A Beginning of An Era | 2019 IWL Season Preview

Written by Jacke Finne
Mar. 16, 2019
Although most of you most likely already know through social media, this evening, the commissioners posted the first video on the league YouTube channel and you can go check it out now.

The video is hopefully the first of many on the channel, so make sure to subscribe to be able to keep up with the content. As some may know, the commissioners are planning on having all of the games recorded to be able to post onto YouTube. Eventually, the games may be live-streamed on the channel, so if you want to check those out, stay tuned to the IWL's YouTube channel. You can scroll down to the bottom of the page and press the YouTube emblem, or you can click the link right here. Also, you can get the link to a certain video by going to the newly created "Videos" tab, which can direct to the specific video you're looking for.

Anyways, I hope you all are ready for the Beginning of the Indianapolis Wiffleball League and the Beginning of an Era.


Jake Fine's Mock Draft 2.0

Written by Jacke Finne
Mar. 14, 2019
Jake Fine
Captain of the Ironmen
and Co-Commissioner
After roughly a week, Jake Fine has sent in his second version of his Mock Draft, with some slight adjustments. As we said in the last one, for those of you out there who want to make one, too, just send an email to indywiffleofficial@gmail.com with your list and we'll add it to the website.

Captain of the Ironmen and co-commissioner, Jake Fine, has sent in his second Mock Draft for the 2019 season. As it is his second, we have decided to slap on the 2.0 at the end of the name. Essentially, in this Mock Draft, don't expect too much to change because we haven't had a chance to play to really see who are the better players and who are the not-so-better players. Really, Fine is just guesstimating at this point and going off of what the players have said about how well they play. Once we get into some gameplay and the IWL combine kicks off in late March to early April, we'll see who drops where. Additionally, some players may lose some positions in their draft stock because they have stated they may not show up to a couple games due to vacation, summer school, and other events of the sort.

Jake Fine's 2019 IWL Mock Draft 2.0
Round Pick Name Team
Rd. Ovr.
1 1 1 Cameron Smith Naptown Nighthawks
1 2 2Sam Bella Indy Ironmen
1 3 3 Matthew Klein Circle City Crusaders
1 4 4 Jack Gibson Hoosier State Hillcats
2 1 5 Jack French Hoosier State Hillcats
2 2 6 Jack Marshall Circle City Crusaders
2 3 7 Logan Tetrault Indy Ironmen
2 4 8 Evan Huff Naptown Nighthawks
3 1 9 Bo Marker Naptown Nighthawks
3 2 10 Carter Schaffer Indy Ironmen
3 3 11 Sam ReedCircle City Crusaders
3 4 12 Teagan Cohen Hoosier State Hillcats
4 1 13 Ian Houle Hoosier State Hillcats
4 2 14 Matt Harvey Circle City Crusaders
4 3 15 Alex Tabor Indy Ironmen
4 4 16 Will Harvey Naptown Nighthawks
5 1 17 Sebastian Alford Naptown Nighthawks
5 2 18 Loïck Trampont Indy Ironmen
5 3 19 John ChurchmanCircle City Crusaders
5 4 20Ansel Hendrix Hoosier State Hillcats
The recruitment stage has been completed for the IWL, so the field is set for the IWL draft to take place. Before that, however, the captains and the commissioners will be holding an evaluation session at the to-be-determined location for the league's games. As we move on, Cameron Smith is still at number one, as he was in Fine's first Mock Draft, who Fine believes is still arguably the best player in the draft

From there, he had the Ironmen selecting Sam Bella and the Crusaders picking Matthew Klein. The Hillcats pick Jack Gibson and Jack French back-to-back, and the Crusaders pick up Jack Marshall (for three straight picks with kids named Jack). Originally, Fine had Jack French and Jack Marshall in front of Jack Gibson in the first round, but he has since switched put Jack Gibson into 4th. Additionally, Sam Bella and Matthew Klein swapped places.

From there, the second round continues as Logan Tetrault gets signed by the Ironmen, and Evan Huff and Bo Marker get picked by the Nighthawks in back-to-back picks. Carter Schaffer gets picked by the Ironmen, and Sam Reed gets picked by the Crusaders. Teagan Cohen and Ian Houle make their first appearances in the mock draft, as they both get signed by the Hillcats. Sam Reed slid down from the 7th pick all the way down to the 11th pick, mostly due to the fact he claims he will be out of town for most of the summer. Additionally, Evan Huff, and Bo Marker both shoot up in the draft. Carter Schaffer also slid down due to a trip at the beginning of the summer and summer school in the latter half.

Matt Harvey gets picked by the Crusaders, while Alex Tabor gets picked by the Ironmen. Finally, to round out the fourth round, Will Harvey picked by the Nighthawks. Matt Harvey falls into 14th. Alex Tabor also slides down into 15th, due to the crushing blow to Tabor's case that he actually doesn't have too much baseball experience and claims that he has poor hand-eye coordination. Honestly, he's lucky to be in 15th.

In the first mock draft with the fifth round, we have three additions to the draft. Sebastian Alford gets picked by the Nighthawks with the 17th pick, and Loïck Trampont slides down into 18th, which is a pick by the Ironmen. John Churchman and Ansel Hendricks finish the draft off, getting picked by the Crusaders and the Hillcats, respectively.

As I said before, if anybody would like to send in a Mock Draft, let us know by emailing us at indywiffleofficial@gmail.com.

Alex Tabor's Mock Draft 1.0

Written by Jacke Finne
Mar. 13, 2019
Alex Tabor
Future IWL Player
Alex Tabor has gotten into the mix, with a mock draft of his own. A future player in the IWL, he's the freshman goalkeeper at Brebeuf, who is most infamous for allowing 7 goals in a single game. Maybe his poor performance on the soccer pitch can translate to something good in the wiffleball field? Ehh, probably not.

Either way, he was generous in his picking of the mock draft, as he put himself in the late first round. We'll have to see how his picks work out in the upcoming IWL draft – the first of its kind. The commissioners and the captains are still debating whether or not the draft will be live-streamed via Instagram or even YouTube, or whether they will create a video and post it on a later date. We'll see, but let's get into Alex Tabor's 2019 IWL Mock Draft 1.0.

Before we begin, as a disclaimer, this was made before the additions of those who are interested.

Alex Tabor's 2019 IWL Mock Draft 1.0
Round Pick Name Team
Rd. Ovr.
1 1 1 Sam Bella Naptown Nighthawks
1 2 2 Jack French Indy Ironmen
1 3 3 Bo Marker Circle City Crusaders
1 4 4 Alex Tabor Hoosier State Hillcats
2 1 5 Cameron Smith Hoosier State Hillcats
2 2 6 Carter Schaffer Circle City Crusaders
2 3 7 Sam ReedIndy Ironmen
2 4 8 Noah Skaggs Naptown Nighthawks
3 1 9 Evan Huff Naptown Nighthawks
3 2 10 Matthew Klein Indy Ironmen
3 3 11 Loïck Trampont Circle City Crusaders
3 4 12 Jack Gibson Hoosier State Hillcats
4 1 13 Matt Harvey Hoosier State Hillcats
4 2 14 Will Harvey Circle City Crusaders
4 3 15 Luke DeMilt Indy Ironmen
4 4 16 Jack Marshall Naptown Nighthawks
With the first pick, the Nighthawks select Sam Bella, in Tabor's Mock Draft. Jack French and Bo Marker are then picked by the Ironmen and the Crusaders, respectively. Alex Tabor and Cameron Smith are selected by the Hillcats, then Carter Schaffer is selected by the Crusaders. Sam Reed goes to the Ironmen, while Noah Skaggs and Evan Huff are picked by the Nighthawks. Matthew Klein gets picked by the Ironmen in the third round, and Loïck Trampont and Jack Gibson round off the third round, getting picked by the Crusaders and the Hillcats, respectively. Matt Harvey starts off the fourth round, and Will Harvey is then picked by the Crusaders. Finally, Luke DeMilt and Jack Marshall finish off the draft.

However, as I said, this mock draft was made before the addition of four players who are interested in playing this year, so this draft isn't up-to-date. Stay tuned for more mock drafts, this time containing the four players who expressed interest recently.

Connor Whaley's Mock Draft 1.0

Written by Jacke Finne
Mar. 11, 2019
Connor Whaley
Captain of the Crusaders
After the mock draft that was sent in by Jake Fine, we have had a couple more entries sent in to be put up on the website (Honestly, it's more really us just recruiting people to do it, so it's not just Fine every single time, making some tweaks here or there to his first entry).

As a disclaimer, since Fine's first entry, there have been four additions to the list of those who are interested. If you know anybody who may be interested in joining, send us an email (at indywiffleofficial@gmail.com) or DM us on Instagram (@indywiffleofficial). You can also contact us via Twitter (@IndyWiffle_) Make sure that they follow the guidelines of the IWL Rulebook in that they must be younger than 16 upon Opening Day, which will most likely be the first week or so of June. Additionally, if you would like to send in a mock draft for us to post, let us know by emailing us.

Also as a disclaimer, this mock draft was created prior to the additions of those who are interested. Anyways, let's get into Connor Whaley's 2019 IWL Mock Draft 1.0.

Connor Whaley's 2019 IWL Mock Draft 1.0
Round Pick Name Team
Rd. Ovr.
1 1 1 Sam Bella Naptown Nighthawks
1 2 2 Cameron Smith Indy Ironmen
1 3 3 Matthew Klein Circle City Crusaders
1 4 4 Jack Marshall Hoosier State Hillcats
2 1 5 Jack Gibson Hoosier State Hillcats
2 2 6 Jack French Circle City Crusaders
2 3 7 Carter Schaffer Indy Ironmen
2 4 8 Matt Harvey Naptown Nighthawks
3 1 9 Noah Skaggs Naptown Nighthawks
3 2 10 Will Harvey Indy Ironmen
3 3 11 Bo Marker Circle City Crusaders
3 4 12 Luke DeMilt Hoosier State Hillcats
4 1 13 Loïck Trampont Hoosier State Hillcats
4 2 14 Evan Huff Circle City Crusaders
4 3 15 Alex Tabor Indy Ironmen
4 4 16 Sam Reed Naptown Nighthawks
In Connor Whaley's mock draft, the Nighthawks select Sam Bella with the first pick of the IWL Draft. With the following pick, the Ironmen sign Cameron Smith, followed by Matthew Klein getting picked by the Crusaders. The Hillcats select Jack Marshall and Jack Gibson with the last pick in the first round and the second pick in the second round. The Crusaders select Jack French with the Ironmen picking Carter Schaffer with the pick after. Matt Harvey and Noah Skaggs are picked by the Nighthawks in successive picks, while the Ironmen select Will Harvey with the 10th pick of the draft. Bo Marker is picked by the Crusaders, and then Luke DeMilt and Loïck Trampont are picked by the Hillcats. Evan Huff is picked by the Crusaders, and Alex Tabor is selected by the Ironmen. Finally, Sam Reed is selected by the Nighthawks with the final pick in the draft.

Way-Too-Early Power Rankings 2.0

Written by Jacke Finne
Mar. 10, 2019
With these power rankings, we actually have some sort of direction. You would think that the teams with higher draft picks would ultimately be better than those with the lower picks – and that's essentially what we're going off of. In addition to the actual rankings, we will be giving projected records for each of the teams, to give an additional prediction to where the teams will end up.

As I said before, we're essentially rankings these teams based on who gets what pick. Expect to literally see the teams in order of the picks that they get because I'm too lazy to actually come up with reasons to rank a team a certain way.

If you want to check out the original power rankings before you go through these, you can click here to get there. Now that we've gotten the basics out of the way, here are the Way-Too-Early Power Rankings 2.0.
  1. Naptown Nighthawks (0-0) – With the first pick in the draft, the Nighthawks can get the best player in the draft, who is arguably Cameron Smith. If captain of the Nighthawks, Nate Killeen, uses his pick wisely, he can get a head start on the other teams and take a big leap towards grabbing the first-ever regular season title and even possibly the first-ever IWL World Series title.  Even without another pick for seven picks, the Nighthawks are in a good position to take hold of an easy lead with the best player in the draft. Projected Record: 12-6 — Previous Ranking: 3rd
  2. Indy Ironmen (0-0) – With the second pick in the draft, the Ironmen can pick up a solid player that captain Jake Fine can utilize. After a seemingly obvious pick in Smith, Fine has literally anybody to choose from, whether it be Matthew Klein or Jack Gibson. The Ironmen have the ability to take a shot at the Nighthawks with a solid player, but, ultimately, I believe that the Nighthawks will trip them up and prevent them from obtaining the IWL regular season crown. Projected Record: 11-7 — Previous Ranking: 4th
  3. Circle City Crusaders (0-0) – Even with arguably the worst picks in the draft, the Crusaders look to be in a solid position to fight for a .500 season. The experience of Connor Whaley will ultimately be a game changer, as I believe Whaley has what it takes to take the Crusaders places. Watch out for a dark horse run out of the Crusaders later this summer in the IWL playoffs. Projected Record: 8-10 — Previous Ranking: 2nd
  4. Hoosier State Hillcats (0-0) – Even though the Hillcats don't get a pick until the end of the first round, the fact that they start off the second round is huge. However, even with this, the Hillcats don’t look like they’re in the best of positions. They get the chance to pick up the fourth and fifth best players for some consistency on the team, which is great, but I don’t think it’ll ultimately be enough to provide the Hillcats with a ton of wins. Their season won’t be for naught, however, with captain Grady Hadar at the helm. Projected Record: 5-13 — Previous Ranking: 1st
This will most likely be the last of the Way-Too-Early Power Rankings unless something major happens in the next couple weeks leading into the draft. I'll continue to do power rankings throughout the course of the season.

Rebranding Two Months In – A Special Thanks to Circle City Wiffleball!

Written by Jacke Finne
Mar. 8, 2019
After roughly two months into the league's history where the league was a known entity, we have our first official logo. Thanks to the guys over at Circle City Wiffleball for the amazing new look for us! If you haven't already (and we have no idea how you wouldn't have already), go check them out – they're a wonderful group of guys who really exemplify the sport of wiffleball. They've been extremely welcoming in the world of Indiana Wiffleball and we can't thank these guys enough!

Now: some in-depth analysis on our new (wonderful) logo. The league colors, navy and orange, are the center-point of the logo through the Indianapolis skyline. The overlay of the giant wiffleball over the skyline looks somehow both ominous and beautiful. Like a huge wiffleball monster is walking towards the city. Then the acronym of the Indianapolis Wiffleball League, IWL, underneath the skyline really wraps up the logo nicely. Overall, it's amazing (I can't say that enough) and we're really grateful for the guys over at Circle City.

Carter Schaffer's Mock Draft 1.0

Written by Jacke Finne
Mar. 8, 2019
Carter Schaffer
Future IWL Player
After he saw the mock draft sent in by Jake Fine, Carter Schaffer decided to send in his own mock draft. A future player of the IWL, this is Schaffer's first appearance on the website for anything (Honestly, I forced him to make one, but it's all good – sorry, Carter).

Schaffer knows about half of the players' abilities and he hasn't met the other half, so this could either go terribly, or he could get lucky and get some things right. Hopefully, it goes well for him and Carter gets some of these right.

Alright, enough of the dilly-dally. Here is Carter Schaffer's 2019 IWL Mock Draft 1.0.

Carter Schaffer's 2019 IWL Mock Draft 1.0
Round Pick Name Team
Rd. Ovr.
1 1 1 Sam Reed Naptown Nighthawks
1 2 2 Noah Skaggs Indy Ironmen
1 3 3Cameron Smith Circle City Crusaders
1 4 4 Evan Huff Hoosier State Hillcats
2 1 5 Carter Schaffer Hoosier State Hillcats
2 2 6Matthew Klein Circle City Crusaders
2 3 7 Loïck Trampont Indy Ironmen
2 4 8 Sam Bella Naptown Nighthawks
3 1 9 Jack Gibson Naptown Nighthawks
3 2 10 Alex Tabor Indy Ironmen
3 3 11 Jack French Circle City Crusaders
3 4 12 Jack Marshall Hoosier State Hillcats
4 1 13 Will Harvey Hoosier State Hillcats
4 2 14Matt Harvey Circle City Crusaders
4 3 15 Bo Marker Indy Ironmen
4 4 16 Luke DeMilt Naptown Nighthawks
Schaffer went with Sam Reed at 1 and Noah Skaggs at 2, followed by Cameron Smith to Crusaders, and Evan Huff and himself to the Hillcats. Matthew Klein is sent to the Crusaders, as Loïck Trampont is picked by the Ironmen. Sam Bella and Jack Gibson are picked by the Nighthawks in successive picks, while Alex Tabor is picked by the Ironmen in the third round. Jack French gets picked by the Crusaders, and Jack Marshall and Will Harvey are picked by the Hillcats. Matt Harvey gets selected by the Crusaders, with Bo Marker and Luke DeMilt rounding out the draft with picks by the Ironmen and the Nighthawks, respectively.

Jake Fine's Mock Draft 1.0

Written by Jacke Finne
Mar. 6, 2019
Jake Fine
Captain of the Ironmen
and Co-Commissioner
As we inch closer and closer to the undetermined date of the 2019 IWL Draft, it's about time we start rolling out these Mock Drafts. For those of you out there (are any of you out, to be honest?) who want to make one, too, just send an email to indywiffleofficial@gmail.com with your list and we'll add it to the website.

Now, captain of the Ironmen and co-commissioner, Jake Fine, (who has really been in the news lately) has sent in his 2019 Mock Draft, claiming it is the 1.0 version of just that. That makes us think here in the IWL Committee of Very Important and Very Smart Writing Committee (IWLVIVSWC, for short) believe that Fine will be pumping these out. Which is, in all honesty, good because we need content and we honestly think that no one has read anything on this website, except maybe Sam Skibbe(?) (and that's a stretch) (love you, by the way, Sam).

I digress. Here it is. Jake Fine's Official 2019 Mock Draft 1.0.

Jake Fine's 2019 IWL Mock Draft 1.0
Round Pick Name Team
Rd. Ovr.
1 1 1 Cameron Smith Naptown Nighthawks
1 2 2 Matthew Klein Indy Ironmen
1 3 3 Sam Bella Circle City Crusaders
1 4 4 Jack French Hoosier State Hillcats
2 1 5 Jack Marshall Hoosier State Hillcats
2 2 6 Jack Gibson Circle City Crusaders
2 3 7 Sam Reed Indy Ironmen
2 4 8 Bo Marker Naptown Nighthawks
3 1 9 Carter Schaffer Naptown Nighthawks
3 2 10 Evan Huff Indy Ironmen
3 3 11 Matt Harvey Circle City Crusaders
3 4 12 Noah Skaggs Hoosier State Hillcats
4 1 13 Alex Tabor Hoosier State Hillcats
4 2 14 Will Harvey Circle City Crusaders
4 3 15 Loïck Trampont Indy Ironmen
4 4 16 Luke DeMilt Naptown Nighthawks
Obviously, not everybody who the commissioners want to be able to recruit has agreed to join the league quite yet, but Fine has had to make do with the players that have shown interest. For Fine, he claims that Cameron Smith is an easy pick at number one, no matter who had the pick. With Smith's pitching ability and a solid bat, he could easily be a frontrunner for MVP and the Cy Young this year.

From there, he had the Ironmen selecting Matthew Klein and the Crusaders picking Sam Bella. The Hillcats pick Jack French and Jack Marshall back-to-back, and the Crusaders pick up Jack Gibson (for three straight picks with kids named Jack). Sam Reed gets signed by the Ironmen, and Bo Marker and Carter Schaffer get picked by the Nighthawks in back-to-back picks. Evan Huff gets picked by the Ironmen, and Matt Harvey gets picked by the Crusaders. Noah Skaggs gets signed by the Hillcats, and Alex Tabor gets picked in the Hillcats' successive pick. Will Harvey gets picked by the Crusaders, while Loïck (lou-EEK) Trampont gets picked by the Ironmen. Finally, Luke DeMilt gets picked by the Nighthawks.

As I said before, if anybody would like to send in a Mock Draft, let us know by emailing us at indywiffleofficial@gmail.com.

It's Official – The Ironmen are the 2019 IWL League Fan Favorites!

Written by Jacke Finne
Mar. 4, 2019
After a close battle between the Crusaders and the Ironmen, the Ironmen have been crowned as the official IWL Fan Favorite for the 2019 season. The tough battle culminated in a last-second push by the Ironmen, who ended up recruiting other leagues, such as the Uintah Blitzball League and the AE Blitzball League, to vote for them in the polls.

The Ironmen got off to a quick start, leading by a whopping 5 votes to none. The Crusaders then pulled a couple votes back, bringing the vote to a 7-2 lead for the Ironmen. Then, the Circle City squad brought in some heavy hitters, as Crusaders' captain, Connor Whaley, recruited friends and other accounts of his to vote for the Crusaders. At one point, the Crusaders actually brought the scoreline to a 9-9 tie. A last-minute surge by the Ironmen deflected this off, though, with votes from other recruits. At a final score of 12-9, the Ironmen gained their first title in the IWL, with the 2019 IWL Fan Favorite voting.

In other news, the 3rd-place match finished with the Nighthawks defeating the Hillcats, 14-8, in an impressive outing after a disappointed first matchup against the Ironmen. Additionally, the Ironmen surprised us with the overwhelming support after our Way-Too-Early rankings slotted the Ironmen back in fourth. Maybe we need to reconsider some things...

Fan Favorite Voting on Instagram and Some League Trash Talk – Go Vote Now!

Written by Jacke Finne
Mar. 2, 2019
Commissioner Jake Fine has taken it upon himself to figure out who the fans are going to be behind in this inaugural season for the Indianapolis Wiffleball League. Via the league's Instagram account's stories, Fine has set up polls, facing the rival Hillcats and Crusaders (the first proclaimed rivalry in the league's history) off against each other and the Nighthawks and the Ironmen together. As the Ironmen's captain, Fine may be a little biased against the other teams, but his banter on the stories are all in good fun.
Oh, wait...

You're not allowed to vote,
@sadie_blue1021...
Fine slammed the Nighthawks after the Nighthawks' account was shut down by Nighthawks' captain, Nate Killeen. The account was shut down after it was infested with... less than ideal fan accounts. Let's just say that it was probably hacked by people who aren't great role models. Even with these events occurring roughly two weeks ago, Killeen hasn't set up a replacement for the Nighthawks organization and it seems like Fine might be expecting a little bit more from Killeen.

Later on, Fine went at fellow commissioner and Hillcats' captain, Grady Hadar, and his girlfriend, Sadie Schmitt, who has been known to heckle other teams in the comments sections of the other teams. Schmitt has been banned from voting in these polls, as she breaks Section 4, Article 20 of the IWL Rulebook: "No team may have a fan base at all. In fact, no team is allowed to have contact with people at all." As a result, any submitted votes by Schmitt will be disallowed because, as stated, paying of a girlfriend to support your team is not allowed.

Fan Favorite – 2019 Edition
In serious news, the commissioner's fan favorite voting on Instagram is a nice outlook for how Instagram and the league's followers may react to certain results this upcoming season. You may expect to see more of these, as the season grows and expands and adds more teams, to see where the current state of the league is at. At the moment, it looks like the Ironmen are the most popular team in the league, with a whopping 9 votes over the Nighthawks' 4. The voting between the Hillcats and the Crusaders is unbelievably close, as the Crusaders lead by just a single vote, 8-7 – and that's without the reduction of a Schmitt's vote (she completely disobeyed Section 4, Article 20).

[EDIT: The Crusaders beat the Hillcats, 11-9, while the Ironmen dominated the Nighthawks, 13-6. The Ironmen are beating the Crusaders, 12-9, in the finals, and the Nighthawks are leading the Hillcats, 14-8, for third-place. Looks like the Ironmen are the most popular team in the league!]

Fine has confirmed that the voting will be a bracket. Immediately after this initial round, the winner between the Crusaders and the Hillcats and the winner between the Ironmen and the Nighthawks will face off in a final to determine the official fan favorite of the inaugural, 2019 season. "I can't wait to see what team the followers are looking forward to rooting for," said Fine. "It may be a little biased from the very beginning because one-fourth of the followers right now are captains or accounts of the captains or even the teams. Hopefully, when we get bigger and gain a following from the wiffleball community, these kinds of things will actually give us some insight on who the followers are rooting for."

And by the way. In case you haven't caught on yet. He was joking.
I'm joking.