next year

[shockmonster]

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.

You may be surprised but "somewhat" is a "relatively" broad term to define. I would guess that since he his slot is from 100k to 300k, I would guess that his initial offer was 100K. They may have offered him 200K and Willie could term that "somewhat" close because they came up quite a bit from their initial offer. Well, whatever, it doesn't matter because he decided too come back. Additionally, I do agree with your confidence that he will get an additional medical redshirt year.

[WSUwatcher]

Good news about Schwanke, and there are plenty of cases in Shocker history where one more year paid off big for a pitcher -- and it's still the same pitching coach.

One thing I wish hadn't changed about the pitching coach, though, is WSU's use of a true rotation. The Shocks have never been better than when they used a true four or five man rotation back in the 80s and early 90s. And I know it's not going to change, because Butler obviously thinks in terms of weekend vs. midweek just like pretty much everyone does nowadays. But with midweek games often being better RPI opportunities than conference games these days -- last year was a distinct exception because of the unusual quality of the Valley's top teams (one of them NOT WSU, which still strikes me as just too weird) -- I can't help thinking that a good performance outside the league is at least as much a resume enhancement as playing well in Valley games is. And the best way to do that is to give your best pitchers a chance in those midweek games, too, if that's when their turn comes up. It used to work just fine with guys like Steenstra and Haas; why not Tewes, Schwanke, et al.?

[shockmonster]

Good news about Schwanke, and there are plenty of cases in Shocker history where one more year paid off big for a pitcher -- and it's still the same pitching coach.

One thing I wish hadn't changed about the pitching coach, though, is WSU's use of a true rotation. The Shocks have never been better than when they used a true four or five man rotation back in the 80s and early 90s. And I know it's not going to change, because Butler obviously thinks in terms of weekend vs. midweek just like pretty much everyone does nowadays. But with midweek games often being better RPI opportunities than conference games these days -- last year was a distinct exception because of the unusual quality of the Valley's top teams (one of them NOT WSU, which still strikes me as just too weird) -- I can't help thinking that a good performance outside the league is at least as much a resume enhancement as playing well in Valley games is. And the best way to do that is to give your best pitchers a chance in those midweek games, too, if that's when their turn comes up. It used to work just fine with guys like Steenstra and Haas; why not Tewes, Schwanke, et al.?

Didn't we average 20-30 more games a year then? That would be about 2-3 games a week or instead of 4-5 games a week, it would be about 6-7 games per week. That is a big difference.

[1972Shocker]

You may be surprised but "somewhat" is a "relatively" broad term to define. I would guess that since he his slot is from 100k to 300k, I would guess that his initial offer was 100K. They may have offered him 200K and Willie could term that "somewhat" close because they came up quite a bit from their initial offer. Well, whatever, it doesn't matter because he decided too come back. Additionally, I do agree with your confidence that he will get an additional medical redshirt year.

Actually there is technically no slot "money" for players beyond the 10th round. Everyone drafted after the 10th round can receive a bonus of up to $100,000 without the signing team being penalized. But I guess it functions more or less the same way. If the team has money left from their allowable budget due to not signing top 10 round players or signing them below their slot they can use that to sweeten the pot without penalty. The extra $200,000 the Brewers had available was contingent upon then not using that to sweeten the pot on any of their other unsigned players. So if they signed another Round 11 to 40 draft pick late for $200,000 for example, they would only be able to pay Willie $200,000 without penalty. Hard to say what the Brewers really had available at the end of the game.

As of today the Baseball America draft data base shows that the Brewers could have paid Willie as much as $604,700 without incurring any penalty. Whether or not that is where they actually ended up at the expiration of the signing deadline is hard to say for sure.

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

In any case, Willie is back and I hope his back is back and hopefully his teammates will back him and he will be back for a great final college season next year.

[1972Shocker]

Didn't we average 20-30 more games a year then? That would be about 2-3 games a week or instead of 4-5 games a week, it would be about 6-7 games per week. That is a big difference.

Good point, plus many of the games played in those years where the Shocks played 80+ games weren't exactly against the highest quality opponents although the Shocks did pretty much handle all comers. As a practical matter the Shocks pretty much do use a four man rotation. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Weekday with a 5th spot starter needed on those occasions where they play 5 games a week. Wash, rinse repeat.

[WSUwatcher]

Good point about the extra games back then (the 1982 team that lost to Miami in Omaha played 87 games; the 1989 champs played 84), and the midweek opponents, partly because there were so many, were often of a lower caliber than they are now.

Still, the higher quality of WSU's midweek opposition now (and the generally lower quality these days of their MVC opposition) highlights the importance of playing well against their non-league opponents, and that's really my main point: I've never thought it made sense for WSU to use its fourth and fifth best starters in games that matter more to their RPI than many of those in which they use their top three guys. And a true pro-style rotation would automatically create starts for their big three in some of those weekday games.

Sure, that approach would be harder for the pitching coach to manage so as to maximize the starts by his best guys in WSU's actual most important games, including midweek (rather than just assuming the MVC games, some of which are of serious insignificance in resume terms, are most important) -- but I'd be happy for WSU to register a higher RPI score and rank even at the expense of taxing Kemnitz's brain, planning skills, and creativity a little more. I know a change of that sort back to the good old days is about as likely as snow in July, but I'd still love to see it.

[SPEShockAlum]

A buddy of mine up in Omaha sent me a text message the other day that he had a chance to see one of our newcomers, Alex Bohm, hitting in the AAA Homerun Derby hosted at Werner Park, the home of the Stormchasers. He's 6'5''/240.

http://www.neprepzone.com/sports/bohm-reps-roncalli-in-triple-a-derby-hopes-bigger-crowds/article_2937d536-2058-5528-9abe-ae4cfc65f6c4.html

[strongisbeautiful17]

A buddy of mine up in Omaha sent me a text message the other day that he had a chance to see one of our newcomers, Alex Bohm, hitting in the AAA Homerun Derby hosted at Werner Park, the home of the Stormchasers. He's 6'5''/240.

http://www.neprepzone.com/sports/boh...cfc65f6c4.html

I just read the article. Great article about a Shocker recruit. Big Boy. As many of you on this site say "but can he hit a D1 curve ball" it will remain to be seen. I hope he will fit in well here at WSU. Right now we don't have the Big, Loud Crowds he is looking for but with a couple of successful seasons that should be on the upswing.

[Cdizzle]

As many of you on this site say "but can he hit a D1 curve ball" it will remain to be seen.

I'd take someone that can hit a D1 fastball that he knows is coming at this point.

[Kel Varnsen]

I just read the article. Great article about a Shocker recruit. Big Boy. As many of you on this site say "but can he hit a D1 curve ball" it will remain to be seen. I hope he will fit in well here at WSU. Right now we don't have the Big, Loud Crowds he is looking for but with a couple of successful seasons that should be on the upswing.

He look anything like this guy?

[strongisbeautiful17]

I heard early on that Jordan Farris wasn't returning but staying in California. Can anyone confirm this as fact or if he is coming back as a Shocker?

[SPEShockAlum]

"Are you in good hands?"

[Ed Harley]

Hats for bats!

[1972Shocker]

I heard early on that Jordan Farris wasn't returning but staying in California. Can anyone confirm this as fact or if he is coming back as a Shocker?

Pual Suellentrop with confirmation that Jordan Farris will not be back.

Jordan Farris, who started 40 games at second and third for WSU’s baseball team last season, will not return to WSU. He said, in a text message, that he did not plan to play baseball.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/sports/college...#storylink=cpy

[strongisbeautiful17]

VanPelt, redshirt from last year transferrred to Butler CC..if this is true, at this rate, they will have enough room for the incoming freshmen.