All Things Gopher Baseball

Gophers announce their signees for next season. I believe the only 1 of the 7 that hadn't been reported before was catcher Eli Wilson from Seattle who I think is the son of former Gopher and MLB player Dan Wilson.
 

Was able to listen to the Missouri State broadcast on Friday and the announcer said that their coach said the plan is for Missouri State to return the series next year and play at US Bank Stadium.
 


With the University of North Dakota's program ending, I wonder if the Gophers are keeping an eye on or even recruiting (if that is allowed considering UND's situation) Zach Muckenhirn. Here is his bio:

http://www.undsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=209254479&DB_OEM_ID=13500

He will be a Senior and available to pitch immediately next season. Certainly a chance he signs with a pro team after this season but if he doesn't it will be interesting to see if he is on #14 and Co.'s radar. Looks to be a real solid arm. Check out out the stats he put up during the season, some against quality opponents:

http://www.undsports.com/fls/13500/stats/baseball/2016/plyr_14.htm

I assume he played with Toby Hanson at Delano.
 

With the University of North Dakota's program ending, I wonder if the Gophers are keeping an eye on or even recruiting (if that is allowed considering UND's situation) Zach Muckenhirn. Here is his bio:

http://www.undsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=209254479&DB_OEM_ID=13500

He will be a Senior and available to pitch immediately next season. Certainly a chance he signs with a pro team after this season but if he doesn't it will be interesting to see if he is on #14 and Co.'s radar. Looks to be a real solid arm. Check out out the stats he put up during the season, some against quality opponents:

http://www.undsports.com/fls/13500/stats/baseball/2016/plyr_14.htm

I assume he played with Toby Hanson at Delano.
Definitely allowed to go after their guys and the Gophers are after Muckenhirn along with many other teams as well. Looking at his Twitter he has coaches from Alabama, Auburn, Creighton, and Michigan following him just to name a few. He would be a great guy to slide into Sawyers spot in the rotation next season. Not sure how good of friends he and Toby are but I did see he sent out a tweet Saturday congratulating Hanson, Fiedler, Pettersen, and the rest of the Gophers on the B1G Championship. I also saw a tweet that he is listed #145 on Baseball America's 2016 prospect list I'm guessing that is just of college players but signing a pro deal would definitely be a option as well. I also noticed UND's leading hitter Miles Lewis a outfielder committed to Michigan and their catcher Brett Harrison committed to Memphis. The other thing is all of their high school and JUCO commits are back on the market and I did see an article that the Gophers were after one. Matt Wallner a 6'4 215lbs left handed hitting outfielder and right handed pitcher from Forest Lake. Here is the article on Wallner it mentions he hopes to decide between Creighton, Minnesota, and Southern Miss by the end of May. http://www.mnbaseballhub.com/news_article/show/648479
 


Definitely allowed to go after their guys and the Gophers are after Muckenhirn along with many other teams as well. Looking at his Twitter he has coaches from Alabama, Auburn, Creighton, and Michigan following him just to name a few. He would be a great guy to slide into Sawyers spot in the rotation next season. Not sure how good of friends he and Toby are but I did see he sent out a tweet Saturday congratulating Hanson, Fiedler, Pettersen, and the rest of the Gophers on the B1G Championship. I also saw a tweet that he is listed #145 on Baseball America's 2016 prospect list I'm guessing that is just of college players but signing a pro deal would definitely be a option as well. I also noticed UND's leading hitter Miles Lewis a outfielder committed to Michigan and their catcher Brett Harrison committed to Memphis. The other thing is all of their high school and JUCO commits are back on the market and I did see an article that the Gophers were after one. Matt Wallner a 6'4 215lbs left handed hitting outfielder and right handed pitcher from Forest Lake. Here is the article on Wallner it mentions he hopes to decide between Creighton, Minnesota, and Southern Miss by the end of May. http://www.mnbaseballhub.com/news_article/show/648479

Good stuff. Thanks a bunch.
 



Kind of figured he would end up either at Minnesota or Creighton so surprised to see him headed to Southern Miss. Who knows maybe it came down to having a better chance to play right away at Southern Miss.
 



Next Year

I've seen a lot of Gopher fans and other teams fans talk about our team for next year. South Dakota State Radio announcer was commenting on how the Gophers are only graduating five players. A lot of people have been saying this. People are also talking about Zach from North Dakota coming to Minnesota to pitch. After all Zach is from Delano. Let's take a look at the realistic scenario and the dream scenario.

Realistic Scenario - I've heard from good sources that it would be unrealistic to think the Gophers are going to return all their Juniors for next year. Some are probably going to get drafted and leave early. Secondly, Zach is a long shot in coming here, but having our pitching coach in hospice care makes it even more doubtful. With Zach being a pro prospect, he probably isn't going to come to a place where the pitching coach position is up in the air.

Dream Scenario - Gophers only lose five seniors and all their juniors come back for next year. Plus Zach comes here. If this happens John Anderson would have his best team ever. None of Coach Anderson's teams in the past or the future would even compare to the team in this dream scenario.

Your starting rotation would be Zach, Fielder, and Gilbreath. Gilbreath had a stellar season in the Northwoods league as starting pitcher and he is heading out to Cape Cod this Summer. That's where all the top pitching prospects go. I guarantee he'll be a starting pitcher and he'll be on the Cape Cod All star team. There is no way the coaches will keep Gilbreath in the bullpen next year, even IF Zach, and Fiedler are on the team. What about Toby? You would tell Toby that he is going to pitch in the mid-week games, but instead of giving him just 3 innings, you let him pitch as many innings as he can go. Your mid-week games would be based on the present rather than the future. It would focus more on getting your fourth starter innings rather than focusing on a bunch of underclassmen pitchers. Every year coaches decide how much to play for the present and how much to play for the future. With a team so talented, I'd play for the present, even in mid-week games. Zach, Fielder, Gilbreath, and Toby would probably be the best four man rotation in College Baseball.

Bullpen would be the only concern. You would not need much of a bullpen with those four starting pitchers. Having 4 Seniors (Glowicki, Hansen, Shannon, and Campbell) and 2 juniors (Fashing, and Manke), plus Lackney coming off the bench, it should be an above average bullpen considering how many upperclassmen are coming back.

Offense would be even more dangerous and powerful considering you'd only lose Dan and Connor. The rest of your starters and bench players would be back. It would be the best offense in College baseball. We're pretty close this year in accomplishing that feat. Our Home runs would improve dramactically with all our power hitters back.

It would be awesome if this happened in the dream scenario but it's a longshot. Then again the thought of the Gophers winning the Big Ten title this year was a longshot also.
 

I've seen a lot of Gopher fans and other teams fans talk about our team for next year. South Dakota State Radio announcer was commenting on how the Gophers are only graduating five players. A lot of people have been saying this. People are also talking about Zach from North Dakota coming to Minnesota to pitch. After all Zach is from Delano. Let's take a look at the realistic scenario and the dream scenario.

Realistic Scenario - I've heard from good sources that it would be unrealistic to think the Gophers are going to return all their Juniors for next year. Some are probably going to get drafted and leave early. Secondly, Zach is a long shot in coming here, but having our pitching coach in hospice care makes it even more doubtful. With Zach being a pro prospect, he probably isn't going to come to a place where the pitching coach position is up in the air.

Dream Scenario - Gophers only lose five seniors and all their juniors come back for next year. Plus Zach comes here. If this happens John Anderson would have his best team ever, and it would not even be close comparing the dream team to his other ones.

Your starting rotation would be Zach, Fielder, and Gilbreath. Gilbreath had a stellar season in the Northwoods league as starting pitcher and he is heading out to Cape Cod this Summer. That's where all the top pitching prospects go. I guarantee he'll be a starting pitcher there and he'll be on the Cape Cod All star team. There is no way the coaches will keep Gilbreath in the bullpen next year, even IF Zach, and Fiedler are on the team. What about Toby? You would tell Toby that he is going to pitch in the mid-week games, but instead of giving him just 3 innings, you let him pitch as many innings as he can go. Your mid-week games would be based on the present more than the future. It would focus more on getting your fourth starter innings than giving a bunch of pitchers innings. Every year coaches decide how much to play for the present and how much to play for the future. With a team so talented, I'd play for the present, even in mid-week games. Zach, Fielder, Gilbreath, and Toby would probably be the best four man rotation in College Baseball.

Bullpen would be the only concern. You would not need much of a bullpen with those four starting pitchers. Having 4 Seniors (Glowicki, Hansen, Shannon, and Campbell) and 2 juniors (Fashing, and Manke), plus Lackney coming off the bench, it should be an above average bullpen considering how many upperclassmen are coming back.

Offense would be even more dangerous and powerful considering you'd only lose Dan and Connor. The rest of your starters and bench players would be back. It would be the best offense in College baseball. It's pretty close this year in accomplishing that feat. Our Home runs would improv dramactically with all our power hitters back.

It would be awesome if this happened in the dream scenario but it's a longshot. Then again the thought of the Gophers winning the Big Ten title this year was a longshot also.
The only 2 JRs I see with pretty decent chances of being drafted are Athmann and Fiedler and I'm not sure either will be drafted high enough where they should sign but we will just have to wait and see on that.
 

The only 2 JRs I see with pretty decent chances of being drafted are Athmann and Fiedler and I'm not sure either will be drafted high enough where they should sign but we will just have to wait and see on that.

If those two come back and you get Zach, John Anderson would do cartwheels all the way to the College World Series. For a Northern coach like Anderson that would be a team that comes around only once in a lifetime, and most Northern coaches do not coach a team like that in their lifetime. It would be the only year in John Anderson's coaching career where you could say, "If this team doesn't make it to the College World Series, it's a big disappointment." Honestly, how many teams in college baseball would be better next year? Not many.
 

If those two come back and you get Zach, John Anderson would do cartwheels all the way to the College World Series. For a Northern coach like Anderson that would be a team that comes around only once in a lifetime, and most Northern coaches do not coach a team like that in their lifetime. It would be the only year in John Anderson's coaching career where you could say, "If this team doesn't make it to the College World Series, it's a big disappointment." Honestly, how many teams in college baseball would be better next year? Not many.

I'm sure he'd find something to whine about in your dream scenario.
 



If those two come back and you get Zach, John Anderson would do cartwheels all the way to the College World Series. For a Northern coach like Anderson that would be a team that comes around only once in a lifetime, and most Northern coaches do not coach a team like that in their lifetime. It would be the only year in John Anderson's coaching career where you could say, "If this team doesn't make it to the College World Series, it's a big disappointment." Honestly, how many teams in college baseball would be better next year? Not many.

I love the Gophers as much as the next guy, but I think you are way over the top on your prediction. With those two coming back the Gophers would be good but not that good. Let's see them sniff a super regional, then we can get excited.
 

I love the Gophers as much as the next guy, but I think you are way over the top on your prediction. With those two coming back the Gophers would be good but not that good. Let's see them sniff a super regional, then we can get excited.

It's much more than those two. It's those two and Zach. Zach would be a huge get. It would be like getting Dalton back for another year.
 

I've seen a lot of Gopher fans and other teams fans talk about our team for next year. South Dakota State Radio announcer was commenting on how the Gophers are only graduating five players. A lot of people have been saying this. People are also talking about Zach from North Dakota coming to Minnesota to pitch. After all Zach is from Delano. Let's take a look at the realistic scenario and the dream scenario.

Realistic Scenario - I've heard from good sources that it would be unrealistic to think the Gophers are going to return all their Juniors for next year. Some are probably going to get drafted and leave early. Secondly, Zach is a long shot in coming here, but having our pitching coach in hospice care makes it even more doubtful. With Zach being a pro prospect, he probably isn't going to come to a place where the pitching coach position is up in the air.

Dream Scenario - Gophers only lose five seniors and all their juniors come back for next year. Plus Zach comes here. If this happens John Anderson would have his best team ever. None of Coach Anderson's teams in the past or the future would even compare to the team in this dream scenario.

Your starting rotation would be Zach, Fielder, and Gilbreath. Gilbreath had a stellar season in the Northwoods league as starting pitcher and he is heading out to Cape Cod this Summer. That's where all the top pitching prospects go. I guarantee he'll be a starting pitcher and he'll be on the Cape Cod All star team. There is no way the coaches will keep Gilbreath in the bullpen next year, even IF Zach, and Fiedler are on the team. What about Toby? You would tell Toby that he is going to pitch in the mid-week games, but instead of giving him just 3 innings, you let him pitch as many innings as he can go. Your mid-week games would be based on the present rather than the future. It would focus more on getting your fourth starter innings rather than focusing on a bunch of underclassmen pitchers. Every year coaches decide how much to play for the present and how much to play for the future. With a team so talented, I'd play for the present, even in mid-week games. Zach, Fielder, Gilbreath, and Toby would probably be the best four man rotation in College Baseball.

Bullpen would be the only concern. You would not need much of a bullpen with those four starting pitchers. Having 4 Seniors (Glowicki, Hansen, Shannon, and Campbell) and 2 juniors (Fashing, and Manke), plus Lackney coming off the bench, it should be an above average bullpen considering how many upperclassmen are coming back.

Offense would be even more dangerous and powerful considering you'd only lose Dan and Connor. The rest of your starters and bench players would be back. It would be the best offense in College baseball. We're pretty close this year in accomplishing that feat. Our Home runs would improve dramactically with all our power hitters back.

It would be awesome if this happened in the dream scenario but it's a longshot. Then again the thought of the Gophers winning the Big Ten title this year was a longshot also.
These days I never understand going to the Cape Cod, it's a dog and pony show. The Northwoods League, especially for pitchers does a way better job of preparing players for what the grind of professional baseball will look like. Way more games, which means more innings pitched
 

Looks like the Gophers have added a RHP for 2016 from Omaha. Didn't find a whole lot of information on Rose but looking at his numbers a little at Barton CC he struggled in some areas but strikeout per 9 numbers seem pretty solid.
 


They just mentioned during the College World Series that the last player to hit for the cycle in the CWS was Jerry Kindall for the Gophers in 1956. A player for Coastal Carolina is just a triple short of hitting for the cycle.
 


Not Gophers baseball related, but why the hell did they reschedule Game 3 for noon today instead of tonight? I really wanted to watch the championship to see if Coastal could win it all.
 

Not Gophers baseball related, but why the hell did they reschedule Game 3 for noon today instead of tonight? I really wanted to watch the championship to see if Coastal could win it all.
I thought it was an idiotic decision as well. Read ESPN was willing to televise it in primetime tonight but NCAA decided on an afternoon start instead which made absolutely no sense to me.
 

Another solid prospect for the 2017 class. RHP/SS from Woodbury not sure if he will be a 2 way player in college but has a chance.
 






6'5 2017 RHP from Gig Harbor, WA who was selected to play in the Area Code Games this past summer.
 

Some schedule updates from other teams releasing their full schedules. The Gophers will host Hawaii Thursday March 2 and then again Saturday March 4th as part of the DQ Classic, Iowa and Oral Roberts are also listed as opponents for Hawaii in the DQ classic. The Gophers host Milwaukee March 8th in a midweek game and will host Missouri State for a 3 game set March 10th, 11th, and 12th.
 




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