Baseball America Picks Harvard

The leading baseball authority and the only objective entity to bang out such predictions has Harvard beating Princeton in a rematch of last year's stunning sweep (or, put differently, a rematch of almost every Ivy League Championship Series of the past ten years). For a second straight year, Baseball America has named Steffan Wilson the preseason player of the year. GoCrimson.com lists Shawn Haviland and Matt Vance as preseason all-conference picks, which I take to mean that someone other than Haviland was named preseason pitcher of the year--I imagine it would have to be Christian Staehley, who burst onto the scene by taking a no-hitter into the 8th against Arkansas in the NCAAs last year. When last we saw Staehley, he pitched the Tigers past Harvard in the league clincher.

I wouldn't bet against the nastiness that is defending Ivy Pitcher of the Year Shawn Haviland taking some motivation from this.

Meanwhile, Vance is a logical pick to represent the Crimson in the outfield again after terrorizing the league at the plate and on the basepaths last year; the big question is whether Matt Rogers can take the next step and join him in giving Harvard a uniquely terrifying one-two speed combo again.

I'll post more on the all-conference selections once I get a hold of them.