As opening weekend of NCAA baseball came and went, baseball fans, particularly those of the amateur and collegiate ranks, were once again swept up in the joy of spring and a return to normalcy.  We have been without the game since the end of the Arizona Fall League in many ways.  Although there is no such thing as the off-season for us here at The Sombrero, the recruiting season just isn’t the same as the spring and summer seasons.

The premier series of the weekend saw Vanderbilt travel to Stanford where Mark Appel, arguably the top talent headed into the 2012 MLB Draft, deal on Friday night.  This series also featured the loaded 2011 Draft’s only unsigned 1^st-rounder, Tyler Beede, toss his first collegiate pitch.  Both of these teams rank in the top-10 and are absolutely loaded talent-wise.  What they also are loaded with are entire rosters of players devoted to academic excellence.  This weekend also saw Duke travel to 13^th-ranked Texas in a game that also featured nothing but standout student-athletes.  Next weekend Texas travels to Stanford where the same applies.  These teams come from prime-time athletic conferences and perform well in sports other than baseball, but consider the fact that last year’s Texas squad hosted a series against Brown, a school in which no player on the field was receiving athletic-based financial aid, and actually dropped a game to the Bears.  They’re the University of Texas.  Just imagine for a minute the 40 or so kids that the Longhorns football team might send to the hospital if the Bears were to travel to Austin for a football game.  This hypothetical scenario reflects the idea behind this piece.

Baseball is unique in the world of collegiate athletics in that it provides academically inclined players and institutions many if not all of the opportunities that those players and schools where athletics must come first are provided, which quite clearly is not the case across the collegiate sports landscape.

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Top 2: Cole Garner struck out swinging against Jordan Zimmerman

Top 5: Garner struck out swinging against Zimmerman

Top 7: Garner struck out swinging against Ryan Mattheus

Top 9: Garner struck out swinging against Drew Storen

Final Line: 0-for-4, 4 K

Notes: I’ll be honest: I had no idea who Cole Garner was prior to his sombrero on Sunday.  In his six at-bats for the Rockies this season, Garner has fanned six times. I’m impressed, but for the wrong reasons.

Total 2011 Sombreros: 69

This year thirteen players were selected from Division III institutes, which is fairly typical of most drafts.  The highest D3 player selected was Ben Hughes of St. Olaf, who was taken by the Rockies in the 10^th round (their fifth pitcher selected).  The lowest was Ken Wiser, another pitcher, of Linfield who was selected by the Rangers in the 50^th round.

Division III baseball and athletics in general are fundamentally different than either Division I or II, and not even on the same wavelength as NAIA or NJCAA athletics.  The difference likely begins with the nature of the institutions themselves.  Whereas D1 and D2 universities tend to be on the larger side, some D3 schools enroll less than 1,000 students.  Committing such a large percentage of the budget to a full D1 athletics program would grossly misinterpret the needs of most of these student bodies and therefore relegates these institutions to a lesser financial commitment.

While that is seen largely as a disadvantage to most Neanderthalic morons, student-athletes at D3 schools are also typically provided tremendous educations capable of sending their graduates to fulfilling and unique careers in and out of athletics.  That’s typically the draw, and many of these students receive very large scholarships.  While they are not technically deemed athletic scholarships, many financial aid packages are distributed based on likely contributions to campus life.  Athletics is included in these contributions.

Typically, however, players recruited by D3 schools are of the late-blooming type and/or have zero interest in professional athletics or have never seriously considered it a possibility.  Instead these players tend to recognize that they are good, love the game, and want a quality undergraduate education.  For many of these athletes, baseball has never once been the most important thing in their lives and likely never will be.  That in no way makes them lesser baseball players, however.  Many of these players are high achievers in all walks of life and refuse to half-ass anything.  Recent All-American selection Mike Nodzenski fits this profile well.  Robbie Unsell comes to mind too.  Robbie is currently in vet school in London and was a tremendous D3 baseball player breaking numerous school records and picking up an All-Region selection as well.  He also majored in one of the toughest departments in school and received tremendous grades in the process.

So then how does a guy like Jordan Zimmerman go from a D3 school to the 1^st round, or a guy like Billy Wagner go from D3 to the HOF?  Well, most importantly, it takes a scout willing to take a chance.  Most D3 players are not draft prospects, so results tend to be completely meaningless in player evaluation.  It also takes a terrific coaching staff to ensure that players are developing properly despite tremendous academic workloads and likely other interests.  Perhaps most important is what the player does in the summer.  Selection to a top league like the Valley or Northwoods can greatly boost a player’s resume.  It unfortunately can also shatter it.  In Hughes’ case, it boosted his draft standing considerably.  He was an all-star last summer with the Duluth Mustangs of the Northwoods.

D3 baseball is different.  That’s beyond debate, but every single year a collection of players are selected from tiny schools in unusual corners of the United States to begin professional careers on the baseball field.  What likely also is beyond debate is that whenever these players’ careers end, however, is that they will have some very interesting second careers ahead of them after their days at the yard come to a close.  With that in mind, these players are not unlike the thousands of other D3 athletes who compete every season.  Hopefully as we settle into our second year writing here at the Sombrero, you’ve enjoyed reading what a handful of Division III players have written over the last year or so.

#8 Jarrod Parker – Arizona Diamondbacks

RHP

DOB: 11-24-88

ETA: 2011

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It has been altogether too long since I have written for the Sombrero, and with the news of pitchers and catchers reporting on Monday morning, I knew that this amateur writer needed to report very soon as well.  It has been a terribly long offseason, and with a potential trip to Phoenix for Spring Training only a few weeks away, the thrill of a coming baseball season has gripped me once again.

I certainly hope that I’ll be chronicling another triumphant Pioneer run to the finals of the Midwest Conference tournament, adding to my “Four Ballparks” series, and once again extolling Ubaldo Jimenez’s virtues after ten wins and a 0.78 ERA in the season’s first two months. But for now, I’ll settle for a commentary on some of the offseason’s biggest headlines.  They may be old news, but I will begin by evaluating big offseason moves from the two franchises nearest and dearest to my heart.

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