Dirtbags Baseball - Long Beach State 49ers

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Thursday, January 06, 2005

Highlights of Baseball America's College Baseball Chat Today

Will Kimmey at Baseball America took questions online today concerning the upcoming college baseball season. Here's the transcript. And here are the Long Beach State Dirtbag highlights:

Will Kimmey: Hey, here's a welcome to everyone and an apology for being a minute or so late. I'm in Nashville for the American College Baseball Association convention and I bumped into Long Beach State coach Mike Weathers in line for a $4 bottle of water and got delayed a little bit. But here we go, let's have fun here.

Now we know where Coach Weathers is! Next question:

Q: Rick from Des Moines asks:
What prompted Jared Hughes to transfer to Long Beach and what kind of impact do you think he'll have?

A: Will Kimmey:
He's going to be a key for that LBSU staff. Hughes ranked as one of the nation's top prep arms before he committed to Santa Clara. Things didn't work out for him there, but Beach pitch coach Troy Buckley has done wonders with guys like Jered Weaver, Jason Vargas (both gone to the draft last June) and Cesar Ramos, so a betting man might like the odds that Hughes fulfills his potential.

Jared Hughes had control problems at Santa Clara...in 20.2 innings he had 9 wild pitches, hit 5 batters and yielded 13 walks. But he has outstanding velocity on his fastball - topping out at 96 MPH his senior year in high school. Here's a prior post including info on Jared.
Next question:

Q: Dave from Fullerton asks:
Will, thanks for taking the time to answer questions today. Fullerton and Long Beach have been the top two teams in the Big West for a while now and figure to be in regionals again this year. With the Big West usually getting three regional spots (have done so each of the past four years), how many other Big West teams do you see getting into regionals this year? Irvine has almost everybody coming back except for Smith, UCSB has most of their position players and all of their pitchers back, Riverside has most of their position players back (rebuilding the starting rotation) and Cal Poly has all of their pitchers back (holes to fill in the batting lineup).

A: Will Kimmey:
I like the Big West. A lot. The Titans and Dirtbags are always in the national mix, but I think Poly has some arms in Garrett Olson and returning senior Jimmy Shull, plus speedy Brandon Roberts to start things offensively. And your Irvine take is right on, though Brett Smith will be missed more than you think. The Anteaters should get back to regionals, though, giving the league four teams.

Sounds like it's shaping up to be a great season of baseball in the Big West!

posted on 1/06/2005 by Jeff Agnew

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