2024 Baseball

[throwback]

 

[throwback]

Baseball America Big Ten Projected Standings (2023 records)
1. Iowa (44-16, 15-8)
2. Indiana (43-20, 16-8)
3. Maryland (42-21, 17-7)
4. Nebraska (33-23, 15-9)
5. Rutgers (33-23, 14-10)
6. Michigan (28-28, 13-11)
7. Ohio State (31-25, 9-15)
8. Penn State (25-25, 7-16)
9. Illinois (25-27, 12-12)
10. Michigan State (33-22, 12-12)
11. Minnesota (18-34, 10-14)
12. Purdue (24-29, 11-13)
13. Northwestern (10-40, 4-20)

 

We miss the underlined teams - good news is we get 1, 2, and 3 all at home. I honestly am surprised to see NU this high. BA does a good job tracking all players, though, so they must feel we have some pretty good newcomers.

 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2024-big-ten-college-baseball-preview/

 

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BA NCAA Tourney Projection

 

BA projects Iowa to host a regional as the #16 seed. Indiana makes the tourney as a regional (2) seed ... and that's it. Maryland is in the first 4 out - NU not mentioned at all.

 

Other NU opponents projected in the NCAA: K-State (3) seed; Grand Canyon (3) seed (auto bid); Texas Tech (2) seed.

 

Out of the Pac-4 coming next year: UCLA (2) seed; Oregon (3) seed; USC (3) seed.

 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2024-preseason-projected-field-of-64/

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Also, here's how BA projects our non-con opponents:

• Baylor - 11th Big XII
• Texas Tech - 3rd Big XII
• Oklahoma - 7th Big XII
• Grand Canyon - 1st WAC
• Coll of Charleston - 5th Coastal Athletic
• South Alabama - 7th Sun Belt
• Wichita St - 9th American Athletic
• Nicholls - N/A
• Omaha - N/A
• N Dakota St - N/A
• N Mexico St - 9th (last) Conf USA
• K-State - 5th Big XII
• bluebirds - N/A
• Kansas - 8th Big XII
• S Dakota St - N/A

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/baseball-americas-ultimate-2024-college-baseball-preview/

[throwback]

 

[throwback]

Looks like by making use of Memorial Stadium, Den Hartog, and Haymarket Park, NU will have been working out outdoors all 3 weeks ahead of the first game. I can't remember the last time that happened. Den Hartog putting in artificial turf was a big help, and the idea to use Memorial Stadium for some of the early, generalized workouts was a good one.

 

Sounds like the coaches still weren't entirely settled on who the 3 starting pitchers were going to be heading into the scrimmages the past couple of days. We'll see if they name all 3 starters Monday or Tuesday when Bolt meets with the media, or if they go TBA for one or two of them. If I had to guess, I think the coaches will stick with the veterans this first weekend, and it'll be Sears, Walsh, Christo - but they'll all have short leashes. The freshmen and juco newcomers have a lot of talent, but I think we'll let them work out of the 'pen for a bit. 

 

With Coach Childress in charge, you better compete and you better throw strikes, or he'll find someone who can. Certainly, Sears & Christo have tons of talent, so I think we want those two guys in the rotation, as long as they can throw strikes consistently. Walsh provides the perfect change-up to those two guys in a weekend series, if it all works out. Now it has to translate to actual game situations and trusting their stuff.

 

[throwback]

World Herald's projected finish (team writeups in the link):

 

https://omaha.com/sports/huskers/baseball/evan-bland-s-preseason-big-ten-baseball-rankings-for-2024/article_1b19c577-8683-5e24-8fc7-e530f7d5cd13.html

 

1-Iowa

2-Indiana

3-NU

4-Rutgers

5-Michigan

6-Maryland

7-Penn St

8-Illinois

9-Michigan St

10-Ohio St

11-Purdue

12-Minnesota

13-NW

 

Most people have Maryland higher than NU in preseason ratings, but the OWH preview thinks Maryland will struggle with much of last year's power no longer with the team and with a new coach. Hope they're right. (Of course, NU also lost quite a bit of its power, but NU appears to have the players on hand to switch to more of an aggressive base running / higher batting avg team with pop in the middle of the order.)

 

After another coaching change & all of its best players hitting the portal, NW might be worse than it was last year. It's the last season for Minnesota coach Anderson, but they don't appear to be much better than a year ago either.

 

Edited February 13, 2024 by throwback

[throwback]

 

[hskr4life]

On 2/10/2024 at 12:52 PM, throwback said:

 

 

Sounds like the coaches still weren't entirely settled on who the 3 starting pitchers were going to be heading into the scrimmages the past couple of days. We'll see if they name all 3 starters Monday or Tuesday when Bolt meets with the media,

 

Tuesday it is

 

 

[throwback]

Well, this is not encouraging. Christo was the #1 guy coming out of fall, but he's not had a good spring, to say the least. Disheartening to have your best arm not be able to throw strikes. Hopefully, he gets straightened out in the bullpen and can be the 4th starter in weekends 2 and 3.

 

[hskr4life]

Honestly, we’re going to probably have to throw everyone most weekends.  I’m not sure we have those “go to” starters for our weekend series just yet.

 

We have a lot of new arms Im excited to see and some vets that aren’t starting either.  Need everyone focused and ready at any point in the game this year.  Short leash.

[throwback]

I'm guessing you're right. It's probably going to be a roller coaster of a weekend on the bump.

 

I like Sears' arm talent, and he's probably had the best combo of arm talent + consistency so far this spring, so I'm not surprised to see him get the Friday role to start out. We need to win that first game against a struggling Baylor program, so I'm sure we'll go all in on Friday, whatever it takes. (Feels weird to type 'struggling Baylor' after how good they always were when we were together in the Big XII.)

 

I also like throwing a change of pace arm (and lefty) like Walsh against Tech - their big bats aren't intimidated by hard throwers, so maybe Walsh can keep them off balance. Plus Tech gets Tennessee Friday night, so they'll see a high MLB draft pick kind of arm in Beam, who's also a righty. Walsh provides the perfect counter to that the next day.

 

And the NU coaches have certainly liked Clark's arm since he arrived on campus. I'm sure he's more prepared for a weekend role now than he was as a true frosh last year. 

 

Ultimately, I hope our offense is ready to roll. Probably will be a lot of back and forth in these games.

 

Edited February 13, 2024 by throwback

[throwback]

 

 

[throwback]

Best Games - Big Ten - Week 1

Friday

• Duke v Indiana
• NU v Baylor
• Maryland at Geo. Southern
• Ohio State v Boston Coll.

Saturday

• Illinois v Wake Forest
• Maryland at Geo. Southern
• Minnesota v Oregon St
• Indiana at Coastal Carolina
• NU v Texas Tech

Sunday

• Maryland at Geo. Southern
• NU v Oklahoma
• Ohio State v USC

Monday

• Minnesota v Oregon St

[Huskerpapa]

2 hours ago, throwback said:

Well, this is not encouraging. Christo was the #1 guy coming out of fall, but he's not had a good spring, to say the least. Disheartening to have your best arm not be able to throw strikes. Hopefully, he gets straightened out in the bullpen and can be the 4th starter in weekends 2 and 3.

 

I guess to put a positive spin on it, is that at least three pitchers beat out, what was expected to be, the best pitcher on the roster.

I am encouraged that positions aren't gifted.  Hopefully each position and every at bat is being earned.

[brfrad]

On 1/31/2024 at 9:47 AM, throwback said:

 

West (ish) - Oregon, Wash, NU, Minn, Iowa, NW, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue

East (ish) - USC, UCLA, Rutgers, Md, PSU, Ohio St, Mich, Mich St,

 

So maybe NU's 2025 schedule looks like:

 

Feb wk 3 - At UCLA* 

Feb wk 4 - At non-con series

Mar wk 1 - At Oregon**

Mar wk 2 - at non-con

Mar wk 3 - home non-con

Mar wk 4 - vs Minn**

Mar wk 5 - at Illinois**

Apr wk 1 - vs Wash**

Apr wk 2 - vs Purdue**

Apr wk 3 - Home non-con

Apr wk 4 - at NW**

May wk 1 - vs Iowa**

May wk 2 - at Indiana**

May wk 3 - vs Ohio St*

May wk 4 - B1G tourney

 

UCLA's might look like:

Feb wk 3 - vs NU* 

Feb wk 4 - vs Rutg**

Mar wk 1 - vs Mich St**

Mar wk 2 - home non-con

Mar wk 3 - vs Illinois*

Mar wk 4 - home non-con

Mar wk 5 - at Md**

Apr wk 1 - at PSU**

Apr wk 2 - home non-con

Apr wk 3 - at Michigan**

Apr wk 4 - Home non-con

May wk 1 - at Washington*

May wk 2 - at Ohio St**

May wk 3 - vs USC**

May wk 4 - B1G tourney

 

I don't know if it would work, but I think I would do a neutral site pod system the 1st 2 weekends of conference play.  You could have 2 four team pods and 3 three team pods.  The pods would be 

Mar weeks 2 and 3.  That way the northern teams get a few weekends under their belt before conference play.

 

[throwback]

4 hours ago, brfrad said:

I don't know if it would work, but I think I would do a neutral site pod system the 1st 2 weekends of conference play.  You could have 2 four team pods and 3 three team pods.  The pods would be 

Mar weeks 2 and 3.  That way the northern teams get a few weekends under their belt before conference play.

 

That would be my solution, too  You could even do it all season - with the odd number of conference teams, having at least one 3-team pod each week would work perfectly. Nobody would need a bye once conference play starts.

 

However, the coaches hate it. So it's an idea that's dead on arrival, unfortunately. Maybe they'll change their minds down the road, but it's not on the table right now.

 

[throwback]

https://huskers.com/news/2024/02/14/coach-bolt-announces-starting-rotation-and-previews-the-2024-nebraska-baseball-season

[throwback]

Why the B1G only releases the top 6 teams in its preseason poll is one of those questions for the ages that will never receive a satisfactory answer.

 

 

https://bigten.org/news/2024/2/9/baseball-postseason-honors.aspx

[throwback]

2024 Projected RPI from Boyd’s World

 

http://boydsworld.com/baseball/rpi/rpi_projections2024.html

 

(New quad splits for 2024)

Quad 1: Home games vs. RPI 1-25, neutral site games vs. 1-40, road games vs. 1-60

Quad 2: Home games vs. RPI 26-50, neutral site games vs. 41-80, road games vs. 61-120

Quad 3: Home games vs. RPI 51-100, neutral site games vs. 81-160, road games vs. 121-240

Quad 4: Home games vs. RPI 101+, neutral site games vs. 161+, road games vs. 241+

 

 

NU Projection

RPI 99

Record 28-28

 

Q1 Games (5)

• 2 (N)   Tex Tech (30 – 1 gm) / Okla (28 – 1 gm)
• 3 (A)  Rutgers (53 – 3 gms)

 

Q2 Games (17)

• 1 (N)  Baylor (74 – 1 gm)
• 3 (H)   Maryland (31 – 3 gms)
• 13 (A)    K-State (79 – 1 gm) / Grand Canyon (64 – 4 gms) / Coll of Char (78 – 4 gms) / Wichita St (115 – 2 gms) / Creigh (77 – 2 gms)

 

Q3 Games (15)

• 8 (H)  Iowa (84 – 3 gms) /  K-State (79 – 1 gm) / Creigh (77 – 1 gm) / So. Alabama (55 – 3 gms)
• 7 (A) Kansas (160 – 1 gm) / Michigan St (189 / 3 gms) / N’western (157 – 3 gms)

 

Q4 Games (19)

• 16 (H)  Indiana (104 – 3 gms) / Ohio St (139 – 3 gms) / Nicholls (156 – 3 gms) / No. Dakota St (117 – 1 gm) / New Mexico St (214 – 3 gms) / Kansas (160 – 1 gm) / Omaha (197 – 1 gm) / So. Dakota St. (226 – 1 gm)
• 3 (A)  Minnesota (256 – 3 gms)

 

Well, this isn’t super encouraging, although I can’t say I’m too surprised where it puts NU. The predictive metrics simply aren’t going to like NU with so many key players to replace.

 

However, if Iowa has an 84 RPI and Indiana is at 104, the B1G might be a one bid league this season. These projections say the B1G will be extremely weak top to bottom. I hope not, but this site was almost dead on when projecting NU a year ago, so who knows?

 

If these projections are at all accurate, we’ll play 11 of our Q1 and Q2 games the first 3 weekends with only 11 more spread throughout the rest of the year. Brutal. And 5 of those final 11 are mid-week games.

 

I guess the good news is we’re #99 in RPI at a projected 28-28 record. Get to 36 to 38 regular season wins and we’ll probably be top 50 RPI, which puts us probably on the right side of the bubble, as long as we don’t tank these first 3 weekends.

 

B1G projected RPIs 2024 (NU doesn’t play underlined teams)

• Maryland 31 (38-15 projected record)
• Rutgers 53 (37-18)
• Iowa 84 (38-18)
• Michigan 88 (34-22)
• NU 99 (28-28)
• Indiana 104 (29-27)
• Illinois 112 (29-21)
• Penn St 132 (25-30)
• Ohio St 139 (25-31)
• Purdue 152 (28-29)
• N’western 157 (23-29)
• Michigan St 189 (24-31)
• Minnesota 256 (11-38)

RPIs for Pac-4 2024

• Oregon 14 (33-20)
• UCLA 25 (33-21)
• Washington 97 (20-28)
• USC 100 (23-31)

 

B1G 2023 projections vs actual record / RPI (Boyd’s World)

Illinois #98 (28-23)       vs   #95 (25-27)

Indiana #94 (30-24)     vs   #31 (43-20)

Iowa #77 (35-16)           vs   #32 (44-16)

 

Maryland #37 (41-14)  vs  #36 (42-21)

Michigan #82 (33-20)  vs  #122 (28-28)

Mich St #186 (21-34)   vs  #69 (33-22)

 

Minny #246 (12-43)      vs  #209 (18-34)

NU #104 (30-25)            vs  #98 (33-23)

N’wstrn #147 (22-30)  vs  #262 (10-40)

 

Ohio St #116 (26-31)   vs  #78 (31-25)

Penn St #157 (25-30)   vs  #141 (25-25)

Purdue #174 (29-27)    vs  #207 (24-29)

Rutgers #53 (34-21)     vs  #68 (33-23)

 

• 2 missed horribly – Indiana (+63), Mich St (+117)
• 5 missed average amount – Iowa (+45 spots), Michigan (-40 spots), Ohio St (+38), Minny (+37), Purdue (-33)
• 5 incredibly close – Illinois (+3), Maryland (+1), NU (+6), Penn St (+16), Rutgers (-15)

Missed horribly on N’western, too, but I can’t ding the site for that one considering what a mess their coaching situation was.

 

Generally, though, the site underestimated the B1G last season, so hopefully that’s the case this season as well.

 

[AuroranHusker]

4 hours ago, throwback said:

Why the B1G only releases the top 6 teams in its preseason poll is one of those questions for the ages that will never receive a satisfactory answer.

 

 

https://bigten.org/news/2024/2/9/baseball-postseason-honors.aspx

 

I just appreciate NU is in the top 6, but wish we were top 2. 

 

[brfrad]

My prediction is 33 - 23 overall, 13 - 11 in conference.  That was just a quick glance at the schedule.  No in depth look at opponents. 

[hskr4life]

19 hours ago, throwback said:

Why the B1G only releases the top 6 teams in its preseason poll is one of those questions for the ages that will never receive a satisfactory answer.

 

 

https://bigten.org/news/2024/2/9/baseball-postseason-honors.aspx

This is one of the dumbest things I’ve always thought would eventually change.  Guess not.

[hskr4life]

16 hours ago, throwback said:

2024 Projected RPI from Boyd’s World

 

http://boydsworld.com/baseball/rpi/rpi_projections2024.html

 

(New quad splits for 2024)

Quad 1: Home games vs. RPI 1-25, neutral site games vs. 1-40, road games vs. 1-60

Quad 2: Home games vs. RPI 26-50, neutral site games vs. 41-80, road games vs. 61-120

Quad 3: Home games vs. RPI 51-100, neutral site games vs. 81-160, road games vs. 121-240

Quad 4: Home games vs. RPI 101+, neutral site games vs. 161+, road games vs. 241+

 

 

NU Projection

RPI 99

Record 28-28

 

Q1 Games (5)

• 2 (N)   Tex Tech (30 – 1 gm) / Okla (28 – 1 gm)
• 3 (A)  Rutgers (53 – 3 gms)

 

Q2 Games (17)

• 1 (N)  Baylor (74 – 1 gm)
• 3 (H)   Maryland (31 – 3 gms)
• 13 (A)    K-State (79 – 1 gm) / Grand Canyon (64 – 4 gms) / Coll of Char (78 – 4 gms) / Wichita St (115 – 2 gms) / Creigh (77 – 2 gms)

 

Q3 Games (15)

• 8 (H)  Iowa (84 – 3 gms) /  K-State (79 – 1 gm) / Creigh (77 – 1 gm) / So. Alabama (55 – 3 gms)
• 7 (A) Kansas (160 – 1 gm) / Michigan St (189 / 3 gms) / N’western (157 – 3 gms)

 

Q4 Games (19)

• 16 (H)  Indiana (104 – 3 gms) / Ohio St (139 – 3 gms) / Nicholls (156 – 3 gms) / No. Dakota St (117 – 1 gm) / New Mexico St (214 – 3 gms) / Kansas (160 – 1 gm) / Omaha (197 – 1 gm) / So. Dakota St. (226 – 1 gm)
• 3 (A)  Minnesota (256 – 3 gms)

 

Well, this isn’t super encouraging, although I can’t say I’m too surprised where it puts NU. The predictive metrics simply aren’t going to like NU with so many key players to replace.

 

However, if Iowa has an 84 RPI and Indiana is at 104, the B1G might be a one bid league this season. These projections say the B1G will be extremely weak top to bottom. I hope not, but this site was almost dead on when projecting NU a year ago, so who knows?

 

If these projections are at all accurate, we’ll play 11 of our Q1 and Q2 games the first 3 weekends with only 11 more spread throughout the rest of the year. Brutal. And 5 of those final 11 are mid-week games.

 

I guess the good news is we’re #99 in RPI at a projected 28-28 record. Get to 36 to 38 regular season wins and we’ll probably be top 50 RPI, which puts us probably on the right side of the bubble, as long as we don’t tank these first 3 weekends.

 

B1G projected RPIs 2024 (NU doesn’t play underlined teams)

• Maryland 31 (38-15 projected record)
• Rutgers 53 (37-18)
• Iowa 84 (38-18)
• Michigan 88 (34-22)
• NU 99 (28-28)
• Indiana 104 (29-27)
• Illinois 112 (29-21)
• Penn St 132 (25-30)
• Ohio St 139 (25-31)
• Purdue 152 (28-29)
• N’western 157 (23-29)
• Michigan St 189 (24-31)
• Minnesota 256 (11-38)

RPIs for Pac-4 2024

• Oregon 14 (33-20)
• UCLA 25 (33-21)
• Washington 97 (20-28)
• USC 100 (23-31)

 

B1G 2023 projections vs actual record / RPI (Boyd’s World)

Illinois #98 (28-23)       vs   #95 (25-27)

Indiana #94 (30-24)     vs   #31 (43-20)

Iowa #77 (35-16)           vs   #32 (44-16)

 

Maryland #37 (41-14)  vs  #36 (42-21)

Michigan #82 (33-20)  vs  #122 (28-28)

Mich St #186 (21-34)   vs  #69 (33-22)

 

Minny #246 (12-43)      vs  #209 (18-34)

NU #104 (30-25)            vs  #98 (33-23)

N’wstrn #147 (22-30)  vs  #262 (10-40)

 

Ohio St #116 (26-31)   vs  #78 (31-25)

Penn St #157 (25-30)   vs  #141 (25-25)

Purdue #174 (29-27)    vs  #207 (24-29)

Rutgers #53 (34-21)     vs  #68 (33-23)

 

• 2 missed horribly – Indiana (+63), Mich St (+117)
• 5 missed average amount – Iowa (+45 spots), Michigan (-40 spots), Ohio St (+38), Minny (+37), Purdue (-33)
• 5 incredibly close – Illinois (+3), Maryland (+1), NU (+6), Penn St (+16), Rutgers (-15)

Missed horribly on N’western, too, but I can’t ding the site for that one considering what a mess their coaching situation was.

 

Generally, though, the site underestimated the B1G last season, so hopefully that’s the case this season as well.

 

Hopefully we’re the Indiana and not the Illinois of last years predictions!  Lol

[hskr4life]

Happy Opening Day y'all.  Big one right out of the gate.  Need to take advantage of getting Baylor first in this trip and grab a W.  Build some confidence right away.  Here's what I'm hoping to see.

 

1. Hot bats that manufacture runs.  I know we're not going to have as much power as last year, so how do we score?  12-15+ hits would be nice to see.

 

2. Pitchers throwing strikes.  If they hit us, they hit us.  We're going to be Jonny Whole Staff this weekend most likely anyways.  Need our pitchers to find the zone and let our D work.  No walks, no free passes/bases.

 

3. How do we handle adversity.  We're not going 3-0 this weekend.  Already prepared for that.  We're likely to face adversity at minimum by tomorrow, but tonight I could see it as well.  Do we fight?  Do we get flustered? 

 

4. How short are leashes going to be.  While we all think Jonny Whole Staff is making an appearance, just how short are those leashes going to be?

[AuroranHusker]

[Huskerpapa]

I fully anticipate a 3-0 weekend.  Why the heck not?  We should expect to win, until we don't.  I am a bit more optimistic because we have had decent weather for preparation.  It's when we have crappy weather that the southern teams get the major advantage.