Coming off NCAA tournament run, baseball Bears make summer splashes
Baseball ended for Missouri State with consecutive losses to TCU in the 2017 NCAA Super Regional. But several players expected to play key roles for the Bears in 2018 carried their momentum forward into the collegiate summer leagues.
Summer baseball offers players a chance to hone their skills and impress professional scouts. Whether they traveled to New England, abroad or closer to home in Ozark, some of Missouri State’s top baseball prospects enjoyed productive seasons in the summer leagues.
Jeremy Eierman
USA Baseball Collegiate National Team
Eierman made Baseball America’s top 10 list of college prospects by batting .313 for the Bears with 23 home runs as a sophomore in 2017. He spent the summer playing for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team.
Eierman, a shortstop from Warsaw, started all 63 games for Missouri State (43-20) in 2017. He drove in a team high 68 runs. Eierman was named a first team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Baseball America’s staff noted that Eierman “may move off of short” to a different position as a professional. Eierman will be a junior who will become MLB Draft eligible at the end of the 2018 season.
Missouri State shortstop Jeremy Eierman touted as potential top 5 MLB Draft pick
Eierman mainly played third base for Team USA over the summer in games against teams from Japan, Cuba and Chinese Taipei, among others. Eierman made 10 starts and 18 appearances for the USA. He had five hits, four doubles, six RBI and five runs scored.
Hunter Steinmetz
Falmouth Commodores, Cape Cod League
Steinmetz has played in 27 games in the prestigious Cape Cod League this season. The Parkview High School graduate has 30 hits in 103 at-bats for the Falmouth Commodores. Steinmetz is batting .291 with 14 RBI and 21 runs scored. Steinmetz leads the Cape Cod in stolen bases with 16.
As a senior center fielder at Parkview, Steinmetz won the Howard Bell Offensive Player of the Year Award from the Springfield Leadoff Club. Steinmetz batted .362 for Parkview. As a lead-off hitter, Steinmetz scored 31 runs, stole 16 bases and walked 22 times to crank his on-base percentage to .516 as a high school senior in 2015.
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Jack Duffy
Kalamazoo Growlers, Northwoods League
Duffy is batting .262 in southern Michigan. Duffy has played in 27 games and logged 103 at-bats. The sophomore outfielder from Staley has 27 hits and 18 runs scored for a Kalamazoo squad sporting a 17-35 record. Duffy was rated as Missouri's sixth-best overall high school prospect and the top outfielder in the class of 2016, according to Prep Baseball Report. Duffy started 45 games for the Bears in 2017 and batted .222 with 35 hits, 17 RBI and 21 runs scored.
Duffy put together a six-game hitting streak and logged four RBI in a single game.
Ryan Skalnik
Stars, Show Me Collegiate League
Skalnik might be the man to replace Chicago White Sox first round draft pick Jake Burger at third base for the Bears. Skalnik has played a mix of third base and designated hitter for the Stars under the direction of head coach Brandon Fairbanks and Missouri State student assistant Matt Fultz.
The Stars (19-13) hold the overall lead in the Show Me Collegiate League standings as the league approaches the conclusion of its second season at U.S. Baseball Park in Ozark.
Logan Wiley
Kenosha Kingfish, Northwoods League
Wiley has made nine starts for Kenosha, with his most recent happening Saturday, July 22. The Kickapoo High School product holds a record of 3-1 with an ERA of 3.55 with 43 innings pitched. Wiley was named to the Northwoods League All-Star Game. Wiley tallied 38 strikeouts against 18 walks this summer, after sitting out his sophomore season at Missouri State after transferring to the Bears from Kansas State.
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