Winston a Baseball AA - Legit or Joke?

[BrunswickDawg]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/10401686/jameis-winston-florida-state-seminoles-named-preseason-all-american-baseball
Granted that it is just 3rd Team - but with such a limited body of work is he really one of the top 30 players in college baseball? Legit or Joke?

[CJDAWG85]

He's pretty good

[msstate7]

I don't doubt this kid at all.

[smootness]

It isn't a joke, he's a potential stud in baseball...was a potential 1st rounder in the draft out of HS had he not made it clear he was playing football.

That said, the prediction is based mostly on potential rather than proven production, but I don't think it has anything to do with his football success; he definitely has a chance to be that good in baseball.

[BrunswickDawg]

I just always have a hard time with limited samples. Since they are selected by "Baseball America annually polls major league scouting directors to vote on the team and make their selections based on performance, talent and professional potential", it makes some sense. Dude is a freak-elite athlete

[ShotgunDawg]

Winston is a very raw baseball player with some ability. He was no where close to being a 1st rounder two years ago, and would've like gone in the 4th or 5th round had he wanted to play baseball.

The problem with Winston's baseball future is that he isn't really that fast and doesn't hit for power. Therefore, he is a good athlete that's a tweener on the field. If he plays in the Major Leagues someday, it's much more likely that he does so as a relief pitcher. Don't buy the hype, Winston is a good athlete but hardly one of the best college players in the country.

[smootness]

Yeah, apparently BA had him ranked as the #59 overall player in the 2012 draft, so I guess by that point he wasn't really a potential 1st rounder, though he wasn't 4th or 5th, either. That draft slot would put him among the top few talents in college baseball.

But he was definitely a great runner before he gained weight, and I assume if he wanted to play baseball, he could easily slim down and gain all of his speed back as well. As it stands, he's still pretty good on the basepaths.

And while he doesn't have power now, based on his size and batspeed, he definitely projects to have power potential to go along with a cannon in RF. He's definitely a legitimate baseball talent.

[TexasDawg]

he was drafted in the 15th round out of high school