Joe Maddon is running the liberal arts-focused 'Cubs University'

Joe Maddon is running 'Cubs University'

By Michael Clair

March 8, 2015

Going into 2015, the Cubs are among baseball's most exciting teams thanks in large part to their abundance of young, raw talent. In addition to players like Javier Baez (22 years old), Jorge Soler (23), Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro (both 25), top prospects Kris Bryant (23), Addison Russell (21) and Albert Almora (21) are knocking on the door.

It made manager Joe Maddon compare Spring Training to a university. Said the new skipper:

"It's almost like I'm like the head coach of a really good baseball university and it's really kind of neat."

And as for the course load:

"It's broad. We really promote liberal arts. We're a liberal arts education in baseball... You need a lefty out of the bullpen once in a while, but overall, the broader base you give your position players with a broader curriculum, I think you really develop a better baseball player."

And just what do the classes look like? Fortunately, we got a peek at the schedule:

M/W/F, 8:30 - 10:00: Fundamentals of Ground Balls 101

M/W, 11:00 - 2:30: Introduction to swing plane

M/W, 3:00 - 4:45: Statistics II: Calculating your WAR

T/R, 11:00 - 2:30: Stolen bases and society: A cultural study

T/R, 3:00 - 4:45: Existentialism on the ballfield: The search for meaning during a blowout

F, 12:00 - 2:30: LOOGYs, Texas Leaguers, and Deep Flies: Seminar on baseball terminology

Unfortunately, this school is even harder to get into than Harvard. And it doesn't even matter what your SAT scores were.