Let’s talk about the guys we haven’t talked enough about yet. The breakout kids. The unexpected boons. Our pantheon of heroes:
Batblogger
Capt’n Seth of the Comma Police
An Bender, Flyin’ Ace
The Heiko Kid
The Blue Creature from the Bend
Brett Thiessen (secret identity remains hidden)
Coach Unpossible
The Question:
Casey Stengel used to do this thing with the media where every year he’d point to a player on his team who wasn’t already an established star (Gardner, Gallon, Lewan, Norfleet) and say “that guy is a lot better than people think.” And that guy would have a really big year. Mentally (or mathematically if you’re Mathlete) subtract John Q. MGoReader’s expectation for the guys from your expectation for the guys this year, and tell us who’s going to be surprisingly good?
BiSB: I’m on Team ACL this year. On the “breakout star” front, I’ll go with BLAKE COUNTESS. I think a lot of people are expecting, or even hoping, that he’ll come back
Rev up the Countess hype again | Fuller
approximately as he was as a freshman (which would still be pretty good), thinking his injury would offset whatever gains he has otherwise made. But we live in a world in which ACLs are repaired with unicorn dreams (or at least that’s how Heiko explained it to me) and heal in six to nine months. Jake Ryan tore his five months ago, and is already running and doing lateral stuff. Countess is a full year removed, which in modern ACL years is “what, me worry?”