NOT The ACC Rookie of the Year!!

After climbing their soapbox to profess their preference for the new football coach, Tech fans should join together to clamor and make their opinion heard, this time for an injustice done to one of the school's outstanding baseball players. Earlier today the All-ACC team's were released, a group of players who performed outstandingly during the baseball season. There were the obvious names from the power schools like FSU, UNC and Miami. Even four Jackets made the 2nd team, a surprise for this unheralded team.

Reading down the press release I wanted to verify something I had assumed, that Derek Dietrich would be named Freshman of the Year. I mean he's leading all freshman in RBI's, OPS & Slug. so of course there's no way this guy will be not given this award. But like when you pass a bear on a journey through the woods, my brain hit the brakes and stopped. Alas, Dietrich wasn't the ACC Freshman of the Year, but instead it was Miami's SP Chris Hernandez. Now don't get me wrong Hernandez was a worthy candidate. He lead his team with 10 victories, the lowest ERA of any starter and had the highest strikeout total on the team. It looked like the toss-up between Kobe and CP3 in the NBA, but here's why Dietrich is Kobe to Chris' Paul.

It's not just the stats that Dietrich received, but also how he earned them. Early in the year he didn't have a Feltes and Plagman behind him who were crushing the ball, instead he was a one-man show out there carrying the team offensively. In one early series he even won games all alone with his bat. Secondly Miami's pitching staff has been aided by their team's great offensive outbursts to put pressure on the other team. When your down by six in the first two innings, it makes it easier to have a low ERA and great winning percentage. On the other hand, Dietrich has had to fight through times when his pitching staff was blowing leads and putting the bats in precarious situations.

Fortunately however, Dietrich can still do something about when the Jackets take on the Hurricanes in the ACC Tournament in Jacksonville on Thursday at 5 p.m. (That Game can be heard on WREK-Atlanta 91.1 FM, along with all other postseason games. Play-by-Play courtesy of Jason Boral and Kyle Tait at the ACC Tourn.)

Hopefully for all our sake this argument won't end like the BCS, untied with a bunch of loose ends, or the Democratic primary, instead Dietrich is talking his own smack, silently celebrating with an ACC Championship.

Elimination of Aluminum Bats

While I was browsing through the New York Daily News website (mostly to find more about the Yankees in yellow thongs), I noticed a family in New Jersey is filing a lawsuit against Little League Baseball because of the medical damage a line drive off an aluminum bat did to their son. It is a debate that has raged for decades on the safety and plausibility of wooden versus aluminum bats at levels below the professional ranks, and with the College World Series there is no better time to reignite that fire. Most people still debate the truth to the fact that a baseball leaves the bat faster off a metal bat versus the wooden, but just look at the physics behind a swing. If you go back to your first Physics class, you remember that energy can't be created or destroyed, but instead is transferred. So when a bat shatters in a thousand pieces (hopefully nowhere near Roger Clemens) imagine the energy it took to break that bat, and where did that energy come from? The baseball.

Not only would this solve some of the injury concerns parents have it would also improve the college game by an exponential amount. One reason, beside the money, a lot of players elect to skip the college experience and begin in the minors, is because of the ability to begin swinging the wooden bats as early as possible and develop a feel for them so that when they hit their mid 20's they are already stars on their way up the list of Baseball America's Top Prospects.

The simple cost of paying for a few extra bats would be well worth the develop of more refined college ball players and reduce the possibility of injury at younger levels. Plus that cost isn't even really THAT big of a hurdle to jump over. With all the wood around us, used for infrastructure and such, I'm sure that is a tree out there that can handle the constant barrage of force a wooden bat goes through.

An all wooden bat concept throughout baseball would usher in a brand new error, while ending the era of "Fear the PING".

Looking away from Division I for the real Championship

With all the attention given recently to the BCS and possibility of moving to a +1 or playoffs system, it would be easy to miss another NCAA championship outside of Division I. In the next couple of weeks Houston will play host to multiple Division II championships for competitors at the Division II level. These sports, golf, softball, baseball and tennis, rarely get fanfare even at the Division I level, but this time in Houston the competitors will be treated like the champions they are. The week of festivities will include opening and closing ceremonies just like the Olympics before finishing out with the championship competitions. Giving an Olympic type feel to some of the lesser viewed sports is a great way to give them some of the same emotion that both football, basketball and baseball receive. These teams and players compete just as hard as football and basketball players and should be awarded with some of the fanfare. Obviously with tradition and precedent it is a little more difficult to put together such a series of events. Seeing that Omaha has signed a contract to have the College World Series for the next MILLION years things would have to be modified for the Division I level. But let's start somewhere, and maybe the place to start is right here in Atlanta. The city already hosted the Olympics, how much more difficult could it be to put together facilities for Tennis, softball and golf (I mean who doesn't want to play some of the links in the Metro area). Something to think about.

~Jason Boral

Big TECHs vs. Frenchie, who would you take??

As an avid Mets fan, I often contemplate during games which player on the opposing team I would least like to see with the bases loaded and the game on the line. Recently this situation came up, not exactly but close, during the Mets-Braves series over the weekend. At first thought names like Larry Jones (b/c that's his real name) and Jeff Francoeur come to mind but after watching Georgia Tech's own Mark Teixeira he is clearly enemy #1. The numbers back it up too, last season Teixeira had a .600 slugging percentage along with a .400 OBP. Larry is nipping right on Mark's heels, while in those stats Francoeur's numbers fall to the wayside. Most Braves fans wouldn't probably think these thoughts are crazy because Jeff is such a godly figure in the area, but it really makes sense when you analyze it at a further level. Frenchie came out of Parkview High as one of the most highly recruited athletes, not only in baseball, but also in football. Fans and Braves personnel couldn't wait to get him to the major league level and were just looking for a reason to. Because of this Jeff was more than willing to swing for a homer with every at bat, instead of playing an intelligent form of baseball that helps out the team in the long run. On the other side, Mark Teixeira, who played here at Tech, learned to play the game of baseball and played to win in his years on The Flats. Throughout the game, more examples of this selfish mentality of high school vs. college players. While most still agree that going right out of high school and facing professional baseball talent, along with learning to swing a wood bat early is a must to make it into the majors, think about who you think is a better asset to the team. Forever will there be a stigma on players who opt for the college experience instead of jumping straight into the minors, but should their really be when a case can be made that three years of school against possibly lower talent is more beneficial to someone as a team player? Next time you're at a game of your favorite team think about who you'd like to have up there with the game on the line, and why? Then check out their bio, and see if they spent that extra year for calculus class or opted straight for the business of baseball, you might be surprised.

~Jason Boral

RWR Show Highlights (Apr. 23)

Did you miss this week's Ramblin WREK Report, well you're in luck because here are some highlights from Wednesday's show. Listen as we discuss the possibility of a shake up in the starting rotation for the Georgia Tech Baseball team. If you want to hear the entire show check out the 7-Day archive at wrek.org.

RWR Highlights Apr. 23.mp3

What to do now...

As of today four days have past since the T-Day Spring Game, and I want to stay excited for the upcoming season, but seemingly the glow is slowly wearing off this season. With two and half months until we see this team again, I still don't feel like I got enough football to hold me over. I had hoped that the Spring Game would spark the interest of the fans, which it seemingly did, as the game brought in one of the highest attendance numbers ever, but how many people are in my boat and will slowly lose interest until things get started again in July, where the school will have to start over to peak people's interest. Unfortunately the people promoting the team are forced to fight with so many other entertainment options here in the city of Atlanta. Unfortunately the uniform unveiling was postponed, rightfully so, due to the pitcher of GT pitcher Michael Hutts, but it has created an opportunity to keep everybody's interest peaked. A proper placement of the uniform unveiling can get everybody reinvigorated and the fringe fan back interested in GT Football. Let me know how you plan to keep things interested over the long summer?? Until then enjoy your Jackets playing well in the NBA, and just think they could've been playing for us...

~Jason Boral

Fumbles, a problem... Not so much

After watching Coach Johnson's new offense stumble & and more importantly fumble their way through the T-Day Spring Game, a lot of questions have arisen about the fumbling problems the team has suffered throughout spring practice. In my brief football playing career I am familiar with the option offense. It is a great test on the mental aptitude of your quarterback, not only to find the defender he has to read but then to read him and make the right play. All of these decisions have to be made in a split second leaving lots of pressure on the quarterback and plenty of wrong decisions early in the process. Now in terms of the fumble problems, the buck doesn't stop with the quarterbacks, the backs also have their own share of the blame. In my opinion though this is much less of a concern than made out to be, especially in a game that the players get to show the fans what they can do. These kids are still twenty somethings, and some part of their brain is conditioned to follow in the footsteps of their hardcourt And-1 peers, so the urge to show a little more than the offense asks for is expected. Jonathan Dwyer dropped perfect pitches due to the fact he was looking for the nearest defesnder, instead of looking the ball into his mitts and getting six or seven yards. However, not everything is so easily defending when talking about the team's performance. Where were the offensive line?!?! They protected the quarterback slightly better than a sieve holds water. I understand there's a change in blocking scheme, but it's still finding the person and hitting him. Especially in an offense where the O-line should never be noticed, the linemen made plenty of mistakes that stood out to me. Tech's frontline was made for this offense, slightly undersized and quick, the protypical building blocks of an option offense. The first team O-line made the second team defenders look like Reggie White and Albert Haynsworth. If you don't think this is Tech's biggest concern, just follow Coach Johnson. Even through all the fumble problems and turnovers, CPJ saved his intense dialogue for only one set of position players, the big hogs up front.

~Jason Boral