20 rounds in the books

Ethan Small, Nate Lowe, Elih Marrero, etc. all still on the board. I'm feeling pretty good about losing only the three that were drafted in the first 10 rounds.

If that's the case, I'd give the draft for us a B-. Losing Riley hurt on day 1. Pickett was never really expected to come, so that was no shock. Fenter hurt because we thought we had him- only to find out the O's likely came in at the end with enough money. I hate that we missed out on our two high school power bats.

On the good news, it really couldn't have gone better for us on the mound outside of Fenter. Jarred Padgett, Ethan Small, Parker Ford, and Kale Breaux are all outstanding prospects and potential weekend starters. Don't forget about Trysten Barlow, Konnor Pilkington, Ryan Cyr, etc. either. This is by far (on paper) the best pitching class we've signed under Cohen.

Likely getting Marrero to school is huge as well, considering everyone had written him off before the draft. Nate Lowe is someone to still keep an eye on, because he could still possibly go pro. If not, that's a good power bat that we were able to keep.

When do draftees have to sign by, or is there a set date?

And is fenter for sure gone? If so, According to whom?

How many did the other SEC teams lose to draft, if anyone knows or has that info?

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Originally Posted by confucius say

When do draftees have to sign by, or is there a set date?

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Sometime in mid July.

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Originally Posted by confucius say

And is fenter for sure gone? If so, According to whom?

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According to common sense. I'd love to be wrong on this one, but I'd be surprised if Fenter made it to campus.

What's the skinny on Marrero? I know his father was a decent catcher for the Cards...
Is he a defensive specialist who isn't as strong at the plate? Is he limited to catcher only? Does he have any gap power?
Oh yeah, can he bunt??***

With the pitchers we have coming do we move Cole Gordon as strictly a position player who might pitch similar to Mitch Moreland?

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Originally Posted by Tbonewannabe

With the pitchers we have coming do we move Cole Gordon as strictly a position player who might pitch similar to Mitch Moreland?

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I hope so IF he can hit for power because we need that component badly especially since we are probably going to lose both Riley and Pickett to the draft.

I agree with your assessment.

I give our class an A+ as far as pitching- and that's without Fenter coming.

As far as catcher, with Marrero and Stovall, that's an A+ as well. I think Stovall will move to second base because he is a guy that we have to have in the lineup and we have a good catcher committed in Dustin Skelton for next year. This is a good example of the contingency plan that I was talking about last night.

Corner INF/OF- I give it a C- because without Pickett and Riley, we only have Brant Blaylock who projects as a corner guy. If by miracle Pickett comes, I definitely change the grade a good bit. If we had gotten two more corner INF/OF guys like a Rooker/Gordon/Blaylock I probably would give us a B+. But we didn't do that. Poor planning by Cohen here in terms of the high school players. Now my grade was boosted up by Nate Lowe and Tanner Poole- who certainly both fit the corner INF/OF category but they're JUCO's. So, they'll only be around for two years max, although I could certainly see Poole RS.

Middle INF- A+ again. Luke Alexander, Mangum, and now Stovall plus a project like Delvin Zinn is about as good as you can hope for in a class. Two guys that hit .500+ in high school this past year and then a guy that won the Alabama POY.

So, all things considered I'm going to give us an A- only because of the lack of elite power hitters, but at the same time we did very, very well everywhere else. And the spots we did very well at shouldn't be ignored either. And giving grades out on our class is premature given that we really won't officially know until July 17.

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Originally Posted by Dallas_Dawg

What's the skinny on Marrero? I know his father was a decent catcher for the Cards...
Is he a defensive specialist who isn't as strong at the plate? Is he limited to catcher only? Does he have any gap power?
Oh yeah, can he bunt??***

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Marrero is a very good defensive catcher, but he's going to hit more for average than power. He's a switch hitter that I think will hit about 5 home runs or so and be a .300 hitter for us. The thing about him is he can run really well- some people thought that he could possibly be a CF.

The advantage to having a MLB legacy at catcher is he is going to know a lot of the mental aspect of the game already.

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Originally Posted by Tbonewannabe

With the pitchers we have coming do we move Cole Gordon as strictly a position player who might pitch similar to Mitch Moreland?

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I would think so, but the coaches were dumb enough to try to make him a pitcher to start with, so I don't think we can just assume.

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

As far as catcher, with Marrero and Stovall, that's an A+ as well. I think Stovall will move to second base because he is a guy that we have to have in the lineup and we have a good catcher committed in Dustin Skelton for next year. This is a good example of the contingency plan that I was talking about last night.

Corner INF/OF- I give it a C- because without Pickett and Riley, we only have Brant Blaylock who projects as a corner guy. If by miracle Pickett comes, I definitely change the grade a good bit. If we had gotten two more corner INF/OF guys like a Rooker/Gordon/Blaylock I probably would give us a B+. But we didn't do that. Poor planning by Cohen here in terms of the high school players. Now my grade was boosted up by Nate Lowe and Tanner Poole- who certainly both fit the corner INF/OF category but they're JUCO's. So, they'll only be around for two years max, although I could certainly see Poole RS.

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One thing we know is that the positions they played in high school, or what they project to play in college and on, does not matter. So, looking at talent as a whole, this is an outstanding class.

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

Middle INF- A+ again. Luke Alexander, Mangum, and now Stovall plus a project like Delvin Zinn is about as good as you can hope for in a class. Two guys that hit .500+ in high school this past year and then a guy that won the Alabama POY.

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Delvin Zinn sucks and I'm betting he won't even be here and if he is, he won't last long.

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

I agree with your assessment.

I give our class an A+ as far as pitching- and that's without Fenter coming.

As far as catcher, with Marrero and Stovall, that's an A+ as well. I think Stovall will move to second base because he is a guy that we have to have in the lineup and we have a good catcher committed in Dustin Skelton for next year. This is a good example of the contingency plan that I was talking about last night.

Corner INF/OF- I give it a C- because without Pickett and Riley, we only have Brant Blaylock who projects as a corner guy. If by miracle Pickett comes, I definitely change the grade a good bit. If we had gotten two more corner INF/OF guys like a Rooker/Gordon/Blaylock I probably would give us a B+. But we didn't do that. Poor planning by Cohen here in terms of the high school players. Now my grade was boosted up by Nate Lowe and Tanner Poole- who certainly both fit the corner INF/OF category but they're JUCO's. So, they'll only be around for two years max, although I could certainly see Poole RS.

Middle INF- A+ again. Luke Alexander, Mangum, and now Stovall plus a project like Delvin Zinn is about as good as you can hope for in a class. Two guys that hit .500+ in high school this past year and then a guy that won the Alabama POY.

So, all things considered I'm going to give us an A- only because of the lack of elite power hitters, but at the same time we did very, very well everywhere else. And the spots we did very well at shouldn't be ignored either. And giving grades out on our class is premature given that we really won't officially know until July 17.

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Why do you have magnum as a mid inf? Or did you intend for cf to be in this category? Just checking

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

I would think so, but the coaches were dumb enough to try to make him a pitcher to start with, so I don't think we can just assume.

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Maybe so but butch said his stuff was good and getting better coming off the injury. As for hitting, I know he hit a few bombs in the spring and fall but he struck out a ton. So calling them dumb might be a little early. He isn't-wasn't a polished guy when we signed him and we knew that.

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Originally Posted by messageboardsuperhero

Sometime in mid July.



According to common sense. I'd love to be wrong on this one, but I'd be surprised if Fenter made it to campus.

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Got ya. Just was not sure if any source was actually reporting he was gone.

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Originally Posted by Boodawg

How many did the other SEC teams lose to draft, if anyone knows or has that info?

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Vandy is the only one that I really heard anything about & that was that they lost alot...maybe about half of their signing class & that was just after day 1 or so. But I don't know how many exactly though.

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

Marrero is a very good defensive catcher, but he's going to hit more for average than power. He's a switch hitter that I think will hit about 5 home runs or so and be a .300 hitter for us.

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So he's Gavin Collins at the plate and very good behind the dish? He should be the best player in our class with this projection.

Just 6 HR his whole HS career so that nice round number of 5 might need to be adjusted.

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Originally Posted by Homedawg

Why do you have magnum as a mid inf? Or did you intend for cf to be in this category? Just checking

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My bad. I intended for him to be in the CF category.

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Originally Posted by Homedawg

Maybe so but butch said his stuff was good and getting better coming off the injury. As for hitting, I know he hit a few bombs in the spring and fall but he struck out a ton. So calling them dumb might be a little early. He isn't-wasn't a polished guy when we signed him and we knew that.

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Butch needs to leave our hitters alone IMO. That's all I'll say about that.

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Originally Posted by Smitty

So he's Gavin Collins at the plate and very good behind the dish? He should be the best player in our class with this projection.

Just 6 HR his whole HS career so that nice round number of 5 might need to be adjusted.

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A 5 HR guy for us is a major power guy. Humphreys only had 6 this year as our leading HR hitter.

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Originally Posted by Smitty

So he's Gavin Collins at the plate and very good behind the dish? He should be the best player in our class with this projection.

Just 6 HR his whole HS career so that nice round number of 5 might need to be adjusted.

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I don't think he will have as much power as Gavin, but I think he will be better defensively and have more speed than him while hitting for a similar average. We'll see about his power- I think if he makes a couple of minor adjustments with his hands he could very well get to five. He might not get there either, but power is not really his calling card anyway.