NORMAL — The offseason push has been on improving his team’s size, strength and speed. “Putting hay in the barn,” first-year Illinois State baseball coach Steve Holm calls it.
A former major-league catcher and Purdue assistant coach, Holm is not interested in getting the Redbirds to “buy in” after going 22-30 last season and 55-107 over the past three years.
Among the believers is junior center fielder John Rave, a former Central Catholic star who batted .347 last year with 19 doubles, eight home runs and 49 runs batted in. A 35th-round draft choice of the Boston Red Sox coming out of high school, Rave was a second-team all-Missouri Valley Conference pick and repeated on the league’s All-Defensive Team.