Baseball Commits

[ScooterDog]

Does anybody have a list of this fall's Baseball commits? We have football and basketball but I can't ever get a handle on all of our baseball commitments. Thanks.

[Mjoelner34]

Here ya go.

https://247sports.com/college/mississippi-state/Season/2019-Baseball/Commits/

[maroonmania]

So could someone list the signees on that list that likely won't be coming to school?

[Todd4State]

So could someone list the signees on that list that likely won't be coming to school?

The ones drafted will all sign if they haven't already. The rest are coming to school.

So- Hearn, Randa, Johnson, and Tarver will sign.

[Johnson85]

Here ya go.

https://247sports.com/college/mississippi-state/Season/2019-Baseball/Commits/

Does 247 not rank baseball or something? Why is everything NA?

[Tbonewannabe]

The ones drafted will all sign if they haven't already. The rest are coming to school.

So- Hearn, Randa, Johnson, and Tarver will sign.

Any of the guys coming to school have a chance to help us next year? We have a pretty good team coming back but we definitely need pitching help as soon as possible.

[Todd4State]

Any of the guys coming to school have a chance to help us next year? We have a pretty good team coming back but we definitely need pitching help as soon as possible.

Mostly pitchers. I could see Logan Tanner and Landon Sims helping out in the bullpen. Davis Rokose could also be a starter next year if someone falters or isn't ready. Will Bednar and KC Hunt may help out the bullpen as well.

[Cooterpoot]

Two of our pitchers coming in have arm issues.

[Saltydog]

I believe this class is ranked 32nd by Perfect Game, for the star gazers out there.

[MaroonBelle]

I believe this class is ranked 32nd by Perfect Game, for the star gazers out there.

The 2019 class is ranked #6. Those are the kids coming in the fall. You are looking at 2020 which only has 9 members so far.

[vv83]

The 2019 class is ranked #6. Those are the kids coming in the fall. You are looking at 2020 which only has 9 members so far.

Is that #6 accounting for the players who are gonna go pro? Or do they not re-adjust on if HS signees end up pro

[MaroonBelle]

Is that #6 accounting for the players who are gonna go pro? Or do they not re-adjust on if HS signees end up pro

Does not include those that have "signed" but since draft is still so fresh doubt has been updated. Also, does not include JuCo signees.

[Tbonewannabe]

Is that #6 accounting for the players who are gonna go pro? Or do they not re-adjust on if HS signees end up pro

You also have to think that some of the players from #1-5 have just as many players sign as we do. Vandy and UF get guys to come to school but it isn't a natural occurrence that anyone turns down 1st round money.

[vv83]

You also have to think that some of the players from #1-5 have just as many players sign as we do. Vandy and UF get guys to come to school but it isn't a natural occurrence that anyone turns down 1st round money.

Yeah makes sense, just didn't know if everyone gets re evaluated at the end. So I assume from that linked listing we will lose a few

[Tbonewannabe]

Yeah makes sense, just didn't know if everyone gets re evaluated at the end. So I assume from that linked listing we will lose a few

Some do re evaluate after players get into school.

[maroonmania]

The ones drafted will all sign if they haven't already. The rest are coming to school.

So- Hearn, Randa, Johnson, and Tarver will sign.

Were they all Top 10 round picks? Are we not hanging onto any draftees these days?

[timotheus]

I'll just leave this as it is.......

[maroonmania]

The ones drafted will all sign if they haven't already. The rest are coming to school.

So- Hearn, Randa, Johnson, and Tarver will sign.

Also, unless I missed it, I didn't see a Johnson on the list. Also, is Randa a JUCO guy? Looked like Tarver and Hearn were HS players.

[Todd4State]

Were they all Top 10 round picks? Are we not hanging onto any draftees these days?


Also, unless I missed it, I didn't see a Johnson on the list. Also, is Randa a JUCO guy? Looked like Tarver and Hearn were HS players.

Johnson is Jared Johnson. That list isn't complete.

No- they all weren't top 10 picks. Hearn was. Randa is a JUCO player and more often than not if a JUCO player is drafted they are going to sign. Johnson was a 12th round pick but his mother sadly had health issues and recently passed away. I have to believe that was a big factor in his decision. Tarver is a 15th round pick that just wants to play pro ball.

[Homedawg]

Also, unless I missed it, I didn't see a Johnson on the list. Also, is Randa a JUCO guy? Looked like Tarver and Hearn were HS players.

Randa got 300k in the 13th round. Johnson got 257 in the 14th.... Tarver still unsigned but he's going to.

[maroonmania]

Randa got 300k in the 13th round. Johnson got 257 in the 14th.... Tarver still unsigned but he's going to.

Well, hopefully our coaches understood these guys didn't have any real intentions to go to college when they signed. If that's the case, I have no issue with it. When you are giving up the SEC college experience for 300K or less (much less than that after taxes), then going to college was always a backup plan.

[Tbonewannabe]

Well, hopefully our coaches understood these guys didn't have any real intentions to go to college when they signed. If that's the case, I have no issue with it. When you are giving up the SEC college experience for 300K or less (much less than that after taxes), then going to college was always a backup plan.

Only thing is I hope those guys got tuition paid included in their contract. The likelihood of a high school kid outside the first few rounds making it to MLB is pretty small. The data is heavily skewing to college players unless you are a high level high school signee. What most of these guys don't understand is a lot is signed out of MLB's necessity to restock the minors for their true stars to play against. Some of these guys probably don't have the actual faith of the team that they will ever make it to MLB level.

[bulldogcountry1]

So, last year, there was a lot of buzz around what signees we could possibly get to campus and what drafted players would stay. It worked out very nicely, even with the coaching situation changing.

This year, it seems there is no mystery, and "everyone" is going pro. What's the deal? Did the staff not have a good feel for who wanted to sign? Are the signees getting more than slot? Seems like the only good news I've heard is TA staying.

[MaroonBelle]

So, last year, there was a lot of buzz around what signees we could possibly get to campus and what drafted players would stay. It worked out very nicely, even with the coaching situation changing.

This year, it seems there is no mystery, and "everyone" is going pro. What's the deal? Did the staff not have a good feel for who wanted to sign? Are the signees getting more than slot? Seems like the only good news I've heard is TA staying.

It is my understanding that we have several that would have gone fairly high in the draft if they had indicated they wanted to do anything other than come to State or that teams would have met their #'s. We are loosing 4. 4 that we were fairly sure were going to go. One of them we just added in the last two months so we weren't really counting on him anyway. I don't think that is any more or less than usual. 3 HS and one JuCo. Looking a last few years: in 2015 we lost 7 HS to the draft. 2016 and 2017: 2 HS. 2018: 3 HS.

We always talk about Vandy getting kids to forgo draft but even they lost 6 HS to the draft last year. We have done a pretty good job of identifying who will or won't come.

[Tbonewannabe]

It is my understanding that we have several that would have gone fairly high in the draft if they had indicated they wanted to do anything other than come to State or that teams would have met their #'s. We are loosing 4. 4 that we were fairly sure were going to go. One of them we just added in the last two months so we weren't really counting on him anyway. I don't think that is any more or less than usual. 3 HS and one JuCo. Looking a last few years: in 2015 we lost 7 HS to the draft. 2016 and 2017: 2 HS. 2018: 3 HS.

We always talk about Vandy getting kids to forgo draft but even they lost 6 HS to the draft last year. We have done a pretty good job of identifying who will or won't come.

It seems like we took a flyer on Johnson with the hope that he would come to school but probably not any expectation. The other 3 is about what we normally lose.

[GreenheadDawg]

Well, hopefully our coaches understood these guys didn't have any real intentions to go to college when they signed. If that's the case, I have no issue with it. When you are giving up the SEC college experience for 300K or less (much less than that after taxes), then going to college was always a backup plan.

More than likely you will never hear from these kids again. They will play 10 years in minor league and then sell insurance. A very small portion can adjust from high school to the pros. I don’t understand why kids and their parents don’t understand that. 300K doesn’t go every far.

[TALL DAWG]

More than likely you will never hear from these kids again. They will play 10 years in minor league and then sell insurance. A very small portion can adjust from high school to the pros. I don?t understand why kids and their parents don?t understand that. 300K doesn?t go every far.

Exactly! With COI, pre-tax $300k doesn?t go ?very? far indeed.

Surely the college coaches have a presentation packet they show signees, and their parents, who are drafted in the lower rounds showing what u mentioned above.

[Homedawg]

Exactly! With COI, pre-tax $300k doesn?t go ?very? far indeed.

Surely the college coaches have a presentation packet they show signees, and their parents, who are drafted in the lower rounds showing what u mentioned above.

Absolutely they do. Look some
People just don't want to go to college. It's an insurance policy. Heck we lost dale burdick in the 40th round several years ago.

[Todd4State]

More than likely you will never hear from these kids again. They will play 10 years in minor league and then sell insurance. A very small portion can adjust from high school to the pros. I don’t understand why kids and their parents don’t understand that. 300K doesn’t go every far.


Absolutely they do. Look some
People just don't want to go to college. It's an insurance policy. Heck we lost dale burdick in the 40th round several years ago.

I would say IN GENERAL most baseball players should go to college but there are exceptions:

1. You are drafted high enough to truly get life changing money. Which to me would be about 5 million dollars because to me life changing means "don't have to work again". Very few people are going to get that in the MLB draft.

2. You're family truly needs money. I would say Jared Johnson is an example of this. His mother was very ill before she passed away. I'm sure his bonus is offsetting some of those costs for his family.

But given the fact that most baseball players tend to come from white collar families and backgrounds most don't fit either criteria.

[Tbonewannabe]

Absolutely they do. Look some
People just don't want to go to college. It's an insurance policy. Heck we lost dale burdick in the 40th round several years ago.

He was a special case. I believe he was dead set on going pro but he did get around $250k in a bonus. So that is comparative to what Johnson got from around the 14th round.

[Johnson85]

I would say IN GENERAL most baseball players should go to college but there are exceptions:

1. You are drafted high enough to truly get life changing money. Which to me would be about 5 million dollars because to me life changing means "don't have to work again". Very few people are going to get that in the MLB draft.

2. You're family truly needs money. I would say Jared Johnson is an example of this. His mother was very ill before she passed away. I'm sure his bonus is offsetting some of those costs for his family.

But given the fact that most baseball players tend to come from white collar families and backgrounds most don't fit either criteria.

Your idea of life changing money is way out of whack. If you are smart, $500k can be life changing money.

Just in round numbers, if you can have say $250k in the bank when you're 25 and not touch it, you'd have $1M in inflation adjusted dollars at age 55, and that's using pretty conservative real returns compared to historical averages. That's a pretty big head start.

Get $500k in by the time you're 25 and let it go till your 62, you'll have about $3M in inflation adjusted dollars. I suspect you know a good number of 62 year olds who would love to have $3M in the bank.

That said, the minor league lifestyle doesn't look very enticing to me, and I wouldn't push my child to do that instead of college ball, but a $500k signing bonus is still big money. If you're dealing with a child that is likely to be financially successful regardless and looking at 6 figure annual incomes, for sure, go enjoy college. But if it were a child that I didn't see having good earnings potential otherwise (and I actually thought there was a chance they'd be smart with the money), I'd advise them to take bonus. Starting off adulthood witha few hundred thousand in the bank before going and earning an average income would make a big difference.

[Tbonewannabe]

Your idea of life changing money is way out of whack. If you are smart, $500k can be life changing money.

Just in round numbers, if you can have say $250k in the bank when you're 25 and not touch it, you'd have $1M in inflation adjusted dollars at age 55, and that's using pretty conservative real returns compared to historical averages. That's a pretty big head start.

Get $500k in by the time you're 25 and let it go till your 62, you'll have about $3M in inflation adjusted dollars. I suspect you know a good number of 62 year olds who would love to have $3M in the bank.

That said, the minor league lifestyle doesn't look very enticing to me, and I wouldn't push my child to do that instead of college ball, but a $500k signing bonus is still big money. If you're dealing with a child that is likely to be financially successful regardless and looking at 6 figure annual incomes, for sure, go enjoy college. But if it were a child that I didn't see having good earnings potential otherwise (and I actually thought there was a chance they'd be smart with the money), I'd advise them to take bonus. Starting off adulthood witha few hundred thousand in the bank before going and earning an average income would make a big difference.

The only thing is that the minor leagues pay less than what you could make working at McDonalds for the year. It is a full time job that is only available for part of the year and I believe pays around $1100 per month. It isn't like you can get another job for the rest of the year that would pay well enough to live on. So you get $500k and the team divides that up over 3 years. So now you have $166k taxable income per year. Your agent gets at least 5% so now you have $157k. That take home pay is around $110k so now you are putting back at best $80k and that is before you maybe buy yourself a car. That gives you the ability to put back $240k which would buy you a house in todays market in most places and that is about it. That is a big leg up but not life changing money.

You also have 3 years to either make MLB or hopefully get your tuition paid by the MLB team that drafted you.

[RocketCityDawg]

Your idea of life changing money is way out of whack. If you are smart, $500k can be life changing money.

Just in round numbers, if you can have say $250k in the bank when you're 25 and not touch it, you'd have $1M in inflation adjusted dollars at age 55, and that's using pretty conservative real returns compared to historical averages. That's a pretty big head start.

Get $500k in by the time you're 25 and let it go till your 62, you'll have about $3M in inflation adjusted dollars. I suspect you know a good number of 62 year olds who would love to have $3M in the bank.

That said, the minor league lifestyle doesn't look very enticing to me, and I wouldn't push my child to do that instead of college ball, but a $500k signing bonus is still big money. If you're dealing with a child that is likely to be financially successful regardless and looking at 6 figure annual incomes, for sure, go enjoy college. But if it were a child that I didn't see having good earnings potential otherwise (and I actually thought there was a chance they'd be smart with the money), I'd advise them to take bonus. Starting off adulthood witha few hundred thousand in the bank before going and earning an average income would make a big difference.

I'm not sure how many 18 year olds would consider money that they can't touch for 35 years to be very life changing.

[Todd4State]

Your idea of life changing money is way out of whack. If you are smart, $500k can be life changing money.

Just in round numbers, if you can have say $250k in the bank when you're 25 and not touch it, you'd have $1M in inflation adjusted dollars at age 55, and that's using pretty conservative real returns compared to historical averages. That's a pretty big head start.

Get $500k in by the time you're 25 and let it go till your 62, you'll have about $3M in inflation adjusted dollars. I suspect you know a good number of 62 year olds who would love to have $3M in the bank.

That said, the minor league lifestyle doesn't look very enticing to me, and I wouldn't push my child to do that instead of college ball, but a $500k signing bonus is still big money. If you're dealing with a child that is likely to be financially successful regardless and looking at 6 figure annual incomes, for sure, go enjoy college. But if it were a child that I didn't see having good earnings potential otherwise (and I actually thought there was a chance they'd be smart with the money), I'd advise them to take bonus. Starting off adulthood witha few hundred thousand in the bank before going and earning an average income would make a big difference.

But in the meantime while that money is gaining interest you're going to have to work or live with Mom and Dad.

Life changing to me is basically a golden ticket don't have to work again or anything else.

[Tbonewannabe]

But in the meantime while that money is gaining interest you're going to have to work or live with Mom and Dad.

Life changing to me is basically a golden ticket don't have to work again or anything else.

Look over my figures, they basically can save around $80k per year if they are willing to live on $30-40k per year. That runs out after 3 years. That is a great headstart on life if you get MLB to pay for the players education. So you flame out of baseball after 3 years in the minors and you then have the college student life for 4 years paid by MLB. You can then buy a house maybe if you never dipped into the savings. I don't know how much MLB actually pays for school so you can probably expect to take out almost half of the $240k so around $120k for living expenses in college.

So now you entered the minors out of high school and never played college which gives you a better chance to make it to MLB. You have flamed out after 3 years and have a college education and around $120k.

[Todd4State]

Look over my figures, they basically can save around $80k per year if they are willing to live on $30-40k per year. That runs out after 3 years. That is a great headstart on life if you get MLB to pay for the players education. So you flame out of baseball after 3 years in the minors and you then have the college student life for 4 years paid by MLB. You can then buy a house maybe if you never dipped into the savings. I don't know how much MLB actually pays for school so you can probably expect to take out almost half of the $240k so around $120k for living expenses in college.

So now you entered the minors out of high school and never played college which gives you a better chance to make it to MLB. You have flamed out after 3 years and have a college education and around $120k.

There is a difference between a head start and life changing money by my definition. Even if you bought a house outright you still have to pay insurance and other expenses on it. You are still going to have to work.

Some points that need to be made for clarity:

500K is the sample bonus that you used. That would be pick 115 in this year's draft which is the high fourth round. So, most players get a slot less than that even in the top 10 rounds.

Minor league salaries are set by each team and can vary from team to team. 1100 is the average for an A ball player per month.

Players pay taxes in each state that they play in. So if you are play for the Mississippi Braves you have to pay taxes in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida.


You also have to remember the goals of these players- and it's not to just bank off of their talent to get a good head start. It's to make it to MLB. And in today's era a lot of that money that you are proposing that they invest is going towards people like strength coaches and personal coaches for many of these players- and that's a big cut. There are a lot of miscellaneous costs which add up too.

[The Federalist Engineer]

I'm not sure how many 18 year olds would consider money that they can't touch for 35 years to be very life changing.

In support of Johnson85:

A regular/average 22 year old graduate will start his 401k with $120 bucks from the 1st pay period, with company match. With decent stock market performance, that 401K is only going to break six figures until much past thirty. For most folks, $500,000 wont happen until 40?s or 50?s. Assuming you are not a Google Employee that got 1000s of shares at $90.00 or something else really lucky. An 18 year old with $500,000 can safely buy a boring high-dividend, large-cap ETF and be a multimillionaire by 60?s.

In support of RocketCity:

If Your 18 year old buys a lake house, installs a pool, king ranch F250 truck, boat, several jet skies....and starts dating a series of Hooters waitresses ... and spends the entire off season in a rented Jamaica condos each year... that money will be 80% gone before he ever makes AA ball. That?s not even assuming that one or two Hooters girl will end up pregnant in that same time frame. Basically, this is Chipper Jones actual life, documented sort-of in his autobiography.

[Tbonewannabe]

In support of Johnson85:

A regular/average 22 year old graduate will start his 401k with $120 bucks from the 1st pay period, with company match. With decent stock market performance, that 401K is only going to break six figures until much past thirty. For most folks, $500,000 wont happen until 40?s or 50?s. Assuming you are not a Google Employee that got 1000s of shares at $90.00 or something else really lucky. An 18 year old with $500,000 can safely buy a boring high-dividend, large-cap ETF and be a multimillionaire by 60?s.

In support of RocketCity:

If Your 18 year old buys a lake house, installs a pool, king ranch F250 truck, boat, several jet skies....and starts dating a series of Hooters waitresses ... and spends the entire off season in a rented Jamaica condos each year... that money will be 80% gone before he ever makes AA ball. That?s not even assuming that one or two Hooters girl will end up pregnant in that same time frame. Basically, this is Chipper Jones actual life, documented sort-of in his autobiography.

Chipper was also the #1 overall pick. A little bit different from a top 10 round pick.

[Tbonewannabe]

There is a difference between a head start and life changing money by my definition. Even if you bought a house outright you still have to pay insurance and other expenses on it. You are still going to have to work.

Some points that need to be made for clarity:

500K is the sample bonus that you used. That would be pick 115 in this year's draft which is the high fourth round. So, most players get a slot less than that even in the top 10 rounds.

Minor league salaries are set by each team and can vary from team to team. 1100 is the average for an A ball player per month.

Players pay taxes in each state that they play in. So if you are play for the Mississippi Braves you have to pay taxes in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida.


You also have to remember the goals of these players- and it's not to just bank off of their talent to get a good head start. It's to make it to MLB. And in today's era a lot of that money that you are proposing that they invest is going towards people like strength coaches and personal coaches for many of these players- and that's a big cut. There are a lot of miscellaneous costs which add up too.

I used $500k because that was the number Johnson was using.

[Todd4State]

I used $500k because that was the number Johnson was using.

It's a good scenario. I was just putting context to it.