CSTV has put out their 2008 Preseason Player of the Year list which puts Pedro Alvarez in the top spot. Former Vanderbilt teammate David Price was able to win the award in 2007 after an oustanding campaign. Alvarez led the Commodores in hitting at a .386 clip while finishing second on the team with 18 homers. He picked up several awards in 2007 being named to several All-American teams. The CBB voted in the poll and put Justin Smoak in the top spot slightly ahead of Pedro. The full article from CSTV is available here.

CSTV editor Doug Kroll recently checked in on new Florida International coach Turtle Thomas. He has been one of the most successful coaches in the country as he has been to the CWS 14 times in his great assistant coaching career. His most recent stop was at Arizona State where he helped coach the Sun Devils to the CWS last season. He has also spent time with Georgia Tech, LSU, Georgia Tech, Clemson, and Miami (FL) over the last 30 years. The full article is available here.

CSTV editor Doug Kroll checks in with an article previewing the top freshmen in the country. He ranks Matt Harvey of North Carolina as the best freshmen entering the season. Harvey was rated as a first round pick before the 2007 MLB Draft but his stock slipped when his ties with Scott Boras came up. He ended up getting drafted in the third round by the Angels but decided to head to Chapel Hill to play with Mike Fox. Read the rest of this entry »

CSTV Editor Doug Kroll checks in with his weekly article about some of the off-season coaching moves.  The biggest move was George Horton heading to Oregon to restart the Duck program. This set off a chain reaction as UC-Irvine head coach Dave Serrano went to Fullerton while former USC coach Mike Gillespie came out of retirement to take over the UC-Irvine job. He also talks about Kevin O’Sullivan who took over Florida after being an assistant with Clemson, Turtle Thomas went down to Florida International from Arizona State where he was a longtime assistant, and finally with Todd Raliegh taking over Tennessee after being the head coach at Western Carolina. The full article is available here.

Eric Sorenson of CSTV recently checked in with one of our favorite baseball coaches in Paul Mainieri of LSU. He discusses many different topics including how much influence his father Demie Mainieri the legendary coach of Miami-Dade North Community College for over 30 years. Sorensen gets Mainieri to discuss how difficult it was to coach at Notre Dame with the strong academic standards and the horrible weather in the Northeast. There are some other suprises in the interview like how Tommy Lasorda is the godfather to Paul’s youngest son and how former ND assistant Brian O’Connor of UVA hit it off with Mainieri. The full interview is available here.

Thanks to CSTV and Eric Sorenson for the great picture of Mainieri with former closer Ryan Doherty.

CSTV editor Doug Kroll checks in this week with an article about the top transfers for the 2008 season. He discusses how the Winthrop Eagles have been devastated with their ace pitcher in Alex Wilson as he got injured in the Cape Cod League this summer which he had Tommy John surgery to correct. When he gets healthy, he will be suiting up for Texas A&M in 2009. Read the rest of this entry »

Doug Kroll of CSTV.com and has compiled a list of the top five second baseman for the 2008 season. His top five 2nd Basemen are;

1) David Adams from Virginia, batted .372 for the season and his fielding % was a slick .973 with only 7 errors on the season.

2) Brandon Turner play for the Bulldogs of Mississippi State. He played in 55 games and started in 51. Brandon batted a cool .399 and had a fielding % 937 with 11 errors last year.

3) Aaron Luna seems like he has been at Rice forever. Aaron is entering his 3rd year at Rice and last year he batted .315 and had a fielding % 976 with only 4 errorrs.

4) Jemile Weeks plays for the Miami Hurricanes. Jamile batted .298 and had a fielding % of .974.

5) Alden Carrithers led the UCLA Bruins in batting with a .352 batting avg. His fielding % was a .964 with 9 errors for the season.

For the the full articles from Doug Kroll click HERE.

CSTV editor Doug Kroll checks in with his weekly article about the top players in the country. This week he focuses on outfielders. His top outfielder is Dominic De la Osa of Vanderbilt followed up by Kyle Russell of Texas. The full article is available by clicking here where he also lists Jack Rye (FSU), Tommy Baldridge and David Sappelt (Coastal Carolina), and Mark Sobolewski (Miami, FL).

Doug Kroll of CSTV checks in this week previewing the top third basemen in the country. Pedro Alvarez is listed as the top prospect which is expected since he has been one of the top players in the entire nation for his first two seasons with Vanderbilt. He also talks about Logan Forsythe of Arkansas, Matt Hague of Oklahoma State, and a few other players from around the nation. The full article is available here.

Doug Kroll continues his preview of the top players for the 2008 season. This week he checks in on the top first basemen with Brett Wallace (Arizona State) taking the top spot. Wallace had a tremendous 2007 season where he was named the PAC-10 player of the year and led the Sun Devils to the College World Series. Dustin Ackley (UNC) is put into the second position but is the only sophomore listed on Kroll’s top five. Justin Smoak (South Carolina) comes in at the third spot which is a surprise as he will be a top five pick in the 2008 draft. Yonder Alonso (Miami FL) and David Copper (Cal) round out the top five. The CBB thinks Allan Dykstra (Wake Forest) should be considered a top five player but who should get off the list though? The full article is available here.

Doug Kroll of CSTV checks in with his weekly article about College Baseball this week’s installment focuses on NJIT’s ace starting pitcher P.J. Saporito. He had a huge summer pitching for the Brockport Riverbats of the NYBCL as he pitched a perfect game on July 26th. This was the first perfect game in the history of the NYCBL which finished their 20th season in 2007. The Highlanders head coach Brian Callahan was very excited to get the program more attention with the perfect game as he had people calling him often to talk about the perfect game over the summer. Callahan faces a tough challenge with the Highlanders as they are playing a tough independent schedule which includes a trip to Miami to take on the Hurricanes over spring break. The full 2008 schedule is available here. The full article about the Highlander program is available by clicking here.

Coastal Carolina had a very successful season in 2007 where they were named as a Regional host for the first time in school history. They also accumulated 50 wins for the second time in the last three seasons. Doug Kroll of CSTV recently checked in with head coach Gary Gilmore about his expectations for the upcoming season and including some of the challenges facing the program . The full article is available here.