@Nugget I’d imagine you are in the minority. Most are going to see Baseball 3rd or 4th sport in priority, with MSOC and maybe WBB being the other.
We’re in a fantastic spot to recruit, good stadium and IPF now. I’m guessing Hibbs is not under contract and operates as an at-will employee. So we lose nothing if Hill moves on from a monetary standpoint.
My only reason for bringing it up is that Hill spoke about baseball being a revenue sport (potentially). He continuously talks about needing more “resources”, perhaps he sees baseball as a way to achieve that and makes a call. We’ll see.
I think you are right @Agent49, my ranking of baseball at #5 probably is lower than most would put it. I rank Hibbs at the top as a good guy. I have been to 1.5 49er baseball games in my life, but Hibbs knows me, and goes out of his way to talk when he sees me. He is a Niner, and contributes to the overall success of our program. When I retire I might take up baseball. It seems like that lends itself to day drinking.
I haven’t really interacted much with Hibbs, but haven’t heard anything negative about him as a person. I hope they’re able to get the young arms to perform sooner rather than later.
Oh, and Baseball is a great day drinking activity.
I know I’m certainly in the minority but baseball ranks pretty high in my pecking order of 49ers sports that I personally enjoy, even though I have season tickets to football and hoops obviously. I’d like to see Hibbs get a fair shot under the new regime that actually cares about baseball after so many years of being a much lower priority. More resources should certainly raise the expectations. The IPF has only been open for 3 months and has already started paying off. The incoming class could be the best on paper we’ve ever had. Even if we hit a bump in the road this year, the overall trajectory of the program is in the right direction.
I’ve said it for years that college baseball could be a money maker here, we just didn’t put any resources towards it. Look at the GS Club. It went from nothing to raising several thousand per year for baseball. All that took was a few people asking questions and a little bit of effort to get that rolling. It might be small in the grand scheme of things, but it is more than we had previously.
I’m sure that when Mike Hill first got here from Florida, he could clearly see how neglected the baseball program was. He immediately signed off on hiring a Baseball Ops position that we’ve needed for years. I’m very interested to see what the facilities master plan comes up with in terms of baseball.
I just realized I went uptown to see us play NCSU. So I have been to 2.5 games. The other full game I went to was Clemson in The Hayes (we won). We had beer and food on the deck behind the seats. Could that become Norm’s Tavern for now?
Brett Netzer got some time with the MLB squad yesterday in Spring Training for the Red Sox. Went 0-2 in 2 ABs but glad to see him getting ABs with the big league club. He’ll probably be in AA Portland this season. He got some time last season with the big league club in Spring training. Hopefully he gets more reps this year.
Zach Jarrett & TJ Nichting are in Orioles camp. TJ got a few ABs with the big league club in last year’s Spring Training. Hopefully both of these guys will get a few games up there this year. Would be nice if they both jumped to AA Bowie.
Colton Laws had minor shoulder surgery in November and will be easing back in with the Blue Jays. Not sure on his time table for recovery but it should be during this season.
Josh Maciejewski is in Yankees camp. Hopefully he gets sent to Low A Charleston in the Sally league after ending last season in short season A ball.
Reece Hampton is in camp with the Tigers. He ended last season i nlow A with the Western Michigan Whitecaps. He’ll either start there again or play high A in Lakeland.
There is a dedication ceremony for the Indoor Facility tomorrow at 11. I’m thinking they may be putting a name on it. Not sure.
Zach Jarrett & TJ Nichting are both up with the Orioles big league club since they have split-squad games today. Zach is on the bench now vs TB, TJ will play tonight vs the Yankees at 6:30 . They will both likely be subs and hopefully they can get some MLB at bats.
There was a meeting where different fundraising plans were discussed, but I think that some big donors stepped up pretty quickly. I never saw anything that asked for donations publicly. Maybe we will find out more tomorrow.
