Big Ten Baseball Post-Season Awards

It's a new blog, so I'm giving out some awards. This post will have the Big Ten Awards. The next post will have the Michigan awards. Again, these would normally be found on Maize and Blog, but I'm trying to give more attention to this site:

Player of the Year: Derek McCallum; 2B, Minnesota Golden Gophers- This was a no-brainer. If he doesn't get the award, I will grow a mullet/mustache combo to rival Tim Kalczynski. Minnesota is tied for first in the Big Ten with their 2B batting .400 with 15 HRs and 65 RBIs. He could win the Triple Crown of the B10. Say what you will about the conference, that's just nasty. Seeing him this past weekend, he reminds me a little of Dustin Pedroia in his approach (scrappy guy with a slight build and sneaky power). Might be a lofty comparison, but each with have an MVP award by the end of May.

Coach of the Year: Jon Anderson, Minnesota Golden Gophers - After Michigan has sat atop the Big Ten for the past three years, Anderson was heralded by Coach Maloney this past week as having one of the best programs in the B10. I agree. When you have the B10's best player (McCallum) and the B10's best starting staff (Handran, Rosin, and Buske), how can you not give the guy this award? Did I mention there were only two guys in his line-up not batting over .300? OSU and Illinois have had seasons worthy of such an award, but I think Anderson should get it. Too many variables in his favor.

Pitcher of the Year: Alex Wimmers; P, Ohio State Buckeyes- The lowest ERA (2.75). The highest strikeout total (110). This would have just put him in the finalist category...but when you throw a No-Hitter against your most hated rival, start engraving the trophy. A no-hitter can sometimes be the extra push that puts great pitchers over the top in voting awards such as this (Just ask Randy Johnson). Wimmers no-hit the Wolverines for the first time in 27 seasons, adding insult to injury to the Wolverine season. With apologies to Eric Arnett and Tom Buske, Wimmers was just a step above.

I'll get to the Michigan Baseball awards (if you can even give out awards for missing the B10 tournament)...stay tuned for that...

Welcome!

What's up, everyone?

As a recent grad at the University of Michigan, I've moved on from WCBN and will be blogging here from now on. WCBN is great, but as a non-student, it'd be unfair to take blogging opportunities away from those kids who want them at the station.

This blog will be a grab bag of things: It'll be Michigan sports heavy, with some local high school stories making their way onto the page. I'm currently working with High School Hammertime on FSN, so there will definitely be some overlap there. You'll also get my thoughts an comments on the Pro sports scene in certain instances.

And, yes, I am bringing The Mixer with me to this site. Back by popular demand!...And by that I mean two people requested it. Got to keep half of my reading audience happy.

If you like the blog, shoot me and email at matboyer09@gmail.com. Comments and criticisms welcome.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the blog!

-Matt