Birds Ready for a Breakout

DWRedbird

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 17, 2017
Messages
2,454
The Redbirds have been listed by Baseball America as one of 10 Mid-Majors ready to break out in the 2020s.

Link is behind the paywall but here is the exert on the Birds
Illinois State

In his first year at the helm, Illinois State coach Steve Holm nearly skyrocketed Illinois State into rarified air. He led his 2019 Redbirds to a 36-26 season, a share of the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title, and most impressively, a deciding seventh game of the Louisville Regional before falling to the hosting Cardinals.

There’s also evidence that it won’t be an aberration. The MVC continues to put multiple teams into regionals, Duffy Bass Field gives the Redbirds one of the best mid-major facilities in the Midwest, and winning games at Illinois State is not unprecedented. Under Mark Kingston, ISU won 32 or more games in five of six seasons, got into a regional in 2010, and won a regular season title in 2013.

Holm is another name that will come up in future coaching searches, so that stands as a threat to Illinois State’s continued success, but the Redbirds have a great shot to make repeated deep runs in the postseason while he’s there.
 

cubird

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 19, 2017
Messages
2,349
Will see how his recruited players perform. He certainly had current players develop to make the play off run.
 

JHBird

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 20, 2017
Messages
3,019
DWRedbird said:
The Redbirds have been listed by Baseball America as one of 10 Mid-Majors ready to break out in the 2020s.

Link is behind the paywall but here is the exert on the Birds
Illinois State

In his first year at the helm, Illinois State coach Steve Holm nearly skyrocketed Illinois State into rarified air. He led his 2019 Redbirds to a 36-26 season, a share of the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title, and most impressively, a deciding seventh game of the Louisville Regional before falling to the hosting Cardinals.

There’s also evidence that it won’t be an aberration. The MVC continues to put multiple teams into regionals, Duffy Bass Field gives the Redbirds one of the best mid-major facilities in the Midwest, and winning games at Illinois State is not unprecedented. Under Mark Kingston, ISU won 32 or more games in five of six seasons, got into a regional in 2010, and won a regular season title in 2013.

Holm is another name that will come up in future coaching searches, so that stands as a threat to Illinois State’s continued success, but the Redbirds have a great shot to make repeated deep runs in the postseason while he’s there.

That's good to hear. I worried that they lost all that talent to the draft. Hopefully Holm stays around for a while.
 

DWRedbird

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 17, 2017
Messages
2,454
JHBird said:
DWRedbird said:
The Redbirds have been listed by Baseball America as one of 10 Mid-Majors ready to break out in the 2020s.

Link is behind the paywall but here is the exert on the Birds
Illinois State

In his first year at the helm, Illinois State coach Steve Holm nearly skyrocketed Illinois State into rarified air. He led his 2019 Redbirds to a 36-26 season, a share of the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title, and most impressively, a deciding seventh game of the Louisville Regional before falling to the hosting Cardinals.

There’s also evidence that it won’t be an aberration. The MVC continues to put multiple teams into regionals, Duffy Bass Field gives the Redbirds one of the best mid-major facilities in the Midwest, and winning games at Illinois State is not unprecedented. Under Mark Kingston, ISU won 32 or more games in five of six seasons, got into a regional in 2010, and won a regular season title in 2013.

Holm is another name that will come up in future coaching searches, so that stands as a threat to Illinois State’s continued success, but the Redbirds have a great shot to make repeated deep runs in the postseason while he’s there.

That's good to hear. I worried that they lost all that talent to the draft. Hopefully Holm stays around for a while.

The articles I've read during the offseason all seem to be really high on Holm, and I've liked what I've seen so far.

I'll be curious to see what we do this year to build on last year.
 
Top Bottom