It's February!

Which means pitchers and catchers report and the NCAA ping is sounding again. Forgive the diversion, but my Tar Heels are ranked number 1 by Baseball America for the first time in program history, and I'm pretty excited. Granted, Seton Hall (our first-weekend opponent for several years now) is not the most fearsome of teams, but a sweep and 27-4 outscoring in three games is a good start.

Robert Woodard, who was awesome last year and will be awesome this year, took a perfect game into the 7th in the Friday season opener, retiring the first 20 batters and ending up with 7.2 scoreless, one-hit innings. Brilliant. I thought last year would be the best chance at a national championship for a while since Miller and Bard would be leaving, but I guess being an out away improves your recruiting.

Among recent graduates (or draftees), Andrew Miller is looking really good at Tigers camp, looking like the best of the young arms, though he'll probably start the year at Lakeland. I doubt he'll be there long, as he managed to ascend to Detroit last year. Chris Iannetta's a shoe-in for a roster spot in Colorado, even though their signing Javy Lopez makes it a bit harder for him to earn the starter's role right off the bat. Still, .260 after his call-up last year's nothing to sneer at.

I think those are the only two in camp so far, so it'll be a month or before I can check up on how the minor leaguers are doing and where they got assigned this season.

Let's go Tar Heels!