Shockers in Summer Baselball

[Aargh]

I haven't been following baseball real closely. I watched some games and listened to others last year. One thing that occurred to me was what the players would do in summer leagues once they were off campus.

It seems that the players flourished when they got out of Shocker uniforms. I had been thinking that with all the times batters struck out with the bat on their shoulders that they seemed to lack confidence. My thought was that if they did better in summer than at WSU, that the players had the ability to succeed. Then their inability to do as well at WSU would be an indication that Butler was actually interfering with their ability to perform.

Jenista's draft status went through the roof once he was not being coached by Butler.

Am I reading too much into this? The way I'm seeing it Butler has been effective in bringing out the worst, not the best, in the players he brings here.

[1972Shocker]

Am I reading too much into this?

Maybe you are. Maybe not.

In Greyson Jenista's case he hit .326 with 5 home runs in 172 AB's as a Freshman at WSU. He followed that hitting 0.229 with 1 home run in 140 innings in the Cape Cod League last summer. As a sophomore Greyson hit .320 with 9 home runs in 228 AB's at WSU and he hit .310 with 3 home runs in 142 AB's in the Cape this summer. So I would say in Greyson's case your theory doesn't hold up.

In Alec Bohm's case he hit .303 with 6 home runs in 178 AB's as a Freshman at WSU. He followed that with a .330, 11 home run season in the Coastal Plains League and was picked as the #1 pro prospect in that wood bat league. This past season at WSU hit .305 with 11 home runs after a slow start. In the Cape this summer he hit .351 with 5 home runs. In his case he played very well during the summer but perhaps not enough better to come to any conclusion relative to your theory.

Jacob Katzfey was playing very well as a Freshman at WSU last year until he injured his back after which his playing time and production fell off. He had a very good summer in the Florida Collegiate League. Probably will have to see how Katzfey does going forward.

OTOH, Luke Ritter only hit .272 and in 2016 and .223 in 2017 as a Shocker and he had a big year this summer at Santa Barbara hitting .353 and was named the team MVP. Also Travis Young after hitting .317 as a freshman in 2016 only hit .231 in 2017 as a Shocker. He had a good season in the Sunflower League hitting .361 but that was in only 61 AB's (compared to 147 AB's at WSU in 2017) and I am not sure about the level of competition in that league anymore. These two examples would tend to support your theory.

I would point out a couple of other factors that I think can effect these comparisons. The weather during the college season is not nearly as conducive to playing good baseball as the weather during the summer is. This will, of course, vary from player to player but I would think that on average most guys play better when the weather is better.

Also Jenista, Bohm, Ritter and Katzfey all played in wood bat leagues this past summer. Not sure about Young in the Sunflower League. So the question is do these guys actually hit better with the wood bats than the current BBCOR bats used in college. That I don't know but I think they may have gone a bit too far with the BBCOR bats.

Of course, the performance of individual position players is not what will determine HCTB's fate. That will boil down to winning games and getting into the post-season. And winning IMHO will probably be more dependent on what he and Coach Steele can do with the pitching staff than what Jenista, Bohm, Ritter, Katzfey and Young do. Last year the Shocks lead the Valley in hitting in Valley games but still finished as the 5 seed in the 8 team league. Interestingly, very few WSU pitchers played this past summer. I guess we will see how that works out this next spring.

[ArtVandalay]

Also Jenista, Bohm, Ritter and Katzfey all played in wood bat leagues this past summer. Not sure about Young in the Sunflower League. So the question is do these guys actually hit better with the wood bats than the current BBCOR bats used in college. That I don't know but I think they may have gone a bit too far with the BBCOR bats.

Have a son playing summer ball and spoke with some high school aged coaches. They said many of their players preferred wood over the BBCOR bats. The fake wood (synthetic) were easier to control and had more pop.

Not sure it has anything to do with guys hitting better, but never thought I'd see a day kids would choose to hit with wood bats over aluminum.

[1972Shocker]

You have to have a Baseball America subscription to read the whole article on the BA site but according to this tweet it appears that BA picked Shocker sophomore Jacob Katzfey as the #2 pro prospect in the Florida League this summer.

Wichita St. Baseball @GoShockersBSB 4 hours ago

Wichita St. Baseball Retweeted Baseball America
Shocker sophomore @jkatzfey23 No. 2 on this list: "Described by coaches as the best left-handed hitter in the league"

Wichita St. Baseball added,

Baseball AmericaVerified account @baseballAmerica
Tyler Keysor leads our list of the top prospects in the Florida Collegiate League. https://buff.ly/2wuOLIL

[1972Shocker]

D1Baseball.com ranked the Top 200 Prospects in the Cape Cod League.

Here are the Top 10 with scouting reports.

Alec Bohm is at #6 and Greyson Jenista is at #7. Very nice scouting reports on the two Shockers.

If you want to see these guys at Eck Stadium this year will probably be your last opportunity.

[1972Shocker]

Another very positive article on Greyson Jenista and Alec Bohm.

Summer Breakout Stars: Shocker Duo.

Jenista hit .310 with three homers in 142 regular-season at-bats for Cotuit to win the league’s MVP award, as voted on by league managers, who were clearly impressed with his all-around game and presence. Bohm’s numbers for Falmouth were even louder: he finished second in the league with a .351 average while compiling five homers, 10 doubles and 28 RBIs in 154 at-bats.

Been a long time since the Shocker program has received this kind of pub although in and of itself won't win you any ballgames.