From The Booth #5: Big Red Baseball Predictions

Junior Chris Cruz

This is the fourth post in a series featuring the Cornell At Bat broadcasting team. These posts will appear throughout the Fall and Spring semesters. For part one of the series, click here. For part two, click here. For part three, click here. For part four, click here. 

The beauty of college baseball is that from one year to the next, any player has the chance to step into a vacated role left behind by a graduating senior to make a name for himself and become an integral contributor to his team’s success. It also gives players who only had a few games to show off their skills a chance to step up to the plate and prove that they are indeed worthy of playing an important role on his team.

With the departure of the Class of 2012 and vacancies at many key positions (Brandon Lee leaving catcher, Frank Hager leaving first base, Marshall Yanzick leaving shortstop, and Brian Billigen leaving center field), the Big Red baseball players have the opportunity to compete for starting spots at arguably the most important positions on the diamond. However, it is not just positions that need to be filled, but leadership roles as well. After the jump, read my predictions regarding who will take advantage of their new opportunities and who will thrive on a team with many new mainstays.

Most Valuable Player: Chris Cruz

Cruz’s role at this point in time is pretty well defined: depending on how pre-season competition for positions and starting spots plays out, we can be sure that Cruz will be batting in the third spot or in the cleanup role. Becoming Cornell’s single-season leader in home runs (12) in just his sophomore year, Cruz has set the bar incredibly high for himself. But based on his confidence coming out of wood-bat play in the “Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League,” (league leader with 8 home runs,second in the league with a .569 slugging percentage, third in the league with 40 RBIs), there is no doubt that Cruz expects to continue showcasing his sheer power while cutting down on his strikeouts.

He also has a cannon for an arm out in right field, which will make opposing third base coaches cautious about sending runners around third to try and score. Cruz will undoubtedly have to make an adjustment at the plate, as his status as “the man” in the Big Red lineup might force pitchers to pitch around Cruz and have him chase pitches out of the zone. Just don’t make a mistake, or else Chris will be shifting into “Cruz control” as he rounds the bases.

To read the rest of Jesse Sherman's article, check at the Cornell At Bat blog!.

For more information on Cornell At Bat or if you want to get involved, contact Alex Gimenez email at ajg322@cornell.edu. For previous Cornell At Bat adventures, look here, here, here, here, and here.  

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From the Booth #4: The Champs Get Their Rings

Photo courtesy of Kellen Urbon

This is the fourth post in a series featuring the Cornell At Bat broadcasting team. These posts will appear throughout the Fall and Spring semesters. For part one of the series, click here. For part two, click here. For part three, click here.

A day to celebrate an amazing achievement.

After last season’s amazing journey and first semester’s classes finally coming to a close, it was time for the Ivy League Champions to get their rings.  For many, it was a chilly Saturday morning like any other, a day to relax after a long week of classes. But for every member of Cornell’s baseball team, it was a special day to remember the great feat they accomplished last season and we were lucky enough to be able to be a part of the celebration.

As the players arrived, including this year’s freshmen and three of last year’s seniors, Schoellkopf’s Hall of Fame Room began to buzz.  Even as an observer, you could feel the camaraderie and the genuine bond that exists between them.  The conversations flowed effortlessly, some even making their way across the room as they tried to chat with those at other tables without getting up.

As we ate brunch, the W.C. Matthews Trophy made its way around the room stopping at each table for a visit.  The trophy was named for William Clarence Matthews in 2006 and honors each year’s Ivy League baseball champion; Matthews was an outstanding African-American athlete in the early 20th century, and a pioneer in both baseball and law.

The ceremony started with a few words from Head Coach Bill Walkenbach, after which began the distribution of rings.  The rings were made by Balfour and personalized with the individual players’ name, number and position.  Distribution began with the members of the Class of 2012 who were able to return to campus to take part in the ceremony.  After receiving their rings, Frank Hager shared some very moving words of wisdom and gratitude with the team; it was a speech that could not be followed.  After the Class of 2012, the rings continued to be distributed by class in chronological order.

After the players received their rings, Coach Walkenbach thanked each one of the coaches and trainers individually as they were given rings of their own.  Once all the rings had been passed out, it was time for the recap video; the video was put together by Alex using pictures from last season provided by the players’ families.  And with that the ceremony ended. Though some were unable to make it, the sense of gratitude for what they do and have done was still very present.  The team has clearly been working hard and is ready to jump into next season and hopefully win the Ivy League Championship Series again.

For more information on Cornell At Bat or if you want to get involved, contact Alex Gimenez email at ajg322@cornell.edu. For previous Cornell At Bat adventures, look here, here, here, here, and here.  

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From the Booth #3: Big Red Advanced Stats

This is the third post in a six post series featuring the Cornell At Bat broadcasting team. These posts will appear throughout the Fall semester. For part one of the series, click here. For part two, click here. 

Here at Cornell At Bat, we are devoted to delivering the Big Red fans with the  latest and most in-depth analysis of the baseball team. This year, analyzing statistics will be at the forefront of my duties with Cornell At Bat. Sabremetrics, or advanced stats, have taken the baseball world by storm over the past few years, especially after Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball and the film that followed it. However, advanced analysis  of NCAA baseball has little to no existence. I thought it would be interesting to preliminarily derive one of the most basic and popular sabre stats for the Big Red: WAR, or Wins Above Replacement.

WAR attempts to assess the overall value of a team’s players compared to the average player (the replacement). Batting WAR attempts to minimize the habit of simply looking at traditional and less valuable stats, such as AVG and RBIs, in an effort to get the most accurate assessment of a player’s talent and value. WAR is at the forefront of analyzing MLB players and their success. This has especially been seen with the debate of the American League MVP, where proponents of Mike Trout receiving the award claim that he has the highest WAR of any player in recent years. Determining WAR for an NCAA team is a lot harder however, for certain statistics that equate to a very precise WAR do not exist. My WAR for the Big Red is a very rough and basic form, as the stat really isn’t developed for anything besides MLB at the moment. Stats like park adjusted stats for average OBP and SLG don’t exist for the NCAA, and neither do other advanced stats that would make the calculations more precise.

My calculations for the Big Red WAR values were accomplished using an online calculator. For the calculator, I needed to input the critical stats for WAR of the average, replacement player (OBP and SLG). I used the averages from the whole Ivy League for the 2012 season for this facet. I then inputted individual stats from the Big Red team last year for all of the other categories, as well as the players’ positions (certain positions have higher values). For fielding and base running, they ask for a scale from best to worst, and I came to conclusions using fielding percentage and steals/ caught stealing percentages. I compared each player’s stats against each other to come up with the scale.

Although not completely precise, these WAR values will still accurately assess the players’ values. Also included is RAR (Runs Above Replacement), which is the sum of all the run components (Batting, Fielding, and Base Running). WAR is derived from RAR by dividing it by a runs per win constant, which is standardly set at 10/game for MLB (I couldn’t change this, but if I eventually calculate the Ivy League’s runs per win, I can redo the computations). Here are the WAR and RAR values for the 2011-2012 Big Red:

Returning members with over 20 games played, in order of most valuable to least:

 Brenton Peters: 1.6 WAR, RAR 15.8

 Chris Cruz: 1.5 WAR, RAR 15.2

 Ben Swinford: 0.6 WAR, RAR 6.1

 Tom D’Alessandro: 0. 6 WAR, RAR 6.0

 JD Whetsel: 0.1 WAR, RAR 1.0

 Kevin Tatum: -0.1 WAR, RAR -0.8

 Matt Hall: -0.2 WAR, RAR -2.0

Departing Starters, in order of most valuable to least:

Brian Billigen: 2.6 WAR, RAR 26.6

Brandon Lee: 1.2 WAR, RAR 12.2

Frank Hager: 1.0 WAR, RAR 10

Marshall Yanzick: 0 WAR, RAR 0.2

For more information about this post, please contact Alex Garcia at asg232@cornell.edu. 

For more information on Cornell At Bat or if you want to get involved, contact Alex Gimenez email at ajg322@cornell.edu. For previous Cornell At Bat adventures, look here, here, here, here, and here.  

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From the Booth: A Cornell At Bat Blog Series

This is the first post in a six post series featuring the Cornell At Bat broadcasting team. These posts will appear throughout the Fall semester. For previous Cornell At Bat adventures, look here, here, here, here, and here.  

The 2012 season brought about many changes for the Big Red baseball team. Among those changes were their on field success taking them to their first NCAA Regional since 1977 and the foundation of a broadcasting program, Cornell At Bat, that brought them much deserved coverage.

In its inaugural season, Cornell At Bat and a very dedicated broadcast team brought nine regular season home games and five playoff games to the airwaves through Slope Media’s radio department at Cornell.  We were able to learn the ins and outs of covering a college baseball team and were on air for some of the team’s biggest moments in the history of the program. 

From Connor Kaufmann’s no hitter against Dartmouth to the Big Red’s Ivy League Championship Series over Dartmouth on Chris Cruz’s 11^thinning walk off home run, we were able to show fans just how good this team was.  After getting a taste of the experience last season, we have dedicated ourselves to bringing about much more coverage for the team immediately and for years to come.

This season, we have added new members to our broadcast team and at this time, have a very solid nine person team that includes Jesse Sherman, Adam Kirsch, Gabe Cassillo, Eddie McNelis, Kenny Kirschenbaum and myself from the class of 2015, and Cassandra Vilmenay, Alex Garcia, and Chad Edelblum from the class of 2016.  We have laid out a 24 game broadcast schedule including away games for the first time.  We have been given unprecedented access to the clubhouse by the coaching staff and armed with new top of the industry equipment, and we hope to bring about coverage that no Ivy League sports team has ever seen.

Our coverage includes expanding our following through social media, writing newspaper stories on the team for local Cornell publications, providing a weekly radio show dedicated to the team (with players and coaches joining us on the show), broadcasting games with video or on AM/FM radio stations in Ithaca, and using our own blog to give in depth analysis of the team and the players. 

With this blog post I am introducing a series that will be featured right here on the ILR Sports Business Society’s blog.  These posts will be written by some of our staff members, and we hope that they will help you understand what we do while getting more information on the team out there to you.  We tried to lay out topics that fit in well with the ILRSBS goals. I hope you enjoy them.  Stay tuned for our next post on how the Big Red will look to fill the roles left by last year’s seniors. 

For more information on Cornell At Bat or if you want to get involved, shoot Alex an email at ajg322@cornell.edu. 

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