106 replies to this topic

[baseballer]

Who are the top players and teams for the upcoming season?

[Candy]

I think Kalida might have the upper hand in the league race this spring. They are very good in the sophomore class and Basinger should be stronger than ever. Kalida beats Miller City last year in the sectional if JB is able to play.

I agree that Miller City has some key returners but with Niese struggling a little last summer that might be a bad sign for their pitching. Who all did Miller City lose to graduation??

Columbus Grove did play well last summer to advance to the districts.

Don't forget that Leipsic played in the regionals last year and lost to the state champs.

Fort Jennings beat Miller City in the league last year with everyone back.

I think it will be between 2 or 3 teams but I do not see Miller City as the far and away team to beat like brentwood suggested.

[sportsnut]

Miller City lost Tony Schroeder, Mitch Wenzinger, John Leis, and Seth Lammers.
Sectionals last year. They would not have beat miller city with basinger. basinger cant score 6 runs by himself, and kalida got 2 runs on a bonehead error by the center fielder. and dont ask how jennings got away with that win lol. but you are right, i dont know if Miller city is THE team to beat.. but they will be tough of course. it will be interesting this spring!

[mrclutch]

"Columbus Grove did play well last summer to advance to districts" ... yes, they played with some consistency, but they have a few players to replace. They can't rest on perceived ACME success. The Putnam County sectional was a lot weaker than in past summers. O-G was down, and Paulding has fallen off the baseball map - creating an easier path to districts.

[Candy]

They would not have beat miller city with basinger. basinger cant score 6 runs by himself,

Actually a player could score six runs in a single game... I was eluding to him pitching and Miller City not scoring 12 runs.

[sportsnut]

miller city is one of the best fastball hitting teams in the area. look what they did to preston in the two at bats they faced him. batting against basinger, i never really saw a breaking ball. plus i thought he wasnt allowed to pitch?

[only bball]

miller city is one of the best fastball hitting teams in the area. look what they did to preston in the two at bats they faced him. batting against basinger, i never really saw a breaking ball. plus i thought he wasnt allowed to pitch?

Preston was having control problems that game but thats besides the point. Miller City does hit well against a fast baller, but with a few off-speed pitches, they begin guessing. FYI for all you none Miller City pitchers.

[sportsnut]

didnt quite understand what you meant. but miller city had a few dang good pitchers last year. and most of them are back. and if your talking about drummelsmith only throwing fastballs, dont worry, he has been working on offspeed pitches in the off-season

[sportsnut]

Preston was having control problems that game but thats besides the point. Miller City does hit well against a fast baller, but with a few off-speed pitches, they begin guessing. FYI for all you none Miller City pitchers.

o haha i just got it. and you are right

[dw629]

The league is Miller-City's to lose. If Leipsic can find an ace they should be solid and Kalida also should be right there. Ottoville, CG, and FJ should be in the middle group. PG and Continental will be the bottom.

[FrOnT RoW JOE]

Continental is always at the bottom, hoping coach can come in and give the program some life. Looking forward to getting to some games this year, and good luck coach, it could be a l o n g battle!

[countywidehasbeen]

Miller City- clearly the team to beat. Pitching, pitching, pitching! Lammers, is back. He is the reigning POY and it is his to lose this year. A very good ballplayer in all phases for the PCL. Will probably hit well over 500 again this year. Niese, is back too. Doesnt throw real hard but has control and secondary pitches to go along. Drummelsmith, back too. This kid could be the biggest "sleeper" in the PCL this year. I've seen him throw before (low 80's), but I hear he has been clocked at 88-89. From what I hear, it is control issues with him. But didnt he throw several no-hitters in ACME last summer? Keep him on your radar.

Kalida- They will go as Basinger goes. If he comes back healthy from his arm surgery, and is motivated to play baseball.....he could challenge Lammers for POY. Kalida also has a nice crop of sophomores that will contribute on the mound. Another Guisinger coming up, as well as a lefty (Utendorf).

FJ- Horstman, Mesker, & Von Sossan. Three good ballplayers to lead the way. I think what keeps me from having FJ at #1 or #2 is a traditional lack of "killer" mentality. I think Horstman could also push Lammers and Basinger for POY, if he wants... Mesker (saw him play for Ottawa Legion last summer a few times) is a hard-nose player that may impress?? But I also think FJ lacks players 4-9. Lack of quality numbers may hurt them.

Leipsic- Mangas back, could be a stadout baseball player, however I think he focuses on football? I'm not sure where to rank Leipsic, because they always make nice tourney runs. Every year they start out slow, have an unimpressive record and then go deep in tourney. Maybe they are better than I give them credit for?

Grove- Hovest back, good quality arm. Always an athletic team. Always an emotional team with King at the helm. Playing in 2 leagues has got to stink for them. Maybe a surprise on the way, too?

Ottoville- hmmmmm.. This team may surprise some people this year. I think they have some decent pitching coming back in Delong and Maag. Turnwald back too, isnt he? If Castro can keep this group disciplined, they may surge up towards #3.. Maybe?

P-G- Hall and Lee back, but not enough numbers in the program to support them. Heard they had decent numbers for ACME, though???

Continental- Can only go up from here. Young kids playing all over the field. Hopefully new coach can develop some interest and support.

[dw629]

Miller City- clearly the team to beat. Pitching, pitching, pitching! Lammers, is back. He is the reigning POY and it is his to lose this year. A very good ballplayer in all phases for the PCL. Will probably hit well over 500 again this year. Niese, is back too. Doesnt throw real hard but has control and secondary pitches to go along. Drummelsmith, back too. This kid could be the biggest "sleeper" in the PCL this year. I've seen him throw before (low 80's), but I hear he has been clocked at 88-89. From what I hear, it is control issues with him. But didnt he throw several no-hitters in ACME last summer? Keep him on your radar.

Kalida- They will go as Basinger goes. If he comes back healthy from his arm surgery, and is motivated to play baseball.....he could challenge Lammers for POY. Kalida also has a nice crop of sophomores that will contribute on the mound. Another Guisinger coming up, as well as a lefty (Utendorf).

FJ- Horstman, Mesker, & Von Sossan. Three good ballplayers to lead the way. I think what keeps me from having FJ at #1 or #2 is a traditional lack of "killer" mentality. I think Horstman could also push Lammers and Basinger for POY, if he wants... Mesker (saw him play for Ottawa Legion last summer a few times) is a hard-nose player that may impress?? But I also think FJ lacks players 4-9. Lack of quality numbers may hurt them.

Leipsic- Mangas back, could be a stadout baseball player, however I think he focuses on football? I'm not sure where to rank Leipsic, because they always make nice tourney runs. Every year they start out slow, have an unimpressive record and then go deep in tourney. Maybe they are better than I give them credit for?

Grove- Hovest back, good quality arm. Always an athletic team. Always an emotional team with King at the helm. Playing in 2 leagues has got to stink for them. Maybe a surprise on the way, too?

Ottoville- hmmmmm.. This team may surprise some people this year. I think they have some decent pitching coming back in Delong and Maag. Turnwald back too, isnt he? If Castro can keep this group disciplined, they may surge up towards #3.. Maybe?

P-G- Hall and Lee back, but not enough numbers in the program to support them. Heard they had decent numbers for ACME, though???

Continental- Can only go up from here. Young kids playing all over the field. Hopefully new coach can develop some interest and support.

Leipsic has had 3 losing records and the last 35 years. One of the losing records was in 2005 a year in which they won the pcl with a record of 9-13. Also Leipsic has 10 pcl and 15 bvc championships in that time.

[Rooney]

While reading your post with great interest - I took it upon myself to add to the records for PCL championships. These are taken out of Dan Kern's outstanding book on Putnam County Baseball. It does stop after the 2007 season- It looks to me like several schools can boast of great PCL success & tradition also.

You chose 35 years so I started from that season -
Continental- has won 1 PCL title
Columbus Grove has won 3 PCL titles
Fort Jennings has won 2 PCL titles
Leipsic has won 10 PCL titles
Kalida has won 11 PCL titles
Miller City has won 12 PCL titles
Pandora Gilboa has won 1 PCL title
Ottoville has won 5 PCL titles

I also found this very interesting:
In the last 37 years the PCL has had 30 years of at least 1 team in the sweet 16 regional OHSAA tournament with : Fort Jennings -1,Leipsic-1,Kalida-2,Miller City-4- all sending teams to state tournament-(also Vaughnsville sent 1 team in 1942.-but not in the totals as did OG in 1979)
Here is what Coach Kern's book has :
Continental- 0 times
Columbus Grove - 2 times - '76 & "82
Fort Jennings- 5 times - "75,"82,"84,"94,"98
Leipsic- 6 times - "76,"78,"84,"96,"01,"03
Kalida- 5 times - "95,"04,"05,"06,"07
Miller City- 12 times-'"77,"79,"81,"'83,"84,"85,"88,"89,"91,"92,"93,"02
Pandora Gilboa- 0 times
Ottoville- 1 time- "77

Also, 5 years of the 30 the PCL had 2 teams in the sweet sixteen. Clearly the MAC has more teams and titles at state- I would like to have a way to compare other small school leagues with the PCL and see how they would match up.

[dw629]

Good stuff.. there is no question putnam county has some good baseball I would say it is one of the best conference with all D IV schools.

[Coach Normous]

"Basinger is the most talented hitter and pitcher in the league if he is able to pitch coming off of Tommy John last spring." That is a pretty bold statement considering the reigning POY is back after hitting nearly .600 I believe and being unhittable at times on the mound.

[Candy]

As i said in other posts, stats can be inflated beyond belief, which is why MC always has everyone hitting over .400 every year. They get many players of the year for that reason over the years.

Could you give me an example of when this has happened on any team. I am not sure but I would be willing to bet that you could not tell me one player from any school that won the Player of the year because of Inflated stats.

Every school plays every other school in league play. I would sure think that coaches are smart enough to look at their score book and see how said players did. I would say your comment is more an insult to coaches somehow not being aware of how good a player is.

Edited by Candy, 16 February 2010 - 05:48 PM.

[MCguy]

As i said in other posts, stats can be inflated beyond belief, which is why MC always has everyone hitting over .400 every year. They get many players of the year for that reason over the years.

That's incredibly insulting to Dan Kern. He is the stat king of Miller City and Putnam County. He's forgotton more than you and I will ever know. He's very honest and takes it very seriously.

[countywidehasbeen]

As for MC stats being inflated............I'm not positive that they have been inflated, via the pencil; there have been "rumors" through the Putnam County baseball community for years, however..... The one aspect about MC baseball stats that can be verified is their ballpark. I, along with everybody I have ever talked to, loved playing there in the Spring. Every day the wind is blowing out at "gale force" speeds. I'm not sure how many routine flyballs over-the-years have turned into two out 3 run HRs? Or, how many infield popups have turned into sac flies? Or better yet, how many routine lazy gap fly balls have turned into gap-shot extra base hits (adding RBI's).
Now, I'm not crying about having to hit into the wind at my high school ballpark, but I sure would have loved hitting at MC 15 times every spring.

So, if a person is crunching numbers about PCL POY's, an extra wind-aided RBI, extra base hit, or homerun sure wouldnt hurt a player's stats, come voting night.

With that said, I think MC has had some great ballplayers over the years, and had one of Ohio's legendary coaches! (Let's not talk about the MC pitcher arm jinx). I'm also not taking away from Lammers ONE BIT. I think he is a great ballplayer (well, I should say the newspapers make him sound great; I havent had the chance to see him play a high school game ever).

I'm showing my age here, but didnt they have a player back in the late 80s or early 90s that hit like 15 HRs and had approx 70 RBIs? Can someone verify that he did NOT win PCL POY that year? I cant remember for sure, but it seems that my memory is telling me a pitcher from another school got the award. Help with this.

[Coach Normous]

"Now, I'm not crying about having to hit into the wind at my high school ballpark, but I sure would have loved hitting at MC 15 times every spring."

And I would have loved to pitch in your ballpark.