It's another cold, rainy day in the valley, so of course Benny (and figgi) are thinking about baseball. After all, the season does start in just 44 days, and season tickets are on sale. The first formal practice is Friday.

Baseball America has released their pre-season rankings, and Oregon St. is ranked 23rd, which is 5th. highest of the Pac-12 11 (Colorado, remember, doesn't field a baseball team). Florida is atop the rankings, and Stanford is #2.

South Carolina and Arkansas come next, with Arizona rounding out the top 5. Other ranked teams from the west include UCLA, at 14th, and Arizona St. at 17th. from the conference, and Cal-State Fullerton, who round out the top 25.

Boydsworld.com has also rated the strength of schedules of teams, and again, the Pac-12 is the toughest conference in baseball. The four toughest schedules belong to Stanford, USC, Oregon. and UCLA. In fact, 8 of the toughest 9 are faced by the Pac, with California, Washington St., Arizona St., and Washington in spots 6-9.

Oregon St. actually has the softest schedule in the conference, with the Beavers coming in at #35 overall. The other conference teams are Utah at #26 and Arizona at #29. The reason for this is the Beavers' relatively soft non-conference schedule, rated 130th of the 298 "Division I" teams. Stanford, by contrast, plays the #2 non-conference schedule to go along with the brutal Pac-12 schedule.

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Oregon St. is ranked 24th in the Collegiate Baseball Pre-Season poll, which ironically is only good for a middle of the pack prediction in the Pac-12. The SEC, which has the top 2 teams, #1 Florida and #2 South Carolina, and the Pac-12 both placed 6 teams into the top 24.

Stanford is #3, Arizona St. #17, UCLA #19, Arizona #20, and California #22.The Beavers, who finished last season with a 41-19 record, and ranked #10 nationally, were expected to drop down, given the loss of the likes of pitchers Sam Gaviglio and Josh Osich, as well as Andrew Susac, Carter Bell, Parker Berberet, and Brian Stamps.

But the roster is far from bare, with Tony Bryant, who was named a pre-season All American, and Kavin Keys, a Pac-12 All-Conference player last season as a true freshman, as well as Jake Rodriguez, Matt Boyd, Ben Wetzler, and Ryan Dunn leading the returners.

Georgia, who Oregon St. beat to claim their regional, is ranked #18, and Vanderbilt, who beat the Beavers in the NCAA Super Regionals, starts the year ranked one spot, and just 2 points, ahead of them, at #23.

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Oregon St. will take the field at Goss Stadim for 24 of the 56 times they play this spring, including 15 Pac-11/12ths (Colorado doesn't field a baseball team at this time) contests. The Beavers released their 2012 schedule today, and opening day is Feb. 17, when Oregon St. opens a 4 game series at UC Santa Barbara. UCSB will be coached by former Beaver All-American pitcher Andrew Checketts, who will be making his coaching debut.

The home opener is Friday, March 9 against West Virginia, in the Nike College Showcase, which also brings Illinois, Connecticut, and Oklahoma, all teams that were in the 2011 NCAA playoffs, to Corvallis.

Pac-12 play begins for the Beavers in Berkeley on March 16, and the first conference home series is against Arizona, on March 23, 24, & 25.

"I’m very excited about our 2012 schedule," Oregon St. head coach Pat Casey said. "We have a great home schedule for our fans at Goss Stadium, and have some exciting trips for this club. The conference is going to be tough as usual, and our non-conference schedule has some great matchups."

Oregon St. visits Eugene twice for non-conference games, on April 24 and May 8, and finish the regular season against the Ducks at Goss on May 25, 26, & 27.

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We may be gearing up for Pac-12 football right now, but here is some quick news (and good news actually!) about the OSU baseball team.

First is that the baseball team actually took the field last Monday for a brief workout session (see: Baseball Gets Back To Business).

Additionally the fall 2011 recruiting class has been named ninth in the nation by Collegiate Baseball, which is good news in that the program seems to be restocking talent very well.  Five of these players were drafted by the MLB but elected to play ball at OSU: Jace Fry (LHP), Jordan Dunatov (OF/RHP), Carlos Rodriguez (LHP), Cole Brocker (RHP/OF/IF), and Nate Esposito (C/IF) and all could be names we hear more about this spring.  For more about this story see:  Baseball's Recruiting Class Rated Ninth By Collegiate Baseball and Collegiate Baseball: Current Recruiting Results.

And finally a story about the success of OSU players in summer league play: Nine Beavers Named Top Prospects In Collegiate Summer Leagues.

Go Beavs!

In what has become an annual tradition for the Oregon State coaching staff, the MLB signing deadline is today-- which means a waiting game to see if current players and recruits decide to make the jump to the majors. The deadline is 9:00 PM Pacific tonight.

For the sake of simplicity in this thread, we will only be keeping track of players that could return/go to Oregon State this season.   

Of those 11 drafted players that could return or start their careers at OSU next spring, four of them have signed. Those are Sam Gaviglio, Brian Stamps, Carter Bell, and Brandon Martin.

Sam Gaviglio is currently playing with the Batavia Muckdogs in the St. Louis farm system. He has yet to appear in a game for the Muckdogs. Brian Stamps is playing in Kissimmee, Florida in the Atlanta system. He's batting .192 with 6 RBI's in 34 games. 

Carter Bell is in the Northwest League playing for the Yakima Bears, a Class A Short-Season affiliate of the Diamondbacks. He's hitting .259 with 10 RBI's in 29 games for the Bears. And last but not least is Brandon Martin, who is playing for the GCL Rays in Port Charlotte, Florida. Martin is hitting .250 with 3 RBI's in 15 games.

Below is the complete list of our eligible to return/sign draftees. We will keep the list updated throughout the day with who has signed.

Collegiate Selections (in order of selection)

C Andrew Susac, 2nd round, 86th overall, San Francisco Giants (signed)
RHP Sam Gaviglio, 5th round, 170th overall, St. Louis Cardinals (signed)
LHP Josh Osich, 6th round, 207th overall, San Francisco Giants (signed)
OF Brian Stamps, 24th round, 746th overall, Atlanta Braves (signed)
3B Carter Bell, 29th round, 874th overall, Arizona Diamondbacks (signed)
RHP Taylor Starr, 37th round, 1,118th overall, Cleveland Indians

Oregon State Signee Selections (in order of selection)

IF Brandon Martin (Corona, California) 1st round supplemental, 38th overall, Tampa Bay Rays (signed)
LHP/OF Jace Fry (Beaverton, Oregon) 9th round, 286th overall, Oakland Athletics 
OF Jordan Dunatov (Scottsdale, Arizona) 14th round, 422nd overall, Pittsburgh Pirates
LHP Carlos Rodriguez (Kapiolei, Hawaii) 20th round, 626th overall, Atlanta Braves
IF/C Nate Esposito (Granite Bay, California) 46th round, 1,396th overall, Oakland Athletics

Once again, the signing deadline hits at 9:00 PM on the West Coast.

--Connor

Oregon St.'s ace Sam Gaviglio signed with the St. Louis Cardinal Organization, and set off for Batavia, New York, this week. Gaviglio, who was selected 170 th. overall in the fifth round of this year's Major League Baseball draft, secured a $175,000 signing bonus, plus a scholarship plan to eventually complete his degree in forestry studies, in addition to the standard rookie contract.

"I just figured it was time to go out and play," Gaviglio told the Medford Mail-Tribune Tuesday afternoon from his parents' Ashland home. "Negotiations weren't really going anywhere, so I took what I could get. Now I just want to go play baseball."

The former Beaver Friday night starter, who went 12-3 with a 2.54 ERA while earning first team All-Pac-10 and second team All-American honors in his junior season, will first play with the Batavia Muckdogs of the short season class A New York-Penn league, foregoing his senior campaign.

"I love the program, it's great up there in Corvallis, and I had a good time with the team last year," Gaviglio, 21 tole the Mail-Tribune. "Obviously I could've gone back to school for another year, but I've got a scholarship plan worked out for that, and I feel like I'm just ready to play."

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Oregon St. alum Jacoby Ellsbury is having a heck of a week for the Boston Red Sox. Tuesday night, Ellsbury came through with a walk-off game winning hit to lift the Red Sox to a 3-2 win over the Cleveland Indians. Delivering a game winning hit at Fenway Park constitutes a career highlight for any baseball player, never mind doing it for the home team.

But Jacoby was just warming up. Last night, with the game tied at 3-3, Ellsbury came to the plate in the bottom of the 9th. inning again. Problem is there was no one on base to drive in. But it was actually no problem; Ellsbury drove a 0-1 count pitch over the fence in dead center to earn a game ending home run trot, and pick up the win for the Red Sox.

Whether Pat Casey comes back to coach Oregon St. next year, or takes a desk job while someone else takes over in the dugout, nothing could do more for Beaver recruiting in the first week of August that Ellsbury's back to back walk off game winners, certainly a dream come true for a kid from Madras, OR.

Updated: Here's a look at Ellsbury's rise to prominence as an MVP candidate by the Boston Herald.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com

There's been no announcement yet from Oregon St. baseball coach Pat Casey as to whether he will retire, and take an administration or not, but there is a rumor circulating (with some credibility behind it) that sheds new light on the matter.

Word is that another program has made an offer to Associate Head Coach Marty Lees to make him a skipper. So the issue is what Oregon St. can, or should do, to retain Lees. And when.

The wonderful coach in waiting scenario rares its head again. Lees, with the title he has, and given his primary responsibility for recruiting, is in a position some have construed as coach in waiting to replace Casey, though the expectation is that the waiting would last a little longer.

So considerations for Casey are whether he is ready to transition his career now, and if not, does he want to persevere without Lees? Casey has the internal clout that puts this decision primarily in his lap, not Athletic Director Bob De Carolis, though De Carolis' input will clearly be a factor in what will really be a series of decisions, all impacting the Beaver baseball program, one that Casey has hand-built into the nationally prominent position it is in today.

Nothing but Casey's primary options are known for sure. Well, one thing actually is; Casey's decision will one way or the other ripple far and wide in the west coast collegiate baseball scent. Stay tuned...

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com