Sept. 27, 2006
Former Notre Dame pitcher Jeff Manship – who earned All-America honors and was named the BIG EAST Conference pitcher of the year during the 2006 season – currently is back on campus working towards completion of his undergraduate degree requirements, after signing a professional baseball contract with the Minnesota Twins organization late in the summer of ’06. Manship had two years of collegiate eligibility remaining but elected to sign with the Twins, after being selected in the 14th round of the 2006 Major League draft.
Following the 2006 fall semester, Manship will be one semester shy of receiving his degree from the College of Arts and Letters, as a double major in economics and computer applications. When he completes his degree requirements, Manship will became part of the Notre Dame baseball program’s impressive tradition graduation-rate success.
All 71 four-year players during the past 12 seasons of the Notre Dame baseball program (1995-2006) have received their degrees while the 15 who signed early with professional baseball (as juniors or sophomores, since ’95) include several who have completed or are nearing completion of their graduation requirements. Seven of those former junior signees already have received their degrees, with that group including one who went on to medical school (All-America outfielder Ryan Topham), another who ultimately headed to law school (speedy centerfielder Scott Sollmann), switch-hitting outfielder Allen Greene (now a member of the Notre Dame athletics compliance office) and four who have been recently active in pro ball: All-America infielder Brant Ust, lefthanded pitching ace Tim Kalita, Academic All-America outfielder Brian Stavisky and All-America pitcher Chris Niesel.
Manship – whose 3.03 cumulative GPA includes a 3.33 in the 2006 spring semester (part of a 3.28 team GPA that represented the baseball program’s best semester GPA in the past 12 years) – had an impressive start to his pro baseball career, pitching with two different Twins single-A affiliates. His combined stats included a 1.26 ERA, better than a 7-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (22/3) and just 10 hits allowed in 14.1 innings and six appearances (three starts). Manship pitched 5.2 shutout innings in two relief stints with the Gulf Coast Twins (of the Gulf Coast League), racking up 10 strikeouts with just one walk and three hits allowed. He then was moved to the high-A Fort Myers Miracle in the Florida State League and compiled a 2.08 ERA in four appearances (three starts), with 12 Ks and a pair of walks in 8.2 innings (7 H, .212 opp. batting avg.).
The Twins and Manship spent most of the summer in contract talks before the former elite prep prospect reached his lifelong goal of playing professional baseball.
“I felt that signing a professional contract with the Twins was in my best interest and I was ready to make the jump into pro ball,” says Manship. “It has been a lifelong dream of mine to play professional baseball and the opportunity arose, so I took it. The Twins and I negotiated a deal that I felt was too good to pass up.
“I always will be indebted to Notre Dame for my experiences, the people I have met and my exceptional education. Thanks to [former Notre Dame head] coach [Paul] Mainieri for supporting me throughout my rehab. Despite the fact that I was injured prior to my freshman year at Notre Dame, he stuck with me and saw me through my surgery and rehabilitation process. For this, I always will be grateful.
“I especially would especially like to thank Mike Bean for all that he has done for me. He truly is the best athletic trainer any player ever could ask for. I can attribute a great amount of what I have done post-surgery to Mike. Without the assistance he provided, I am unsure what point I would be at in my career. The Notre Dame baseball program is in great hands with Mike looking over their athletic training needs.”
Manship – who made a couple of appearances in the middle of the 2006 summer with the Delaware (Ohio) Cows of the collegiate wood-bat Great Lakes League – could cross paths in pro ball with his brother Matt Manship, who is just 14 months older and played the past four seasons at Stanford. The elder Manship brother was drafted by the Oakland A’s and played in the summer of 2006 with the single-A Vancouver Canadians (2.94 ERA, 1-1 record, 17 GP, 32 Ks, 13 BB, 33 H in 33.2 IP).
Jeff Manship’s career rate of 10.11 strikeouts per 9.0 innings pitched is the second-best by a Notre Dame pitcher in the past 40 years (photo by Pete LaFleur).
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Jeff Manship UPDATED BIO. CAPSULE (RHP; Jr.; San Antonio, Texas, as of Sept. 27, 2006) – Named by Collegiate Baseball magazine as a 2006 third team Louisville Slugger All-American while also collecting BIG EAST Conference pitcher-of-the-year honors and being the only unanimous pick for first team all-BIG EAST honors … selected by the Minnesota Twins in 14th round of the 2006 MLB draft, ultimately signing with the Twins late in the summer of 2006 … had two years of eligibility remaining, after missing his freshman season in 2004 due to injury … joined with fellow junior RHP Jeff Samardzija (5th rd; Cubs) and senior LHP Tom Thornton (21st rd; Tigers) in marking the first time that three ND pitches have been selected in the same draft … ND’s five draft picks in ’06 (also 1B Craig Cooper to the Padres in 5th round and SS Greg Lopez, in 33rd round to the Blue Jays) has been bested just once in the program’s history (6, in ’01) … follows six previous ND players who were Minnesota Twins draft picks or signees, most notably RHP Aaron Heilman (2000; supplemental round between 1st and 2nd; returned to ND) and catcher Javi Sanchez (2004; 14th round) … one of 17 ND baseball players to earn All-America honors (sixth pitcher, including five this decade) … ranked 23rd In nation with 10.6 strikeouts per 9.0 innings during the 2006 season … his 111 strikeouts in the 2006 season tied Heilman’s 2001 total for 3rd-most in ND history (seven shy of Heilman’s record total, posted in both 1999 and 2000) … his career strikeout rate (10.11 per 9.0 IP) ranks 4th-best in ND history … his former teammate Ryan Doherty (12.17) is the only Irish pitcher in the past 40 years with a better career strikeout rate than Manship (Dan McGinn averaged 12.66 Ks/9 IP from ’64-`65 and Rick Rusteck 10.75 from ’61-’63) … his 10.63 Ks per 9 IP in 2006 rank 7th-best in a season ever by an ND pitcher (4th-best since 1965) while his .223 season opp. batting average is 12th-best in the ND record book (stat kept since ’91) … his two-year career stats with the Irish included a 3.39 ERA and 11-3 record in 27 appearances (21 starts), with 131 Ks, 38 walks and 102 hits allowed (.232 opp. avg.; 7 HR) in 116.2 innings (plus 10 wild pitches, 7 hit batters and a save in ’05) … combined with Cooper for fifth time in the history of BIG EAST baseball (first time since ’99) that same team has produced the BIG EAST player and pitcher of the year … joined Brad Lidge (’98), Heilman (’00, ’01) and Chris Niesel (’03) as ND’s recipients of the BIG EAST pitcher-of-the-year award … he and Samardzija become just the seventh pairs of pitchers from the same team who have been first team all-BIG EAST selections in the same season (since ’85) … only two other pairs of starting pitchers since 1992 (including ND’s Heilman and Danny Tamayo in 2001) have been named first team all-BIG EAST … ended up with the 4th-best overall 2006 ERA (3.26) among “regular” pitchers (at least 1.0 IP per team game) in the 12-team BIG EAST while leading the league in wins (9-2), strikeouts (111) and Ks “looking” (48), also ranking 4th in low opponent batting avg. (.223) and innings pitched (94.0) and 8th in games started (14) … in 2006 BIG EAST games, he led the conference in wins (7-1), Ks (70) and Ks looking (29) while also ranking 3rd in opp. batting avg. (.226) and innings (63.1) plus 5th with a 3.13 ERA in BIG EAST play … led ND’s 2006 staff in wins (9-2), strikeouts (111; 3rd in ND history) and Ks “looking (48) while ranking 2nd on staff for innings pitched (94.0) and starts (14), and 3rd in low opponent batting avg. (.223), plus 5th in ERA (3.26; among pitchers with 20-plus innings) and appearances (15) … compiled nearly a 4-to-1 season strikeout-to-walk ratio (111/28; 3.96) while totaling 16 more innings pitched than hits allowed (78) … his other season stats included 6 hit batters, 4 wild pitches and a team-high 7 home runs allowed (the rest of the staff allowed just 11) … owned top groundout-to-flyout ratio on the staff (1.82), with 76% of his outs (213 of 282) coming via Ks or GOS (102; 2nd-most on staff) … averaged 6.1 innings per outing (2nd on staff) while his 9-inning averages included 10.63 Ks (2nd on team), 2.68 walks (5th-lowest), 7.47 hits (4th) and 37.44 batters faced … averaged more than 20 outs per 9 IP (20.40) via Ks or groundouts (9.77) … held opposing lefthanded hitters to a .180 batting avg. (3rd-best on staff), also ranking 3rd on team in opponent batting with runners on (.242), plus 4th in opponent 2-out batting (.222) and opponent leadoff on-base pct. (.313; 2.8 per 9 IP) … RH batters hit .249 vs. him … posted 8-plus Ks in 10 of his 15 appearances during the 2006 season … pitched well enough to win his first two starts of the season, instead picking up no-decisions in losses to Oklahoma (3-4; in Millington, Tenn.; 5 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 8 Ks) and Arizona (0-2, in 10; at Metrodome; 6 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 10 Ks) … posted pair of wins in his hometown of San Antonio, vs. Iowa (6 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks; 16-2) and Southern Illinois (8 IP, 2 R, 7 H, BB, 8 Ks; 12-2) … beat Pittsburgh in first home series of the season (7 IP, R, 4 H, BB, 9 Ks; 4-3) before winning 10-1 series finale at South Florida (8 IP, R, 4 H, BB, 4 Ks) … pitched well but had no-decision in 7-5 series finale vs. St. John’s (7 IP, 2 R, 6 H, 4 BB, 7 Ks) … notched his ninth win of 2006 in final regular-season series, posting 6-2 road victory over Villanova (7.2 IP, 2 R/1 ER, 5 H, BB, 6 Ks) … pitched in postseason losses to St. John’s at BIG EAST Tournament (2 IP, 5 R, 6 H, 2 BB, K; 1-10) and vs. Kentucky in NCAA Lexington Regional (3.2 IP, 6 R/3 ER, 3 H, 7 BB, 8 Ks out of bullpen; 4-10).
Jeff Manship's Notre Dame Career Stats
Year ERA W-L App GS CG SHO/CBO SV IP H R ER BB SO 2B 3B HR BF B/Avg WP HBP SFA SHA
2004 (dnp due to injury)
2005.... 3.97 2-1 12 7 0 0/1 1 22.2 24 11 10 10 20 4 0 0 103 .270 6 1 1 2
2006.... 3.26 9-2 15 14 0 0/0 0 94.0 78 40 34 28 111 11 1 7 391 .223 4 6 1 6
TOTAL... 3.39 11-3 27 21 0 0/1 1 116.2 102 51 44 38 131 15 1 7 494 .232 10 7 2 8