2013 West Regional - Austin Tx

[Whatagame]

The other complicating factor is that most DIII academic scholly's are only 4 years. But I have heard of kids getting their masters and staying. Not often but it happens.

Mitch Rowan, who was a pretty darn good outfielder at Willamette missed one season due to injury, then played D1 ball at University of San Francisco this current season, as a grad student for his 4th year of eligibility.  Actually getting a lot of playing time.

[Colorado]

The three Chapman pitchers who were hurt this season were all Juniors in 2012 (thus Seniors this year) Would they all be attending school a 5th year to play?  That's somewhat of a rarity at the D3 level it seems?

I would think it's fairly unusual. I used to hear stories that suggested (at least) one coach would use injury waivers on freshmen that never pitched and they amounted to redshirt years. I don't want to go into much detail on that, and it doesn't really matter because the program is not really a national power and the coach is no longer at the school (and hasn't been for some time).

But considering there are no athletic scholarships, I would think that decision would be based on progress toward degree (is the player going to be doing a 5th year anyway?), cost to attend the school, and interest in a master's program the school offers.

I know a decent amount of kids who have done this in PP athletics, through joint programs with the Claremont Graduate University- usually as a simple "plus one" commitment. They get hurt for a year, but still have that year of eligibility so they pursue an advanced degree while getting to finish out their athletic careers. Most of the time it requires a lot of planning, but it might be smoother at a school like Chapman who has it's own graduate programs and thus may be able to transition from undergrad to graduate student a little easier.

The last PP baseball player to do this was Mike Silva. Turned out to be a great move for him- he had an awesome season on that 2009 team that went 37-7 and got a degree that turned into a great job right out of school. Brian Schumaker also did this at Redlands in 2008 and hit .414 with 6 home runs. I'm sure there are other examples...

Kids could also take a lighter load and extend their coursework over to a fifth year, but as you mention there are no athletic scholarships so this is an expensive route. With coaching uncertainty, if those Chapman pitchers hadn't already committed to a 5th year I doubt they will now. Anyone know for sure?

Assuming a successful rehab, the 2 seniors who were injured (McGee and Osaki) both plan to come back. Osaki changed his major just before injuring himself a year ago and was planning to come back a 5th year anyway. McGee still needs some credits to graduate. The 3rd injured pitcher, Richards, just finished his freshman year.  If the 12-month rehab schedule is accurate, Osaki will start throwing off a mound during the Fall and McGee/Richards will do so perhaps in December barring any setbacks.  You never how they are going to throw or if they will bounce back. Dr. Yocum said that both he and Andrews show a success rate of about 85% in which those who come back tend to throw as well as they did (and even harder in some cases - not because of the surgery but because of the incredible arm/core/strength rehab that they go through).  All 3 were clocked at 90+ before their respective injuries.   

[CrashDavisD3]

The three Chapman pitchers who were hurt this season were all Juniors in 2012 (thus Seniors this year) Would they all be attending school a 5th year to play?  That's somewhat of a rarity at the D3 level it seems?

I would think it's fairly unusual. I used to hear stories that suggested (at least) one coach would use injury waivers on freshmen that never pitched and they amounted to redshirt years. I don't want to go into much detail on that, and it doesn't really matter because the program is not really a national power and the coach is no longer at the school (and hasn't been for some time).

But considering there are no athletic scholarships, I would think that decision would be based on progress toward degree (is the player going to be doing a 5th year anyway?), cost to attend the school, and interest in a master's program the school offers.

I know a decent amount of kids who have done this in PP athletics, through joint programs with the Claremont Graduate University- usually as a simple "plus one" commitment. They get hurt for a year, but still have that year of eligibility so they pursue an advanced degree while getting to finish out their athletic careers. Most of the time it requires a lot of planning, but it might be smoother at a school like Chapman who has it's own graduate programs and thus may be able to transition from undergrad to graduate student a little easier.

The last PP baseball player to do this was Mike Silva. Turned out to be a great move for him- he had an awesome season on that 2009 team that went 37-7 and got a degree that turned into a great job right out of school. Brian Schumaker also did this at Redlands in 2008 and hit .414 with 6 home runs. I'm sure there are other examples...

Kids could also take a lighter load and extend their coursework over to a fifth year, but as you mention there are no athletic scholarships so this is an expensive route. With coaching uncertainty, if those Chapman pitchers hadn't already committed to a 5th year I doubt they will now. Anyone know for sure?

Assuming a successful rehab, the 2 seniors who were injured (McGee and Osaki) both plan to come back. Osaki changed his major just before injuring himself a year ago and was planning to come back a 5th year anyway. McGee still needs some credits to graduate. The 3rd injured pitcher, Richards, just finished his freshman year.  If the 12-month rehab schedule is accurate, Osaki will start throwing off a mound during the Fall and McGee/Richards will do so perhaps in December barring any setbacks.  You never how they are going to throw or if they will bounce back. Dr. Yocum said that both he and Andrews show a success rate of about 85% in which those who come back tend to throw as well as they did (and even harder in some cases - not because of the surgery but because of the incredible arm/core/strength rehab that they go through).  All 3 were clocked at 90+ before their respective injuries.   

Assuming Chapman gets a great coach, players return from 2013 rostter back, pitchers return healthy and few or no players transfer out and THAT is a lot of IF's, Chapman could return to a Regional in 2014 BUT that is lots of if's to be answered.

[playball]

The three Chapman pitchers who were hurt this season were all Juniors in 2012 (thus Seniors this year) Would they all be attending school a 5th year to play?  That's somewhat of a rarity at the D3 level it seems?

I would think it's fairly unusual. I used to hear stories that suggested (at least) one coach would use injury waivers on freshmen that never pitched and they amounted to redshirt years. I don't want to go into much detail on that, and it doesn't really matter because the program is not really a national power and the coach is no longer at the school (and hasn't been for some time).

But considering there are no athletic scholarships, I would think that decision would be based on progress toward degree (is the player going to be doing a 5th year anyway?), cost to attend the school, and interest in a master's program the school offers.

I know a decent amount of kids who have done this in PP athletics, through joint programs with the Claremont Graduate University- usually as a simple "plus one" commitment. They get hurt for a year, but still have that year of eligibility so they pursue an advanced degree while getting to finish out their athletic careers. Most of the time it requires a lot of planning, but it might be smoother at a school like Chapman who has it's own graduate programs and thus may be able to transition from undergrad to graduate student a little easier.

The last PP baseball player to do this was Mike Silva. Turned out to be a great move for him- he had an awesome season on that 2009 team that went 37-7 and got a degree that turned into a great job right out of school. Brian Schumaker also did this at Redlands in 2008 and hit .414 with 6 home runs. I'm sure there are other examples...

Kids could also take a lighter load and extend their coursework over to a fifth year, but as you mention there are no athletic scholarships so this is an expensive route. With coaching uncertainty, if those Chapman pitchers hadn't already committed to a 5th year I doubt they will now. Anyone know for sure?

Assuming a successful rehab, the 2 seniors who were injured (McGee and Osaki) both plan to come back. Osaki changed his major just before injuring himself a year ago and was planning to come back a 5th year anyway. McGee still needs some credits to graduate. The 3rd injured pitcher, Richards, just finished his freshman year.  If the 12-month rehab schedule is accurate, Osaki will start throwing off a mound during the Fall and McGee/Richards will do so perhaps in December barring any setbacks.  You never how they are going to throw or if they will bounce back. Dr. Yocum said that both he and Andrews show a success rate of about 85% in which those who come back tend to throw as well as they did (and even harder in some cases - not because of the surgery but because of the incredible arm/core/strength rehab that they go through).  All 3 were clocked at 90+ before their respective injuries.

As a Tommy John surgery alum (patient? Frankenstien?  ), there is a lot that someone has to do for rehab.  A lot of shoulder, abs, forearm, and grip strength rehab to all take pressure of the elbow.  The throwing programs vary by who does your surgery and who they trust with the rehab program.  My program consisted of slowly working back into throwing at about 6 months, with only fastball grips.  From there duration and intensity picked up until curveballs and splits were allowed.  The biggest thing for me when I talk to other pitchers when they ask what to expect about  T.J. is to not always be afraid.  I'm sure at some point the players named above will be doing rehab and feel a pop or something that doesn't feel quite right and it will scare the he** out of them.  All normal.  Also, that 12 month throwing schedule is until they get back to 100%.  The procedure that I had was a new variation (probably not so new anymore) called Docking and its done by Dr. David Altchek.  Full recovery is 9 months.  Hope this info helps

I hope all goes well for these guys as being a D3 pitcher is hard enough without the surgery!

[forheavendial4999]

Adding Osaki and McGee to everyone they have coming back (literally, no seniors) I think would make for a very formidable pitching staff. They might have been the youngest staff in the country this year.

This summer is going to be a test of how much Chapman's players want to be good again, to identify on their own what they need to improve on and how to do it.

[Ralph Turner]

Adding Osaki and McGee to everyone they have coming back (literally, no seniors) I think would make for a very formidable pitching staff. They might have been the youngest staff in the country this year.

This summer is going to be a test of how much Chapman's players want to be good again, to identify on their own what they need to improve on and how to do it.

Yes. They may need some inspiration/encouragement from the alums during this time of testing for Chapman baseball.

[forheavendial4999]

Adding Osaki and McGee to everyone they have coming back (literally, no seniors) I think would make for a very formidable pitching staff. They might have been the youngest staff in the country this year.

This summer is going to be a test of how much Chapman's players want to be good again, to identify on their own what they need to improve on and how to do it.

Yes. They may need some inspiration/encouragement from the alums during this time of testing for Chapman baseball.

And each other, which fortunately a lot of them probably live relatively near each other. I really hope they do well and the pitchers come back healthy and they're a 30-win ballclub again and we see how good the SCIAC can be. I felt like with them being down this year it was hard to tell what was what out there.

[Colorado]

It will be tough for any program not named Linfield to challenge what Chapman was able to do when they went on their streak of dominance.  How did they fall so quickly?

If not for the coaching situation I wouldn't say they had. Marietta had a rough year in 2008. It happens, especially these days when there's so much competition for players and so few at-large spots in the postseason. It's not like it used to be when only the most worthy teams got it...now if you're the best of a group of 7 schools, you're in...no matter how bad that group is.

The foregoing reasons are pretty accurate

I think Chapman's descent, and call me crazy on this, actually started a few years ago. And its exacerbated by Coach T's departure. They haven't had a good offense since 2010 (2011 they hit .292, 2012 they hit .286, 2013 they hit .282), and they stopped being unbelievable on the mound. I think there's less talent on their team now, something that would have roots a few years back.

Obviously, 2011 they were able to piece together a pretty incredible season and were Runners up in the World Series. But that team wasn't like the Chapman teams of old. They started off the year losing 2 of 3 to Whittier and 2 in a row to PP before going on a tear. They relied on one incredible pitcher and a handful of very good pitchers at his back, and they did everything right to get as far as they did despite an uncharacteristically weak offense with little in the name of star power. I think Coach T gets a ton of credit for that season.

2012, they still had Ruah and they lose a couple of arms. Their team ERA goes up just a tick from 2.96 to 3.05 (still pretty phenomenal), and their batting average drops a few points. More importantly, they score runs at an even slower pace and all of the sudden they go from 37-13 to 20-20. The numbers for those teams weren't that different, but I think 2011 was an example of a team that relied heavily on a few good veteran pitchers and over-performed, while in 2012 their weaknesses began to show a little more and they underperformed. 2013 was a continuation of that downward trend, ERA jumps up a whole run to 4.03, and now you don't have a legendary coach helping you squeak out the tough games. And it doesn't help to have all that background noise.

Hopefully for Chapman their core stays. All things considered that's a very young staff who, I'm sure, has plenty of room for development. Maybe they can get someone in their that can work with those pitchers and can also bring a little bit of jolt to the offense. And with the right coach, it shouldn't be difficult to recruit into a good school with such a storied tradition of excellence on the diamond. I wouldn't be surprised to see Chapman right back in the mix in a few years. Heck, they won't be losing any pitching next year (through graduation anyway) so maybe they make some noise immediately. But they certainly aren't the Chapman of the 2000's, and I don't know if anyone in the West can ever replicate what they did.

Crash, I'd like to get your thoughts on this. My analysis is based a little on observation (playing them in 2011, watching a few games in 2012) and a lot on stats and word of mouth. You've been there, so if I'm full of sh*t let me know!

I wouldn't call you crazy. Your take is fairly accurate. The things that I would add or differ on is that the 2011 line up was pretty solid offensively but was, like many teams at the time, greatly affected by the rule changes on bats.  The only 2 things that I would add is that the team wasn't as good defensively as before and didn't hit with much power -- a drop that could not be entirely explained away by the bat changes.

For 2012, they had the same 4-5 pitchers coming back who had been the pitching core of the staff since they were freshmen. Most of the line up was coming back but like you said, the hitting was weak and there was no power. Moreover, the bullpen struggled all year and the defense was very bad (Rauh was up 2-0 into the 9th in 1 game but Chapman lost in extra innings after the tying runs scored on some errors and 2 consecutive passed balls). T always said that every time come graduation, he would wonder who would step up the next year to replace the stars who had graduated; he didn't know who but he was always sure that someone would step up. I think he was a little perplexed when no one stepped up that year. He was enormously patient with some guys who had bad years. After the half way point (maybe the last 15-18 games), with a play-off spot going down the drain, he blew up the line-up to get better defensively, mostly ignored the bullpen if he could and rode his starting pitchers as long as they could go. 

For 2013, offensively and defensively, they were markedly better than the year before but the overall pitching just wasn't there. Prospectively, I think that they can do some damage next year: The line-up has a nice core of hitters. With fingers crossed, the pitching staff has Riddle, Watson, the 3 injured guys and a couple others. I haven't heard about any impact recruits coming in or how the T debacle affected recruiting but some good news is that Edwards, the pitching coach, is coming back either as the HC or as the PC again (at least that's the early report).

[Colorado]

The three Chapman pitchers who were hurt this season were all Juniors in 2012 (thus Seniors this year) Would they all be attending school a 5th year to play?  That's somewhat of a rarity at the D3 level it seems?

I would think it's fairly unusual. I used to hear stories that suggested (at least) one coach would use injury waivers on freshmen that never pitched and they amounted to redshirt years. I don't want to go into much detail on that, and it doesn't really matter because the program is not really a national power and the coach is no longer at the school (and hasn't been for some time).

But considering there are no athletic scholarships, I would think that decision would be based on progress toward degree (is the player going to be doing a 5th year anyway?), cost to attend the school, and interest in a master's program the school offers.

I know a decent amount of kids who have done this in PP athletics, through joint programs with the Claremont Graduate University- usually as a simple "plus one" commitment. They get hurt for a year, but still have that year of eligibility so they pursue an advanced degree while getting to finish out their athletic careers. Most of the time it requires a lot of planning, but it might be smoother at a school like Chapman who has it's own graduate programs and thus may be able to transition from undergrad to graduate student a little easier.

The last PP baseball player to do this was Mike Silva. Turned out to be a great move for him- he had an awesome season on that 2009 team that went 37-7 and got a degree that turned into a great job right out of school. Brian Schumaker also did this at Redlands in 2008 and hit .414 with 6 home runs. I'm sure there are other examples...

Kids could also take a lighter load and extend their coursework over to a fifth year, but as you mention there are no athletic scholarships so this is an expensive route. With coaching uncertainty, if those Chapman pitchers hadn't already committed to a 5th year I doubt they will now. Anyone know for sure?

Assuming a successful rehab, the 2 seniors who were injured (McGee and Osaki) both plan to come back. Osaki changed his major just before injuring himself a year ago and was planning to come back a 5th year anyway. McGee still needs some credits to graduate. The 3rd injured pitcher, Richards, just finished his freshman year.  If the 12-month rehab schedule is accurate, Osaki will start throwing off a mound during the Fall and McGee/Richards will do so perhaps in December barring any setbacks.  You never how they are going to throw or if they will bounce back. Dr. Yocum said that both he and Andrews show a success rate of about 85% in which those who come back tend to throw as well as they did (and even harder in some cases - not because of the surgery but because of the incredible arm/core/strength rehab that they go through).  All 3 were clocked at 90+ before their respective injuries.

As a Tommy John surgery alum (patient? Frankenstien?  ), there is a lot that someone has to do for rehab.  A lot of shoulder, abs, forearm, and grip strength rehab to all take pressure of the elbow.  The throwing programs vary by who does your surgery and who they trust with the rehab program.  My program consisted of slowly working back into throwing at about 6 months, with only fastball grips.  From there duration and intensity picked up until curveballs and splits were allowed.  The biggest thing for me when I talk to other pitchers when they ask what to expect about  T.J. is to not always be afraid.  I'm sure at some point the players named above will be doing rehab and feel a pop or something that doesn't feel quite right and it will scare the he** out of them.  All normal.  Also, that 12 month throwing schedule is until they get back to 100%.  The procedure that I had was a new variation (probably not so new anymore) called Docking and its done by Dr. David Altchek.  Full recovery is 9 months.  Hope this info helps

I hope all goes well for these guys as being a D3 pitcher is hard enough without the surgery!

"Docking"? What is that?

[playball]

Instead of completely cutting through the bicep, a hole is created and the new ligament (From either a wrist or hamstring) is stitched through.  Also, only one hole is drilled into the bone instead of the regular 3 for TJ.  These changes have shown a marked difference in return rates and being able to compete at the same or higher levels. 

[tigerfan_2001]

Instead of completely cutting through the bicep, a hole is created and the new ligament (From either a wrist or hamstring) is stitched through.  Also, only one hole is drilled into the bone instead of the regular 3 for TJ.  These changes have shown a marked difference in return rates and being able to compete at the same or higher levels.

thanks. Didn't know that.

[CrashDavisD3]

Instead of completely cutting through the bicep, a hole is created and the new ligament (From either a wrist or hamstring) is stitched through.  Also, only one hole is drilled into the bone instead of the regular 3 for TJ.  These changes have shown a marked difference in return rates and being able to compete at the same or higher levels. 

http://www.newson6.com/story/21755068/docking-technique-to-repair-torn-elbow-ligament-yields-favorable-results-in-adolescent-baseball-players

[D O.C.]

I trust Brosius and Doctor Dad on this one.
Now, on to Ithaca....

[Ron Boerger]

Haddeland picking up where he left off last week, has given up one hit through four as Linfield leads Ithaca 5-0.

And he's only a sophomore, right?

[Westside]

This is correct. Along with their #2 starter.