Graham Ashcraft vs Dakota Hudson 1:15 CST today

[missouridawg]

Nm

 

[57stratdawg]

Wish Ashcroft would have stuck around at MSU. He had great stuff.

 

[Go Budaw]

Wish Ashcroft would have stuck around at MSU. He had great stuff.

Probably wouldn’t have mattered. He also struggled at UAB and for the first year or two in the minors as well.

Here’s a great article on his development once the pitching coach in the minors helped him tap in to what he had. He was a classic case of a guy with elite tools that just needed to be a full time baseball player in the minors in order to harness them.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sp...her-graham-ashcraft-diamond-rough/7582478001/

 

[Smoked Toag]

Probably wouldn’t have mattered. He also struggled at UAB and for the first year or two in the minors as well.

Here’s a great article on his development once the pitching coach in the minors helped him tap in to what he had. He was a classic case of a guy with elite tools that just needed to be a full time baseball player in the minors in order to harness them.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sp...her-graham-ashcraft-diamond-rough/7582478001/

This is why all pitchers coming out of high school with 'tools' better go pro as fast as possible. And it's also why MLB really should be drafting them. Chances are low that they get much development in college, and the injury downside is significant.

 

[Go Budaw]

This is why all pitchers coming out of high school with 'tools' better go pro as fast as possible. And it's also why MLB really should be drafting them. Chances are low that they get much development in college, and the injury downside is significant.

It’s kind of case by case. Ashcraft was a 12th round pick out of high school. That’s very much in the gray area where the merits of going to college to potentially become a Top 3 round draft pick are certainly there. Even as it was where he had two hip surgeries and had major control issues (pretty much the worst case scenario for his college career), he still improved his draft stock by six rounds and made it to MLB by the time he was 24 in spite of losing a full minor league season in 2020. Certainly could have turned out worse for him.

It all boils down to a lot of variables….family financial security perhaps being one of the biggest. If a player knows he’s gonna be OK in that regard and can take the risk of a bigger initial payday vs. 2-3 years of not getting to the pros, it’s a good move. That initial signing bonus is really where you get to make hay as a young player. There’s guys that get drafted in the first round, make MLB in a year, then play 5 years….and they still don’t make as much in those 5 years combined as they did when they first signed the dotted line and got that bonus.

 

[Smoked Toag]

It’s kind of case by case. Ashcraft was a 12th round pick out of high school. That’s very much in the gray area where the merits of going to college to potentially become a Top 3 round draft pick are certainly there. Even as it was where he had two hip surgeries and had major control issues (pretty much the worst case scenario for his college career), he still improved his draft stock by six rounds and made it to MLB by the time he was 24 in spite of losing a full minor league season in 2020. Certainly could have turned out worse for him.

It all boils down to a lot of variables….family financial security perhaps being one of the biggest. If a player knows he’s gonna be OK in that regard and can take the risk of a bigger initial payday vs. 2-3 years of not getting to the pros, it’s a good move. That initial signing bonus is really where you get to make hay as a young player. There’s guys that get drafted in the first round, make MLB in a year, then play 5 years….and they still don’t make as much in those 5 years combined as they did when they first signed the dotted line and got that bonus.

Wish we had some stats on it. Seems like there's also a lot of Kumar Rocker's who would have gone high but then things get weird in college. Then again if you're that type of name you're likely gonna get drafted even with an injury (Ginn, Hoglund).

Now, a guy like Sims....obviously you go to college, as you don't have any choice. There's certainly going to be a lot of success stories, just out of sheer numbers. I'm really talking about those sure guys with tools, whether or not they are sure things like Rocker to the Cerantola, Woodruff, Ashcraft mold.

What gets me is the guys like Ben Joyce. His bio says he threw 100 in HS....where the hell was MLB? But apparently he wasn't a prospect at all, and didn't even play much in HS and JUCO, then had TJ. He's the exact type of guy that needs to be going pro early.

Bottom line if I was in that position I just don't know if I'd go to college to either get used and abused (if you're the sure thing), or sit the bench repeatedly when you walk a few guys (like Ashcraft). I do think a hitter can develop in college, but it doesn't seem like pitchers really get that benefit.