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2020 Baseball
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thanksjim Offline
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Post: #1
2020 Baseball
Below is the 2020 schedule. Go Flashes!


https://kentstatesports.com/sports/baseball/schedule
11-01-2019 05:59 PM
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GoFlashes8 Offline
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RE: 2020 Baseball
KSU Baseball 2020 should be a great team with the depth of quality pitching and in the outfield they have this year, which will be better than last year.

The following players will have a huge impact on the mound this year for KSU:
Collin Romel
Ryan Kircher
Peyton Deats
Jack Zimmerman
Max Rippl
Tyler Drabick
Trevor Pittman
Ryan Lane
Luke Albright
Most, if not all will be drafted once eligible. There are 7 freshmen pitchers, who I am not sure on the impact they will have or if they will redshirt?

The infield will have a whole new look, as they graduated Pavin Parks, Josh Hollander, Kian O'Brien, & Pete Schuler, all of whom played a ton of innings for Duncan the last few years. Michael Turner will lead the way, whether that is at catcher, 3rd base, or both. It will be interesting to see the starting 5 of the infield this season, with all of the losses to graduation and Turner as well as 2 power hitters returning (Ronnebaum & Ferguson). Not sure if Grant Vera & Devan Nail will be starters or Ronnebaum or Ferguson or some of the incoming freshmen (Ethan Moore, Jake Reifsnyder, Josh Mrozek, Mack Timbrook, or Tyler Bischke)?

The outfield is loaded with depth/experience, so it will be a battle for at bats/playing time. Ben Carew, Came Touchette, Nick Elsen, Justin Kirby, & Collin Mathews are all returning and have had great seasons/stats for Duncan.


I am interested to see if Duncan/Birkbeck can sign another top 25 recruiting class, like they did last season. Signing day is 11/13/19, so we will find out in 2 days. Derek Simmons (hitting coach/recruiting coordinator) left KSU for Indiana in the late summer/early fall. http://www.kentstatesports.com doesn't show that Simmons has been replaced, so I don't know if that is true or if the sports information department is just a little behind with some of the vacancies that they have had over the spring, summer, & fall?

Last, Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball just announced that there could be some huge changes coming that will affect high school seniors/college baseball players. (all depends on the 2020 new PBA.....the negotiations have already been described as "contentious") I have outlined a few of these changes and a link to 1 of the stories that covered them.

-MLB draft moved from June to August and # of draft rounds lowered down to 20-25 from the current # of rounds that is 40.
-42 minor league teams will be eliminated.
-Minor league teams will be realigned into closer geographic areas, to lower the amount of travel
-Minor league stadiums/facilities will be upgraded/improved to give a better place of training/playing to the players/coaches as well as compensation.
-MLB teams will have their 40 man roster (no change), but the # of total players in the minor leagues will go down to 150-200 (still to be decided), whereas today some teams have 230-285 total players in the minor leagues.


It seem by pure #s, that the college teams would get better quality of players just from a #s standpoint, but that is just my view/guess.

Link to the story = https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/...gue-teams/
11-11-2019 06:22 PM
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KSUforever Offline
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RE: 2020 Baseball
Thanks for the update. I will be looking for more news today and tomorrow. Hopefully, Duncan can keep it going. Nice move for Derek Simmons did you hear anything about his move? Was it a loss for us? I think he was only here for two years
11-13-2019 11:51 AM
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GoFlashes8 Offline
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RE: 2020 Baseball
KSU Baseball has signed 5 new recruits today.

Aidan Longwell - LHP/1B from Massillon Washington HS - Massillon OH
Kyle Jackson - SS from Bowling Green HS - Bowling Green OH
Calvin Bickerstaff - RHP from Stuebenville HS - Wintersville OH
Michael McNamara - 2B/SS from St. Ignatius HS - Cleveland OH
Benny Roebuck - RHP from Marcus HS - Flower Mound TX

There are only 3 seniors on this years roster (Cam Touchette, Zach Schultz, & Patrick Ferguson), but there are quite a few juniors that will get drafted or looked at for the draft on the roster.
(This post was last modified: 11-17-2019 05:19 PM by GoFlashes8.)
11-13-2019 07:12 PM
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Albert Flasher Offline
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RE: 2020 Baseball
Included in the RC article, "Flashes baseball program ranked among nation’s elite during 2010 decade" by AMoff, earlier this week, is the following:

"The Flashes have yet to replace former assistant coach Derek Simmons, who accepted a position on the staff at Indiana last September. Simmons had worked with position players and hitters while also serving as Kent State’s recruiting coordinator since joining the program in 2017.
According to Duncan, the coaching position Simmons vacated has not yet been officially opened up by the university.
“We’ve been in a huge holding pattern,” said Duncan. “This is a huge necessity for our program. We sell the student-athlete experience, and it’s only fair for our student-athletes to get that coach.”
Duncan is not permitted to interview prospective candidates until the position is officially declared open by the university.
“As we start in the new semester, we’ll review the open positions in the department to identify areas that need to be addressed,” said KSU Director of Athletics Joel Nielsen.
Since Simmons left, volunteer assistant coach Tony Caldwell has taken over many of his responsibilities. Still, the Flashes were forced to go through the fall season with only two assistant coaches and are still short a key member of the staff as the 2020 season opener on Feb. 14 quickly approaches."

To me, this is alarming. I believe every other MAC baseball program has two full-time assistants, so why this would be an open issue is puzzling.

The quote from the AD does not project a sense of urgency or confidence that this position will be approved. What is there to evaluate? The assistant coaching position has to be a budgeted item. Unless the AD does not believe this is a priority issue.

And the frustration from Coach Duncan is obvious. Wow, let's find another reason for an excellent coach to go somewhere else. This "mid-major" mindset of the KSU athletic department is so frustrating.
01-10-2020 01:09 PM
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GoFlashes8 Offline
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RE: 2020 Baseball
Yeah, KSU Baseball has been a great program for many years and receives private donations, so not sure what the deal is with Nielsen? The players are the 1s suffering.
01-10-2020 08:27 PM
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ilovegymnast Offline
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RE: 2020 Baseball
The university is under a hiring freeze but I'm surprised that it includes the athletic department.
01-10-2020 09:23 PM
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KSUforever Offline
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RE: 2020 Baseball
Can you imagine if a football position wasnt filled immediately? I am sure they will hire the volunteer coach and promote a former KSU player to come in for the volunteer role.
01-13-2020 11:03 AM
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anti-zip Offline
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RE: 2020 Baseball
(01-13-2020 11:03 AM)KSUforever Wrote:  Can you imagine if a football position wasnt filled immediately? I am sure they will hire the volunteer coach and promote a former KSU player to come in for the volunteer role.

I hear AJ Hinch is looking for work.
01-13-2020 07:08 PM
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burden Offline
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RE: 2020 Baseball
(01-13-2020 07:08 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  
(01-13-2020 11:03 AM)KSUforever Wrote:  Can you imagine if a football position wasnt filled immediately? I am sure they will hire the volunteer coach and promote a former KSU player to come in for the volunteer role.

I hear AJ Hinch is looking for work.

Yeah. I’ll take a College World Series in return for a fired coach.
01-13-2020 07:55 PM
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burden Offline
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RE: 2020 Baseball
(01-10-2020 09:23 PM)ilovegymnast Wrote:  The university is under a hiring freeze but I'm surprised that it includes the athletic department.


Especially replacing a coach who left for another position.
01-13-2020 07:56 PM
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anti-zip Offline
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RE: 2020 Baseball
(01-13-2020 07:55 PM)burden Wrote:  
(01-13-2020 07:08 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  
(01-13-2020 11:03 AM)KSUforever Wrote:  Can you imagine if a football position wasnt filled immediately? I am sure they will hire the volunteer coach and promote a former KSU player to come in for the volunteer role.

I hear AJ Hinch is looking for work.

Yeah. I’ll take a College World Series in return for a fired coach.

Unfortunately, the NCAA strips titles for much less.
01-13-2020 08:25 PM
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cschierh Offline
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Post: #13
RE: 2020 Baseball
When women's basketball director of operations Alison Seberger left in September (she became an assistant at North Alabama), they didn't replace her for months.

Alexa Golden did her job as a graduate assistant. Lex finally got the promotion in December. Starkey said things were held up by some committee that has to approve all hires, budgeted or not. The longer they can leave the position open, the more money they save.

So I suspect the baseball team will have an assistant (or at least a GA) before the season starts.

This is happening all over the university. Enrollment is down, and enrollment drives the budget.
01-13-2020 09:42 PM
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KSUforever Offline
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RE: 2020 Baseball
pretty brutal. I hope we can have one in place soon. The season starts mid-February
01-14-2020 08:28 AM
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Albert Flasher Offline
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Post: #15
RE: 2020 Baseball
Duncan Welcomes Back Serrato as Assistant Coach

Looks like a very good & promising [re]hire. Still puzzling why this took so long.

#GoFlashes
01-24-2020 04:53 PM
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GoFlashes8 Offline
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RE: 2020 Baseball
(01-24-2020 04:53 PM)Albert Flasher Wrote:  Duncan Welcomes Back Serrato as Assistant Coach

Looks like a very good & promising [re]hire. Still puzzling why this took so long.

#GoFlashes

Nielsen playing games I would assume was the cause of the delay.
01-27-2020 02:21 PM
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