Wolves and Rangers

Cardinal Stritch University split a pair of close games with DeSales University.  The Wolves won both games of a doubleheader on Monday against Schreiner University.  Dean Mlachnik has been hot so far this season hitting .500 with 2 HR and 11 RBI.  The Wolves will be in Texas for two more days before returning to Wisconsin.  Their home opener is next Saturday against Trinity International University.

UW Parkside lost last weekend to Wayne State and St Cloud State playing in Evansville,IN.   They dropped a doubleheader to St Cloud State Saturday.  The Rangers picked up the first win of their season Sunday against Illinois-Springfield 9-6.  That afternoon they lost another game to St Cloud State.  They open up at home next Saturday against Quincy University.

Wanderings

• The 13U Rivercats are headed to Florida to play in the Cocoa Expo President's Day Challenge.  
• Three Brewers spring training games will be televised on the MLB Network.
• UW Milwaukee outhit Tennessee but still lost 0-4 on Friday.
• The Madison Mallards have signed two Wisconsin natives. Michael Handel is from Sun Prairie, and currently attends the University of Minnesota.  Justin Scanlon attends Michigan State and is originally from Verona.  
• Yahoo has an article discussing how well the Brewers pitchers can hit.

Minor League

Wisconsin has been home to numerous minor league teams over the years.  Fans in the state have gotten the opportunity to watch players such as Hank Aaron and Mark McGwire while they were first starting out.  Now all we have left in the state are two minor league teams. 

The Beloit Snappers are the low A level farm team of the Minnesota Twins.  There is hope they will soon get a new stadium.  They will be relying on donations and cashflow generated by Snappers operations.  I hope they are able to get this done. 

The Milwaukee Brewers also have an in-state low A level farm team in the Midwest League.  The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers have been around for a long time but this will be their third season affiliated with the Brewers.  You can become a shareholder and get lots of perks as an owner of the Timber Rattlers. 

I would love to see more minor league teams come back to Wisconsin.  The success of the Northwoods League has shown how popular baseball done right can be in the state.  The key to luring teams back is having a top notch stadium for them to play in.  Hopefully we get another inventive community to find ways to privately finance a new stadium. 

Cody Hanke

photo by waow

Cody has made the All State Basketball , All State Baseball, and All Region Football teams.  His Marathon High School basketball team is currently ranked 3rd in Division 4.  Marathon has to be a favorite to return to state in baseball this year too.  This YouTube clip shows a Leader Telegram interview with Cody at state last year.  He hasn't committed to a college or a sport yet.  I have seen him mentioned in a bunch of blog posts and on different baseball forums.  I think he has a good chance of being drafted early in the June MLB draft if he continues to dominate this spring.  Tall lefties always seem to be in demand.

Brendon Hayden

Brendon Hayden is from Twin Lakes, WI and attends Wilmot Union High School.  He has a good chance to be among the first players from Wisconsin drafted this summer.  He has committed to attend Virginia Tech in the fall.  He has played for the Hitters Baseball team out of Racine and was the only Wisconsin player in last years Area Code Games.  There is a slideshow of him on YouTube.  And a profile on Amateur Baseball Report. 

Todays Links

On Milwaukee has their all time team of Wisconsin born players.  JS Online did a similar list last winter.  Concordia University is trying to raise funds for a new ballpark.  I hope they get it done.  The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers are putting up new episodes of The Offseason every Thursday.  I love having an in-state farm team for the Brewers.  Amateur Baseball Report  is having their Top 30 showcase in Racine on February 12th.  If you want to find all your Brewers news in one place then check out the Daily Mug at BrewCrewBall. 

Wisconsin Rivercats

It was this article that inspired me to start a blog to help promote Wisconsin baseball.  Greg Reinhard of the Wisconsin RiverCats was kind enough to do this interview with me.

BAW:   What kind of time commitment is required to be a RiverCat? 

Greg:  Each of our levels poses a different time commitment.  We have teams from 10U all the way through 18U, so obviously there has to be a difference.  At 10U, our players will play 5 tournaments, plus a few games here and there.  11U is 6 tournaments, 12U is 7 tournaments, 13U is 8 tournaments, 14U is the same.  Our older division, which is named the GRB Rays, is where all of our high school players are at.  They play 5 showcases at major universities.  They have to start a little later due to high school baseball running into June.  The showcase also need a little more travel and last longer.

What we do which is a little different than everyone else, is we prefer our players in the RiverCat system (9U to 14U) play inside their home town during the week, and then with us on the weekends.  We understand how important it is to be present in your hometown for your future.  Everyone has to play high school baseball there, and it is necessary to be a part of the home town program.  On the weekends, we expect our players to give the first priority to the RiverCats.  Also, since we draw kids from such a vast area due to the talent level we require to be a part of our program, the mid week stuff is not really feasible.

BAW:   What do you consider the biggest accomplishment of the RiverCats so far?

Greg:  We have had some pretty neat success early in our organization's development.  One accomplishment outside of the ballpark, is we are really the only organization in Wisconsin that runs from 10U to 18U.  Everyone usually is one one side or the other.  We believe that development is the number one goal, and that we have some of the best coaches for kids to learn from, regardless if they are 10U or 18U.  That being the case, why not teach them right from the beginning and develop them as they grow in the game of baseball.

On field, our 18U took 3rd place at the Pastime National Championship last July.  Our 14U recently won the prestigious Las Vegas Desert Classic, making us the first team from the Midwest to ever win that tournament I believe.  We have won or placed in several events, but those two seem to come to mind as of recent.

BAW:  What players are ones to keep an eye on in the future?

Greg:  Well, we have players at all age levels that we are super excited about.  I can honestly say that I think our organization has the most talented, baseball loving players, who are serious about the game.  I have, before running the RiverCats, worked with other organizations with practicing and other things.  None of them compare to this collective group of kids, from top to bottom.  

I will say one player, who is now headed to college.  Jordan Jess from Ripon was both a RiverCat and a Ray from a young age until the end of his high school career.  He is headed to the University of Minnesota next year to play for the Gophers, and with him being a lefty with as much velocity and room to improve in the upcoming years, he has a chance to be a very special college and hopefully professional player.  Who knows, he probably will be a name called out on draft day this year.

BAW:  Have any RiverCats alumni been drafted yet?

Greg:  No alums drafted yet, however, this is our first class ever this year getting to the high school graduating level.  I think we will see a few drafted this June.  This really is the first shot we have had as all of the guys who were here at the beginning are finally seniors.  I have to believe in the next 2 to 5 years we will have some kids get the opportunity.

BAW:  Do you have a tip for helping kids stay sharp over a Wisconsin winter?

Greg:  I think players in Wisconsin are naturally at a disadvantage.  Some days I shake my head that I somehow got drafted out of the state and have played 6 years professionally due to the weather and lack of playing time available.  

Players in Wisconsin who really want to excel need to understand the hard work involved, and recognize the disadvantage.  They can't just pick up the bat or glove come March.  It just doesn't work that way anymore.

BAW:  Anything else you want people to know about the Rivercats?

Greg:  Outside of our coaching, we have a winter program that keeps our guys playing year round. It is not necessary for our summer players to play in the winter program because we love kids who are 2 and 3 sport athletes, but many of our summer guys find a way to play year round.

Finally, we have a fall league that we run in southern Wisconsin, along with some really great camps.  We have a facility in the works for next year, and we can not wait for that point of our program.  It really is all about giving players the opportunities.  Everyone who loves the game of baseball as everyone in our program does, should find a way to grow and advance the game so it continues to offer to the youth and future of the sport.

We give the players who are serious about the game everything they need to be successful in their baseball futures.

 

    

WBA Thunder Jaxx

 I'd like to thank Eric Greening of the WBA Thunder Jaxx for taking the time to answer some questions for me.

BAW:  How did the Thunder Jaxx get started?

Eric:  The ThunderJaxx were started last year when there were guys who weren't in the Legion or Babe Ruth circle. Here in Wausau the Legion team has it's pick of 3 different school districts so it is an All-Star team of sorts. Along with the ridiculous rule Legion put in a few years ago that college freshman could play after their first year in college, this left a lot of underclassmen in the area with no where to play. When we started telling people we were starting a team, people started contacting us from outside of Wausau to try out. We had a very good team at the 16u level last year considering it was our first year, and this year it is looking like we will continue that stride to being one of the more elite programs in the state.

BAW:  What kind of time commitment is required to play for the Thunder Jaxx?

Eric:  The time commitment is dependent on the age level. We are offering teams at the 12u, 14u, 16u, and 18u ages, and the 12u will play 3 weekends in the summer, the 14/16u will play 4, and the 18u will play 5 weekends. One thing that we do not, and will not do, is pull from local leagues (Little League, Junior/Senior League, Legion, etc...) meaning our practices are offered in the mornings during the summer as to not interfere with leagues. Also, we are working very hard on our schedule for the older guys this summer so we don't pull away from the Legion tournaments. We have various events through the winter that we do such as a whiffle ball night, movie night etc, where guys on the teams can come down and interact with other team members.

BAW:  Do you have a tip for helping kids stay sharp over a Wisconsin winter?

Eric:  The key to staying sharp through the seemingly endless winters in Wisconsin is to stay active with your swing/throwing on a weekly basis. I hear it over and over about there not being enough time, but when you think about it, we are open from 3pm-9pm Tue-Fri, 9am-2pm Sat, and by appointment Sun/Mon. All I would suggest in the middle of winter is 1 hour/week. Once the season approaches and the winter sports slow down, then I would start putting in more time, but asking a kid to commit 1 hour/week isn't a whole lot, and that is all it takes to maintain mechanics so when spring rolls around, they aren't picking up a bat or ball for the first time a week before practice. That also helps in injury prevention when a young guy tries to impress his coach on March 21st at the first day of practice and throws out his arm. With this in mind, we have started a "Velocity" program that is a 12 week boot camp to really get arms and bodies in shape so when the first practice comes, guys are already in mid-season form.

BAW:  Anything else you want people to know about the Thunder Jaxx?

Eric:  A big thing we can offer is the level of coaching that you can't find anywhere else in the area. Our head coach at the 18u level was recently named to the "WIAC All-Decade Team" as a member of the UW-Oshkosh Titans. He also played professionally for the Kansas City Royals. He knows what it takes to get to that next level, and that is very important to us to be able to help the guys reach their full potential and get to that next level.  I will be coaching the 14/16u teams and my experience was winning a Division 3 National Championship at UW-Whitewater, coaching there after my playing career was done and also coaching at various positions in high school and other travel ball organizations throughout the state. This past summer I was the hitting coach for the Wisconsin Woodchucks of the Northwoods League. Our dedication to finding top level coaches is very important and will always be an integral part of what the Wisconsin Baseball Academy, and more specifically the ThunderJaxx organization is all about.

Intro

Baseball players in Wisconsin have it tough.  The season is short and there is a major lack of indoor facilities to practice in over the winter.  And to top it off our biggest university doesn't offer it as a scholarship sport.  I think we still have a ton of good ball players in this state, but they might not get the attention they deserve.  I hope to change some of that and highlight talent from around the state.  I also plan on sharing resources and other helpful info I find along the way.  Maybe even share an opinion about the Brew Crew now and then.