Baseball recruiting gurus...Todd, 8Dogg, etc.....
- Thread starter spacecataz
- Start date
They have had guys drafted in the top 5 rounds and turn down the cash to go or stay in college. When you have three or four years of guys saying "17 you" to the draft out of high school and they are studs, this is what you get. Depth and extreme talent across the board.
Seems like we still recruit to our "Tradition" AND our Ball park...
Problems are...guys like the ones playing at Florida, LSU, Arkansas.South Carolina all have a little tradition of going to Omaha themselves. So "tradition" ain't gonna get guys like Tucker, Randall and Zunina to MSU.
Another problem is that you only play half your SEC games at Dudy Noble, so how does recruiting for that Ball Park alone translate to SEC success? I saymove the fences in and recruit like the guys with smaller parks do. Let's face it, we could score 10 runs today and lose, but....but...I like our chances in making up 4, 5 or 6 run deficits when we have the higher % chance of hitting the 3 run dinger. And since we can't seem to get the Top 3 to 5 round HS player to forego Pro ball and come play in Starkville, we may need to go hard after guys with gaudy numbers in average parks in HS. Just a few thoughts and probably not worth much around here.
When was the last year MSU actually had a winning SEC record? When was the last time MSU won at least 18 SEC games?
And.....how bad were the Atlanta Regional participants?
Problems are...guys like the ones playing at Florida, LSU, Arkansas.South Carolina all have a little tradition of going to Omaha themselves. So "tradition" ain't gonna get guys like Tucker, Randall and Zunina to MSU.
Another problem is that you only play half your SEC games at Dudy Noble, so how does recruiting for that Ball Park alone translate to SEC success? I saymove the fences in and recruit like the guys with smaller parks do. Let's face it, we could score 10 runs today and lose, but....but...I like our chances in making up 4, 5 or 6 run deficits when we have the higher % chance of hitting the 3 run dinger. And since we can't seem to get the Top 3 to 5 round HS player to forego Pro ball and come play in Starkville, we may need to go hard after guys with gaudy numbers in average parks in HS. Just a few thoughts and probably not worth much around here.
When was the last year MSU actually had a winning SEC record? When was the last time MSU won at least 18 SEC games?
And.....how bad were the Atlanta Regional participants?
<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9pt">But they were ranked as the #1 class.
The Gators had seven signees from that 2009June Draft
Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) was chosen in the 27th round with the 817th choice by the Los Angeles Dodgers
Michael Heller (Bradenton, Fla.) was taken in the 29th round with the 865th pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates,
Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.)was tabbed 873rd overall in the 30th round by the Oakland Athletics,
Bryson Smith (Watkinsville, Ga.) was chosen by the Cleveland Indians in the 30th round with the 905th choice,
Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.) was taken in the 37th round by the Tampa Bay Rays at number 1,129,
Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) was chosen by the Kansas City Royals with the 1,382nd pick in the 46th round
Steven Rodriguez (Miami, Fla.) went 1,451st overall to the Houston Astros during the 48th round.
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The Gators had seven signees from that 2009June Draft
Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) was chosen in the 27th round with the 817th choice by the Los Angeles Dodgers
Michael Heller (Bradenton, Fla.) was taken in the 29th round with the 865th pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates,
Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.)was tabbed 873rd overall in the 30th round by the Oakland Athletics,
Bryson Smith (Watkinsville, Ga.) was chosen by the Cleveland Indians in the 30th round with the 905th choice,
Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.) was taken in the 37th round by the Tampa Bay Rays at number 1,129,
Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) was chosen by the Kansas City Royals with the 1,382nd pick in the 46th round
Steven Rodriguez (Miami, Fla.) went 1,451st overall to the Houston Astros during the 48th round.
</span>
Big money is starting to flow into college baseball, like college football. It's not as noticeable in baseball,like football. to give players extra 'benefits'.
"Padres GM Jed Hoyer told XX Sports Radio in San Diego that the Padres had a verbal agreement with Karsten Whitson
for $1.953MM on draft day. The club boosted its offer as high as
$2.1MM, but Whitson and his representatives were holding out for more,
so the sides didn't reach a deal."
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/karsten-whitson/
for $1.953MM on draft day. The club boosted its offer as high as
$2.1MM, but Whitson and his representatives were holding out for more,
so the sides didn't reach a deal."
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/karsten-whitson/
Their talent is much better than where they were drafted.
I know that some people will see signability as a cop out when it comes to baseball recruiting when recruits are drafted lower than expected, but there is truth to it.
I know that some people will see signability as a cop out when it comes to baseball recruiting when recruits are drafted lower than expected, but there is truth to it.
that Florida had a losing season. They went 29-30 in 2007. So, if we recruit well, we can build up to where they, South Carolina, and Vandy are. But to get to that level is going to take a couple of years.
That's not saying that we shouldn't compete and be good at all- in fact, we should continue to build on what we did this year. That may mean winning a SR and going to the CWS, winning the SEC West or SEC or SEC Tournament, host a regional, etc. But where Florida is right now is National Championship level.
One thing that stands out to me about Florida is how competitive they are to go along with their talent. If AP thought that we were running it up on them, they would have packed their toys and left Gainesville today. And no, that's not me complaining about how Florida played today at all- that's me calling AP pussies. But now that I've taken my potshot at the pornstars, back to my point about Florida being competitive- that's the type of player that we are bringing in right now.
We had to bring in a bunch of JUCO's to try to bridge the gap between Polk's classes and Cohen's classes- and they've done a pretty respectable job, as well as a couple of freshmen and Polk leftovers. What's next for us is to get to the point where we have juniors and seniors that were recruited by Cohen out of high school and have been here 3-4 four years.
It takes time to get to National Championship level. For example- Skip Bertman didn't win his first NC until 1991- after he had been at LSU for seven seasons. Ray Tanner won one last year after being at USC for 10 years. And yeah, someone could win one in their first year, but more than likely they're taking over a program that's in really good shape to start with like a Texas or Miami.
That's not saying that we shouldn't compete and be good at all- in fact, we should continue to build on what we did this year. That may mean winning a SR and going to the CWS, winning the SEC West or SEC or SEC Tournament, host a regional, etc. But where Florida is right now is National Championship level.
One thing that stands out to me about Florida is how competitive they are to go along with their talent. If AP thought that we were running it up on them, they would have packed their toys and left Gainesville today. And no, that's not me complaining about how Florida played today at all- that's me calling AP pussies. But now that I've taken my potshot at the pornstars, back to my point about Florida being competitive- that's the type of player that we are bringing in right now.
We had to bring in a bunch of JUCO's to try to bridge the gap between Polk's classes and Cohen's classes- and they've done a pretty respectable job, as well as a couple of freshmen and Polk leftovers. What's next for us is to get to the point where we have juniors and seniors that were recruited by Cohen out of high school and have been here 3-4 four years.
It takes time to get to National Championship level. For example- Skip Bertman didn't win his first NC until 1991- after he had been at LSU for seven seasons. Ray Tanner won one last year after being at USC for 10 years. And yeah, someone could win one in their first year, but more than likely they're taking over a program that's in really good shape to start with like a Texas or Miami.
Whitson's parents are Gators grads (as are a ton of his family) and they have plenty of $$. The kid grew up a Gator fan his entire life and he went to the national championship games for football. What's wrong with him following his dream?
Todd4State said:
This happened to at least 5 guys that I knew well. Top 5 roundish guys that ended up going 25th round on down. People don't realize how quickly teams get gun-shy on potential signability issues with early round picks. The offered signing bonus tells the REAL story...not the round of the pick. None of these guys were saying that "I'm going to college, that's it" but more along the lines of "draft me where I deserve to go, then we will talk." Cumulatively, they still turned down ~ 1.5mil out of highschool and all went to college, so I guess the teams had it right from the beginning.
The draft is just another baseball version of "recruiting rankings." Guys that go really high, you can feel good about if they come to campus. Going lower means less than nothing...when it comes to actual talent.
recruiting classes at State have stacked up. I'd be interested in knowing a year-by-year list, with positions and draft rank (if drafted at all). From what I remember vaguely of a lot of his players in his first two classes... it's that most of them haven't panned out very well and have left the program. Luke Bole comes to mind.... as does CC Watson on a lesser scale.<div>
</div><div>Which one of you internet wizards can put that together?</div>
</div><div>Which one of you internet wizards can put that together?</div>
And the Yankees- his Dad and Steinbrenner didn't get along too well, from what I recall. Ed Whitson, his Dad, didn't play baseball in college, which is interesting to me.
What a lot of people don't realize about the draft is they give you a bonus- usually less than a million dollars- and after that, you get paid your minor league salary, which is not very much at all. A lot of guys get out of baseball broke and without a degree to get a job.
They do offer pay for your college, but a lot of these players- even ones that made it to the Big Leagues- get out of baseball and they don't go back because by that time a lot of them have a wife and kids, and it's really hard to ask them to wait it out for four years when you're broke while you get your degree.
That happened to my uncle- he got out of baseball at age 30 and he ended up working in a hardware store. Eventually, he got back into coaching at the minor league level and now he sells um........ protective equipment for athletes and the army.
But nowadays, you can get your degree or a lot of it in three years, get out of baseball, only have to finish up your last year- which is a lot better than having to go for four. Plus, having seen SEC baseball and rookie ball in the Pioneer League- I would MUCH rather play at MSU or Kentucky for that matter than go through that for a couple of years.
If I was a baseball player, I would definately go play in the SEC if at all possible out of high school.
What a lot of people don't realize about the draft is they give you a bonus- usually less than a million dollars- and after that, you get paid your minor league salary, which is not very much at all. A lot of guys get out of baseball broke and without a degree to get a job.
They do offer pay for your college, but a lot of these players- even ones that made it to the Big Leagues- get out of baseball and they don't go back because by that time a lot of them have a wife and kids, and it's really hard to ask them to wait it out for four years when you're broke while you get your degree.
That happened to my uncle- he got out of baseball at age 30 and he ended up working in a hardware store. Eventually, he got back into coaching at the minor league level and now he sells um........ protective equipment for athletes and the army.
But nowadays, you can get your degree or a lot of it in three years, get out of baseball, only have to finish up your last year- which is a lot better than having to go for four. Plus, having seen SEC baseball and rookie ball in the Pioneer League- I would MUCH rather play at MSU or Kentucky for that matter than go through that for a couple of years.
If I was a baseball player, I would definately go play in the SEC if at all possible out of high school.
the last few years under ole Ronnie widened the gap between MSU and the top tier teams in the country, that it will take many, many more years to build up the talent pool such as Florida. Biggest blow to our program was allowing him to return after he left it hanging the first time. Unless there is an Act of God the next two days, I don't see the gap even slacking up a bit in the next couple years. Make Omaha this year and you'll turn a few heads and recruits.
And thank God, at least we actually pitched around Zunino one time today. Guess they've worked on that since the Mahtook fiasco and souvenir display.
And thank God, at least we actually pitched around Zunino one time today. Guess they've worked on that since the Mahtook fiasco and souvenir display.