2024-25 Off-Season/Fall Ball Discussion and News

[1972Shocker]

[WstateU]

[ShockerFever]

Pitching once again is not the highlight.

[Old School "Shocker"]

Pitching was ok. Some guys show potential, I think we will throw lots of arms each game. Offense other than Mo and Washburn was average at best. Duncan had a couple good ABs. Josh had a good AB. Defense was OK. Not sure why Jordo was back at 2B and the depth behind Mo is worse this year. Will hope for a better improvement between now and start of season. I’m afraid it might be a little drop off from last years team.

[shockerfan224]

Pitching is going to be interesting this year. Would have liked to see Umbarger and Langbehn throw against DBU and see how they played against some outside competition. Thought they have looked really solid in scrimmages. Umbarger has had some struggles with spotting the slider but velo is definitely there. Thought Arnett looked really solid as well. Also really intrigued with Arnad. Big body lefty and I think Clagget could make a few minor changes and he could be an all conference guy. Really interested to see who our 4-5 starters are going to be on the bump(I think Hamilton and Adler are no question 2 of them). Washburn definitely is looking to be a great addition in the field with a lot of arm strength. Also Davis Mauzy really got ahold of that last ball. Junior College All-American and had 35 stolen bases, really high on him.

[1972Shocker]

Listen to the podcast

Wichita State junior Caleb Anderson thought punting at Vanderbilt would be his path. Instead, he is at Wichita State and we talk about that part of his journey, one that he wrote about in "The Story of 2022."

Anderson also talks about fall scrimmages and teammates to watch in the five-game fall series that begins Wednesday.

Anderson is a pitcher from Springdale, Ark. He transferred to Wichita State from Johnson County Community College for the 2024 season where he made 28 appearances, two starts, for the Shockers. He earned a spot on the AAC's All-Academic team.The fall series begins Wednesday and runs daily through Sunday. All games are five innings. The weekday games begin at 3 p.m. The Saturday and Sunday games are at 11 a.m.

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Caleb named some guys to watch at the fall series: Mauricio Millan and Cole Dillon (Arizona transfer) at catcher, Jordan Black (Johnson County CC transfers) at 3B and pitchers Grant Adler, Brady Hamilton, Jeremiah Arnett and Colton Vercoe (all righthanders).

The 6-5 Colton Vercoe, a redshirt junior, was an interesting mention. Played at Mesa Community College in 2022, redshirted at Wichita State in 2023, and was listed on the Shocker roster last year but did not play. Apparently, has made some nice improvement.

Caleb has a ton of respect for Mo Millan, the Shockers team captain. Said he thinks Mo will be coaching when he is done playing.

Said he thought the competitiveness of the team was up a tick this year, but was less rah-rah and a bit more professional.

Interesting to hear that Caleb said he didn't focus on pitching until mid-way through his senior year in high school. He had hoped to go to Vanderbilt as a punter but that did not work out so he turned to baseball.

Very well spoken and thoughtful young man. Nice interview.

[1972Shocker]

[ShockerExpress]

Anyone get to go or hear how any specific guys did?

I have not been able to go, but am in-tune!

[1972Shocker]

[Old School "Shocker"]

Pretty competitive fall. Lots of guys look like they have improved. Some of the new guys will be fun to watch. Hopefully they can continue to improve and be ready to make another big run.

Now the hard part for the coaches come. They need to cut 9 guys. Never fun to do that.

[1972Shocker]

[ShockerExpress]

Anyone with any specifics on what the World Series showed?

I did not get to go and did not see any coverage anywhere. I know black won, but was curious to how individual guys did / who stood out.