Gopher Baseball 2019

DarrenTheGreek

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Now that the fun-filled 2018 is behind us let’s start to look ahead to the 2019 team. Here are some things to discuss and keep an eye on.
1. Schedule – Thanks to the Final Four being played at USB Stadium the stadium is unavailable for baseball for the entire spring. This means no DQ Classic, no non-conference home games, NOTHING. Word is the club will be heading west to a Pac12/BigTen challenge type of deal again where we will likely see Oregon State. It sounds like a road trip to Pepperdine might be in the works, which is a GREAT college baseball venue. Anyone else have any tidbits on potential schedules?
2. Replacing the infield – We lose Coffey, Vavra and Petterson in our infield. Kozicky will likely be given the opportunity to replace Vavra at SS but where to the rest of the pieces get filled?
3. Rotation – Biggest question of all is whether Reggie Meyer will come back. Based on his selection in the mid 30’s I would say it is more likely than not at this point. The next question is whether they can transition Max Meyer to the rotation and how successful that will be. IMHO, he would have to cut down on the sliders BIG TIME to make that adjustment as that will just tax his arm to death if he’s throwing that pitch 50% of the time (see: Liriano, Fransisco).
4. Bullpen – Jackson Rose is graduating and assuming Max goes to the rotation, what becomes of the rest of the bullpen? Is Schultz given the chance to be the midweek starter or does he continue in middle relief or does he actually go to closer?
Feel free to discuss anything else.
 

2) My guess right now would be that Kozicky goes back to short, and Wassel/Wilhite take the other two open infield positions. As for outfield, Riley Smith definitely grabs one of those spots and the other one is up for grabs. Also, don't discount the possibility of a transfer in/grad transfer.

3) Reggie Meyer is definitely coming back. And I'd say either Schulze/Meyer becomes the 3rd starter and the other one assumes the closer role.

4) The 'pen will also be solid and deep with the setup guys probably being Fasching, Duffy, Gus Radel, Lackney, Culliver. I could see Culliver being the midweek starter or Lackney. I think with more solid pitching this year Stevenson might not get too much action next year unless he improves his command alot.
 

Reggie is not coming back. Meyer was given an offer he couldn't refuse by the Rangers last night.
 

Reggie is not coming back. Meyer was given an offer he couldn't refuse by the Rangers last night.
Really? You have inside info? That would be pretty surprising and a little disappointing.
 

Now that the fun-filled 2018 is behind us let’s start to look ahead to the 2019 team. Here are some things to discuss and keep an eye on.
1. Schedule – Thanks to the Final Four being played at USB Stadium the stadium is unavailable for baseball for the entire spring. This means no DQ Classic, no non-conference home games, NOTHING. Word is the club will be heading west to a Pac12/BigTen challenge type of deal again where we will likely see Oregon State. It sounds like a road trip to Pepperdine might be in the works, which is a GREAT college baseball venue. Anyone else have any tidbits on potential schedules?
2. Replacing the infield – We lose Coffey, Vavra and Petterson in our infield. Kozicky will likely be given the opportunity to replace Vavra at SS but where to the rest of the pieces get filled?
3. Rotation – Biggest question of all is whether Reggie Meyer will come back. Based on his selection in the mid 30’s I would say it is more likely than not at this point. The next question is whether they can transition Max Meyer to the rotation and how successful that will be. IMHO, he would have to cut down on the sliders BIG TIME to make that adjustment as that will just tax his arm to death if he’s throwing that pitch 50% of the time (see: Liriano, Fransisco).
4. Bullpen – Jackson Rose is graduating and assuming Max goes to the rotation, what becomes of the rest of the bullpen? Is Schultz given the chance to be the midweek starter or does he continue in middle relief or does he actually go to closer?
Feel free to discuss anything else.
1. Think we played in the PAC 12/ Big Ten Challenge in Surprise, AZ a couple years ago with Utah and Oregon State could be that thing again? I put it in the other thread but Long Beach State came to Siebert a couple of years ago I would think we would be in line for a return trip soon.
2. Should be some good competition. With a few of the freshmen like Berghammer, Wilhite, and Raabe having a chance. Riley Smith was also originally a 2nd baseman maybe he gets a look there and Jack Wassel should be a factor somewhere.
3. I would be pretty surprised if Reggie didn't come back but who knows. I think Max will transition well into a starter. Might be able to pick up a good changeup from somebody with the collegiate national team this summer and if he does good luck. Should be a lot of pitching depth.
4. I think Schulze will probably have a similar role as this season. Gus Radel could be an option at closer if he is healthy. Guys like Thoresen, Culliver, Duffy, and Horton should get some good experience this summer in the northwoods and I'd expect all to have a little bigger role next season.
 


The Gophers will have a great/tough schedule for the 2019 season that looks like this at this point.
Surprise, AZ
Oregon State, Purdue, Gonzaga

Dallas, TX
Dallas Baptist 3 games

Raleigh, NC
North Carolina State 3 games

Seattle, WA (Safeco Field)
Washington, Gonzaga, Oregon State, Washington

Long Beach State, CA
Long Beach State 3 games

Malibu, CA
Pepperdine

Big Ten Away
Penn State, Michigan, Indiana, Northwestern

Big Ten Home
Nebraska, Ohio State, Illinois, Maryland

The Gophers will also play North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Milwaukee, and Nebraska-Omaha at Siebert

The Gophers will also host Oklahoma in a non-conference weekend series.
 

Reggie will not return and it will be announced soon I believe.
 

The Gophers will have a great/tough schedule for the 2019 season that looks like this at this point.
Surprise, AZ
Oregon State, Purdue, Gonzaga

Dallas, TX
Dallas Baptist 3 games

Raleigh, NC
North Carolina State 3 games

Seattle, WA (Safeco Field)
Washington, Gonzaga, Oregon State, Washington

Long Beach State, CA
Long Beach State 3 games

Malibu, CA
Pepperdine

Big Ten Away
Penn State, Michigan, Indiana, Northwestern

Big Ten Home
Nebraska, Ohio State, Illinois, Maryland

The Gophers will also play North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Milwaukee, and Nebraska-Omaha at Siebert

The Gophers will also host Oklahoma in a non-conference weekend series.

That is a great schedule
 

The Gophers will have a great/tough schedule for the 2019 season that looks like this at this point.
Surprise, AZ
Oregon State, Purdue, Gonzaga

Dallas, TX
Dallas Baptist 3 games

Raleigh, NC
North Carolina State 3 games

Seattle, WA (Safeco Field)
Washington, Gonzaga, Oregon State, Washington

Long Beach State, CA
Long Beach State 3 games

Malibu, CA
Pepperdine

Big Ten Away
Penn State, Michigan, Indiana, Northwestern

Big Ten Home
Nebraska, Ohio State, Illinois, Maryland

The Gophers will also play North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Milwaukee, and Nebraska-Omaha at Siebert

The Gophers will also host Oklahoma in a non-conference weekend series.
Man that is a really challenging schedule. Would imagine they would still be working on seeing if they can fit in some midweek games as well.
 



Reggie will not return and it will be announced soon I believe.
Well if he is gonna go the Rangers must've went way higher than I would've expected for a 38th round pick. Especially when you consider you would think he is likely to have another pretty good year if he returned and could be a little higher priority for teams.
 

I heard Vavra is coming back. He's absolutely upset about the contract the Rockies are offering him.
 

Looks like Rob is still putting some work in.
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Like I said, Vavra is steamed about the contract the Rockies offered him!
 


The Surprise, AZ Tournament is for sure. Coach A told me in the Portland airport.
Usually it is two games against each opponent from the opposite conference.
 

Really would hurt to lose Reggie Meyer, but if that happens hopefully one of the freshmen pitchers could step up into a significant role.
 

Anybody here have any insight if Estrada might be able to earn some at bats next year? Was there an injury this year? Seems strange that he got 0 AB's after the first few games. He had some electric looking power at times 2 years ago.
 

Go gophers!

1. Estrada - He has struggled with the bat these last two years. That's why Estrada did not play a lot this year or last year. I know the coaches are hopeful, that Estrada will figure things out when it comes to batting, because he has great potential. He has one more year left to do it.

2. Pitching staff - I think people here are under estimating how good this pitching staff should be next year. I would not be surprised at all if the pitching staff finishes in the top 5 in the nation next year. They were 13th this year. Two reasons why the pitching staff should be stellar next year.

A. We had something like 7 or 8 freshmen this year. I think pitchers typically take the biggest jump of improvement between their Freshmen and Sophomore years. I know that is not always the case, but I think you'll see a lot of freshmen be significantly better next year over this year.

B. Don't forget we are getting two incoming Freshmen who are really highly regarded. Plus Nolan B. if he is healthy. If Meyer comes back his Senior year, the pitching staff should be loaded.

If everyone is healthy and Meyer comes back, there would not be very many pitching staffs in America, I would take over ours.
 








Looks like Reggie got to go straight to their short season class A team pitching a inning yesterday. If he got that assignment and the $125,000 that he can get without it counting against the bonus pool as much as I would have liked him to be a Gopher next year it is hard to blame him for going.
http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t486&player_id=662118#/career/R/pitching/2018/ALL

Not much of a bonus in reality since the average salary of a Class A player is ~$1300/month. That bonus will get spent pretty quickly!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Not much of a bonus in reality since the average salary of a Class A player is ~$1300/month. That bonus will get spent pretty quickly!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
True, but might be close to 3x as much as he would've got as a senior and with him being a redshirt junior maybe he had already graduated.
 

125k for being a mid 30 round pick? Can't blame him at all. Suppose he has a really good senior year and bumps his value to round 20....as a senior he has no leverage. He would get less bonus and be a year behind all the guys his age. It sucks but it is smart
 

MLB Draft Tracker lists Reggie's bonus as $5,000 and if that is actually right then it makes no sense at all that he signed. He could've easily got that as a SR and would've probably been taken quite a bit higher. I would think there has to be a mistake with draft tracker if Reggie actually signed for $5,000 he made a big mistake and has a terrible agent.
 




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