Dirtbags Summer League Recap

Like most bloggers, the thing I hate most about this line of work is the deadlines. It’s a life of anxiety, constantly having to work under the gun in the hopes that you can meet an arbitrarily set daily/weekly/monthly deadline. If you don’t, you’re screwed. It’s not like I can push the deadline back and just finish my work later.

I mean, I can, and I do, but sooner or later I’m going to have to finish a story (unless I don’t feel like it).

The summer leagues have been over for a while now, so I may as well get the rundown on how the Dirtbags did over with. As soon as I post this I’ll be back to agonizing over the next story I’ll have to write at my leisure.

I was limited to watching the Dirtbag-less Cal Ripken summer league this year, so my analysis is largely statistic-based, but I’ll try my best to explain how the numbers could be telling.

Position Players:

Josh Guerra, Outfielder, Alexandria Beetles, Northwoods League – Guerra didn’t find quite the same success with Alexandria as he did in the spring in Long Beach, hitting .235/.324/.346 in 46 games. He had slightly worse luck in the summer (.308 Batting Average on Balls in Play) than in the spring (.339 BABIP) but there’s nothing really to decipher from that when the difference in averages and sample sizes are that small.

The most noticeable difference in Guerra’s spring and summer performances was a slight increase in his walk rate (from 5.8% to 9.7%) and a larger jump in his strikeout rate (from 16.5% to 23.7%). I suppose the optimist could say he becoming more patient, now he just needs to work on his strike zone judgment.

Guerra will likely have the unenviable task of trying to fill Brennan Metzger’s shoes in center field next year.

 

Michael Hill, Infielder, Los Angeles Brewers, California Collegiate League – The Brewers haven’t updated their final stats, and the CCBL website doesn’t have much to offer, so all I have for Hill is some incomplete, bare bones hitting numbers, and they aren’t impressive (although they’re better than his spring stats). Hill hit .269/.310/.388 with a fairly high BABIP to boot. On top of that he drew only five walks while K’ing 32 times.

The most important part of Hill’s season was that he spent nearly all of it playing shortstop, as he’ll likely be the only upperclassman battling for the position next year. Unfortunately I don’t have much to report, other than that, in the less-than-handful of Brewers games I followed, Hill’s defense seemed inconsistent. Take that for what it’s worth (pretty much nothing).

Jeff McNeil, Infielder, Brewster Whitecaps, Cape Cod League – McNeil was named MVP of the last place Whitecaps, posting a .301/.347/.381 line, compared to a .258/.333/.304 line during the spring, and his Isolated Power jumped from .046 to .081, so his whole line wasn’t just inflated by hitting a bunch of singles.

Sounds great at first glance, until you see that offensive numbers were up across the board in the Cape (possibly due to ‘juiced balls’). His BABIP was also up to .347, compared to his .285 spring career mark. Basically, McNeil was hitting the ball harder (as reflected in his improved power numbers) causing more balls to get through for hits (improving his BABIP). If you believe the ‘juiced ball’ theory, then Jeff probably played about inline with what you’d expect from him. Not spectacular, but did a solid job in the nation’s best summer league. Jeff had an even better summer last year with the Santa Barbara Forrester, hitting .331. Maybe the Dirtbags should try giving McNeil a wooden bat.

I didn’t spend my summer in the cape because I’m not a college baseball player or a rich, white douchebag, so I can’t report on his defense, but there’s this from the Whitecaps website: “We watched Jeff make spectacular plays both at 2nd and in left field…he could have his own hi-light reel.” Also “he has been… willing to give over 100% every game.” Well, he is a Dirtbag. McNeil is the incumbent second baseman for the Dirtbags and will likely be batting second next year.

 

Chaz Meadows, Infielder, Alameda Merchants, Pacific West Baseball League – Meadows logged only 12 games and 38 at bats (and surprisingly pitched three innings) with the Merchants, hitting .237 but managed 11 walks (and 10 K’s) in those games. He also got some playing time in at shortstop, a position that will be up for grabs this fall, playing nine games at the position and committing one error in addition to playing two errorless games at second base.

 

Ino Patron, Infielder, Sanford Mariners, New England Collegiate League – Patron pretty much kept doing what Patron does; be a solid hitter. He posted a line of .336/.392/.467 in 32 games. Patron’s OBP and BB/K stayed about where you’d expect it but his power numbers saw a significant jump with his Slugging Percentage and Isolated Power being well above his career averages (including his stint last summer in the NWL). Patron wasn’t facing the most elite pitchers in the country this summer but if he has found something of a power stroke it would be a welcome boost to a light hitting Dirtbag lineup. Regardless, his best tool remains his ability to get on base, making him arguably the team’s best hitter and likely to be batting third or fourth once again in 2013.

 

Richard Prigatano, Outfielder, La Crosse Loggers, Northwoods League – Prigatano’s raw talent shined through this summer, although there still seem to be a few holes in his swing. Richard batted .316/.405/.526 with 15 doubles (leading the league) and 11 homers (tied for sixth) and 21 stolen bases over 61 games this summer. His .367 BABIP, which was actually lower than his spring BABIP, suggest he might’ve had some luck, but the power numbers speak for themselves and are the key difference for why his stats were so much better in the summer than in the spring.

He still appears to be a bit of a free-swinger, with a fairly poor BB/K of 27/55 (which is likely what kept him off of FanGraphs top prospects list), but it’s a considerable upgrade over his 9/45 mark he posted with the Dirtbags this year. In four playoff games he hit .313 with 4/7 BB/K as the Loggers won the NWL title.

He’ll probably be starting in right field in 2013 and hit somewhere in the middle-to-lower part of the order, depending on how his power comes along.

 

Robert Vickers, Infielder, Santa Barbara Foresters, California Collegiate League – Vickers only had 67 at bats with the NBC champion Foresters but made the most of them, hitting .284/.484/.448. His performance with Santa Barbara last summer was arguably better, with a line of .333/.424/.529, but there’s a key difference with his 2012 numbers. Despite his summer league batting average dropping by about 50 points his OBP actually went up by 60 points because of a drastically improved pitch selection.

After a 8/16 BB/K ratio last summer and 1/10 BB/K this spring Vickers came out this summer and drew 22 walks while striking out only nine times. Furthermore, in the NBC World Series he batted .318 with six walks and one strikeout in seven games.

The drastically improved BB/K may show Vickers has matured enough as a hitter to battle for a starting position in 2013, either at third base or DH.

Also, his Foresters teammate and Fullerton Titan Richy Pedroza hit just .164. So suck on that.

Jeff Yamaguchi, Infielder, Peninsula Oilers, Alaska League – It was a rough summer for Yamaguchi on both sides of the ball. Playing 3B (something he’s rarely had a chance to do with the Dirtbags) he tied for the third most errors in the league with 10. At the plate he wasn’t much better, hitting a team worst .202, although that came with a very low .258 BABIP so maybe it just wasn’t his summer. What’s more troubling is his walk rate was nearly cut in half but he did manage to slightly lower his strikeout rate as well. He’ll probably continue to spell Ino Patron at first base in 2013, unless Troy Buckley decides to make Patron the full time DH.

 

Pitchers:

Josh Frye, RHP, Long Beach Legends/La Crosse Loggers, SCCBA/Northwoods League – Frye stayed close to home this summer, starting seven games for the Legends, going 4-1 with a 1.88 ERA, including a shutout. His BAA was just .193 though his BABIP was an uncharacteristically low .266 so the luck factor has to be considered. Most notably, Frye recorded 59 punchouts and only 14 walks in 43 innings; about his typical walk rate but almost doubling his career strikeout rate.

After the SCCBA season ended Frye joined fellow Dirtbags Prigatano and Jake Stassi with the La Crosse Loggers and pitched an additional 24.2 innings, giving up 19 hits (3 homers), striking out 21 and walking five.

Frye’s 2011 numbers with the SLO Blues weren’t far off what off what he did with the Loggers, but most of that work was out of the bullpen. With (now) two-thirds of the weekend staff gone this summer could be looked at as an early audition for a spot in the rotation. Frye was one of many Dirtbag relievers to move into a starting role this summer.

Edgar Gomez, RHP, Palm Springs POWER, SCCBA – Gomez dominated out of the bullpen for the POWER [sic]. In 41 innings he allowed just 32 hits (two doubles and the rest singles), walked seven and K’d 55. It was enough to give him a 0.44 ERA, 6-0 record, and seven saves. The logic-defying low amount of extra base hits surrendered leads me to believe Gomez probably benefited some by not playing in the most elite of leagues, but it’s great to see he went right after hitters and still had tremendous success. After struggling in 11 appearances for the Dirtbags in 2012 he’ll likely be relied on more heavily going into his sophomore year.

 

Landon Hunt, LHP, Conejo Oaks, California Collegiate League – After only throwing 8.2 innings serving primarily as a lefty specialist this spring, Hunt put together an impressive summer as a starter in his second year with the Oaks. In 49 innings Hunt posted a 3.94 ERA, a 49/6 K/BB ratio, a 0.94 WHIP. Hunt posted similar marks in IP, Ks, and hits with the Oaks in 2011 but walked 13 more batters in three less innings. His improved command while pitching in one of the top leagues in the nation could make Hunt, entering his senior season, an early favorite to land a rotation spot in 2013.

 

Jon Maciel, RHP, Peninsula Oilers, Alaska League – Like Frye and Hunt, Maciel moved from the bullpen to the rotation this summer and performed fairly well. In eight starts the righty posted a 2.14 ERA, 36/11 K/BB, and 37 hits in 46.1 innings. His BABIP was around .260 which seems awfully low, but it’s actually a number Maciel has consistently been at for most of his college career. His healthy K/BB is a large improvement over his spring ratio and more along the lines of what he did in his freshman year. He’ll likely be one of several Dirtbags to have a chance at making a wide-open rotation. At the very least he should once again be one of the most valuable pieces of the Long Beach bullpen next year.

Ryan Millison, RHP, Neptune Beach Pearl, Far West League – Incoming JuCo transfer Millison made only six appearances (two starts) this summer tallying just 12 innings. He maintained a .233 BAA but was his own worst enemy, issuing seven walks, three hit batsmen, and three wild pitches. He could compete for a spot in the Dirtbags weekend rotation, though his best bet is a bullpen/mid-week starter gig.

 

Jake Stassi, LHP, La Crosse Loggers, Northwoods League – Stassi showed some improvement in his second year in the Northwoods League. Despite pitching 14.1 fewer innings than last year he managed to improve his K total from 46 in 2011 to 50 this summer (he walked 15 in each season). With his BABIP staying roughly the same as it was last year (about .305) there isn’t much luck to account for; Stassi was simply more effective at getting men out this season, going from 76 hits, 8 homers, and a .277 BAA in 2011 to 47 hits, 2 homers, and a .236 BAA this year. It remains to be seen how well Stassi’s control of the strikezone will carry over to his play with the Dirtbags, as his career K/BB ratio is almost 1:1.

 

And saving the best performance for last…

Matt Anderson, RHP, Palm Springs POWER, SCCBA – Anderson mowed down the SCCBA all summer long, maintaining a K/BB ratio of about 9/1 for most of the season before finishing with at a 95/8 rate. In his final 10 innings, Anderson allowed no hits, no walks, and struck out twenty-one batters.

Turns out he somehow managed to get his fastball up to 95+ MPH. After it looked like the Dirtbags had managed to keep Anderson in school thanks to the new draft rules, the Seattle Mariners took notice of Anderson’s new fastball and signed him as an undrafted free agent. Great, so now the Dirtbags’ Player of the Summer is no longer a Dirtbag.

For once, Keith Law didn’t piss me off

While reading up on Rob Neyer’s Bill James’s article, I saw someone in the comment section pointed out that Keith Law recently declared the new MLB Draft system a failure simply because the Pirates failed to sign Mark Appel.

Lucky for me, I’ve recently been “blessed” with a free ESPN Insider account (no, really, it’s a legit account, just free) so I had a chance to see exactly what Law said.

“The real problem here is that the new system, allegedly designed to funnel the best players to the teams most in need of those players, failed.” (excerpt from the free section of Law's 'Insider' column)

I thought Law knew better than to simply buy the line from MLB’s PR department. Despite what Bud Selig may claim, it’s pretty clear MLB’s reasons for the new spending cap wasn’t to “funnel the best players” to the worst teams. It would be nice if that’s what happened but, regardless, it would be incidental. The real reason behind the rule change was simply to haul in spending on the draft. In that respect, the new system worked perfectly. The slot recommendation was $2.9 million; Appel wanted a hell of a lot more than that; he didn’t get it. Score one for MLB.

In spite of this minor fallacy (which Perfect Game's Allan Simpson was also guilty of a month ago), Law does go on to make an excellent point (which I am now editorializing on a bit) on how MLB can maintain it’s spending limits and give teams like the Pirates the flexibility to deal with these situations: allow them to trade picks. It’s not really a novel idea, but we need people like Law to become more vocal about this (and it would be nice if it was accessible to all readers, not just us “insiders”). MLB needs to finally join the rest of the sports world and allow the trading of draft picks.

I know I harp on Klaw a lot (and I really need to stop because I don’t want to become “that guy who hates Keith Law”, although I’m sure there are many others that could be called that) but I actually agree with many of the ideas he professes, and this was one example of that.

What’s that?

"I think it's much less likely that Stanford will attempt to abuse (Appel’s arm in 2013), as they did in one infamous 149-pitch outing in 2012"

Attempt to abuse? Keith, you would write some….. aw, screw it. I’ll let it go. (But why is 'Appel's arm in 2013' in parenthesis?)

Speaking of trading draft picks, MLB just revealed the order of next season’s lottery round picks. Why they already held the lottery (and thus forced the 2013 draft order to be contingent on 2011 records) is beyond me, but starting now, for the first time, there will be tradeable picks out there on the market, if only for the lottery rounds. Again, for some stupid reason MLB has limited the time teams can trade picks to the regular season (so from now until July 31, then again from Opening Day 2013 until the 2013 draft). Under the logic of “beggars can’t be choosers” I won’t complain about this useless rule. In fact, we heard some encouraging words on MLB Network from Rob Manfred, MLB’s VP on draft lottery rounds (or something like that), stating:

“(The competitive balance lottery) is kind of an experiment. These twelve picks we made assignable to determine whether it would be helpful to small market clubs to be able to capitalize on a pick., either by taking a player… or trading the pick.”

Most of MLB’s “experiments” tend to last forever (the DH, interleague play, an All-Star game that ‘counts’), so hopefully this is good news on the Trading-draft picks front.

I will now write about what Rob Neyer wrote about what Bill James wrote about Joe Paterno (which I read about on Deadspin)

This was supposed to be my week-late piece on the 2012 Triple-A All-Star Game, but it wasn’t like I was going to have much to talk about anyway, other than that Buffalo is kinda weird. I’ll probably get around to that article at some point this decade, but for now the work of Rob Neyer has once again interested me.

I’ve long been a fan of Neyer’s, owning two of his books (well, only one now, my copy of “Baseball Dynasties” disintegrated a few years ago), but I haven’t kept up with much of his work since he left ESPN. Recently he wrote an interesting column over at SBNation, in which he explored sabermetric guru Bill James’s reasoning for defending Joe Paterno’s role in the Penn State scandal (the column, including James’s remarks, can be found here).

The entire Penn State scandal has really reinforced my lack of faith in humanity. The most tragic part is that most of this lack of faith steams from reasons aside from the whole child molestation aspect. It’s understandable why a scandal involving child rape would rile up the masses; but it’s disappointing that it’s caused most people to lose their fucking minds to the point where all objective debate is suspended. (Example: The other day on “ESPNCoversations” I stated that the “Death Penalty” may be warranted for Penn State, but that it shouldn’t come this season since private and public legal investigations are still ongoing, and that the guilt-less student athletes would have virtually no opportunity to transfer with the season and fall semester just a month away. I was met with a response that simply stated: “That’s your only reasoning? It was a child rape case.”)

So seeing a levelheaded mind like Neyer’s enter the discussion is refreshing. Prior to writing this column, I hadn’t really paid much attention to the James controversy, but seeing it now it’s unsurprising to see the masses are once again dismissing an opinion that says anything short of “burn down the school” without considering any other factors. As Neyer explains, in James’s case there may be a pretty significant piece of information to consider: James has likely read the manuscript for the yet-to-be-published Paterno biography by Joe Posnanski. Neyer explains the significance of this:

 

when Bill writes that Paterno fired Sandusky, he's either reading the Freeh Report incorrectly or he read something in Joe's book that suggests Paterno did actually force Sandusky out of coaching.

 

Bold is mine. Or:

 

(James on ESPN radio) “(Paterno) had very few allies. He was isolated, and he was not nearly as powerful as people imagine him to have been. And he had poor sources.”

 

(Neyer) None of that's in the Freeh Report, leaving me to guess it's instead in Joe Posnanski's manuscript.

In other words Bill James may have been privy to information that the majority of people didn't have, and thus formulated an opinion outside the mainstream. You'd think James would be use to this by now.

Neyer goes on to address James’s comments about showering with boys, the role the media has played, and then makes an ambiguous remark about the Paterno statue in the comment section. He also goes on to make his own points that could be written independently of the James controversy. Stating:

Should Paterno have done something to stop Sandusky?

Sure. So should McQueary, who saw Sundusky abusing a child. So should the two Penn State janitors who saw Sandusky abusing a child. None of those men have been seriously criticized, presumably because they were afraid of maybe losing their jobs ... Which sort of ignores the possibility that "maybe losing your job" is a lousy excuse for not reporting the sexual abuse of a child that you've personally witnessed.

Paterno's bosses at Penn State should have done something, too.

Everyone assumes that all of these men -- Paterno's bosses, and Paterno himself -- were evil, or at least acted evilly in this case, which means they acted evilly over the course of 10 years, or 13 if you start the clock in 1998.

That's not the way these things work, usually. There was never a moment when four men sat around a table and cackled with glee as they plotted to facilitate a known child molester. That meeting didn't happen. The truth is far more banal than that. They were instead a few moderately powerful men, weighing competing interests and making some truly unfortunate decisions along the way.

In 1998, they went by the book and Sandusky was cleared of wrongdoing by a variety of official entities. In 2001, they failed to connect the dots and they failed to separate Sandusky from the University and they failed to report him to the authorities. They blew it. Big time.

So why did I just spend the last 750 words (many of which where Neyer's) further watering down (and for the most part, simply recapping) the details of this sub-scandal with one or two of my own empty observations? Pretty much just so I could copy and paste what you see above. Whether or not Neyer is correct is up to you, but that’s beside my point. It sounds strange but the reason I like sports writers like Neyer has a lot to do with the reasons I like writers like John Steinbeck or even Hunter S. Thompson. In spite of the shitstorm we’ve routinely seen involving this scandal (and really with everything in the public eye) there’s something almost inspiring about finding a mind that can parse through a debate about “good” and “evil” and recognize that usually things just “are”, for better or worse.

What? This is a college baseball blog? Oh, err…. Hey Baseball America just wrote this: “Long Beach State landed a potential ace of its own in righty David Hill”. Yay!

Maryland needs a coach, among other things...

Poor Maryland. Despite one of the programs best seasons in decades (#31 in the RPI) the Terrapins fell short of an at-large bid in the Regionals, a spot in the ACC Tournament, saw their revered head coach, Erik Bakich, depart for a mid-major conference team, and this past week suffered major cuts to their athletic department.

The U of M already seemed unwilling to support their baseball program and now appears they’re simply unable to. Bakich (who left for Michigan largely because of the Wolverines commitment to baseball) was paid a shockingly low $100,000 by an ACC school and with the budget cuts it’s reasonable to assume that figure should just get lower for his successor. My prognosis of the Maryland coaching situation is a bit pessimistic, but with all the budget cuts that have taken place the Terrapins should be thankful to still have a baseball team at this point, so despite coming off a surprisingly good year, my guess is the Maryland position will be a bit difficult to fill.

On that cheery note, let’s see who could get this thankless job in College Park:

The Top Program Assistants:

I’ve decided to lump all these guys together because I think their odds of getting hired are all comparably low. A top assistant at a good program could already be making close to (or more) than the $100,000 that Bakich received, plus they’ll be coming from a school that has a decidedly larger commitment to its baseball team. Among the candidates rumored (as in, mentioned on Kendall Roger’s latest Coaching Carousel) are:

Scott Forbes, Associate Head Coach, North Carolina – Forbes may be the most qualified candidate on the list. He’s been an assistant in the ACC for well over a decade, has experience as a summer league head coach, and is an AHC at an elite program. All that may mean the Terps simply won’t be able to pay him enough to pry him from an already prestigious position. He’s also a pitching coach (and former national pitching coach of the year), the one position that could still be filled and one of the few Maryland coaches likely to stick around in College Park, Eric Milton.

Kevin McMullan, Associate Head Coach, Virginia – Another ACC AHC, McMullan is also the team’s recruiting coordinator and hitting coach (begging the questions, just what the hell does Cavaliers Head Coach Brian O’Connor do?). McMullan is immensely valuable to UVa, making it hard to imagine they’d let their coach leave for a conference foe when they can probably offer a better salary (if they’re not already).

Scott Jackson, Assistant Coach, North Carolina – Jackson may be a slightly more realistic option for Maryland since he’s a step down the payscale already yet still has an impressive resume as the Tar Heels recruiting coordinator. He also has a diverse coaching background; working as a hitting, base running, infield, and pitching coach.

Link Jarrett, Director of Player Development, Auburn – Jarrett offers a similarly impressive, still relatively young career as Jackson and what he lacks in the on-field success Jackson and the Tar Heels have had he enjoys in personal accolades, winning two SEBaseball.com Assistant Coach of the Year awards. Auburn’s lack of significant success the last few years could also make the jump to ACC Head Coach by Jarrett more likely than what you’d expect from your typical SEC assistant. Also, the guy’s name is Link. What the hell?

Chris Lemonis, Assistant Coach, Louisville – Yet another recruiting coordinator for a top-25 caliber team, Lemonis is the top assistant for the Cardinals although he doesn’t carry the “Associate Head Coach” tag, meaning he may be easier to pry away. Furthermore, he’s primarily a hitting coach, which may be what Maryland needs first and foremost (besides a strong recruiter). This is pure speculation on my part, but it’s possible all these non-AHCs could also be candidates for the UNC Greensboro job, where the program plays at fairly well respected ballpark, despite being a mid-major. So ACC team Maryland could actually find itself competing with that.

The Head Coaches:

Also being rumored are a few current and former head coaches, most of which already have comfortable positions at schools that, while small, have solidly built baseball programs.

Monte Lee, Head Coach, College of Charleston – Lee has been mentioned as a candidate, but this is one option I just can’t see. Why in the world Lee would leave the baseball hotbed of South Carolina, and a program that’s turned into a solid regional contender year after year, is beyond me. Mid-Major status be damned, right now I’d rather be coaching the Cougars than the Terrapins.

Mike Kennedy, Head Coach, Elon – Kennedy has been with the Phoenix for 16 years with consistent success for a mid-major team, and is a former player for the school. Although Elon may not be as prestigious as North Carolina, Virginia, or even College of Charleston, no other coach on this list may be more deeply entrenched with his program. Kennedy likely only leaves the Phoenix if he gets an offer that’s too good to refuse. Despite U of M’s budget problems there’s an outside chance of Kennedy getting a decent offer. Since the Terps are likely to lose nearly their entire coaching staff to Michigan they may put a premium on a candidate that can bring a coaching staff with him. 

Joe Sottolano, Head Coach, Army – Sottolano is in a similar situation as Kennedy, having a long history with his program. However he’s not an alumnus of the school so his ties may not be as strong as Kennedy’s. He also may be more willing to depart since he comes from a military academy, where achieving much success outside the conference is less likely than for a typical mid-major. One last major factor: For over six years during Sottolano's tenture as the Army HC, his Athletic Director was current Maryland AD Kevin Anderson. Lord knows what this means or if these guys actually like each other (although, come to think of it, Kendall Rogers probably knows) but this could certainly help Maryland attempt to undo those ties Sottolano and Army have.

Frank Anderson, Former Head Coach, Oklahoma State – This could be a match made in purgatory. Anderson is currently unemployed, after getting the axe from Oklahoma State just a few weeks ago, after being a coach in the Texas/Oklahoma region for over two decades. An outfielder in college, Anderson has experience as a pitching coach. Geographically it may be a mismatch and PR-wise it may just look bad for an ACC school to hire a coach deemed unworthy of coaching in the Big XII. Still, if Maryland is simply looking for anyone who knows how to run a baseball team, a recent firee (not a real word) could be the perfect candidate to offer a modest salary to. The real question could be if Anderson is willing to move halfway across the country to try and right a wayward ship.  

The Eric Miltons:

The sad thing about most of these candidates is that if they fail, well, they’d obviously be fired within a few seasons, but even if they find success at Maryland, the position would almost certainly be a stepping stone job. A chance to put “Head Coach for ACC school” on their resume before trying to move onto something bigger and better. It’s possible the Maryland AD will find some young, idealistic candidate who wants to rebuild the program all by himself, and if that’s the case then Maryland should by all means give that man the job, however it’s unlikely they’ll find this given the bleak situation in College Park.

There is one candidate that is unlikely to bolt after a few seasons, but he’s also probably the least qualified man for the job.

Eric Milton, Interim Head Coach, Maryland – That title is a little misleading, as Milton has held the position for about a week and his college coaching resume consists of less than one calendar year as a volunteer assistant with the Terps. Despite this, he may end up being the last man standing after Bakich assembles his staff out in Ann Arbor. Milton is an alumnus, if that counts for anything, but the biggest factor supporting Milton’s chances at the gig is the fact that an inexperience, in-house, hometown hire such Milton could also come the most cheaply.

As great a hitter as Tony Gwynn was, he just has never been a terribly successful college head coach. Some have questioned whether a man without Gwynn’s iconic status would have been fired by now. For my money, it seems that the folks at San Diego State have resided themselves in the idea that, with Gwynn, they can pretty much put the program on autopilot. No need to shake up the coaching staff or pump more money into the program (I say that, admittedly, without knowing SDSU’s baseball budget) just let Gwynn write his own ticket and let the recruiting pitch simply be “Want to play for a Hall of Famer?”

Not that Milton is on the same level as Gwynn, either in terms of major league talent or popularity, but it’s possible Maryland could take a similar route as SDSU and simply hire someone with strong ties to the program who could make up for his lack of experience and the school’s lack of success by simply telling high schoolers “want to play for a former All-Star?” The department’s budget issues may leave them little choice. 

Before the College World Series I gave my odds for each team winning the title; this time I’m taking the more lazy route and simply ranking the candidates in order of likelihood to get the job.

1. Joe Sattolano
2. Frank Anderson
3. Eric Milton
4. Scott Jackson
5. Chris Lemonis
6. Link Jarrett
7. Mike Kennedy
8. Kevin McMullen
9. Monte Lee
10. Scott Forbes

UPDATE (7/19): Maryland has their man, hiring Kansas State Associate Head Coach John Szefc. Szxfecfsdsd was #11 on my list, so, yeah. Nailed it.

Who am I? Why am I here?

I’ve always felt Dirtbag Blues was the James Stockdale of College Baseball Blogs

I figured a reference to an American War hero was an appropriate way to honor this Forth of July post. Actually, I had the Stockdale joke in mind for weeks and just got around to writing it.

For the first month of this blog’s life the posts have been a collection of critiquing the coverage of reputable sports media outlets, the MLB draft process, a random College World Series chat, a few half-hearted commentaries, days late recaps of DC Grays Cal Ripken league action, some memes I made impulsively, and a delightful recap of some college baseball twitter wars (it now appears Brian Foley has blocked me on twitter for some reason).

So the question I’m sure that’s on the minds of both of my readers is just what the hell this blog is actually going to be about. I’m now going to attempt to answer that today.

I know things, um, more things about college baseball than anyone in the world, I know some things about college baseball more than anyone, um…..

(looks at notes)

Although this blog is based in Washington, DC (as in, I live in Washington, DC) most of the content will be focused on the west coast brand of baseball, particularly action in the Big West Conference, and even more specifically, the Long Beach State Dirtbags. The Maryland Terrapins and DC Grays have been nice surrogates for me, so they’ll be sure to get their share of coverage. There are plans to integrate some regular features into the posts, such as capsules on some under the radar D1 teams, recaps on local teams (as you’ve seen whit the Grays), and updates on recruits. Most of this won’t be able to come into play until fall ball begins (or even later), so for now the posts may be a bit schizophrenic.

One thing I’ll make clear: I’m no scout, and wasn’t much of a player (I got cut from my high school team senior year) so much of my “analysis” will be second-hand. This will be made up for in some of Dirtbag Blues’s unique/specific coverage of teams, and my own cheap attempts to amuse, such as calling Keith Law an asshole or making early ‘90s pop culture references (did everyone see The Bodyguard??? So romantic… what am I typing on?)

Frankly, a large role this blog is going to play is to help keep me entertained. I’m not doing this to offer any kind of fair and balanced (trademarked) coverage, gain a wide following (although a sincere thanks to those reading this) or curry favor with any college baseball insiders. If anyone doesn’t care for the content I offer, well then, screw you. No, really, it's understandable and that’s your prerogative. Thanks again to those viewers that I have.

Just to keep myself honest, here’s some random stuff to expect in the next week or two:

1. Coverage of the Triple-A All-Star Game in Buffalo.
2. An update on the University of Maryland’s search for a Head Coach.
3. (Hopefully) some more coverage on the DC Grays and Cal Ripken League.
4. Any crap I hear about the Boise State drama.
5. Updates on Big West/Long Beach State players in summer ball.

That’s it for now, thanks for readi….. wait….. MY TAMAGOTCHI DIED!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

(yeah, that's 1996, so what?)