Big Ten Baseball Predictions

[RUboston]

Perfect Game has Michigan the projected winner. RU last just behind Northwestern. Let's hope we can prove them wrong this year and surprise some people.

http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View.aspx?article=12066

 

[Mr_Twister]

Michigan's roster has multiple players from California and Arizona. They are recruiting to win. Rutgers is recruiting the best players it can get from the metropolitan area. We are recruiting to participate. Would be interesting to see recruiting budgets, and financial assistance to players on Michigan and Rutgers rosters. And we know it is not simply about athletic scholarships.

 

[RUboston]

I remember last year's roster, all the players were from NJ except two from PA.

 

[RUboston]

Just checked this year's roster. Two kids from PA and a freshman from FL. Would be nice to get a few more kids from FL, GA, TX, AZ or CA. I know NJ produces some good baseball talent but those states do too.

 

[BaseballFan913]

Just checked this year's roster. Two kids from PA and a freshman from FL. Would be nice to get a few more kids from FL, GA, TX, AZ or CA. I know NJ produces some good baseball talent but those states do too.

No kid is ever leaving the warm weather in the southeast to come up here. The only reason we have a Florida kid is because he plays football.

We need to lock down NJ. Pick off a top level kid or two every year and keep every second level kid we go for and coach them up.

 

[Scarlett Fan]

No kid is ever leaving the warm weather in the southeast to come up here. The only reason we have a Florida kid is because he plays football.

We need to lock down NJ. Pick off a top level kid or two every year and keep every second level kid we go for and coach them up.

So your saying our weather is worse that Michigans?

 

[BaseballFan913]

We're normally better than Michigan. They just happen to be up, and we happen to be coming off a rough year.

You can win with just jersey kids. Hopefully, tthis new facility takes us a step forward.

 

[Mr_Twister]

We're normally better than Michigan. They just happen to be up, and we happen to be coming off a rough year.

You can win with just jersey kids. Hopefully, tthis new facility takes us a step forward.

We can not win championships with just Jersey kids. I say this with no rancor, but it takes more than NJ players.

 

[RUich]

I am really tired of seeing predictions of RU teams holding up the bottoms of the rankings. Meanwhile, Maryland may have entered with us, but they clearly are the better athletic school at just about everything.
A lot of our fans keep saying that once the money starts rolling in, things will change for the better. Certainly hope so.

 

[demauroj]

Just checked this year's roster. Two kids from PA and a freshman from FL. Would be nice to get a few more kids from FL, GA, TX, AZ or CA. I know NJ produces some good baseball talent but those states do too.

The Freshman from Florida a a two Sport Player (Football and Baseball) and was apparently just shy of getting drafted.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Michigan's roster has multiple players from California and Arizona. They are recruiting to win. Rutgers is recruiting the best players it can get from the metropolitan area. We are recruiting to participate. Would be interesting to see recruiting budgets, and financial assistance to players on Michigan and Rutgers rosters. And we know it is not simply about athletic scholarships.

- facilities

- scholarships (I don't believe we're "fully" funded meaning even though at the "max" it's in-state tuition, not out-of-state, and that makes a big difference)

- 100% BULLSHIT that you can't compete with (mostly) metropolitan area kids. Ask Monmouth, St. Johns. Seton Hall, UConn, and the rest.

- we're not going to finish in the basement this year. I'll bet you a beer on that one

 

[rufeelinit]

I am really tired of seeing predictions of RU teams holding up the bottoms of the rankings. Meanwhile, Maryland may have entered with us, but they clearly are the better athletic school at just about everything.
A lot of our fans keep saying that once the money starts rolling in, things will change for the better. Certainly hope so.

Not sure Maryland is a fair comparison for us. If I recall correctly they had a very competitive team in the ACC which is a much better baseball conference than the B1G. I agree with the primary point that we should be able to have a program that is in the top half of the league but we have work to do. Hopefully the indoor facility will get started soon and that will help with recruiting. Not sure what Litterio did to be handed the job permanently when Hill got sick but hopefully he can build the program back to where Fred had it for quite awhile.

 

[Mr_Twister]

- facilities

- scholarships (I don't believe we're "fully" funded meaning even though at the "max" it's in-state tuition, not out-of-state, and that makes a big difference)

- 100% BULLSHIT that you can't compete with (mostly) metropolitan area kids. Ask Monmouth, St. Johns. Seton Hall, UConn, and the rest.

- we're not going to finish in the basement this year. I'll bet you a beer on that one

Finishing in the basement is not the issue. Competing most years for league championships and national recognition should be a goal. We have a good basis for recruiting in NJ, but you have to put together a roster that can compete, not just the best roster culled from NJ. For starters, that means going out of the region for pitching and JUCO players. I don't get the sense that the baseball program is beating the bushes and filling out their lineup as aggressively as other programs. Does anyone posting here have any sense how Rutgers fares when it comes to placing players in the summer Cape Cod league, compared to maybe the Indiana and Michigan programs?

 

[Bdodger2]

Finishing in the basement is not the issue. Competing most years for league championships and national recognition should be a goal. We have a good basis for recruiting in NJ, but you have to put together a roster that can compete, not just the best roster culled from NJ. For starters, that means going out of the region for pitching and JUCO players. I don't get the sense that the baseball program is beating the bushes and filling out their lineup as aggressively as other programs. Does anyone posting here have any sense how Rutgers fares when it comes to placing players in the summer Cape Cod league, compared to maybe the Indiana and Michigan programs?

Mr. Twister - I have not checked in recent years about RU players, but it is extremely difficult to receive an invite to the Cape Cod League. It is the best of the best, and we generally do not have those type of players. The Big Ten gets a lot of kids placed in the Northwood League. It is an excellent summer league - one of the best after Cape Cod. Due to the fact it is based in the Midwest many of the Big Ten programs have strong connections to that league. It is tough for RU to place kids there. Perhaps that will change in time.

Like everything else RU is severely hampered by money. Michigan hired the former Maryland coach several years ago. He was a rising star at the time and was promised that huge amounts of money would be put into the program. It happened and Michigan is an up and coming program. Interestingly, the current Maryland coach came in and received a fair amount of financial support as well. They now have an excellent program and successfully recruit many kids from the northeast. Indeed, two of their kids who went high in last years' draft were from Grand Street in Brooklyn. Even Northwestern has committed substantial dollars to their program. Their new head coach is a rising star who was the senior assistant at Illinois last year and was a big part of coaching its NCAA tourney team. Northwestern is almost done with completely its new baseball facility and it will rank up there with many southern and western schools.

For us, we remain the very poor kid on the block. Even with the modest upgrades we are constructing they simply do not compare with the competition.

 

[Mr_Twister]

Mr. Twister - I have not checked in recent years about RU players, but it is extremely difficult to receive an invite to the Cape Cod League. It is the best of the best, and we generally do not have those type of players. The Big Ten gets a lot of kids placed in the Northwood League. It is an excellent summer league - one of the best after Cape Cod. Due to the fact it is based in the Midwest many of the Big Ten programs have strong connections to that league. It is tough for RU to place kids there. Perhaps that will change in time.
[snip, ... snip]

The first Cape Cod roster I click on (Cotuit Kettleers) has players from these familiar programs ... Michigan, St. Jacks, Penn State.

http://www.kettleers.org/roster/

I don't think our staff has near the go-get 'em, promote the program, make the connections, fill-the-roster focus of other programs. And it is reflected by things like players on Cape Cod league rosters. Some one needs to light a fire under the Rutgers staff. Does the AD have a checklist that includes players honing their skills year-round and being well-coached in the summer and playing against serious summer competition?

The second Cape Cod roster I click on, the Brewster Whitecaps, has players from Maryland (2), Michigan State (2), Shippensburg, Michigan. What ... Shippensburg?

http://www.brewsterwhitecaps.com/2016-roster.html

 

[Bdodger2]

The first Cape Cod roster I click on (Cotuit Kettleers) has players from these familiar programs ... Michigan, St. Jacks, Penn State.

http://www.kettleers.org/roster/

I don't think our staff has near the go-get 'em, promote the program, make the connections, fill-the-roster focus of other programs. And it is reflected by things like players on Cape Cod league rosters. Some one needs to light a fire under the Rutgers staff. Does the AD have a checklist that includes players honing their skills year-round and being well-coached in the summer and playing against serious summer competition?

The second Cape Cod roster I click on, the Brewster Whitecaps, has players from Maryland (2), Michigan State (2), Shippensburg, Michigan. What ... Shippensburg?

http://www.brewsterwhitecaps.com/2016-roster.html

Mr. Twister - it is hard to tell if the staff is not sufficiently energetic or if it is simply that RU is so far behind other programs because of money. I am not close enough to the RU program to comment in an intelligent fashion. I do know that our baseball facility is awful. It is basically a decent high school field - and there are high school fields that are far superior. Even with the projected improvements we are still going to be way behind other programs.

It is difficult enough to recruit in the northeast. When one adds the fact we have awful facilities (far worse than basketball by comparison), it is an unbelievable challenge to convince high end players to come here. I have been to the St. John's facility. World of difference from RU. It enables them to have a fighting chance to obtain commitments from high end kids. They also have a coaching staff that is excellent and is very energetic. When one observes what a school like Northwestern is doing in funding its baseball program (typically a rather poor program) I cannot imagine how RU will be able to compete with anyone in this conference - at least for the foreseeable future.

 

[Mr_Twister]

If I am the AD, I am hiring a coach from the southeast part of the US. And I am not OK'g the hiring of only Rutgers players to the staff. We are our own worst enemy. Former Florida Atlantic head coach Kevin Cooney, a NJ native (and former Montclair State guy), would have taken the Rutgers head coach job in a heartbeat. He was never asked. He spent years at Florida Atlantic beating Rutgers routinely. Has Kean University's Neil Ioviero ever gotten a sniff from Rutgers? The guy has competed at the national Div-III level on a championship basis. He pulls together rosters of NJ kids that beats teams from other parts of the country. Did he ever get a look from Rutgers?

 

[Abro1975]

Opening game tonight 7pm, ESPN 3 (free) vs U Miami at Alex Rodriguez Stadium

 

[BaseballFan913]

If I am the AD, I am hiring a coach from the southeast part of the US. And I am not OK'g the hiring of only Rutgers players to the staff. We are our own worst enemy. Former Florida Atlantic head coach Kevin Cooney, a NJ native (and former Montclair State guy), would have taken the Rutgers head coach job in a heartbeat. He was never asked. He spent years at Florida Atlantic beating Rutgers routinely. Has Kean University's Neil Ioviero ever gotten a sniff from Rutgers? The guy has competed at the national Div-III level on a championship basis. He pulls together rosters of NJ kids that beats teams from other parts of the country. Did he ever get a look from Rutgers?

No D1 pitching prospect would ever come here for Ioviero. Guy is an arm demolisher.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Finishing in the basement is not the issue. Competing most years for league championships and national recognition should be a goal. We have a good basis for recruiting in NJ, but you have to put together a roster that can compete, not just the best roster culled from NJ. For starters, that means going out of the region for pitching and JUCO players. I don't get the sense that the baseball program is beating the bushes and filling out their lineup as aggressively as other programs. Does anyone posting here have any sense how Rutgers fares when it comes to placing players in the summer Cape Cod league, compared to maybe the Indiana and Michigan programs?

Feel free to donate $1M to the baseball program so we can properly fund and recruit. Until then, unfortunately, we have to compete for conference titles with - for the most part - Northeast kids and, YES, you CAN win conference titles with those kids just gotta get more of the better ones which, in the recent past, has been a problem. I'm not even talking about the studs who go away, either, I'm talking about the local kids who go to other local schools.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

If I am the AD, I am hiring a coach from the southeast part of the US. And I am not OK'g the hiring of only Rutgers players to the staff. We are our own worst enemy. Former Florida Atlantic head coach Kevin Cooney, a NJ native (and former Montclair State guy), would have taken the Rutgers head coach job in a heartbeat. He was never asked. He spent years at Florida Atlantic beating Rutgers routinely. Has Kean University's Neil Ioviero ever gotten a sniff from Rutgers? The guy has competed at the national Div-III level on a championship basis. He pulls together rosters of NJ kids that beats teams from other parts of the country. Did he ever get a look from Rutgers?

Obviously we have a new AD, with new ideas, who will hopefully influx his ideas, and fundraising skills, into EVERY program, but what's the use of bitching about it, right now, when the guy took the damn job just a couple of months ago? I mean you DO realize we have a new boss, right?

lol...just bustin' chops...

 

[fbc1866]

Once the B1G money arrives our programs will be upgraded.

 

[Mr_Twister]

No D1 pitching prospect would ever come here for Ioviero. Guy is an arm demolisher.

So it's your contention that Ioviero is not doing a good job? Let us know when Rutgers baseball contends on a national level. Even get a little bit of national notoriety.