WATERLOO - With a 68-game schedule and possibly five to six playoff contests, a player can log more than 600 innings during a summer in the Northwoods League.

While it's a benefit for some, particularly freshmen who didn't see much playing time in the spring, it can be taxing on a pitcher who just finished a five-month college season.

"As a college baseball coach, I wish they had less games," former University of Northern Iowa baseball coach Rick Heller said. "I wish it was more about player development than about putting people in the seats and making money."

Heller admits that's selfish thinking, but he's seen too many players on his roster or incoming recruits overused in the league.

During Heller's last seven seasons at UNI, the program had 21 offseason surgeries - many resulting from injuries in summer leagues.

"Unless we know the pitching coach or know the coach in the league well, we don't send any pitchers to that league just because of the number of games they play," Heller said. "You have to have a lot of trust in the manager.

"For me, it's pretty scary.

"Whether there's 8,000 people in the stands at Madison or 20 people watching a men's league in Cascade, you're out there to get better for the college season. You want to win and play hard, but when you're at pitch 125 in the seventh inning and they're willing to stretch you for a complete game, that's too much."

To avoid that, some programs won't send any of their top starters out. Creighton, meanwhile, pulled all its pitchers from the Northwoods League on July 1.

Most college coaches give the NWL franchises specific instructions on how to use their pitchers, whether it be the maximum number of innings for the summer or pitch counts per outing.

"It puts us in a tough spot," Bucks field manager Pete Lauritson said. "When you develop those relationships with college coaches, you've got to be careful with who you deal with.

"There's a couple schools in the SEC (Southeastern Conference) who won't let their players stay past a certain point. Those schools, we avoid."

Recruiting a team

Days after the NWL season is finished in mid-August, the Bucks begin the process of rebuilding their roster for the next summer.

"It's earlier and earlier each year," Bucks general manager Dan Corbin said. "We're on the phones making calls in August and September trying to find spots for players.

"I've got (college) coaches who call me in late October and early November wanting to get a couple guys on the team, and we're already full. We're just following the trend."

Corbin said "90 to 95 percent" of the players brought in to Waterloo are through word of mouth.

"Since I've been the GM, we haven't taken any trips to go out and specifically scout a player," said Corbin, in his fourth season as GM. "That's where the relationship comes in with guys from Illinois or Stanford."

That wasn't always the case.

Gary Rima, a former general manager of the Bucks, said he and then-field manager Darrell Handelsman did travel - especially around the Midwest - to watch players in the fall.

However, most of the roster was and is compiled through conversations with coaches and scouts on the phone.

"When Eric Snider (associate coach at Illinois) suggests he has players, we take whoever he sends us because we trust him," Lauritson said. "We concentrate on past relationships we've had."

For those programs where the relationship isn't as strong, the Bucks will contact scouts to see if the player is a good fit.

"You don't want to rely solely on first-hand information because some coaches do have their own agendas for a player," Lauritson said. "You have to rely on two or three different sources to get the information you need on a player."

Snider, a former Bucks manager, said, "A lot of it is trial and error. If a coach sent me a player that's not a good fit or not good enough, I wouldn't use that contact anymore."

When sending his players to certain NWL franchises, Snider tries to fit that player's strengths with the ballpark and/or manager.

"I'd have a tendency to send Darrell a couple relief pitchers and position players that could run," Snider said. "We've sent power hitters to Rochester where it's a shorter park. It's all about finding a good fit."

Heller said all his players wanted to play in Waterloo, but an NWL team can't have more than four players from the same college on its roster.

"It's harder and harder to place kids in the league," Heller said. "I wanted (Travis) Bennett (UNI outfielder) to play for the Bucks this year, but they already had five outfielders.

"There was nothing they could do based on numbers."

Because of that, Lauritson believes it's beneficial to leave several roster spots open until the spring. It gives the club flexibility to bring in a player who wasn't NWL-ready in the fall but blossomed in the spring.

Who to avoid?

The 2009 college baseball season didn't end until June 24. By that point, more than 20 games had been contested in the NWL.

Due to that, several teams avoid filling their roster with players on collegiate teams that have the potential to make a deep NCAA Tournament run.

"We take a conscious look at that," Corbin said. "We probably don't want to have more than five or six guys who are going to go deep into the College World Series."

Dave Parra, who managed at Rochester, took an opposite approach. He'd sign a slew of players from Florida and "cross his fingers they could get through the first half."

"My thinking is, we're building a team from the beginning of the season," Corbin said. "If you're just looking to win a Northwoods League title in the second half, you're putting all your eggs in one basket."

Heller and Snider believe many of the top-line players on elite college programs are almost burned out by late June.

"Winning in summer ball is all about finding kids that love to play and are tough," Heller said. "It's a grind, so you've got to get guys that want to be there and want to compete every day."

Sometimes, keeping talent is as difficult as finding it. Last year's Bucks had two of the top prospects in the NWL in Long Island University pitcher/first baseman James Jones and Dallas Baptist infielder Ryan Goins. Both could have returned to Waterloo this season, but both were selected in the fourth round of the Major League draft and signed professional contracts.

"The challenges of compiling a roster are entirely different now," Lauritson said. "There are more teams and more summer leagues trying to get these guys.

"Plus, the markets have changed. La Crosse and Madison just started after the Bucks won their last title (2002).

"The league is just a totally different beast."

Next: Even when they've struggled, the Bucks have continued to enjoy steady fan support at Riverfront Stadium. Clearly, it's not all about winning.