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Did anyone go to the scrimmage today? Any players stand out?
 


Gophers will open the season with a series at UC Irvine starting February 17th.
 



Gophers release 2017 schedule. Pretty solid some nice non-conference series with the season opener at Irvine and hosting Long Beach State at Siebert in May.
 


One of the top players in the Minnesota class of 2018. 2 other top 5 2018 Minnesota kids have committed to Missouri. It is hard to compete with a school like TCU but Missouri is a little harder to understand for me I just don't get what the draw is there.
 





GopherHusky said:
Will Estrada contribute a lot this year?
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I expect him to take a step forward this year and I would think he will step into more of a everyday role this season. Probably will see time both as DH and as an OF. In limited ABs last year he hit .264 with a HR and 8 RBIs.
 

Goldy Gopher said:
One of the top players in the Minnesota class of 2018. 2 other top 5 2018 Minnesota kids have committed to Missouri. It is hard to compete with a school like TCU but Missouri is a little harder to understand for me I just don't get what the draw is there.
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SEC > Big Ten in baseball
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
SEC > Big Ten in baseball
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I get that thinking but not all SEC is equal. Those guys also had other solid offers I'm sure from ACC and Big 12 teams that would make more sense than Missouri. I just don't get the draw to a Missouri program, I know they have a new coach but this is a program that hasn't made the NCAA tournament the past 4 years and have been towards the bottom of the SEC since joining the conference.
 



I think this coming year my concern is going to be the pitching rather than hitting. Losing two starting pitchers, your closer, and one of your better long relievers leaves some holes to fill. We will have the same amount of upperclassmen pitchers as last year in 9, but I think this year our upperclassmen pitchers are not as talented compared to 2016. So this years underclassmen need to make a bigger impact compared to 2016. Last year Gilbreath was the only underclassmen to make a significant impact on the pitching staff. The rest of the underclassmen were mid-week relievers. I know Sophomores Lackney and Stevenson both pitched really well in the Northwoods league this summer. Plus Burchill and Bridges pitched well in the steak and beans series this Fall. They did much better than Lackey and Stevenson did in their freshmen year. If we can get better pitching from the Sophomores and Freshmen this year compared to 2016 then our pitching staff could turn out to be pretty good.
 

Believe he is talking about next seasons DQ Classic and that will be 3 very solid games for the Gophers.
 


B1G Weekend Ahead

Updated through Rutgers win over Illinois in Game 1 of Friday doubleheader.

B1G Weekend
Friday
Rutgers 8, Illinois 3 (Game 1 of DH)
Northwestern @ Maryland, 1
Illinois @ Rutgers, 2 (Game 2 of DH)
Michigan @ Purdue, 5
Penn State @ Indiana, 5:05
Ohio State @ Iowa, 6:05
Long Beach State @ Minnesota, 6:30
Michigan State @ Nebraska, 6:35

Saturday
Illinois @ Rutgers, 12
Northwestern @ Maryland, 1
Penn State @ Indiana, 1:05
Long Beach State @ Minnesota, 2
Michigan State @ Nebraska, 2:05
Ohio State @ Iowa, 2:05
Michigan @ Purdue, 5

Sunday
Penn State @ Indiana, 11:05 (BTN)
Northwestern @ Maryland, 12
Michigan State @ Nebraska, 12:05
Long Beach State @ Minnesota, 1
Ohio State @ Iowa, 1:05
Michigan @ Purdue, 2 (BTN)

B1G Tournament Seeds
#1 Nebraska (12-5-1)
#2 Maryland (14-7)
#3 Minnesota (12-6)
#4 Michigan (11-7)
#5 Iowa (11-7)
#6 Indiana (10-7-1)
#7 Purdue (10-8)
#8 Michigan State (8-10)

Others
#9 Northwestern (8-10)
#10 Rutgers (6-10)
#11 Illinois (7-12)
#12 Ohio State (6-12)
#13 Penn State (2-16)

Predictions
Nebraska wins 2 of 3 from Michigan State
Maryland sweeps Northwestern
Long Beach State wins 2 of 3 from Gophers
Michigan wins 2 of 3 from Purdue
Iowa wins 2 of 3 from Ohio State
Indiana sweeps Penn State
Illinois wins 2 of 3 from Rutgers (Rutgers leads series 1-0)
 

Few updates on incoming Gophers. First the out of state guys I believe all of their spring seasons are over. RHP Josh Culliver pitched his Creighton Prep team to a state championship finished the year 8-1, 46 innings pitched, 28 hits, 1.22 ERA, 59 strikeouts. Culliver has 3 pitches good movement on upper 80's fastball. RHP Patrick Fredrickson pitched his Gig Harbor team to a state championship not sure on full season stats but went 6 innings allowing 1 run on 5 hits while walking 3 and striking out 2. Fredrickson mixes 3 pitches with a fastball that gets into the low 90's. Looks like IF/OF Easton Bertrand wasn't able to hit a lot of the season due to injury but was able to play the field. Did have a game where he hit 2 homeruns late in the season. Has produced pretty well in summer travel ball circuit the past couple years.
Minnesota guys either just started playoffs last week or will be starting them early this week. RHP/IF Max Meyer 7-1, 56.2 innings pitched, 24 hits, 0.99 ERA, 14 walks, 7 hit batters, and 87 strikeouts. Fastball in the upper 80's maybe get into low 90's and really good changeup and breaking ball that he will throw in any count. At the plate .433 with 13 RBI, 2 homeruns, and only struck out 3 times in 60 at bats. RHP Sam Thoresen 4-1 in 8 games, 35 innings pitched, 23 hits, 1.60 ERA, 14 walks, 3 hit batters, and 42 strikeouts. 3-4 pitch mix Fastball that can touch 90 uptempo on the mound. LHP Ryan Duffy 3-3 in 8 games, 46.2 innings pitched, 29 hits, 0.90 ERA, 17 walks, 4 hit batters, and 70 strikeouts. 3 pitch mix with a fastball that can be high 80's. LHP Danny Kapala 6-0 in 7 games, 46.2 innings pitched, 35 hits, 1.35 ERA, 13 walks, 3 hit batters, and 53 strikeouts. Mid-upper 80's fastball and sweeping breaking ball. LHP Charlie "Bubba" Horton don't think his stats have been updated. Lists 12 innings pitched, 14 hits, 3.50 ERA, 9 walks, and 11 strikeouts. Horton played in some USA baseball thing at Wrigley Field last summer and would think his numbers would be better. Upper 80's fastball with a solid slider and changeup to go with it. IF Jacob Hitz no stats available have seen that he has hit a couple homeruns this year supposedly a pretty athletic kid.
 

Don't know how any of these kids will turn out, hope they all do well. We are losing the recruiting battle for too many of the top Minnesota kids. That has to stop if we are to start getting into and winning some regionals.
 

dlw4gophers said:
Don't know how any of these kids will turn out, hope they all do well. We are losing the recruiting battle for too many of the top Minnesota kids. That has to stop if we are to start getting into and winning some regionals.
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We have 4 of the top 6 Minnesota kids this year and one that we didn't get won't be playing college ball anyway. Bertrand, Culliver, and Fredrickson are all pretty highly regarded as well. This is a very promising class. We haven't landed some of the 2018 instate guys but have 2 very high upside commits for '18 as of now. I'm much more confident in the way recruiting is going now than I was a few years ago.
 

3 listed for Cape Cod Boxwell, Coffey, and Vavra, 13 for the Northwoods, and 1 each for the Perfect Game League and Coastal Plains League.
 


beavergopher said:
B1G showing great in the Tourney......not.
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Even though Michigan was a 3 seed I thought they would win pretty easily with Jaskie on the mound but he struggled. Nebraska looks really bad against Yale
and I thought that would be a sure win. Not surprised at all with Maryland's performance today didn't think they would get in and maybe they shouldn't have. Indiana vs. NC State and Iowa vs. Houston still to go tonight.
 

Maryland was a head scratcher. Almost seems they got in on projection rather than results.
 



I'm a big fan of John Anderson as a " coach " As a recruiter I think he is lazy. He doesn't want to get on an airplane.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
I'm a big fan of John Anderson as a " coach " As a recruiter I think he is lazy. He doesn't want to get on an airplane.
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I very much disagree with this narative. They got a guy from Washington last year and have another one coming this year. Why go get a kid from California if you don't need to? Especially when you haven't had much success with the few you have been able to bring here over the years. You can get plenty of quality baseball players from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, etc. This staff understands the type of kids they need to recruit and whether they can get them in the Midwest or if they need to expand in some situations and most of the time they are able to get the type of player they want from the Midwest.
 

Few recruit updates
RHP/SS Max Meyer-Woodbury won their section and advances to next weeks state tournament. Meyer pitched 3 times in the section playoffs going a combined 15.2 innings allowing just 6 hits and no runs while walking 2 and striking out 15. At the plate Meyer is 3-7 with a few walks and a few stolen bases in the playoffs.
LHP Charlie 'Bubba' Horton-Maple Grove won their section and will play in the state tournament next week. Horton pitched twice in the section playoffs. Went 7 innings against Buffalo allowing 1 unearned run on 3 hits while walking 1 and striking out 4. He pitched yesterday against St. Michael Albertville and got the loss. He wasn't at his best but his defense was really bad. He was charged with giving up 4 earned runs on 4 hits in 2 innings but that was a scorer who was definitely kind to the offense. I'd say a couple of the hits should have been errors and those led to at least 2 of the earned runs that were charged to him. He walked 1 and struck out 3 in the outing.
LHP Ryan Duffy-South St. Paul lost in the section final and their season is done. Duffy pitched 2 games in the playoffs and went a combined 13.1 innings allowing 3 earned runs on 9 hits while walking 6 and striking out 23.
LHP Danny Kapala-Eastview's season is finished. Kapala pitched twice in the playoffs going a combined 13.1 innings allowing just 2 earned runs on 8 hits while walking 4 and striking out 9.
RHP Sam Thoresen-Minnetonka's season is finished. Thoresen pitched twice in sections and went a combined 12 innings and allowed 3 runs on 12 hits against Chanhassen and Edina. He also walked 7 and struck out 11.
 

Slot value for the pick is $203,400 and only 2 players in last years draft taken in the top 10 rounds did not sign so have to imagine Gilbreath will start his pro career. Think the staff expected him to be drafted relatively high after his JR year and to probably sign so not a surprise. Will be interesting to see who else is drafted and where exactly they are picked. Would imagine a SR or 2 will be picked and not sure if any of the JRs will be picked in a position where they should sign based on what I've read.
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