Baseball recruiting thoughts

[MsStateBaseball]

So our last 9 commits have been from out of state. Colorado, Miami Fl, Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, 3 from California. I love baseball recruiting bc we are getting them from 3 different classes. We have 14 for 2015, 4 each for 2016 and 2017. And it is never ending. The fall is prime time for kids to visit on the weekend to see the campus, football game and watch practice. We have gotten several LHP that are tall and rangy. I am thinking we won't be complaining about starting pitching in the future. The infusion of talent is the best we have had in a long, long time. One can only speculate if they will sign with MLB. Like I always say, they will sit down with mom and dad and discuss. Unless you are there with them, you don't know, unless they something publically, until then, enjoy that we have 5 star baseball players signing with us.

[State82]

I would rather have them committed than not. We have got to roll the dice on some of these guys every now and then or we will never get any of them to campus. Cohen ain't dumb. He knows his odds when he is making his final offers. Sure, we will get burned some but we have to start getting this caliber of player to DNF on a regular basis and he is making a good run at them now.

[maroonmania]

I would rather have them committed than not. We have got to roll the dice on some of these guys every now and then or we will never get any of them to campus. Cohen ain't dumb. He knows his odds when he is making his final offers. Sure, we will get burned some but we have to start getting this caliber of player to DNF on a regular basis and he is making a good run at them now.

I totally agree. We do need to be smart about the attitude of the kid toward going to school though when we are after them. Taking risks on guys and losing them to MLB for 500K+ is one thing but I don't want our staff spending a whole lot of time committing kids that are willing to turn pro and skip school for 170K like Dale Burdick did. That's chump change to major league organizations and puts our program in a bind for position planning for no good reason.

[AlSwearengen]

I assume most of these out of state kids are considerable draft risks (very highly rated). Will we hit our usual areas like MS, TN, and AL to fill out the classes with kids that probably won't be drafted so high that we have to worry about? Even if we don't hit on any of these high draft pick players, it should help having our name thrown around in the conversation of destination programs.

[Bully13]

what a difference it makes when the HC actually works at crootin'. with all the advantages we have established through history, this is looking very good. eventually we're going to start getting lucky and some of these are going to decide to hang out at DNF instead of the minors. education, DNF, college life and shit.

[maroonmania]

what a difference it makes when the HC actually works at crootin'. with all the advantages we have established through history, this is looking very good. eventually we're going to start getting lucky and some of these are going to decide to hang out at DNF instead of the minors. education, DNF, college life and shit.

Other than a signing bonus there is little to nothing attractive about life in the minor leagues.

[Bully13]

Other than a signing bonus there is little to nothing attractive about life in the minor leagues.

exactly. and our staff needs to convince these croots that coming to MSU will reduce the amount of time you have to spend in the minors. increase draft status, education if it doesn't work out and shit.

[messageboardsuperhero]

The LHPs that we are stockpiling for the future is really impressive- and that will pay dividends down the road. Padgett, Breaux, Pilkington in 2015; Whitman, Miller, Owen, Milligan, in 2016/2017. These are all elite talents, and this doesn't even include the several elite RHPs we have committed.

No, we obviously will never get everyone to campus. But the more high profile players you sign, the more likely you are to have some of them show up. The good news about the 2015 class is that there are no commits who I feel like we have 0% chance of getting to campus. Pickett will be the toughest- but he does have some MSU connections, and you NEVER turn down the power that he has.

[State82]

Other than a signing bonus there is little to nothing attractive about life in the minor leagues.

No doubt about that. Especially when you look at what part of that signing bonus actually ends up in the bank. Take out the government's cut, a new sled, a little bling and bam, it's gone. Then they can't live off a rookie league, A, AA salaries. Crappy way to have to make a living for 90% of them.

[Todd4State]

One interesting thing to look for is us getting more players from California. The three guys that we have committed that are from there are on the team that won the 16U PG tournament.

No doubt we have to recruit out of state for us to be an elite program simply because Mississippi doesn't produce enough to support an elite team because of the population being small here. That said, there is some elite talent in Mississippi and we need to continue to clean it up like we are doing this year and then mix in the Greg Pickett's and Hunter Stovall's. Going away from Mississippi talent is what got us in a rut under Polk- and it also hurt Ole Miss when they stopped in the mid 2000's as well.

I like stock-piling pitching because one, you never can have enough. And two, I've never seen a team win a NC without elite pitching. People can talk about home runs, bunting, advanced metrics, etc. but at the end of the day if your guy on the mound can shut down the opponent, you are most likely going to win.

[Todd4State]

The LHPs that we are stockpiling for the future is really impressive- and that will pay dividends down the road. Padgett, Breaux, Pilkington in 2015; Whitman, Miller, Owen, Milligan, in 2016/2017. These are all elite talents, and this doesn't even include the several elite RHPs we have committed.

No, we obviously will never get everyone to campus. But the more high profile players you sign, the more likely you are to have some of them show up. The good news about the 2015 class is that there are no commits who I feel like we have 0% chance of getting to campus. Pickett will be the toughest- but he does have some MSU connections, and you NEVER turn down the power that he has.

Interestingly enough, pitchers are more likely to go to school if they are drafted in the top 10 rounds when compared to high school hitters. Or so I read.

[messageboardsuperhero]

One interesting thing to look for is us getting more players from California. The three guys that we have committed that are from there are on the team that won the 16U PG tournament.

No doubt we have to recruit out of state for us to be an elite program simply because Mississippi doesn't produce enough to support an elite team because of the population being small here. That said, there is some elite talent in Mississippi and we need to continue to clean it up like we are doing this year and then mix in the Greg Pickett's and Hunter Stovall's. Going away from Mississippi talent is what got us in a rut under Polk- and it also hurt Ole Miss when they stopped in the mid 2000's as well.

I like stock-piling pitching because one, you never can have enough. And two, I've never seen a team win a NC without elite pitching. People can talk about home runs, bunting, advanced metrics, etc. but at the end of the day if your guy on the mound can shut down the opponent, you are most likely going to win.

I love it- there is just so much talent in California (especially on the mound). I'm extremely excited about us recruiting well out there. And FWIW, we've already gotten most of the elite college prospects off that team.

Gavin Collins's success has a lot to do with the interest we're getting out there, IMO- hopefully Dominguez does well too so we can continue making connections.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Something to consider for out of staters is that college is very expensive and even state schools are +30k in tuition especially up north. Paying in-state tuition at MSU is a huge savings for parents. I hope we are pitching the savings of a great MSU degree at a reasonable price.

[State82]

I like stock-piling pitching because one, you never can have enough. And two, I've never seen a team win a NC without elite pitching. People can talk about home runs, bunting, advanced metrics, etc. but at the end of the day if your guy on the mound can shut down the opponent, you are most likely going to win.

Bingo. Nailed it. Elite players on the mound is what it takes to win a CWS. Cohen/Thompson figured that out long ago. It's just a matter of keeping them healthy it seems. Both physically AND mentally.

[Todd4State]

I love it- there is just so much talent in California (especially on the mound). I'm extremely excited about us recruiting well out there. And FWIW, we've already gotten most of the elite college prospects off that team.

Gavin Collins's success has a lot to do with the interest we're getting out there, IMO- hopefully Dominguez does well too so we can continue making connections.

Yes, Tyler Lasch who is actually a C/INF/OF guy is 5'9", but he has a lot of power. He certainly could grow as well.

Believe it or not, the top prospect on that team is committed to UCLA I believe.

[Todd4State]

Bingo. Nailed it. Elite players on the mound is what it takes to win a CWS. Cohen/Thompson figured that out long ago. It's just a matter of keeping them healthy it seems. Both physically AND mentally.

That's another reason to stockpile them. In case Tommy John rears its ugly head.