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Thursday, September 02, 2010
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| | Email this article • Print this article | Bluejays assigned to Class B
A COLUMN
by Lee Ostrom
The Minnesota Baseball Association's board of directors whistled some nasty chin music at Plato's amateur baseball club last Saturday in St. Cloud, beaning the Jays twice.
First, by an 8-1 count (Norwood's Robert Zellman casting the minority vote), the board elevated the Bluejays from Class C status to Class B - despite Plato's strongly stated desire to remain a Class C team.
Second, by a 7-2 vote, the board assigned Plato to neither Section 3 (with fellow Crow River Valley League member Green Isle) nor Section 8 (and neighbors such as Dassel-Cokato and Hutchinson), but rather to Section 4, where they join up with clubs from Mankato, Marshall, New Ulm and Waseca.
Ouch! Ouch!
By Monday, Plato player/manager Eric Engelmann was on the telephone with John Richter, the state board's president from Granite Falls, requesting a special meeting. That request was declined, he said.
From there, Engelmann began seeking a Crow River Valley League meeting, "or at least a league vote," which he hopes will show the state board league concerns about the ruling and support for Plato's plight.
"I'm going to fight this," said Engelmann, who added that he is "flat-out frustrated" by what he called the board's "cat-and-mouse games."
As you may recall, the board seemed to decide Plato's classification for 2008 when it voted 6-3 on Jan. 5 to allow the 2007 Class C state champions to remain in Class C.
Since then, the Bluejay roster has added two players, both from Plato's home (Glencoe-Silver Lake) school district: infielder Matt Odegaard, a 2007 graduate of GSL and currently a redshirt freshman at Minnesota State University-Mankato, and Hunter Dunbar, currently playing his senior season at GSL. Before signing with Plato, each player asked the state board for a release from the Glencoe Brewers, which the directors granted.
But Richter told me Monday that directors were "sure" - yes, he said "sure" - that Plato also planned to sign GSL grad Chris Odegaard, currently a sophomore at MSU-Mankato and the Mavericks' top pitcher.
Jays officials had previously told me they would not offer Chris Odegaard a contract if his presence threatened their Class C status.
Richter also said the board had some "history" with past Plato actions (about which he did not get specific), and pointed out that on Jan. 5 the Jays were warned that their roster was being monitored.
Bottom line: "They're acting like a Class B team," Richter told me.
Joe Kreger, state director from Green Isle, agreed, saying that Matt Odegaard and Dunbar are the fourth and fifth players Plato has "accepted" off other CRVL rosters in the last two seasons.
Speaking for himself, Kreger said his vote was cast because of Plato's actions over the last two years.
But why now? Why after Plato's town team picks up two kids from its home school district? What else is going on here?
Neal Schlagel, secretary/treasurer of the CRVL and player-coach for the Winsted Wildcats, said he does not agree with the board's decision.
"I think they're trying to build up Class B," Schlagel said, "but I think they're going about it the wrong way."
From my perch, losing a second quality club to Class B does further harm to the CRVL regular season, the CRVL playoffs and the Region 7C tourney. The pool of draftable players also is thinned further, and we all know how important draftees can be. Indeed, does Plato win a state title last year without state tourney MVP Mike Mueller (Hamburg pitcher), or unofficial state tourney runner-up MVP Nik Franck (Young America pitcher)?
About the board's ruling on Plato, Schlagel said, "It weakens our league."
But the big thing, it seems to me, is that baseball-crazy Plato has a true town team which just added two local (GSL) players. With them aboard, 14 of the 17 players on Plato's current roster either have a Plato address, a Plato telephone, are GSL grads (or a current student), or are combinations of all three.
For the board to go against Plato's wishes after it added GSL grad Matt Odegaard and GSL student Hunter Dunbar sends a wrong message.
Schlagel agrees:"The guys they're getting are in their (own) school district."
** **
I asked Schlagel how Winsted, which placed fourth at last year's Class C state tournament, might feel should the state board ever elevate them to Class B.
Noting that the Wildcats are quite a bit younger than the Jays, particularly on the mound, he said the change might be OK with them - as long as the Wildcats are assigned to a section with its neighbors, rather than sent to Mankato, Marshall or Waseca.
Aside from that, Schlagel said pitching - as in having a couple of "shutdown, stud" hurlers - is the name of the game in Class B.
"It's a different game," Engelmann said.
Without Mueller and Franck, do the Bluejays have the depth in quality pitching to win consistently at the Class B level?
Like it or not, it looks like we are about to find out.
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