Former University of Tampa baseball stand-out Mike Blanke has enjoyed early success in his professional career as he was named to the Pioneer’s League all-star team and was awarded the Most Valuable Player for Great Falls Voyagers, rookie league affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.
Blanke saw the awards as a sign that his baseball skills have gotten better.
“It meant a lot. For me, it showed that I improved a lot, definitely catching-wise. I feel like defensively I became a lot better,” said Blanke.
These honors are coming just months after Blanke’s collegiate career ended at UT with the Spartans claiming the Sunshine State Conference title and South Regional title.
In his rookie campaign in the White Sox’s farm system, Blanke played in 61 games, touting a .333 batting average, seven homeruns, 43 RBI, .400 on base percentage and a .508 slugging percentage. Blanke led the team in all of these statistical categories.
A native of Palm Bay, Fla., Blanke’s career at UT was impressive, yet short-lived. As a freshman in college, Blanke attended Seton Hall University in NJ., where he saw action in 13 games and tallied four RBI.
He then relocated back to Florida and played for Saint Petersburg College as a sophomore. With SPC, he batted .329 while notching 10 homeruns and 70 RBI, good enough to lead the state of Florida in RBI.
Following his season at SPC, Blanke joined UT’s baseball team for his junior season.
Joe Urso, Head Coach of the Spartan baseball team, said that the coaches saw Blanke progressing as a player and growing into his body. Urso said that Blanke was 5 feet 10 inches coming out of high school. On the roster for UT, Blanke was listed at 6 feet 4 inches tall.
“We just saw unlimited potential. We felt like when he grew into his body that he was going to be really special,” Coach Urso said.
Playing mainly at third base with limited time at catcher for SPC, Blanke was brought into UT to play catcher full-time.
“That was the big challenge, how he was going to develop as a catcher here,” said Urso.
“He did a great job and everything I’m hearing from the White Sox scouts and the people we talk to is they’re just raving about this guy’s ability, not only as a hitter but now as a catcher as well.”
Blanke said that the more he has been behind the plate, the better his catching skills have become.
“I feel like the more I caught, the better I became. Especially after signing and playing some pro ball, with the games being every day in pro ball, I feel like I got a lot better.”
In his only year as a Spartan, Blanke played in all 56 games, started in all but two. He posted a .377 batting average with nine dingers, 65 RBI and 51 runs in 199 at-bats.
He also had a slugging percentage of .633 and an OBP of .435. His 65 RBI was second on the team. He hit three triples, also second best on the team.
Defensively, at UT, Blanke amassed 326 putouts and committed seven errors, resulting in a .982 fielding percentage.
With Blanke’s hot bat, the Spartans compiled a 46-11 season record in 2010 and made it to the Division II NCAA Championships, but were eliminated from the tournament after two games.
Honors for his 2010 season as a Spartan include being named a first-team all-Sunshine State Conference selection as well as MVP for the South Regional Tournament.
Blanke credited the professional mentality of the coaching staff and the team to the improvement of his baseball skills.
“The coaching staff at [UT] is amazing. They treat it like it’s professional baseball and they treat you like an actual pro baseball player,” Blanke said. “The competitiveness of how they are and the team we had, our season definitely made me a lot better in my level of play.”
Despite only playing a single season as a Spartan, Coach Urso believes that Blanke took on a leadership role as the team’s starting catcher.
“As a catcher, you have to be a leader, so he did all that,” Urso said. “He was asked to hit in the middle of the lineup all year, hitting fourth [and] fifth all year, so [he was] just a huge part of the success we had last year in making that [National Championship] run.”
Blanke opted to forego his senior year after being drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 14th round of the 2010 MLB Draft.
Coach Urso said that Blanke is solid at blocking balls in the dirt and has good arm strength, but will have to work on his receiving ability and the speed of his release behind the plate.
An advantage Blanke might have over other catchers just starting their professional baseball career is his game calling ability. Coach Urso explained that at UT, the coaching staff allows pitchers and catchers to call the games in order to better prepare them for the future.
“I learned a lot about how to call a game and what pitches to call in what situation and I felt like it definitely helped me a lot in pro ball,” Blanke said. “As soon as I got to [Great Falls] I felt like I was ready to call a game and even though I learned a little bit more, I feel I was very well prepared at Tampa.”
Blanke has a long road ahead of him before breaking into the Majors, but Coach Urso believes that Blanke has the intangibles to do it.
“I think he has a legit shot at making the Major Leagues. One is his ability, obviously, but the other part I like about him is his work ethic,” said Coach Urso. “This guy is gonna outwork everybody in the clubhouse.”
Daniel Feingold can be reached at minaret.sports@gmail.com.