Gopher Baseball 2020

[Goldy Gopher]

The Gophers lose 7 seniors 4 position players in Eddie Estrada, Riley Smith, Cole McDevitt, and Ben Mezzenga and 3 pitchers in Jeff Fasching, Jake Stevenson, and Nick Lackney. They also could lose a couple guys to the draft. Eli Wilson is the most likely but Brett Schulze and Jordan Kozicky are also possibilities.
As of right now the Gophers have announced a very talented class of 8 athletes. JUCO 1st baseman Ronnie Sweeny is probably the guy I have the most confidence in to make a big impact immediately but I think a number of guys will have really solid roles as freshman. P/IF/OF Sam Ireland was the player of the year in Colorado last year and has put up similar numbers this season. Kyle Bork and Steve Jamroziak are the two other position players in the class and are very athletic and advanced with the bat. Michael Gurka, Trent Schoeberl, Bennett Thiesen, and Will Anderson are the other pitchers in the class and I think they can find a role as well despite the pitching depth the Gophers have. They are very talented guys that have all experienced a lot of winning throughout high school and travel team ball. Anderson is a lefty while the others are all right handed. Jack Liffrig will also transfer in as a left handed pitcher from Utah who played on the same high school team as Ireland last season but that has not officially been announced yet.
Gophers will be led by a strong pitching staff again headed by a guy who can be a 1st round pick next June in Max Meyer. Classmates Patrick Fredrickson, Sam Thoresen, Josh Culliver, and Ryan Duffy will also be counted on heavily.
There was some improvement offensively at the plate as the year went on but no doubt that was the team weakness this year. You have to think you will see some improvement from guys over the summer with more at bats but I also think there is openings for guys like Sweeny, Ireland, and Bork to grab some positions as newcomers.
Schedule wise I believe U.S. Bank Stadium will be back in use and the couple series I've heard about are TCU coming to town and a B1G/ACC Challenge facing Duke, NC State, and UNC. If anyone else has any tidbits go ahead and add them.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Lincoln gopher]

The Gophers lose 7 seniors 4 position players in Eddie Estrada, Riley Smith, Cole McDevitt, and Ben Mezzenga and 3 pitchers in Jeff Fasching, Jake Stevenson, and Nick Lackney. They also could lose a couple guys to the draft. Eli Wilson is the most likely but Brett Schulze and Jordan Kozicky are also possibilities.
As of right now the Gophers have announced a very talented class of 8 athletes. JUCO 1st baseman Ronnie Sweeny is probably the guy I have the most confidence in to make a big impact immediately but I think a number of guys will have really solid roles as freshman. P/IF/OF Sam Ireland was the player of the year in Colorado last year and has put up similar numbers this season. Kyle Bork and Steve Jamroziak are the two other position players in the class and are very athletic and advanced with the bat. Michael Gurka, Trent Schoeberl, Bennett Thiesen, and Will Anderson are the other pitchers in the class and I think they can find a role as well despite the pitching depth the Gophers have. They are very talented guys that have all experienced a lot of winning throughout high school and travel team ball. Anderson is a lefty while the others are all right handed. Jack Liffrig will also transfer in as a left handed pitcher from Utah who played on the same high school team as Ireland last season but that has not officially been announced yet.
Gophers will be led by a strong pitching staff again headed by a guy who can be a 1st round pick next June in Max Meyer. Classmates Patrick Fredrickson, Sam Thoresen, Josh Culliver, and Ryan Duffy will also be counted on heavily.
There was some improvement offensively at the plate as the year went on but no doubt that was the team weakness this year. You have to think you will see some improvement from guys over the summer with more at bats but I also think there is openings for guys like Sweeny, Ireland, and Bork to grab some positions as newcomers.
Schedule wise I believe U.S. Bank Stadium will be back in use and the couple series I've heard about are TCU coming to town and a B1G/ACC Challenge facing Duke, NC State, and UNC. If anyone else has any tidbits go ahead and add them.

Thanks again for all the info. Just a word about those 7 seniors that graduated, I believe all 7 were academic all Big Ten. 4 of them for 2 years and 3 of them for 3 years, pretty impressive.

 

[MennoSota]

Isn't the NCAA wrestling championship scheduled for US Bank field next March? If so, will that affect baseball in the spring regarding home games before April?

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Isn't the NCAA wrestling championship scheduled for US Bank field next March? If so, will that affect baseball in the spring regarding home games before April?

I had no idea of that. Looks like it is there March 19-21. Can't imagine they would need near the same amount of setup time for that as they did the final 4.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

A little surprised that Schulze goes before Wilson mostly because college relievers seem to get pushed down. He was pretty solid in the Cape last summer and with the good velocity Phillies might think he could have a chance to add a pitch and transition to starter.
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Some confirmation to what I think was pretty well already assumed both Brett Schulze and Eli Wilson will sign.
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Goldy Gopher]

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Goldy Gopher]

 

[Goldy Gopher]

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Never want to lose but don't think anyone needs to worry with how the Gophers approach these games. More about getting experience than getting a result, lot of different guys used today.

 

[beavergopher]

Any rumors about the non conference schedule? When do they officially announce it?

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Any rumors about the non conference schedule? When do they officially announce it?

Think it was the end of October last year. Stuff that has been confirmed via other teams schedule. Exhibition against the Twins on Friday February 21st. Host TCU Saturday the 22nd through Monday the 24th. B1G/ACC Challenge is February 28-March 1 I believe with NC State, Duke, and North Carolina I think.
Some other opponents that seem like they could be likely are Dallas Baptist and at Oklahoma.

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

Schedule released today

https://gophersports.com/news/2019/10/29/baseball-announces-full-2020-schedule.aspx

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Schedule released today

https://gophersports.com/news/2019/10/29/baseball-announces-full-2020-schedule.aspx

Another top 10ish series on the road this year with Texas Tech. Some good challenges.

 

[beavergopher]

A friend of mine with some connections in the Wisconsin Athletic Dept. says the rumor in Madison is that they are going to be adding women’s lacrosse and bringing back baseball. Has anyone else heard this?

 

[WoodburyTim]

A friend of mine with some connections in the Wisconsin Athletic Dept. says the rumor in Madison is that they are going to be adding women’s lacrosse and bringing back baseball. Has anyone else heard this?

I hope not. It's like having another home state to recruit in.

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

A friend of mine with some connections in the Wisconsin Athletic Dept. says the rumor in Madison is that they are going to be adding women’s lacrosse and bringing back baseball. Has anyone else heard this?

That would be a different direction than in recent years. Alvarez wouldn't even sit down to discuss the idea with proponents in the last few years.

“Baseball, when it was a varsity sport here, I think our average attendance was fewer than 50 people,” Alvarez said. “There isn’t much of a groundswell. There are a handful of people who won’t let it die.”

Someone did a study a couple years ago and I think they determined that about $50M of seed money would need to be raised in Madison just to get the program off the ground. But of course most donors with that kind of coin would rather put their money towards football or basketball.

 

[SomeGopherFan]

It does seem every few years some mention of reviving the program surfaces, but never goes anywhere. I personally am mixed on it; having a close rival in the sport would be fun, but it's been so long that at this point you just get used to it and it seems to be a nice recruiting opportunity.

 

[beavergopher]

Early signing class only has four players. That is really small. Any back story about this?

 

[dlw4gophers]

Well they would be able to promise early playing time.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Early signing class only has four players. That is really small. Any back story about this?

Technically only have 1 senior and the B1G has some stupid rule about only being able to early sign by like 3 over your graduating class. It doesn't matter if you know you are gonna lose more than 3 non-seniors to the draft. I think that is one of the rules that coaches have been pushing back on more lately. It was originally put in place to make sure teams don't operate like the SEC schools and over sign by a ton.

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

Collegiate Baseball ranks Gophers 29th

 

[TheBubba91]

Another top 10ish series on the road this year with Texas Tech. Some good challenges.

How about little less Sputh and North Dakota and more SEC,Pac 12, ACC or big 12 opponents. I mean the road to Omaha can be daunting but this would be a better measuring stick.

 

[Lincoln gopher]

How about little less Sputh and North Dakota and more SEC,Pac 12, ACC or big 12 opponents. I mean the road to Omaha can be daunting but this would be a better measuring stick.

Those games that you are talking about are all mid week games. The rest of the schedule is awesome. Unless a major conference team is close by, a midweek game against them will never happen. 3 games against ACC and 6 against Big 12 plus 3 against Pac 12 teams is a pretty good schedule

 

[Ski U Mah Gopher]

Those games that you are talking about are all mid week games. The rest of the schedule is awesome. Unless a major conference team is close by, a midweek game against them will never happen. 3 games against ACC and 6 against Big 12 plus 3 against Pac 12 teams is a pretty good schedule

Iowa State would be the only P5 team close enough to come up here or for us to travel down there for a midweek game.

 

[Lincoln gopher]

Iowa State would be the only P5 team close enough to come up here or for us to travel down there for a midweek game.

Iowa State doesn't have a baseball team. Gophers have played Kansas and Kansas State in the past for midweek games

 

[WoodburyTim]

Iowa State doesn't have a baseball team. Gophers have played Kansas and Kansas State in the past for midweek games

When did ISU get rid of baseball? Couldn't have been that long ago.

 

[Lincoln gopher]

When did ISU get rid of baseball? Couldn't have been that long ago.

Dropped baseball after the 2001 season.

 

[WoodburyTim]

Dropped baseball after the 2001 season.

Wow that was awhile ago. I suppose their chance of competing in the Big12 are slim to none.