next year

[strongisbeautiful17]

Just learned Jeb Bargfeldt signed to play with Cisco JC in Cisco Texas with the former Shocker's Asst. Coach under Gene, Jon Coyne. He is following Michael Burns and Matt Whalen to Texas for the fall. I wish these talented young men the very best.

[strongisbeautiful17]

Ouch that hurts. He started 12 games last year which was more than anyone but Isaac Anderson.

He just signed to play for Cisco and former Shocker's coach Jon Coyne along with Michael Burns and Matt Whalen.

[strongisbeautiful17]

One of the current players told me today that Goshen left to play for Iowa Western in the fall. Maybe this is old news to most of you.

[RoyalShock]

Signing deadline approaching:

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/article27334345.html

[1972Shocker]

Signing deadline approaching:

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college...e27334345.html

Sounds like Willie playing a little high stakes poker with the Brewers. Losing Willie will be a bigger blow than losing Jeb Bargfeldt but it would also magnify losing Jeb's services as well.

[1972Shocker]

Interestingly the Baseball America draft database still shows Sam Hilliard as unsigned despite reports in the media that he would be signing with the Rockies:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/draftdb/index.php

Not sure if this is really accurate or not.

According to the Baseball America database 19 of the 22 Valley players drafted have signed including Shockers Daniel Kihle and Isaac Anderson.

The 3 drafted Valley players that are still shown as unsigned are all Shockers: Sam Hilliard, Willie Schwanke and Chase Williams.

I don't know if Sam is holding out for more money but the was quoted by KWCH as saying he was going to sign with the Rockies.

Does anyone have any other information on Sam Hilliard's status?

[tru2thaduce]

Hilliard signed and is playing in the Rockies system in Grand Junction.

[strongisbeautiful17]

I wonder if TJ Looney will be back this year to pitch. I have seen him a couple of times this summer pitch for the Wellington Heat, just wondering.

[1972Shocker]

Hilliard signed and is playing in the Rockies system in Grand Junction.

Thanks. Looks like he is doing quite well hitting 0.350 with an OPS of 1.019 in 16 games. He only has 1 home run but he does have 4 doubles, 3 triples and 15 RBI.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=hillia000sam

[shockfan89_]

Obviously there is a lot of pressure to win and I think it will come to a head next year. The coaches know they need to capitalize on it after starting off with two poor seasons and not really showing any improvement from year to year (exception being the last 15 games of last season). Everything below seems to be aligning for a good season:

- The draft seemed to have been very kind to us
- Everyone else should be WAY down next year due to graduation and the MLB draft
- Should be picked 1st in the MVC
- Appears to be a MUCH easier schedule
- Basically a roster of 50 players and the coaches get to choose the best 35

I may be crazy but I think we need to win 40 games, finish 1st or 2nd in the conference and make a regional. If we can't do at least that with everything going our way next year I will be very concerned we may not ever be able get back to where we need to be.

[RoyalShock]

According to Sully on twitter, Schwanke is returning to WSU. Great news!

[Play Angry]

That's huge.

Losing Bargfeldt hurt us from the standpoint of rotation depth - he would have been a serviceable 3rd starter or an excellent 4th starter depending on where he landed on the depth chart. Keeping Schwanke and Chase at least gives us a pretty solid weekend base if everyone stays healthy.

I really hope someone takes ownership of mid-week starts this year...it's been a long damn time since we could view those with any sort of confidence.

[SB Shock]

That's huge.

Losing Bargfeldt hurt us from the standpoint of rotation depth - he would have been a serviceable 3rd starter or an excellent 4th starter depending on where he landed on the depth chart. Keeping Schwanke and Chase at least gives us a pretty solid weekend base if everyone stays healthy.

I really hope someone takes ownership of mid-week starts this year...it's been a long damn time since we could view those with any sort of confidence.

It long damn time we (the fans) had any confidence in anything surrounding this program.

[ShockerFever]

The draft seemed to have been very kind to us

Unfortunately, that's good news, bad news. Good news that our class/roster remain mostly intact. Bad news of what that may indicate about our current/projected talent.

Everyone else should be WAY down next year due to graduation and the MLB draft

I don't want to win the freaking league or win games based on teams sucking. That's the p*ssy way out. We shouldn't be comparing ourselves to Valley programs anyways. Valley programs will always be cyclical. We were never cyclical. We were CONSTANTLY relevant.

Should be picked 1st in the MVC

Again, who cares, if it's based on a shitty league? If we're picked first because we are expected to be good, that's one thing. But getting to the top on others' shortcomings is weak. Very weak.

Appears to be a MUCH easier schedule

Who cares if we win games against a 250-type schedule? Is that where we're at now? Being happy about loading up on Emporia State and Lewis and Clark State and getting those impressive 20-4 winning scores? Now, I'm not saying we're at the point now where we can be expected to play against top-notch competition week in and week out. We're a shell of our former selves. But we shouldn't be bragging about getting wins against nobodies either.

If we can't do at least that with everything going our way next year I will be very concerned we may not ever be able get back to where we need to be.

I hate to break it ya. But we are NEVER getting back to what we used to be. We will never be a consistent Top 5 program again ever. Now, can we be a Top 20 program that every 5 years or so is capable of getting to Omaha? Sure. But even that is a long ways off.

[1972Shocker]

According to Sully on twitter, Schwanke is returning to WSU. Great news!

Here is Sully's report on Willie returning:

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/article27522724.html

Quite frankly I am a little surprised Willie turned down an offer that was "somewhat close" to his $300,000 asking price. I suppose he would not have turned then down if he wasn't expecting the medical redshirt to come through.

It does show that Willie is confident that he can come back and have a big year. I'm hoping it pays off big for him.