MVC Preview - Baseball America

DWRedbird

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Baseball America has released the MVC Preview .

TLDR version:

Birds are picked to finish second in the league behind Dallas Baptist, and Ryan Cermak is picked to be the Frosh of the year.
Things clicked for the Redbirds under first-year head coach Steve Holm in 2019, and while they saw a number of talented players depart due to the draft and graduation after the season, they still bring back a veteran club. Offensively, shortstop Joe Butler (.319/.370/.450), a good athlete who has played a number of positions in his career, outfielders Jack Butler (.304/.370/.444) and Jordan Libman (.299/.421/.376) provide a quality foundation. Getting first baseman Jake McCaw and outfielder Ryan Hutchinson back from injury will help as well. Illinois State lost all three members of its weekend rotation from last year, and replacing that production is a concern, but it hopes it has some of the answers already in-house. Righthander Brady Huffman projects to lead the rotation. He missed all of last season due to injury, but two years ago, he was the team’s Friday starter. Lefthander Colton Johnson (4-1, 4.61) will slot in behind him after serving mostly in relief in 2019. But Johnson was last seen in an ISU uniform throwing 7.1 quality innings in a regional final against Louisville. Freshman lefthander Trey Krause and junior righthander Brett Wicklund (4-4, 4.50) project to start games as well, whether in the Sunday spot or in the midweek. Bullpen roles will have to be hammered out as time goes on, but there’s no question who will be closing, with lefthander Jacob Gilmore (3.71, 11 SV) back.
 

jamminjamarsmiley

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Seems like the starting rotation could be a bit of a question mark. Hope they can recapture some of the magic from last year
 

DWRedbird

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jamminjamarsmiley said:
Seems like the starting rotation could be a bit of a question mark. Hope they can recapture some of the magic from last year

Depends on how Huffman bounces back from injury in my opinion. If he comes back strong, we could have a solid rotation.
 

MadBird

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Season starts Friday. Looking for another NCAA bid! Was hoping to catch a "warm location" game this spring but don't see one that will work for us.
 

DWRedbird

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MadBird said:
Season starts Friday. Looking for another NCAA bid! Was hoping to catch a "warm location" game this spring but don't see one that will work for us.

I'm excited. I haven't traditionally watched a lot of college baseball in the past but while out walking my dog at times last year I stopped and watched a few innings through the fence (much to my dog's chagrin). And then watched them online whenever I could. I'm trying to convince some folks to go to games with me more this year as it looks like it could be a fun season.
 

MadBird

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DWRedbird said:
MadBird said:
Season starts Friday. Looking for another NCAA bid! Was hoping to catch a "warm location" game this spring but don't see one that will work for us.

I'm excited. I haven't traditionally watched a lot of college baseball in the past but while out walking my dog at times last year I stopped and watched a few innings through the fence (much to my dog's chagrin). And then watched them online whenever I could. I'm trying to convince some folks to go to games with me more this year as it looks like it could be a fun season.

I never paid that much attention to college ball either. My first couple of years at ISU we went to some games because a couple guys from the dorm were on the team. After that not so much.

But then up here in Madison we got the Northwoods League summer college team, and some friends were host parents, and we'd always go to a few games every summer and so you'd get to know the good programs and so forth. And these folks' son then played DIII baseball and they'd go to Florida every spring break for tournaments, and we'd go down and so saw not only DIII games but some DII and DI, and then also caught some ISU games when they were down there.

It's fun to catch some guys who get drafted and then eventually make the big leagues.
 

DWRedbird

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MadBird said:
DWRedbird said:
MadBird said:
Season starts Friday. Looking for another NCAA bid! Was hoping to catch a "warm location" game this spring but don't see one that will work for us.

I'm excited. I haven't traditionally watched a lot of college baseball in the past but while out walking my dog at times last year I stopped and watched a few innings through the fence (much to my dog's chagrin). And then watched them online whenever I could. I'm trying to convince some folks to go to games with me more this year as it looks like it could be a fun season.

I never paid that much attention to college ball either. My first couple of years at ISU we went to some games because a couple guys from the dorm were on the team. After that not so much.

But then up here in Madison we got the Northwoods League summer college team, and some friends were host parents, and we'd always go to a few games every summer and so you'd get to know the good programs and so forth. And these folks' son then played DIII baseball and they'd go to Florida every spring break for tournaments, and we'd go down and so saw not only DIII games but some DII and DI, and then also caught some ISU games when they were down there.

It's fun to catch some guys who get drafted and then eventually make the big leagues.

It is fun to watch. I also play in a dynasty fantasy baseball league, so I also started paying attention to college baseball players and scouting them where I can, so it is always cool to "scout" an ISU guy.
 

Humdinger

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DWRedbird said:
MadBird said:
Season starts Friday. Looking for another NCAA bid! Was hoping to catch a "warm location" game this spring but don't see one that will work for us.

I'm excited. I haven't traditionally watched a lot of college baseball in the past but while out walking my dog at times last year I stopped and watched a few innings through the fence (much to my dog's chagrin). And then watched them online whenever I could. I'm trying to convince some folks to go to games with me more this year as it looks like it could be a fun season.

D-dub I'd love to meet for a game.
 

DWRedbird

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Humdinger said:
DWRedbird said:
MadBird said:
Season starts Friday. Looking for another NCAA bid! Was hoping to catch a "warm location" game this spring but don't see one that will work for us.

I'm excited. I haven't traditionally watched a lot of college baseball in the past but while out walking my dog at times last year I stopped and watched a few innings through the fence (much to my dog's chagrin). And then watched them online whenever I could. I'm trying to convince some folks to go to games with me more this year as it looks like it could be a fun season.

D-dub I'd love to meet for a game.

Absolutely. Shoot me a private message for any game you are thinking and I'm down to meet up at a game.
 

Humdinger

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"I'm down to meet up..."
Paradoxical! We'll have a great time based on that quote! I'll shoot you a PM soon.
 
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