Pilk not resting last summer probably dropped him from 1st round to 8th-to-12th round. He may have to come back to make a run at a top round.
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Pilk not resting last summer probably dropped him from 1st round to 8th-to-12th round. He may have to come back to make a run at a top round.
Talent is talent. Matters not that it?s JUCO or high school. Check Mike Helman?s numbers at Texas A&M. The best hitter in this conference and he?s a JUCO from Hutchinson CC. I watched that kid play last summer. Plus plus hit tool. Had 17 pitch AB against us. We have been spotty with signing high school talent and DEVELOPING that talent. Identifying talent and then DEVELOPING that talent is critical.
We have had one All-American that played JUCO baseball before coming to MSU- Buck Showalter. The last MSU player to start out in JUCO come to MSU and make it to MLB- Bobby Thigpen.
We have done a MUCH better job of developing high school talent than we have trying to band aid our draft losses with JUCO players. There may be exceptions such as Helman- but they are rare and are exceptions. See Renfroe, Rooker, Dakota Hudson, Adam Frazier, Kendall Graveman and others. Our best players as far as the upperclassmen are the ones that we picked up from high schools.
Also the same studies that have shown that going to college gives you a better chance of making it to MLB have also shown that the path that is least likely to get you to MLB is through JUCO.
I think Pilk will be back if his grade really has dropped that far. Doesnt make sense to come out early if you are drafted out of the top 5 rounds.
I stick by my take that Luke might be the slowest short stop in the SEC. He lets a lot more balls by him/infield singles than I remember an MSU shortstop giving up in my lifetime.. Maybe I'm plain wrong.. but tonight was a prime example.
Much better at 3rd base
We had one year where the JUCO's worked out well for us and we won the SEC. That would qualify as an exception. We've also had the 2014 team with JUCO's that struggled at the plate, the 2015 team with JUCO's that had a losing season, and right now we only have one JUCO that has contributed consistently all year on our current team at a consistent reasonable level the past two seasons in Gilbert.
Lowe and Kruger were also D-I players before they went JUCO and we picked them up. We've actually had better success with grad transfers overall in a very small sample size- France and Neff- than we have with JUCO players.
There are good JUCO players out there but we rely on them way too much. I'd much rather take a guy like Cody Brown out of high school, redshirt them and develop them. On the high end of that Rooker and Renfroe were players that we developed as well.
Do y'all think Pilk is having issues or that maybe he's a guy you just have to watch his pitch count and pull him at the right time?
I think he’s a guy who has lost some confidence and has struggled to throw strikes all year which has driven up his pitch count. I think Henderson has no idea how to recognize what pitches are working, what Pilk feels good with, and especially has no idea when to take him out. I think Henderson should start seeing what his gut says and do the opposite. He would be much more successful.