Syracuse Partnership on Display in Weekly Roundup Show

This week’s edition of the PBL Roundup Show featured a heavy focus on the league’s
partnership with Syracuse University. Hosts Thom Brennaman and Bill Bavasi spoke with the
chairs of the Falk College of Sports and Human Dynamics and the Newhouse School’s Sports
Media Center.

Early in the show, league president Mike Shapiro joined the crew to discuss the state of the PBL.
Shapiro spoke on the recent sale of the Grand Junction Rockies, as well as big-time film
producer Mike Tollin taking control of the Northern Colorado Owlz. He also discussed the new
ballparks being built in Windsor, CO and Flathead Valley, MT, and said he believes expansion
could be a possibility in the future. Shapiro spoke on maintaining a relationship with MLB after
getting contracted, and how there have been many players from the PBL picked up by MLB
clubs this year. Shapiro added that one of the main highlights of the season has been having the
Roundup Show every week.

The league’s director of baseball administration, Aaron Bond, spoke with Ben McConnell of the
Glacier Range Riders, who is among the league’s leaders in stolen bases. McConnell spoke about
who he models his game after, and how he finds stealing second base easier than stealing third
base. This led to an analytics segment with Syracuse intern Carter Lewis, who dissected the
sharp decline in stolen bases in MLB. In the ‘80s and ‘90s when players such as Rickey
Henderson and Vince Coleman were in the league, stolen bases were quite common, but in
recent years, league leaders didn’t even hit half the total that Henderson or Coleman had.
Rodney Paul, the chair of Falk College at Syracuse University, joined the show to talk about his
background and the school’s relationship with the PBL. He talked about how he was introduced
to baseball and analytics through playing Strat-O-Matic when he was growing up, and how there
are so many baseball fans at Syracuse. Paul also spoke about the success of the PBL partnership,
saying that the students have spoken highly of their experiences.

Brennaman was able to speak with Olivia Stomski, the director of the Newhouse School’s Sports
Media Center. Before she became an award-winning TV producer, Stomski was a student at
Newhouse as well, and she spoke about her experience coming back to teach at her alma mater.
She also spoke very highly of the students that get admitted into Newhouse, commending how
they arrive at school determined and are willing to make sacrifices in order to keep getting better
at what they want to do. Stomski also said that the students who have worked with the PBL have
given great reviews, and they’re looking forward to continuing the partnership down the line.
Syracuse interns Zach Van Arsdale and Mathias Altman-Kurosaki spoke with Ian Nicholas, a
Newhouse School student who called games at the Little League World Series last year.

Nicholas spoke about his experience at Bruce Beck’s broadcast camp and how it led him to his
role at the Little League World Series last year, which he thoroughly enjoyed. Nicholas
discussed how he always had Syracuse in mind when he was picking a school, and he says he’s
loved his time there so far. In the future, Nicholas hopes to keep calling games in baseball or in
any of his favorite sports.

Bob Fontaine of the Baseball Bureau Scout School provided this week’s tip of the week, which
focused on throwing. He specifically spoke about watching for arm action and spotting good
mechanics. This led into the latest segment of “Who’s on Durst?”, in which Will Durst spoke
about how the end of the season is quickly approaching.

In addition to providing game previews, the team from Syracuse spoke about what they want to
do in the future. Altman-Kurosaki spoke about how he wants to work in baseball as a media
member, while Van Arsdale and Austin Murphy said they want to work in scouting. Carter
Lewis said he wants to work in the front office of a sports team, and Hayden Wasserman said
he’s considering a career in sports psychology.