining and exciting. No other sport has an annual tournament hosted in the same beautiful ballpark year after year.  

AP Photo/ John Griffin

More than one hundred teams begin their season hoping to make it to Omaha, Nebraska, the college baseball capitol. There are the usual suspects whose seasons are Omaha or bust—Arkansas, Texas, LSU, UCLA, UNC and Virginia —and then there are the teams that hope to shock the baseball world and crash the party.

That’s the beauty of college baseball. Just about anyone can make it to the College World Series and win. Computers don’t decide which teams are the best. It isn’t single elimination, where one unlucky play can end a team’s tournament life.  It’s possible for a 16-seed to beat a 1-seed in college baseball, to put it in March Madness terms. Just last year the Stony Brook Seawolves made it all the way to Omaha as a 4-seed, the equivalent to a 13-seed in college basketball, something that has never occurred in March Madness history.    

It’s the best team that wins, not the team with the best players. College baseball gives unheralded players, like South Carolina’s Michael Roth, the opportunity to win games for their teams, even if they aren’t superstars.

Stanford has had the most players drafted since 2000, but has yet to cash in on a championship despite all of their talent. One pitcher or position player can be relied upon to carry a team. While a good quarterback, goalie, or sharpshooter might have enough skill to overshadow their teammates’ shortcomings, in college baseball every fielder and pitcher has to be responsible for doing their job on every single play.

While March Madness and the BCS might get all of the ESPN highlights, you are missing out on one of the most special sporting events if you overlook the College World Series and college baseball altogether. Tune in this season. Watch from start to that final winning dog pile of jubilant college players and tell me you weren’t entertained.

Analyzing College Baseball Preseason Top 25

Rank	Team	2012 W-L	Conference	2012 rank
1.	North Carolina	46-16	Atlantic Coast	18
2.	Arkansas	46-22	Southeastern	5
3.	Vanderbilt	35-28	Southeastern	24
4.	Stanford	41-18	Pacific 12	13
5.	Louisiana State	47-18	Southeastern	11
6.	UCLA	48-16	Pacific 12	4
7.	Florida	47-20	Southeastern	6
8.	Oregon State	40-20	Pacific 12	23
9.	N.C. State	43-20	Atlantic Coast	12
10.	Oregon	46-19	Pacific 12	10
11.	South Carolina	49-20	Southeastern	2
12.	Georgia Tech	38-26	Atlantic Coast	NR
13.	Kentucky	45-18	Southeastern	21
14.	Texas Christian	40-22	Big 12	14
15.	Louisville	41-22	Big East	NR
16.	Mississippi State	40-24	Southeastern	22
17.	Florida State	50-17	Atlantic Coast	3
18.	San Diego	40-17	West Coast	NR
19.	Mississippi	37-26	Southeastern	NR
20.	Oklahoma	42-25	Big 12	15
21.	Rice	41-19	Conference USA	19
22.	Arizona	48-17	Pacific 12	1
23.	Cal State Fullerton	36-21	Big West	NR
24.	Texas	30-22	Big 12	NR
25.	Arizona State	36-20	Pacific 12	17

By Kelvin Read

College baseball season is quickly approaching and that means that it is time for pre-season rankings to predict how the season will unfold. While there will undoubtedly be surprises and changes in the final standings, pre-season rankings give us benchmarks to compare teams and prospects when considering the College World Series. 

The first official set of these rankings comes from Perfect Game, a scouting website for all levels of baseball. While this may not be as official as the AP or coaches poll that will both be released soon, this report gives us a nice ranking to analyze.

AP Photo/ Erik J. Perel

Most striking in this initial ranking is the dominance of the South Eastern Conference (SEC). The Top 25 is littered with eight teams from the SEC, but surprisingly excluding Texas A&M, who made it to Omaha last year. Arkansas leads the way for the conference, after finishing third in the final rankings last year. The Razorbacks return 10 pitchers from last year’s pitching staff that finished the season with a 2.83 team ERA, the second-lowest single-season ERA in program history.

However, the top spot belongs to North Carolina, one of four Atlantic Coast Conference  (ACC) teams to make the top 25. The Tar Heels return their top pitcher -- LHP Kent Emanuel, as well as position player Colin Moran. Emanuel is a talented left-handed pitcher who had a fantastic sophomore campaign for the Heels last season, going 8-4 with a 1.96 ERA in 110 innings. Moran hit .365 with 11 doubles, a home run, three homers and 35 RBIs.

Other teams to watch from the SEC and ACC are South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Georgia Tech. South Carolina loses College World Series wonderkid Michael Roth, who set just about every Omaha pitching record possible. However, they are returning seven position players and the rest of their starting pitchers from a team that lost in the CWS finals to Arizona.

Vanderbilt returns All-American infielder Connor Gregor, along with nine other Commodores who started at least 10 games for the Vandy. Georgia Tech returns two preseason All-American seniors in Brandon Thomas, who led the team last year with a .360 average, and Buck Farmer, who pitched 106.1 innings with a 3.54 ERA and 100 strikeouts.

After winning the CWS last year, Arizona falls to 22^nd in the rankings with the loss of All-Americans Kurt Heyer and Rob Refsnyder. They’ll battle with Pac-12 perennial favorite UCLA and new powerhouse Oregon, who was just one out away from making it to Omaha.

Mid-Major powers Rice and Cal State Fullerton will look to have bounce back seasons after finishing last season unranked. A newcomer to the top 25 is San Diego. The enigmatic Toreros are lead by pre-season All-American Kris Bryant, who hit .367 last season, with 14 homeruns, which is an obscene number in the BBCOR bat era.

Finally, a team that is ranked high on the list because of their reputation as opposed to results is Texas, who had only one player hit over .300, and has a young and inexperienced pitching staff. Louisville is the lone team to represent the Big East. A team not currently ranked but could break out is Tulane. They will battle it out with Rice for Conference USA dominance.

What Conference Realignment Means for College Baseball

By Kelvin Read

The past few years have led to much turmoil in the college athletic landscape. Politics over revenues brought by college football and basketball have forced many colleges to switch conferences. While many of these conference changes have benefitted revenues and the revenue sports of the universities, it is yet to be seen if these changes will be positive changes for competition in other sports. Here’s an overview of what conference realignment will do for college baseball:

Pac-12: The Pac-12 has welcomed two new schools – Colorado and Utah—to its conference this past year. It is unlikely that either school will have a major impact on the traditional powerhouse conference. Colorado does not sport a varsity baseball program, and Utah had a 6-23 record in the Pac-12 in its first year. Utah’s recruiting may improve with the increased level of competition, but it is unlikely that they will outplay programs like UCLA, Arizona, Arizona St, and USC.

AP Photo/ Alonzo Adams

Big-12: The Big-12 suffered perhaps the biggest blow to its competition, as both Missouri and Texas A&M went to the SEC. A&M represented the Big 12 in Omaha two years ago and Missouri won the Big 12 tournament title in the same year. The conference tried to offset these losses by adding TCU and West Virginia, who both field competitive varsity programs. TCU has made the postseason for nine consecutive years, as well as earning a CWS appearance in 2010 when ousted Texas in the super regional’s. Expect to see TCU remain competitive in the Big 12, unless head coach Jim Schlossnagle leaves.

West Virginia, on the other hand, has been a middle-of –the-road team in the Big East. The Mountaineers finished last season with a 23-32 record, primarily playing the Big East. The upgraded competition of Big 12 play will not do any favors for WVU.

SEC: The SEC scored big after stealing Texas A&M and Missouri from the Big 12. The already deep league added two more programs that will compete year in and year out. Missouri may struggle at times since it has to travel far for away games. A&M lost All-Americans Tyler Naquin and Michael Wacha, but remains a deep team.

Big Ten: Not normally known as a baseball conference, the Big Ten did well to add Nebraska last year, along with Maryland and Rutgers in 2013.  The Cornhuskers finished with a 35-23 record overall and a 14-10 in conference, solid records for a traditional football school. Purdue and Michigan will likely remain as the top dogs in the Big Ten, but Nebraska will add some much needed depth to the conference. Rutgers and Maryland, the future additions to the conference, boasted similar records in 2012, both winning over 30 games.

ACC: Historically one of the deepest conferences in college baseball, the ACC was not particularly interested in strong baseball programs when it decided to add Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, and Louisville. Pittsburgh and Notre Dame both posted winning records last year, but failed to reach the post season. Syracuse lacks a varsity program and though a move to the ACC may increase the likelihood that they add a program, it will be several years before they would become comp etitive.  The biggest addition will be Louisville, which made the NCAA tournament field, but was eliminated by eventual champion Arizona in the regional round. Louisville is the only team that is moving to the ACC to boast an All-American in 2012. Justin Amlung was a third team All-American, with a 2.31 ERA and 105 strikeouts in 109 innings pitched.

Big East: The Big East has seen the most upheaval in the past year. After losing West Virginia, and with Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame expected to leave, the Big East has been forced to add six new teams. Central Florida, Houston, Memphis, Southern Methodist, and Temple will join the Big East as full time members in 2013, as well as Tulane in 2014. The new programs in the conference will likely not unseat St. John’s and UConn, but all should be competitive in the historically mediocre Big East.

Overall, the changes that were made to increase football competition will have similar effects on the baseball landscape. The SEC will get even deeper, but the Big 12 may take a slight step back. All the dust has yet to settle on the diamonds, but it looks like the changes will be good for college baseball.

Vanderbilt Lands Top Recruiting Class For Second Straight Year

By Kelvin Read

Division one college baseball recruiting is a very cyclical process.  Unlike football or basketball, which receive 85 and 13 full scholarships per year, which is almost enough to fill entire rosters with full scholarship athletes, college baseball only receives 11.7 scholarships a year.

With such limited scholarships, baseball programs go through cycles of high and low ranked recruiting classes. Teams cannot effectively function by giving full scholarships out to players, so they are forced to split their scholarships up between several players. If a large class comes in one year, it is likely that the school will bring in a smaller class, so as to not strain their scholarships thin.

AP Photo/ Karl B. DeBlaker

With that said, Vanderbilt University has become an anomaly these past two years, as they pulled in the top-ranked recruiting class for back-to-back years. Vanderbilt made no NCAA tournaments from 1981 to 2003, but broke into the big time of college baseball in 2005, with a class highlighted by current Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman, Pedro Alvarez.  The SEC is the deepest baseball conference in Division One, which makes it hard to compete year in and year out, but Vanderbilt has made the NCAA tournament every year since 2006.

Another factor affecting recruiting is that the MLB draft draws many of the top recruits away with lucrative pro contracts. Many times, players will commit to schools, only to be lured away by the minor leagues, the way that many baseball-lifers believe is a faster track to stardom. This year, Vanderbilt lost two signees to pro-contracts, but still managed to bring in the top recruiting class, showing the depth of their talent.

Four teams from California made the top 25 classes, along with three schools from Texas.

TOP 25 RECRUITING CLASSES

1. Vanderbilt

2. UCLA

3. Georgia

4. Alabama

5. North Carolina

6. Stanford

7. Texas

8. Arizona State

9. Auburn

10. Miami

11. Texas Christian

12. UC Santa Barbara

13. Clemson

14. Louisiana State

15. Texas A&M

16. South Carolina

17. Fresno State

18. Kentucky

19. Southern California

20. Tennessee

21. Arkansas

22. Florida

23. Cal State Fullerton

24. Missouri

25. Arizona

Rankings according to Baseball America