Baseball Hello: Jack Weisenburger
The commits-occurring-in-pairs tradition migrates to the diamond as Erik Bakich & Co. pick up another verbal pledge today, two days after that of Dominic Clementi. Committing today was Jack Weisenburger, who I mentioned in Clementi's Hello thread as a Michigan target. Weisenburger is a 6-2, 190-pound right-handed pitcher/outfielder out of Rockford H.S. in Rockford, Michigan. The Wolverines third commitment for 2016, Weisenburger is ranked #6 in Michigan and #40 overall by Prep Baseball Report.
PBR ran this eval on him in the fall of 2013:
Weisenberger proved why he is one of the most talented players in the Class of 2016. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound RHP/OF has more room to grow and is by no means filled out. Ran 7.29 and was 88mph from the outfield. Ball has good carry and life. Advanced plus arm for his age. At the plate has simple no load approach but lighting quick hands. Had consistent contact. Had a impressive 92mph exit velocity. On the mound he has big potential as well. 84-86mph. Fastballs were consistently down at the knees. Slider was 70-72mph and short in nature. Well above average feel for the change at his age. Smooth arm action and quick arm. Will be one of the most highly sought after recruits in Michigan.
To repeat what I said in the Clementi thread, I've been told Weiserburger has a family tie to Michigan, although I haven't been able to confirm exactly what. The obvious guess is that he's related to—perhaps a grandson of—LongLiveBo confirms that Weisenburger is indeed a grandson of the legendary Jack Weisenburger who played both baseball and football at Michigan in the 1940s and was the starting fullback for the 1947 Mad Magicians team. He was the MVP of the 1948 Rose Bowl. He was also the captain of the 1948 baseball team. Seth published a terrific profile of/interview with Weisenburger last August.
Weisenburger played baseball at U-M under long-time head coach Ray Fisher. So the younger Jack Weisenburger will play in the stadium named for his grandfather's coach at Michigan.
One other note, according to the U-M baseball record book, it appears that the younger Jack's father was a member of Michigan's baseball team in 1976.
Michigan now has commits from the #6 (Karl Kauffmann—Hello post), #40 (Weisenburger), and #49 (Clementi) prospects in PBR's 2016 rankings for their ten-state coverage area.
photo from PBR
January 26th, 2014 at 6:47 PM ^
January 26th, 2014 at 7:14 PM ^
January 26th, 2014 at 7:39 PM ^
Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. So their coverage area nearly mirrors the current Big Ten footprint, and thus getting players ranked in their top 100 is significant.
January 26th, 2014 at 8:47 PM ^
January 26th, 2014 at 7:21 PM ^
Grandson of the great Jack Weisenburger, starting fullback for the '47 National Champion "Mad Magicians"?!?
January 26th, 2014 at 7:40 PM ^
Did you even read the full OP?
January 26th, 2014 at 8:44 PM ^
January 26th, 2014 at 9:09 PM ^
I'll update the OP with your confirmation.
January 26th, 2014 at 10:28 PM ^
in Section 1's post, you'd see the family resemblence. He has Grandpa's chin.
January 26th, 2014 at 7:30 PM ^
January 26th, 2014 at 7:38 PM ^
January 26th, 2014 at 7:53 PM ^
January 26th, 2014 at 8:21 PM ^
in those veins. Welcome young man. HAIL!!!
January 26th, 2014 at 8:29 PM ^
Sheeesh I for the life of me can't see what was wrong, unless of course he has no relation to football great Jack Weisenburger
January 26th, 2014 at 9:36 PM ^
There is a certain individual who is now on his 4th or 5th screen name who downvotes every thread on non-revenue Michigan sports. As you can see he even downvotes hello posts, which strikes me as being in exceedingly bad taste, but there you go--it's who he is.
It's best to ignore him; the mods seem to have decided that this is not suspendable behavior.
January 27th, 2014 at 12:46 AM ^
football heroes committing to play ball here is sort of pathetic, and evidently the middle-schooler BlackOps2 fits the bill.
January 26th, 2014 at 9:08 PM ^
January 26th, 2014 at 9:22 PM ^
It's a 60-yard dash time, which is one of the standard measuring sticks for baseball prospects. I don't think a time of 7.29 is considered particularly fast for a baseball prospect, but I'm not at all an expert on that.
January 26th, 2014 at 9:42 PM ^
Anything under 7 is considered pretty good for position players.
January 26th, 2014 at 10:08 PM ^
When programs conduct a "pro-style" open tryout the 1st thing prospects do is run a 60. Unless you are also a pitching prospect, if you don't record a sub 7-second 60 time you don't get to hit/field/throw. Sometimes exceptions are made for catchers.
My son ran a 7.2 at his last timed 60. As a middle fielder that hits for power he's lowered his expectations to D2 or D3.
January 26th, 2014 at 9:52 PM ^
this class is shaping up great. thats two top 65 commitments according to perfect game. (Weisenburger being #38 and kauffmann #64)
January 26th, 2014 at 9:53 PM ^
will Bakich and company ever snag some highly rated recruit from another region?
January 26th, 2014 at 10:11 PM ^
We're doing well for a northern team but because of the weather and competition level of the rest of the teams, it's going to take a lot of work to get a big recruit away from the southern school. It may not happen at all.
January 26th, 2014 at 10:14 PM ^
They have gotten a few players from elsewhere. The 2013 class included Ramsey Romano, who's from California, and they have a 2014 signee from New York, Drew Lugbauer. They also added two juco players this year from outside the footprint—Kendall Patrick (South Dakota) and Jackson Glines (California).
January 26th, 2014 at 10:31 PM ^
Chris Webb has a post up about Weisenburger's commitment, with some quotes. He says Weisenburger also had offers from MSU, West Virginia, and Wichita State.
"I think it means a lot," said Weisenburger on committing to the school, to play for the same program as his grandfather. "Everyone in my family has worn Maize and Blue for a long time and we are all really excited.
"I talked to my grandparents after I committed and they both were very happy for me. My family would have been just as happy if it were another school, but since it's Michigan, it is kind of coincidence."
. . .
"Coach Bakich along with his staff really made me believe that Michigan is going to be a future powerhouse, not only in the Big Ten, but in the country," Weisenburger said. "They have all of the resources to do it, with the academics at Michigan being elite, along with the development of their facilities which impressed me very much."
January 27th, 2014 at 9:34 AM ^
Historic irony: Old Jack came to Michigan wanting to play baseball because that was the biggest sport in the country at the time.
January 27th, 2014 at 12:53 PM ^
January 27th, 2014 at 1:55 PM ^
One other bit of rankings info, Perfect Game has Weisenburger ranked #1 in the state of Michigan in the 2016 class.
#1 2016 in Michigan Jack Weisenburger (RHP Rockford HS) has verbally commited to Michigan. http://t.co/wlExO0Q4I7
— Taylor McCollough (@PGTMc) January 27, 2014