TicketsLast night, the Cincinnati Reds delivered a special moment for Bearcats RHP Dan Jensen. The Centerville native was drafted in the 20th round, 635th overall in the MLB Draft.
Jensen led the way for the UC pitching staff with a 3.11 ERA including a dominant outing against Georgetown this season where he threw a complete-game allowing no earned runs with 11 strikeouts.
"It's such a dream come true," said Jensen. "(Reds area scout) Brad Meador called me before the 20th round and told me the Reds were going to take me this round. It's just a dream come true."
His 6-foot-8 frame and penchant for strikeouts reminds of current rising relief star Logan Ondrusek. Ondrusek was a 13th-round pick out of high school in 2005, but the size and power could create a model to follow.
Looking at the history of the draft, being selected in the 20th round as a pitcher isn't without previous success stories. Tim Worrell, who pitched 13 successful seasons went in the 20th round in 1989. Gene Garber, of 218 career saves, went in Round 20 in 1965.
Interested in some more late-round success stories:
Roy Oswalt, 23rd Round, Astros 1996
Jake Peavy, 15th Round, Padres, 1999
Kenny Rogers, 39th Round, Texas, 1982
Orel Hersheiser, 17th Round, Dodgers, 1979
When you start considering position players the list grows even more:
Russell Martin, 17th Round, Dodgers 2002
Albert Pujols, 13th Round, Cardinals, 1999
Dan Uggla, 11th Round, Diamondbacks, 2001
Mike Lowell, 20th Round, Yankees, 1995
Mark Grace; 24th Round, Phillies, 1985
Mike Piazza, 62nd Round, Dodgers, 1988
The bottom line being, Jensen will be given an opportunity to advance and plenty before him have risen from a late-round draft pick to All Stars in the bigs. Big congrats to Dan and best of luck to him in rookie ball.
Let's eat...
--- The other big story around campus as classes wrap up for the semester is the three athletes advancing to nationals for track and field.
The always strong Kevin Goheen wrote this story on the local participants at the national meet in Iowa. At the top of the list is Terrence Somerville. He competes in the 110-meter high hurdles and is only hundredths of a second off the school-record accomplished by David Payne.
He enters the competition with the 8th-fastest time in the event at 13.55. Remember, UC has never had a national champion in track and field.
The other two UC athletes in Iowa are Eric Finan in the 5,000 meters and Kathy Klump in the 800 meters. Klump and Finan both set school records in their events this season.
The action will begin tonight with Klump running her event.
Of course, I'll keep you up to date on all of their performances right here as will everyone else at GoBearcats.com. Here's some more on the participants.
--- Shawn Sell wrote a recap of the 2011 baseball season and where UC goes forward from here.
--- We touched on this topic last month, but Mike DeCourcy put out his Top 10 list of college basketball jobs. I find it interesting it was without a Big East school. The grind and pressure involved in BE hoops is almost unparalleled across college basketball. So, under that criteria, I understand. But with a fan base like Syracuse, tradition of Georgetown or recent success of UConn, it's hard to believe one of those does not belong.
--- It's definitely surprising to see a team demote its top returning scorer from scholarship to walk-on status, but that's exactly what happened to Kyle Kuric at Louisville. Interesting.
--- I don't care who you are, who you root for or where you live, you have to root for Robbie Hummel next season.
--- ESPN is loving itself some Pitt football.
--- Randomness...
--- It's not an ordinary rabbit, it's got fangs like this...Hard not to quote Monty Python with this story.
--- Here's a list of the Top 10 most iconic hip-hop performances on MTV. I'd slide Snoop Dogg from the '94 VMAs up the list.
--- When you get all your Facebook friends tattooed on your arm, does that lock all of them into keeping the same profile picture for the rest of their lives? Seems unfair thing for a friend to do.
--- Here's some Pearl Jam, because they are incredible.
Jensen led the way for the UC pitching staff with a 3.11 ERA including a dominant outing against Georgetown this season where he threw a complete-game allowing no earned runs with 11 strikeouts.
"It's such a dream come true," said Jensen. "(Reds area scout) Brad Meador called me before the 20th round and told me the Reds were going to take me this round. It's just a dream come true."
His 6-foot-8 frame and penchant for strikeouts reminds of current rising relief star Logan Ondrusek. Ondrusek was a 13th-round pick out of high school in 2005, but the size and power could create a model to follow.
Looking at the history of the draft, being selected in the 20th round as a pitcher isn't without previous success stories. Tim Worrell, who pitched 13 successful seasons went in the 20th round in 1989. Gene Garber, of 218 career saves, went in Round 20 in 1965.
Interested in some more late-round success stories:
Roy Oswalt, 23rd Round, Astros 1996
Jake Peavy, 15th Round, Padres, 1999
Kenny Rogers, 39th Round, Texas, 1982
Orel Hersheiser, 17th Round, Dodgers, 1979
When you start considering position players the list grows even more:
Russell Martin, 17th Round, Dodgers 2002
Albert Pujols, 13th Round, Cardinals, 1999
Dan Uggla, 11th Round, Diamondbacks, 2001
Mike Lowell, 20th Round, Yankees, 1995
Mark Grace; 24th Round, Phillies, 1985
Mike Piazza, 62nd Round, Dodgers, 1988
The bottom line being, Jensen will be given an opportunity to advance and plenty before him have risen from a late-round draft pick to All Stars in the bigs. Big congrats to Dan and best of luck to him in rookie ball.
Let's eat...
--- The other big story around campus as classes wrap up for the semester is the three athletes advancing to nationals for track and field.
The always strong Kevin Goheen wrote this story on the local participants at the national meet in Iowa. At the top of the list is Terrence Somerville. He competes in the 110-meter high hurdles and is only hundredths of a second off the school-record accomplished by David Payne.
He enters the competition with the 8th-fastest time in the event at 13.55. Remember, UC has never had a national champion in track and field.
The other two UC athletes in Iowa are Eric Finan in the 5,000 meters and Kathy Klump in the 800 meters. Klump and Finan both set school records in their events this season.
The action will begin tonight with Klump running her event.
Of course, I'll keep you up to date on all of their performances right here as will everyone else at GoBearcats.com. Here's some more on the participants.
--- Shawn Sell wrote a recap of the 2011 baseball season and where UC goes forward from here.
--- We touched on this topic last month, but Mike DeCourcy put out his Top 10 list of college basketball jobs. I find it interesting it was without a Big East school. The grind and pressure involved in BE hoops is almost unparalleled across college basketball. So, under that criteria, I understand. But with a fan base like Syracuse, tradition of Georgetown or recent success of UConn, it's hard to believe one of those does not belong.
--- It's definitely surprising to see a team demote its top returning scorer from scholarship to walk-on status, but that's exactly what happened to Kyle Kuric at Louisville. Interesting.
--- I don't care who you are, who you root for or where you live, you have to root for Robbie Hummel next season.
--- ESPN is loving itself some Pitt football.
--- Randomness...
--- It's not an ordinary rabbit, it's got fangs like this...Hard not to quote Monty Python with this story.
--- Here's a list of the Top 10 most iconic hip-hop performances on MTV. I'd slide Snoop Dogg from the '94 VMAs up the list.
--- When you get all your Facebook friends tattooed on your arm, does that lock all of them into keeping the same profile picture for the rest of their lives? Seems unfair thing for a friend to do.
--- Here's some Pearl Jam, because they are incredible.