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College  | Story | 5/2/2010

Anderson Worried About Big Ten Baseball

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- University of Minnesota Coach John Anderson is concerned about the future of college baseball in the Big Ten Conference and throughout the northern states.

Anderson, 54, has become an expert on the topic since he became Minnesota's head coach in the fall of 1981 when he was only 26 years old. He's won more than 1,000 games with the Gophers, been inducted into the ABCA Hall of Fame, seen three geographic rivals drop their baseball programs, and witnessed the Big Ten's struggle to keep pace with powerful baseball leagues in the south, southeast, southwest and far west.

He's campaigned for national legislation that would level the playing field, calling for action before it's too late. He'd like to see more northern schools gain access to the NCAA tournament and College World Series, and he's also calling for uniform national rules that would govern the over-commitment of scholarships.

And if that doesn't happen?

"I think you're going to see more programs dropped and de-emphasized," he said Saturday after the Gophers split a Big Ten doubleheader with the Iowa Hawkeyes. "We have to do things in college baseball to make the game better in all parts of the country, if we want to preserve our game and we want to grow and we want to continue to be popular.

"If we don't, that's shortsighted, and you're going to see more dropped programs, in my opinion," he said. "I think it's really going to be interesting over the next four or five years to see what happens."

Anderson has seen the University of Wisconsin drop its varsity baseball program since he became Minnesota's head coach. Then Iowa State dropped its program, followed by Northern Iowa. The Gophers has been playing all three schools, making it harder now to plan a competitive schedule without traveling all over the country.

There was a time, believe it or not, when the Big Ten was strong in college baseball. Minnesota won NCAA titles in 1956, 1960 and '64. Michigan prevailed in 1953 and '62, and Ohio State was crowned the national champ in 1966. That gave the Big Ten six titles in 14 years, but the conference has not captured another title since the Buckeyes won theirs 44 years ago.

"In the '50s and '60s, the Big Ten was the dominant baseball conference," Anderson noted. "Number one, because we had population in this part of the country. You have good academic institutions -- good land-grant institutions -- and they made commitments to their baseball program. And then the south and the southeast and through the Big 12 and that area started making a commitment to their programs, and they had the weather. That's what really changed things."

Anderson can't change the weather, but he'd like to change the way scholarships are awarded. In particular, he's an advocate for changing the way some leagues and some schools can "over-commit" their number of scholarships, while others (including Big Ten schools) cannot.

All NCAA Division I baseball schools are allowed the equivalent of 11.7 full rides. Most of the major conferences around the country, however, can "over-commit" beyond the 11.7 scholarships and worry about it later, he said. Big Ten schools, however, cannot.

Let's take the example of School XYZ, located somewhere in the south. It has a talented junior class and thinks several of those juniors will be drafted and turn pro, so it recruits and signs extra players to fill the expected void, committing beyond the 11.7 grants before it knows if those juniors actually will leave school or not. If they do leave, School XYZ is covered. But if they don't, School XYZ has committed more than its allotment of 11.7 scholarships for the following year and must make adjustments. In short, somebody who was promised scholarship money won't get it.

Now let's take the example of schools in the Big Ten Conference. They are not allowed, by league rules, to over-commit, so they have to sit tight and see what happens with the draft, injuries, academic problems and defections. And by the time they know where they stand, most of the good players have committed to play somewhere else.

"There's some schools signing 25 to 28 players in the early signing period, because they know they're going to lose 'X' number of players, and they sort it all later," Anderson said. "They worry about it later, and I think that's a huge advantage for those schools."

Anderson is staring at that problem right now with Seth Rosin, one of his top pitchers, and Michael Kvasnicka, one of his best hitters. They are both juniors and could turn pro after this season, but Anderson cannot earmark their financial aid for new players until he knows for sure. Meanwhile, School XYZ in the south has it covered, even though an innocent player may suffer.

"I think we need a national rule where we can all do the same thing," Anderson maintained.

He's suggested a solution: Let all schools over-commit by a certain amount, perhaps two scholarships per school, to make it fair for everyone. The Big Ten has resisted the temptation to over-commit on philosophical grounds, and has a rule to punish schools that do.

Anderson also thinks the Big Ten needs greater access to the NCAA tournament. He fears the league will get only one bid to the 64-team tournament this year, based on low RPI numbers and the lack of quality wins in non-conference games. On top of that, the Big Ten representative probably will get shipped to a regional that's held in another part of the country, where it would have to face a top seed on its home field. That greatly reduces the Big Ten's chances of making the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

"We have to do something to level the playing field," he said. "We have to get more northern teams access to the NCAA championship. We've got to get somebody to Omaha.

"You're a sitting duck right here, because athletic directors today -- with the economies and the state budgets and the economic challenges that we have today -- when you look at it and we're spending the kind of money we're spending to have indoor facilities, outdoor facilities, the travel to play a competitive schedule, but yet you get one team in the NCAA tournament, or two teams out of 10, and the other conferences are getting 7, 8, 9 teams.

"You've got athletic directors sitting there thinking, 'Is is really worth the investment, because we're not getting the return,'" he said. "That's why those programs got cut, because of gender equity and trying to fund all your sports. They looked at it and said, 'Yeah, we can spend all the money in the world, but we have no access.'"

A level playing field. That's all he wants.

"I looked the other day," he said. "Texas has played 30 home games and nine on the road. Yet we're comparing apples to apples at the end of the year (when teams are picked for the NCAA tournament)? I don't think so."

He looks at the huge success of the College World Series and sees millions of dollars in revenues, yet sees the NCAA restricting a 35-man roster to just 11.7 scholarships.

"It's the lowest ratio of any NCAA sport in aid to participants, and it just doesn't make any sense to me," he said. "The kids -- the student-athletes -- aren't getting, in my opinion, enough of the pot. They're playing the game and they're making all the money for them."

College | Recruiting | 12/15/2025

Recruiting Notebook: December 15

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Tournaments | Story | 12/19/2025

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What a year it was in 2025 on the national landscape at the 13u level as Perfect Game continues to expand its reach around the country, providing an even bigger schedule of events coast-to-coast which has allowed players all over show out and gain their deserved recognition. Whether in Texas for the Houston 1000 or the 13u WWBA in West Palm Beach, we saw huge, eye opening performances from the players placed below, knowing that we could EASILY build a third team and likely a fourth without much effort.  As we do every year with this exercise, it's worth pointing out the trickiness of this age group and putting the teams together with the 13u group. While the players are all members of the Class of 2030, some are younger for the grade, which allowed them to play at the 12u level where's it's a smaller field, shorter mound distance and different bats, so we'll separate them out and...
Tournaments | Story | 12/18/2025

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Player of the Year: Asher Williams It was an incredible year for Williams that was rewarded with a trip to the 14U Select Fest, before some more impressive play in the fall. He came to the plate almost 250 times in PG tournaments throughout 2025 and reached base in well over half of them, hitting to a .500 AVG while slugging a 14U circuit best 12 bombs and driving in 113 runs. The numbers on the surface are ridiculous, but when you look at the high-level events he put them up in, it makes it even more impressive. Pitcher of the Year: Tristan Blalock Blalock earns this honor after a dominant 2025 where he struck out 85 batters in just 48.2 innings of work with a minuscule 1.58 ERA. This included several strong performances at many national level tournaments and showcases where he was able to bully some of the best hitters in the country. It’s hard not to fall in love with...
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While we are nearing the turn of the calendar to the 2026 year, that means we are just inching closer to the beginning of the season for many high school players and college baseball is on the horizon. We are prepping for a reshuffle of the 2026 MLB Draft Board as well here amongst the PG Draft staff. But before we get to that, we sat down and have each picked a couple of players who are in the mix to get selected in a couple of different buckets.  We have prospects who could go into the Top 30 picks or so, prospects who could be selected in the Top 5 rounds, and prospects who could go inside of the Top 10 rounds. With the draft quite far down the road and a lot of re-shuffling to be done as these players play themselves into certain spots on the draft board, our scouts picked some players who fit into these “buckets” who are gut-feel guys. These are the guys that our PG...
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Jason Phillips
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Hitter of the Year: Landon Bonner The 2028 class saw many players from across the country take the next step in their development as they entered the High School ranks. There were huge performances from highly ranked players on the PG circuit as well as some under-the-radar guys who burst onto the scene. Landon Bonner came into Sophomore National as a Top 500 ranked player and after an impressive showing, left with all eyes on him as a rankings riser in the class. The left-handed hitting shortstop from The Colony, Texas, had a summer to remember with All-Tournament Team selections in three of his next four events culminating with a historic performance at the 2025 PG 15U WWBA National Championship. The Hebron High School prep went 20-for-24 in nine games for 5 Star Mafia 15U Black with four homeruns and 12 runs batted in. He also scored 17 runs and finished with a mind-boggling 2.500...
Tournaments | Story | 12/16/2025

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AJ Denny
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Hitter of the Year: Koa Romero is the Hitter of the Year for the 16u group, as he would come to every premier event of the summer and earn All-Tournament honors (Beast of the East, 16/17u WWBA, Jupiter) in every single one. Over 82 plate appearances, Romero would pump ten homeruns with forty two RBI and sixteen walks, good for a .378 average and 1.339 OPS. The performance on volume at the best events of the year pushed Romero over the edge here, as he’d hit a pair of homeruns in Jupiter (one of them at 112 EV) as an underclassmen and collect double digit hits in BOTH WWBA events with a combined six jacks over the two tournaments. It was a summer that combined performance and winning on the biggest stages for Romero. It’s a quiet left-handed swing that packs a punch. He would reap the benefits of his performances, earning a commitment to LSU and jumping to the #74 prospect in...
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17u Tourney All-American Team

Vincent Cervino
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There’s a lot of talent throughout this 2026 class, filled with the big-name stars, to talent that spreads across the nation. It’s been a lot of fun seeing these prospects grow and develop over the years, from the days of watching some of these guys at the 13/14u days at events on the circuit, to now where they are all graduating seniors in 2026. There’s been new faces who have popped along the way over the years, even in 2026, where some players who were relatively undiscovered, have come out and made a name for themselves with a statement performance. Between the familiar and the new, there’s a lot of names on this list that are going to be quite regularly talked about on the circuit, and for good reason.  Whether it’s PG All-Americans or not, there’s a lot of names with superstar potential at the next level. We’ve got 14 PG All-Americans...
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Finest in the Field: Class of 2026 | Class of 2027 | Class of 2028 These guys might just be entering high school, but they've certainly already made a name for themselves on the national circuit, especially with their abilities on the defensive side of things.  C: Xavier Rodriguez (Logansville, GA) Rodriguez is a polished defender with real arm strength behind the dish, while showcasing the ability to impact the baseball with authority to all fields evident by thirty of his sixty-five hits going for extra-bases including seven bombs. He handles high-level pitching extremely well, commands his staff and his offensive prowess makes him a true two-way asset. 1B: Cooper Knight (Buda, TX) Knight is a smooth operator at first base with plenty of range, fluidity and agility in his footwork around the bag. Add-in a rocket for an arm, the ability to change slots and to...
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Best Game I Saw: The Dream NTL 18U vs. MBA Scout Team Murphy Jupiter always brings out the best, and we got fireworks from the jump. Turner Marshall gave The Dream an outstanding 4+ innings of work on the mound, holding a lethal MBA team at bay with Chance Dixon, Derrick Carter, and Ellis Appling providing an offensive spark out of the gate for the Georgia based boys. However, it was only a matter of time before the talent on the other side got going, as MBA erased a 3-run deficit in the 5th to take a 4-3 lead led by a Parker Loew HR. The Dream then took command again in the Top of the 6th, before MBA punched right back with a huge 5-run inning in the bottom half capped off by a clutch RBI single from Matthew Kerrigan, ending a wild sequence with tons of notable performances from two very competitive rosters. Best Tournament Performance I Saw: Surely someone has already brought this...
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