Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
It looks like Willie Argo who was picked in the 49th round will pitch for Illinois in 2009.
The Assumption High School (Davenport, IA) product says that “it’s about 100 percent” that he’ll be wearing the orange and blues.
Good news for us Illini fans. No doubt though, Argo will have his time in sun. At one time or another, he will see some pro baseball in the future.
See you in 2009, Willie!
Some news regarding Illini draftees:
It came out today that Illinois CF Kyle Hudson who went early, the fourth round, has reached a contract agreement with the Baltimore Orioles. He plans to play for their Class A team in Aberdeen, MD by next week.
Illini hurler Scott Shaw, drafted by the New York Mets in the 13th round, has signed a contract with them complete with a $30,000 signing bonus.
Tanner Roark who started for the Illini until he was forced off the team this year because of academic ineligibilty, was signed by the Texas Rangers. The Rangers drafted Roark in the 25th round.
Congrats to all three!
The Duluth News Tribune has a rather unfortunate news item regarding Illini secondbaseman Joe Bonadonna who was stationed up in the Minnesota town to play for the Duluth Huskies in the Northwoods League.
The upshot of the story: Bonadonna was so disappointed about not being selected in last week’s baseball draft that he signed his release waiver from the Huskies.
Apparently, his coaches told him to sleep on it but Bonadonna was adamant.
Bonadonna has been with the Duluth Huskies for four years. Not only has been one their best players having broken a few team career records but arguably has been one of their most popular. It was with the Huskies last summer when Bonadonna caught fire. He won multiple NWL awards that season. He never slowed down when he came back to the University of Illinois when he had a breakout year in the Big Ten.
Bonadonna already regrets his decision.
âI definitely wish I would have been made inactive for a couple weeks to clear my mind, but I wasnât thinking anything about that at the time,â Bonadonna said. âNow I canât come back, and thatâs too bad because I already miss the guys.â
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot that can be done. According to league rules, once the waiver is signed and turned in, Bonadonna cannot return to play for the Huskies for this season.
âOnce that waiver gets sent to the league office, the wheels have already been put into motion,â (Duluth Huskies GM Craig) Smith said. âYou canât just make a phone call and make it go away. Some wars you fight and some you donât. Weâd love to have Joe here, but we donât want to ask the league president to make a decision that likely wouldnât go our way anyway. The rules are the rules and weâre going to live by the decision Joe made.â
Bonadonna made a rash decision and he will have to pay for it, there’s no doubt about it. Joe’s been one of my favorite players and I have no doubt that somehow he’ll get back on his feet and get on track. He’s too good of a ballplayer.
I’m two states away and don’t know all of the details. That said, it’s my feeling that the Huskies’ management could have taken his signed release waiver and sat on it until Bonadonna was thinking straight. Then just tore it up.
Good luck to Joey B.
Thanks to Andrew from Summer Ball for pointing me to the story.
Collegiate Baseball selected Illinois outfielder Casey McMurray as a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American. McMurray hit .331 for the season and was tied for the team lead in doubles with 12. In addition, Mac was named Big Ten Player of the Week on April 28.
He started 48 games all in left field though he led off at least once.
You will find McMurray out west now. He’s playing for Santa Barbara Foresters of the California Collegiate League.
Congrats, Casey!
Shaw facing off against Michigan at the 2008 Big Ten Tournament
The scouts must have been paying attention during the Illinois-Michigan game at the Big Ten Tournament because Illinois pitcher Scott Shaw was chosen #404th overall in Friday’s MLB’s first-year player draft. Though Shaw lost that Michigan game, he pitched a heck of game.
Shaw was chosen by the New York Mets with the pick and was the second Illini picked in this year’s draft. CF Kyle Hudson was picked by the Baltimore Orioles in the 4th round during the first day of the day.
Roark (right) with one of 2007’s Illini draftees, Lars Davis after their only 2007 Big Ten Tournament win
Also of Illini note, former pitcher Tanner Roark was selected by Texas. Roark was set to be Illinois’ top starter this year but was dropped from the team due to academic ineligibility. He was picked #753 overall.
Congrats to both of them.
Big Ten Hardball has the full list of all Big Ten players who were drafted from Day 1 and Day 2.
Hudson went in the 4th round today
Before I get on to the overall draft, I want to extend congratulations to University of Illinois CF Kyle Hudson. He was chosen 116th overall by the Baltimore Orioles in the fourth round of today’s baseball draft.
As a junior, I guess the ball is in his court as to whether he signs or continues with the Illini. That said, with this high of a pick, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Kyle in the Orioles’ farm system soon.
Congratulations to Hud and his family!
Purdue’s Josh Lindblom was the highest Big Ten player picked today. He was chosen #61 overall by the Dodgers. Also picked from the Big Ten was Penn State’s Drew O’Neil (#120 by the White Sox), Purdue’s Ryne White (#138 by the Dbacks), Michigan’s Jason Christian (#154 by Oakland), Michigan’s Zach Putnam (#171 by the Indians) and J.B. Shuck (#182 by the Astros).
Speed is one of Hudson’s assets.
University of Illinois CF Kyle Hudson will be watching draft day intently tomorrow. No doubt, he’ll be snatched up by the time everything’s done. Where he goes is anyone’s guess but some say he may go as high as the 3rd round.
Hudson ended the 2008 campaign with 40 steals and a.398 batting average. It may be his .498 OBP that looks good to scouts though.
The local college rag, The Daily Illini, had a nice feature article on Hud. One thing I didn’t know about him… he’s a Cubs fan. Awesome!
U. Illinois’ Hudson awaits pro chance at MLB draft– The Daily Illini via Big Ten Network
Now that the Illinois baseball season is over, many of the players will be going on vacation, right? Wrong. Most of the returning players are off to go play in collegiate summer leagues.
Twenty-four Illini are dispersing throughout the country and playing in a number of collegiate summer leagues out there. Some of the Illini league favorites are among them. The Northwoods League up north will be taking on nine of our Illini. The Coastal Plain League in the southeast will have five.
Some summer leagues are close to home, too. This includes the Central Illinois Collegiate League and the Chicago Suburban Baseball League.
The Illini baseball page has a handy web page with a list of leagues and teams and where our players are headed this summer.
Also, check out Summer Ball which is a blog dedicated to college summer leagues.
Good Luck Illini!!
I’m back in Urbana, Illinois and before we close the book on the 2008 Big Ten Tournament, I’d like to provide some last comments and maybe some cool photos that didn’t make it into postings last week.
Michigan’s All-Big Ten Player of the Year Nate Recknagel at the plate
Once again, congratulations to the Michigan Wolverines who won the Big Ten Tournament in style, undefeated. Michigan will go on to the Regionals as a #2 seed and will again act as host. Regionals games start May 30th.
There were two one-run games in the tournament including the 3-2 Purdue-Michigan championship game. The largest blowout was the 15-6 Purdue blasting of Penn State on Thursday.
In my opinion, the most exciting game was Friday’s Indiana-Penn State game where no lead was safe.
Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Penn State.......... 003 000 104 - 8 12 2 Indiana............. 013 030 004 - 11 15 4
Surely, Penn State after rallying from three back in the top of the ninth to take the lead, had thought they had wrested the game from the Hoosiers.
They didn’t count on Tyler Cox hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth to take it all away.
The Manster
Being an Illinois fan, I have to give mad props to 6’7″ starting pitcher Kevin Manson who kept the Illini in the tourney an extra day. Manson pitched a gem of a game on Wednesday… a complete game allowing only 4 hits and no walks. That was good enough to get him on the All-Tournament team.
Josh Phegley at bat against Purdue
Chris Hervey and Josh Phegley, Indiana’s #2 and #3 hitters were a force to be reckoned with. After their initial loss to Penn State, they caught fire. They were a combined 22 for 40 for the weekend. Phegley’s six rbis against Illinois was personally devastating.
Dan Black’s second homerun of the game against Indiana
The single player who had the most offensive tournament would have to be Purdue’s C/3B Dan Black. For the week, Black was 7 for 11 with 5 homeruns and 11 rbis. Amazingly, all his offense came in two games. In the two games against Michigan (including of course, the championship game), he was 0 for 6.
Would that factor in why he was passed over for the Tournament Most Outstanding Player? Well, that and they would rather give it to someone on the Championship team as they have done in previous years?
And finally, my favorite photo from the weekend:
This is a particularly bad-ass photo of Illinois 2B Joe Bonadonna. Joe has been excellent camera fodder all season. This photo is atypical though because for once, Joe is holding still.
Thanks to all the players and their parents (some who I met) for making this tournament possible. Also, I appreciate all the hard work that the University of Michigan put in. They did a great job!
Entry point for all my photos taken at the 2008 Big Ten Tournament
The Big Ten Network began broadcasting the games by the third round. This camera operator didn’t care for me taking her picture even though she was poking her camera into Illinois’ dugout a good part of the game.
This is a mid-game interview of Coach Hartleb of Illinois. This goes for MLB too but my feeling is let the manager do his job. There’s nothing he can say then that can’t wait till after the game. This is just a failed gimmick on TV sports media’s part.
On the left Steve Putnam and on the Brian DeCaussin from Big Ten Hardball. The three of us chatted Thursday.
Zach Putnam is Steve’s son and considering what Zach did to our Illini, I’d say some mean things but he’s a really nice guy and actually a Illinois alum so I won’t.
No team in the tourney gets in the game more than the Purdue Boilermakers. Whether it’s yelling encouragements to the pitcher or batter or riding the opposition, they’re doing it. There’s constant chatter. They’re always up on the railing making themselves the tenth player.
Something I noticed… when the Boilermaker pitcher makes the third out, four or five of them run out to meet him with high fives and ‘atta boy’s. In my opinion, that’s got to make a difference.
Quote of the Week:
“Ok, you’ve told the world you’re going to sacrifice. Now get the job done!”
-Indiana Coach Tracy Smith to an Indiana batter who fouled off a pitch while attempting a bunt.
my photos of the 2008 Big Ten Tournament this week (I’m closing in on 400 taken so far)