It’s Monday, February 15, five days before the scheduled opening day at Illinois Field. Right now in Urbana, it’s 23 degrees and there are light flurries falling on the already packed snow. I’m not holding my breath for a game on Saturday but I’d love to see Mother Nature prove me wrong. Meanwhile to get us through this cold spell, how about some pre-season talk? 
College Baseball Insider tells us what we already know. They polled the coaches of the Big Ten (actually eight of the ten participated) and Aaron Johnson (right) came up with “The Best Catcher’s Arm” honor. No surprise there.
In other pre-season awards, Baseball America came out with their pre-season All-Big Ten list. Pete Cappetta and Willie Argo were named on the list at second base and centerfield, respectively.
Congrats to Aaron, Pete and Willie!!
For what it is worth, Baseball America picked Illinois to finish 4th in the Big Ten. Ohio State, Minnesota and Michigan were the top three.
If you haven’t been over to the Illini baseball website lately, they have a nifty pre-season preview for the position players. For me, they officially confirm and dispel some of the rumors of who’s playing where.
Some of the big changes mentioned:
- It seems Josh Parr will move from secondbase to shortstop
- Among other things, Pete Cappetta will try his luck at second in 2010.
- Freshman Brandon Hohl will be the opening day thirdbaseman. Mike Giller will be playing some at third as well (not too much of a surprise since he played there exclusively during the Orange and Blue series).
I’m sure in a couple days, I’ll bet we’ll see a Pitcher’s Preview from them.
Gah, since I’ve written this, those flurries have turned into a full-fledged snowstorm.