Day 2 MLB Draft wrap-up

[messageboardsuperhero]

Rounds 1-10 are done. It was mostly positive for us today.

The bad new is that I expect Pickett to go pro, and Fenter is up in the air. Leave it to Gene to jump the gun and say that he's coming when it's not a done deal yet. I still have hope, but IMO the O's don't draft Fenter there if they don't feel good about their chances of coming up with the money. Hopefully their other draftees have good agents that can get them close to the slot value- but the offer to Fenter is on the table and it's apparently a good one. Right now I'd put our chances of keeping him at about 25%.

The good news is that Marrero is still on the board, so I feel better about keeping him than I did this morning. Obviously we know Padett and Ford will be here, which is huge. Breaux will be here as well. It looks like we will likely keep Ethan Small, who I had previously not felt good about. People have also seemingly forgotten about several other commits we have that are going to be good- Barlow, Alexander, Stovall, Pilkington, Blaylock, James, Cyr, Lowe, etc. Most of them are good enough to be drafted and some of them might before it's said and done. I expect to keep all the ones in that group though.

The only ones to really keep and eye on at this point are the two who were drafted today (Fenter and Pickett), and Marrero and Small tomorrow. I don't like our chances with the first two- but I feel pretty good about the other two, unless Marrero just wants to go pro.

[RDawg90]

I'd be borderline shocked if we don't lose at least 3 of Fenter, Pickett, Marrero, and Small

[zdawg]

Respectfully,
I could very well be wrong, but I believe that you're going to be shocked.
The dawgs are going to be loaded with talent from this class. JMHO
It's a great time to be a MSU
Bulldog !!!

[HancockCountyDog]

Respectfully,
I could very well be wrong, but I believe that you're going to be shocked.
The dawgs are going to be loaded with talent from this class. JMHO
It's a great time to be a MSU
Bulldog !!!


https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/e0/e8/e3/e0e8e35e44080e2f80830e8c6a1ae2e4.jpg

[Homedawg]

Gene is even saying fenter is going to sign..... He should have let it play out before he opened his mouth, but oh well.

[CadaverDawg]

Gene is even saying fenter is going to sign..... He should have let it play out before he opened his mouth, but oh well.

I'm starting to think jumping the gun is a requirement to run our Scout.com site.

[Jacksondevildog]

Robbie Faulk did too but then he went into hiding when shit changed.
Gene is even saying fenter is going to sign..... He should have let it play out before he opened his mouth, but oh well.

[engie]

Matt Breen ‏@matt_breen 43m43 minutes ago
#Phillies believe that all their draft picks are signable. Even power hitting OF Greg Pickett. Other teams did not think he was

Doesn't seem like a guy that has been dead-set on going pro all along. We are going to have to wait and see.

[HancockCountyDog]

Robbie Faulk did too but then he went into hiding when shit changed.

You would think that they would learn that with the MLB draft, it's not over until the deadline passes.

[zdawg]

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/e0/e8/e3/e0e8e35e44080e2f80830e8c6a1ae2e4.jpg
Your barber is a genius ! Lol

[maroonmania]

Doesn't seem like a guy that has been dead-set on going pro all along. We are going to have to wait and see.

IMO Pickett is more important to this class than Fenter. With or without Fenter we have some very good pitchers coming in but nobody else brings the potential for hitting with power that Pickett does.

[Homedawg]

Pickett is going to sign.

[msstate7]

Pickett is going to sign.

So we're getting wiped out pretty much, huh?

[maroonmania]

So we're getting wiped out pretty much, huh?

Pretty much, I think this is my last year to even keep up with the draft. When you can still pay people way above their draft position its a waste of time because round doesn't mean much at all. Thought they changed a lot of that but there are so many loopholes its still a screwed up system. Maybe it means more outside the Top 10 rounds but inside whether you are second round or tenth round the teams can do pretty much what they want with their pool of money.

[msstate7]

Pretty much, I think this is my last year to even keep up with the draft. When you can still pay people way above their draft position its a waste because round doesn't mean much at all. Thought they changed a lot of that but there are so many loopholes its still a screwed up system. Maybe it means more outside the Top 10 rounds but inside whether you are second round or tenth round the teams can do pretty much what they want with their pool of money.

Keeping up with baseball recruiting is a complete waste of time

[5 Star]

This was a pretty good recruiting class before all those hotshots committed to us, keep that in mind. We have some damn good prospects signed from the state of Mississippi, and the guys I'm most fired up about are Keegan James and Hunter Stovall. They will impress.

Worst case scenario was always that we would lose these 6 guys: Marrero, Padgett, Ford, Small, Pickett, Riley. It appears we are probably going to lose 3, 4 at most (Marrero or Small). That's not a bad haul at all. It's actually a great haul, probably still Top Five.

[Todd4State]

Pretty much, I think this is my last year to even keep up with the draft. When you can still pay people way above their draft position its a waste of time because round doesn't mean much at all. Thought they changed a lot of that but there are so many loopholes its still a screwed up system. Maybe it means more outside the Top 10 rounds but inside whether you are second round or tenth round the teams can do pretty much what they want with their pool of money.

This is just the risk of doing business unfortunately. If we want to be a championship program we have to recruit these types of players- the only thing I'm not happy with Cohen about is not having a couple of mid-level Brent Rooker types at the corner positions to replace the elite guys in Riley and Pickett knowing their potential for leaving was fairly high all along. What it means is we will have to scrounge up the JUCO's for power hitters in a couple of years to replace them- or go with underclassmen who won't be ready yet. I'm not too worried about the pitchers because we have several that have the potential to be SEC weekend starters regardless of who does or doesn't sign.

The MLB draft is an archaic system that basically harkens back to a time when MLB could sign players out of semi-pro ball. There is no other sport in America where you can pick up a high school kid out of high school where they don't even go to college for at least a year. This despite overwhelming evidence that in general, going to college to play baseball is a better route than signing out of high school. I've always felt like MLB should not be allowed to draft high school kids- like you know, the other sports, and that they should at least go to college for three years.

All of this "life changing money" is a joke- especially when you consider that at age 23 you really would need to get at least 6 million to live on without working a day in your life. And that's IF you manage it well and don't overspend. The reality is you need to get at least 1-2 MLB contracts to earn enough money for it to be truly life changing.

The other thing that is a joke is all of the "well you get your college paid for". What they don't tell you is when you get out of pro ball at 26 after bouncing around for a few years and you've spent most all or all of your "life changing money"- you get to tell your former high school sweetheart that you want to go back to college for four years and you won't have much income during that time. And hopefully she won't leave. Kenny Powers the first season was accurate in some ways believe it or not.

[GreenheadDawg]

So in a couple hours the board goes from being excited to wanting to jump off the ledge. Who are we expecting to lose and when will we know for sure?

[Todd4State]

This was a pretty good recruiting class before all those hotshots committed to us, keep that in mind. We have some damn good prospects signed from the state of Mississippi, and the guys I'm most fired up about are Keegan James and Hunter Stovall. They will impress.

Worst case scenario was always that we would lose these 6 guys: Marrero, Padgett, Ford, Small, Pickett, Riley. It appears we are probably going to lose 3, 4 at most (Marrero or Small). That's not a bad haul at all. It's actually a great haul, probably still Top Five.

I like Pilkington and Hughes better than Keegan, but you are right- they are all good. And that's certainly debatable between everyone in that group. Luke Alexander, Mangum, Blaylock, and Stovall are all going to be very good hitters as well. Really the biggest thing is again, Cohen has to find some corner infielders with some power to go along with Cole Gordon and Brent Rooker.

[Bully13]

the question is, how much $$$ does it take to stay at state vs other schools?

[Todd4State]

So in a couple hours the board goes from being excited to wanting to jump off the ledge. Who are we expecting to lose and when will we know for sure?

July 17th is the deadline.

I would expect that we will lose Riley, Pickett, Fenter, Marrero, and maybe Ethan Small.

[Smitty]

Keeping up with baseball recruiting is a complete waste of time

Wrong it's important to follow these guys from 9th grade only to never see them. Or hear about how so and so will be solid for us 5 HR, 15 SB and then they suck.

Todd's Riley posts began in 2012. Luke Alexander before that. He at least better be a stud with 5 years of hype.

[Todd4State]

the question is, how much $$$ does it take to stay at state vs other schools?

Not really. If that was an issue, these guys wouldn't have been committed to us in the first place.

More than anything we've had shitty luck.

[msstate7]

July 17th is the deadline.

I would expect that we will lose Riley, Pickett, Fenter, Marrero, and maybe Ethan Small.

I'm not familiar with toddlist (j/k Todd... I appreciate it, I do). Will we still have a good enough class to turn this around next year?

[Bully13]

Not really. If that was an issue, these guys wouldn't have been committed to us in the first place.

More than anything we've had shitty luck.

You are missing the / my point. thanks for playing though.

[Smitty]

Luke Alexander, Mangum, Blaylock, and Stovall are all going to be very good hitters as well. .

Staples of the Toddlist™

We hope they will be good hitters. But let's lower the hype and take a more wait and see approach. I'm not buying into any hitters until I see them against our arms in scrimmages and in real games.

[msstate7]

Staples of the Toddlist™

We hope they will be good hitters. But let's lower the hype and take a more wait and see approach. I'm not buying into any hitters until I see them against our arms in scrimmages and in real games.

May want to wait till you see them vs other sec teams. Our staff probably isn't the best measuring stick

[engie]

This is just the risk of doing business unfortunately. If we want to be a championship program we have to recruit these types of players- the only thing I'm not happy with Cohen about is not having a couple of mid-level Brent Rooker types at the corner positions to replace the elite guys in Riley and Pickett knowing their potential for leaving was fairly high all along.
What makes you assume Cohen hasn't done this? We couldn't just sign 30 guys for the heck of it under the guise that some of them may go pro. We oversigned like crazy this year anyway.


All of this "life changing money" is a joke- especially when you consider that at age 23 you really would need to get at least 6 million to live on without working a day in your life. And that's IF you manage it well and don't overspend. The reality is you need to get at least 1-2 MLB contracts to earn enough money for it to be truly life changing.
Going to disagree here. $500k+ is "life changing" money. That was the magic number for most of the guys I came through with. $6mil and just average investments and you pull $300k/yr annuities into perpetuity before you actually ever go to work for a day.

[Todd4State]

I'm not familiar with toddlist (j/k Todd... I appreciate it, I do). Will we still have a good enough class to turn this around next year?

It's not the current class that will turn it around for next year- it's the pitchers that are in the Cape Cod League that will.

[Todd4State]

Staples of the Toddlist™

We hope they will be good hitters. But let's lower the hype and take a more wait and see approach. I'm not buying into any hitters until I see them against our arms in scrimmages and in real games.


You call that "hype"? I'm saying that they are going to be good hitters by year three. That's very reasonable.

Also- you focus WAY too much on what happens in scrimmages and always have. That's a huge mistake on your part among other things.

[Smitty]

May want to wait till you see them vs other sec teams. Our staff probably isn't the best measuring stick

Pilkington Breaux Small Padgett Ford Barlow James Hughes Cyr London Rigby.. Not to mention Brown Hudson Tatum Sexton and the best player on the team Paul Young.

Did I do that right?

[Todd4State]

What makes you assume Cohen hasn't done this? We couldn't just sign 30 guys for the heck of it under the guise that some of them may go pro. We oversigned like crazy this year anyway.


Going to disagree here. $500k+ is "life changing" money. That was the magic number for most of the guys I came through with. $6mil and just average investments and you pull $300k/yr annuities into perpetuity before you actually ever go to work for a day.

I'm just looking at the class and what I think their potential for power is- which without Riley and Pickett this class is very lacking in terms of a guy that can hit 15 home runs. Delvin Zinn? No. I think Alexander, Stovall, Blaylock, and Marrero are all more like 5-10 home run guys by the time they are juniors. There isn't anybody that is 6'2"-6'3" that projects as a traditional corner guy that can hit 10 home runs by their junior year. Yes, we have Nate Lowe but he won't be here three years from now.

Now, does Cohen have someone else that he will sign to replace Riley, Pickett, etc? Maybe. We'll see. I doubt it, and if he does history tells us he will go after some JUCO guy- which doesn't help us three years from now.

The other question is do we try to make someone like Keegan James or Trysten Barlow a position player to compensate- and the thing there is our guys that were recruited as pitcher are best at pitching. So, it's probably not real smart to move them.

As far as the money- it all depends on how you spend it ultimately and I'm sure you could give someone a billion dollars and they could blow it.

[Todd4State]

Pilkington Breaux Small Padgett Ford Barlow James Hughes Cyr London Rigby.. Not to mention Brown Hudson Tatum Sexton and the best player on the team Paul Young.

Did I do that right?

About as right as your two strike hitting approach.

[Smitty]

About as right as your two strike hitting approach.

Sorry you don't feel any change in approach is necessary with 2 strikes. But continue the meme for your board cred points.

[engie]

Sorry you don't feel any change in approach is necessary with 2 strikes. But continue the meme for your board cred points.

Well, you straw manned that one up nicely...

[Smitty]

I think Alexander, Stovall, Blaylock, and Marrero are all more like 5-10 home run guys by the time they are juniors.

hype hype hype

Blaylock is the biggest and he just hit 2 this year in HS (Maxpreps)
Marrero just 3

Won't believe in any power until I see it with Cohen

[Bothrops]

If we don't have any more power in the lineup than we had this year, we won't be in the postseason and Cohen will be history.

[msstate7]

If we don't have any more power in the lineup than we had this year, we won't be in the postseason and Cohen will be history.

Hump will break out. I wanna believe Collins will

[tcdog70]

Small is going to be a Bulldog

[Homedawg]

If we don't have any more power in the lineup than we had this year, we won't be in the postseason and Cohen will be history.

While more power will help that's not the only answer. We finished next to last in team era in the league, had the third fewest strikeouts and gave up the second most hits. So the stats show our pitching was much much worse than our hitting. Many of you either can't see that or don't want to.

[maroonmania]

I'm just looking at the class and what I think their potential for power is- which without Riley and Pickett this class is very lacking in terms of a guy that can hit 15 home runs. Delvin Zinn? No. I think Alexander, Stovall, Blaylock, and Marrero are all more like 5-10 home run guys by the time they are juniors. There isn't anybody that is 6'2"-6'3" that projects as a traditional corner guy that can hit 10 home runs by their junior year. Yes, we have Nate Lowe but he won't be here three years from now.

Now, does Cohen have someone else that he will sign to replace Riley, Pickett, etc? Maybe. We'll see. I doubt it, and if he does history tells us he will go after some JUCO guy- which doesn't help us three years from now.

The other question is do we try to make someone like Keegan James or Trysten Barlow a position player to compensate- and the thing there is our guys that were recruited as pitcher are best at pitching. So, it's probably not real smart to move them.

As far as the money- it all depends on how you spend it ultimately and I'm sure you could give someone a billion dollars and they could blow it.

Well, the power situation was hosed after the first round with Riley being taken if those are the only 2. Pickett fell about as far as a guy like him was going to fall (from 1st to 8th round in about 2 months) and we STILL aren't going to keep him so he was a lost cause from the start.

[maroonmania]

This is just the risk of doing business unfortunately. If we want to be a championship program we have to recruit these types of players- the only thing I'm not happy with Cohen about is not having a couple of mid-level Brent Rooker types at the corner positions to replace the elite guys in Riley and Pickett knowing their potential for leaving was fairly high all along. What it means is we will have to scrounge up the JUCO's for power hitters in a couple of years to replace them- or go with underclassmen who won't be ready yet. I'm not too worried about the pitchers because we have several that have the potential to be SEC weekend starters regardless of who does or doesn't sign.

The MLB draft is an archaic system that basically harkens back to a time when MLB could sign players out of semi-pro ball. There is no other sport in America where you can pick up a high school kid out of high school where they don't even go to college for at least a year. This despite overwhelming evidence that in general, going to college to play baseball is a better route than signing out of high school. I've always felt like MLB should not be allowed to draft high school kids- like you know, the other sports, and that they should at least go to college for three years.

All of this "life changing money" is a joke- especially when you consider that at age 23 you really would need to get at least 6 million to live on without working a day in your life. And that's IF you manage it well and don't overspend. The reality is you need to get at least 1-2 MLB contracts to earn enough money for it to be truly life changing.

The other thing that is a joke is all of the "well you get your college paid for". What they don't tell you is when you get out of pro ball at 26 after bouncing around for a few years and you've spent most all or all of your "life changing money"- you get to tell your former high school sweetheart that you want to go back to college for four years and you won't have much income during that time. And hopefully she won't leave. Kenny Powers the first season was accurate in some ways believe it or not.

I understand all this and I will still keep up with our recruiting but not with the draft. I'll just see who shows up in August. As I said, who cares where a guy is drafted when teams can play all kinds of money games to pay WAY over what the appropriate value in that round is suppose to be. No point in following it because all we see is the round they go in which means very little in the grand scheme.

[Todd4State]

Well, the power situation was hosed after the first round with Riley being taken if those are the only 2. Pickett fell about as far as a guy like him was going to fall (from 1st to 8th round in about 2 months) and we STILL aren't going to keep him so he was a lost cause from the start.

It's hosed because we don't appear to have a contingency plan for losing them.

[Todd4State]

I understand all this and I will still keep up with our recruiting but not with the draft. I'll just see who shows up in August. As I said, who cares where a guy is drafted when teams can play all kinds of money games to pay WAY over what the appropriate value in that round is suppose to be. No point in following it because all we see is the round they go in which means very little in the grand scheme.

Exactly. You just have to know the context of everything. It sucks.

[engie]

It's hosed because we don't appear to have a contingency plan for losing them.

You would sign "contingency" plans before these guys actually sign pro? How else would u expect to know about these "contingency" plans being in place? I find your thoughts on this premature and relatively unreasonable...

[Homedawg]

You would sign "contingency" plans before these guys actually sign pro? How else would u expect to know about these "contingency" plans being in place? I find your thoughts on this premature and relatively unreasonable...

The problem w the contingency plan w position players is this- how many other 3b want to sign w you when you have Riley on board? None.even if he might sign. It's easier with pitchers because lots of guys pitch. And as you said earlier engie, we are way over on scholarships as it is. We have to lose several of these guys to make it work anyway. Tough part of being a college baseball coach. Especially in Mississippi or Alabama.

[Todd4State]

You would sign "contingency" plans before these guys actually sign pro? How else would u expect to know about these "contingency" plans being in place? I find your thoughts on this premature and relatively unreasonable...

We did it with our pitching in this class. There was a chance we lose Fenter, Riley, Small, Ford, and Padgett to the draft before the actual draft happened. We backed it up with Keegan, Pilkington, Hughes, Barlow, and Cyr. Those last five guys I mentioned would have been our worst case scenario as far as the draft- and that's 3-4 guys that have the potential to be SEC weekend starters. As it is, we might get Small and we are getting Ford and Padgett in addition to those others.

We didn't do that at all with our power hitters. We should have signed a couple of Brent Rooker type power hitters instead of Delvin Zinn and Alex London- who don't fill a need for us while we now have a gapping hole at third base three years from now with no one that projects to hit over 10 home runs. The only position we did have a contingency plan with was Stovall for Marrero.

Had we done that worst case scenario, we would have had more power, and no hole at third base.

So yes, I would have signed contingency plans in place before they went pro. Cohen talks to the family and scouts and they are well aware of the risks. Even if Riley and Pickett had come to school, then we would have had even more power to go with the other guys and the best people play. We don't need twelve pitchers. We need another outfielder and a third baseman.

Otherwise we're either going to have an underclassman or a JUCO trying to fill in our needs. Again. And then wondering why we don't have any power- also again.

As a program we need to shoot for having all juniors at every position every year.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Small is going to be a Bulldog

Yeah, not sure why everyone in this thread has just totally given up on Small.

[Irondawg]

Honestly the way the MLB draft is done but College coaches in a very difficult position because you are having to recruit guys several years out generally and they have to play the crapshoot draft game. Like a poster said, if you get a commit from Riley how hard is to get a decent 'backup plan' 3B to sign knowing he's gambling as well if riley shows up or not.

There has to be some kid of solution that would work for NCAA and MLB. The slotting in theory would have helped if it worked as supposed to, but it really doesn't as teams can grossly oversign the slot value.

Personally I think some combination of the following would help: 1) make it a world draft which would pull in a lot more international players , 2) List the slot value and cap the overpay amount teams can do 3) Maybe have some sort of draft grade process and then have the HS players declare or not. If they declare and don't like their slot they can still go to college but maybe have to use a RS year

I don't know what the solution is but they has to be a better way that this cluster.

[Todd4State]

The problem w the contingency plan w position players is this- how many other 3b want to sign w you when you have Riley on board? None.even if he might sign. It's easier with pitchers because lots of guys pitch. And as you said earlier engie, we are way over on scholarships as it is. We have to lose several of these guys to make it work anyway. Tough part of being a college baseball coach. Especially in Mississippi or Alabama.

I see what you are saying, but what we have to do in that case is look for guys that aren't necessarily just third baseman. We need to look for players that are classified as corner INF/OF guys, MIF guys, CF, and catchers. That way if we get a corner infield guy and we have a guy like Riley in the class, the corner INF guy can play first or one of the corner OF positions or DH. So, we need guys that are versatile. Again like Brent Rooker. Third baseman in HS, but he can play first or the corner OF positions.

Most SEC caliber players play SS in high school and can transition fairly easily.

[engie]

Yeah, not sure why everyone in this thread has just totally given up on Small.

Seem to be still trusting the guys that brought almost nothing but bad info this cycle in Gene, etc...

[messageboardsuperhero]

I'm just looking at the class and what I think their potential for power is- which without Riley and Pickett this class is very lacking in terms of a guy that can hit 15 home runs. Delvin Zinn? No. I think Alexander, Stovall, Blaylock, and Marrero are all more like 5-10 home run guys by the time they are juniors. There isn't anybody that is 6'2"-6'3" that projects as a traditional corner guy that can hit 10 home runs by their junior year. Yes, we have Nate Lowe but he won't be here three years from now.

Now, does Cohen have someone else that he will sign to replace Riley, Pickett, etc? Maybe. We'll see. I doubt it, and if he does history tells us he will go after some JUCO guy- which doesn't help us three years from now.

The other question is do we try to make someone like Keegan James or Trysten Barlow a position player to compensate- and the thing there is our guys that were recruited as pitcher are best at pitching. So, it's probably not real smart to move them.

As far as the money- it all depends on how you spend it ultimately and I'm sure you could give someone a billion dollars and they could blow it.

We need to make Cole Gordon a position player- which is where he should have been from day 1, IMO. That's a potential power bat at a corner IF spot right there. With all the elite pitching coming in and the lack of power in the lineup, there's no reason for Gordon to stay on the mound.

[Todd4State]

Honestly the way the MLB draft is done but College coaches in a very difficult position because you are having to recruit guys several years out generally and they have to play the crapshoot draft game. Like a poster said, if you get a commit from Riley how hard is to get a decent 'backup plan' 3B to sign knowing he's gambling as well if riley shows up or not.

There has to be some kid of solution that would work for NCAA and MLB. The slotting in theory would have helped if it worked as supposed to, but it really doesn't as teams can grossly oversign the slot value.

Personally I think some combination of the following would help: 1) make it a world draft which would pull in a lot more international players , 2) List the slot value and cap the overpay amount teams can do 3) Maybe have some sort of draft grade process and then have the HS players declare or not. If they declare and don't like their slot they can still go to college but maybe have to use a RS year

I don't know what the solution is but they has to be a better way that this cluster.

I like a lot of those ideas and they would help.

But to answer your question about the contingency plan for a highly drafted players- some guys need more development than others. We need to find some guys that are like Sikes Orvis- someone that is going to take a couple of years to develop that MLB isn't going to want. Basically it's finding guys that are in the second tier or power hitters as opposed to the top tier.

[Todd4State]

We need to make Cole Gordon a position player- which is where he should have been from day 1, IMO. That's a potential power bat at a corner IF spot right there. With all the elite pitching coming in and the lack of power in the lineup, there's no reason for Gordon to stay on the mound.

Exactly. I'm still puzzled as to why they even looked at him as a pitcher coming off of Tommy John.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Honestly the way the MLB draft is done but College coaches in a very difficult position because you are having to recruit guys several years out generally and they have to play the crapshoot draft game. Like a poster said, if you get a commit from Riley how hard is to get a decent 'backup plan' 3B to sign knowing he's gambling as well if riley shows up or not.

There has to be some kid of solution that would work for NCAA and MLB. The slotting in theory would have helped if it worked as supposed to, but it really doesn't as teams can grossly oversign the slot value.

Personally I think some combination of the following would help: 1) make it a world draft which would pull in a lot more international players , 2) List the slot value and cap the overpay amount teams can do 3) Maybe have some sort of draft grade process and then have the HS players declare or not. If they declare and don't like their slot they can still go to college but maybe have to use a RS year

I don't know what the solution is but they has to be a better way that this cluster.

The slotting would help if teams wouldn't screw over college seniors. That's why I said earlier that MLB should put a floor on the signing bonuses and say that no player can be offered a signing bonus below 50% of their slot value. It would help pretty much everyone and prevent college seniors from royally getting screwed over.

[Todd4State]

Seem to be still trusting the guys that brought almost nothing but bad info this cycle in Gene, etc...

Gene has had a rough day hasn't he?

[messageboardsuperhero]

Seem to be still trusting the guys that brought almost nothing but bad info this cycle in Gene, etc...

Probably the same sources who say there's still no way we sign Marrero- even though he's fallen past the 10th round and has his Twitter decked out in MSU.

Not saying we definitely get him, but anyone who says there's no way we get Marrero or Small is still upset about Fenter... Which is admittedly still a huge punch in the gut.

[engie]

Which is admittedly still a huge punch in the gut.

A big punch that still hasn't actually transpired yet. Our fanbase is wayyy more sure he's gone than any Orioles boards seem to be that they are going to be able to sign him. Hence why it's best to just let it play out. Unless people want to keep trusting Gene to eventually get it right after he's whiffed on this guy twice today already, rather than just looking at evidence outside of Gene's realm of influence, which isn't as dire as it's being presented, and making their own observations...

People are pointing out Pickett's retweets -- but they missing his favorite of our class being the #1 class in the country next year as well. There is evidence pointing both ways.

[War Machine Dawg]

So basically, we're about to lose the only real impact bats in this signing class. Awesome. Guess we'll keep trying to win 2-1 every night.

[Bully13]

I'm done with MSU baseball. I can't get anyone to explain any of this with any degree of clarity. just 17 it. all these schools getting this high draft picks to play for them and we have nothing but a bitch fest on why our commits take 4th and 5th round money. our baseball program is a joke compared to SO MANY OTHERS. someone please rufute these numbers... hell , even tsun has a higher ranked class than us.. we just ain't shat anymore

http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/2015-recruiting-rankings-lsu-scores-despite-defection/

[Irondawg]

The slotting would help if teams wouldn't screw over college seniors. That's why I said earlier that MLB should put a floor on the signing bonuses and say that no player can be offered a signing bonus below 50% of their slot value. It would help pretty much everyone and prevent college seniors from royally getting screwed over.

i think the easiest solution is the slot value is the slot value and you can't go under it ...although if you want to have a range you should be able to pay no more than 15% over a slot value and no more than 10% less or something like that.

[messageboardsuperhero]

I'm done with MSU baseball. I can't get anyone to explain any of this with any degree of clarity. just 17 it. all these schools getting this high draft picks to play for them and we have nothing but a bitch fest on why our commits take 4th and 5th round money. our baseball program is a joke compared to SO MANY OTHERS. someone please rufute these numbers... hell , even tsun has a higher ranked class than us.. we just ain't shat anymore

http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/2015-recruiting-rankings-lsu-scores-despite-defection/

Uh, step off the ledge bud. That's last year's class rankings anyway. Our class is pretty much consensus top 5 nationally for this year- at least before the draft.

[Todd4State]

I'm done with MSU baseball. I can't get anyone to explain any of this with any degree of clarity. just 17 it. all these schools getting this high draft picks to play for them and we have nothing but a bitch fest on why our commits take 4th and 5th round money. our baseball program is a joke compared to SO MANY OTHERS. someone please rufute these numbers... hell , even tsun has a higher ranked class than us.. we just ain't shat anymore

http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/2015-recruiting-rankings-lsu-scores-despite-defection/

Well, that was from LAST year.

You know- the year our coaches thought that signing a class that was over 50% JUCO guys was a good idea.

[messageboardsuperhero]

A big punch that still hasn't actually transpired yet. Our fanbase is wayyy more sure he's gone than any Orioles boards seem to be that they are going to be able to sign him. Hence why it's best to just let it play out. Unless people want to keep trusting Gene to eventually get it right after he's whiffed on this guy twice today already, rather than just looking at evidence outside of Gene's realm of influence, which isn't as dire as it's being presented, and making their own observations...

People are pointing out Pickett's retweets -- but they missing his favorite of our class being the #1 class in the country next year as well. There is evidence pointing both ways.

I realize Fenter hasn't signed yet, but I'd be very surprised if he made it to campus. Hopefully I'm wrong.

[Todd4State]

I realize Fenter hasn't signed yet, but I'd be very surprised if he made it to campus. Hopefully I'm wrong.

The only chance we have is if his Dad wants him to go to college. I've met his Dad before and he is VERY big on education. The guy started his own junior college.

[GreenheadDawg]

July 17th is the deadline.

I would expect that we will lose Riley, Pickett, Fenter, Marrero, and maybe Ethan Small.

So basically the meat of the class.. Sweet**

[Coach34]

If Marrero signs after not being drafted in the top 10 rounds then he never intended on going to college

[tcdog70]

I feel pretty confident that Small will be a Bulldog. I'm friends with someone that is real close and he is fired up about Him coming. Small has family already at State. If he got big money he was going Pro but it seems he didn't get it.

[AlSwearengen]

If Marrero signs after not being drafted in the top 10 rounds then he never intended on going to college

I keep referencing it and I can't remember where I saw it (maybe an interview with gene or 247), but they talked with Marrero's dad and he mentioned the grind of the minor's and his experiences and he didn't want his son to go through that right out of high school. It gave me the impression that they didn't need the money and the kid was most likely coming to school. Of course, they could have been playing the leverage game the whole time. I do know that I am done guessing at what will happen with the draft.

[Jacksondevildog]

247 is saying that they are being told that Marrero and Small will make it to campus.

[messageboardsuperhero]

247 is saying that they are being told that Marrero and Small will make it to campus.

But the class is falling apart!!1!11!! The sky is falling!!!111!!

If we just lose Fenter, Pickett, and Riley it's still a really strong class- find a way to somehow keep Fenter and it's arguably the best in the country.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Through round 15 and no more bulldog signees have been drafted. It looks like my predictions from yesterday should pretty much hold true, barring something unforeseen...

[messageboardsuperhero]

Sikes Orvis just went in the 17th round. Glad to see him leaving the SEC- he could do some damage with his bat.

[maroonmania]

Sikes Orvis just went in the 17th round. Glad to see him leaving the SEC- he could do some damage with his bat.

Isn't he a SR anyway? Also, looking at the DJ about Pickett getting drafted and it said he had 6 HRs this year. He did hit over .400 but maybe he's not the power guy I was thinking he is. I mean out in the thin air of Colorado I would have thought he would have more than 6 HRs. Still would love to have him though as he is a big boy.

[engie]

Isn't he a SR anyway? Also, looking at the DJ about Pickett getting drafted and it said he had 6 HRs this year. He did hit over .400 but maybe he's not the power guy I was thinking he is. I mean out in the thin air of Colorado I would have thought he would have more than 6 HRs. Still would love to have him though as he is a big boy.

Only had 50 official ABs this year -- so 6 still pretty good. He was either injured or being pitched around.

[Boodawg]

Only had 50 official ABs this year -- so 6 still pretty good. He was either injured or being pitched around.

Engie, do they not count pitching around someone an official at bat? Or did you kind of keep up with them on your own?Honest question.

[RocketCityDawg]

Engie, do they not count pitching around someone an official at bat? Or did you kind of keep up with them on your own?Honest question.

No, walks don't count as an at bat. Plate appearance, yes.

[maroonmania]

Only had 50 official ABs this year -- so 6 still pretty good. He was either injured or being pitched around.

OK, hadn't really thought about him not getting pitched to or injury but that may have indeed held down his production.

[Smitty]

Renfroe was walked over 60 times as a senior.

[maroonmania]

Through 20 rounds now and no additional Bulldogs (commits or players) have been taken. We would seem to be pretty safe on signees beyond Riley, Fenter and Pickett. Would be great if we could just hold onto one of Fenter or Pickett. If we held both it would be a dream class.