Our Elite baseball players per PG

[messageboardsuperhero]

Heard from a friend of the family that Small turned down four offers in the 5th round.

That would make him commit #3 that we know about who turned down top 5 round offers and come to school.

Fenter would have been 4, until the O's came back and offered him a cool million.

[smootness]

does anybody know how much signing money those 5 at Vandy turned down to come play in nashville? how many of ours this year turned down signing money to come play at State? I'd be willing to bet that some schools have more players on their teams turning down money than the number of our commitments that took the money and never showed up. I still don't know how or why we get our asses so kicked in this area. I'd like to see the total amount of signing dollars that some of our commitments got that we lost out on vs the amounts that were turned down to come play at vandy , lsu and some other truly elite programs.

Everyone gets killed compared to Vandy. We do just fine compared to everybody else. Think about it - every HS kid drafted is signed somewhere. We lost 3 kids in a great class, which is just fine.

[Intramural All-American]

There is a better than average chance that McCord is a bust too.

First off, to call a kid a bust due to an injury is crappy at best. A bust is someone who comes in and sucks, not someone who has a terrible injury that shortens his career. Besides that, as others have pointed out, McCord has a chance to come back. Labrums are tough, but it's not a death sentence.

Second, Swinarksi's issues have not just been concussions. The kid just wasn't as good as advertised.

[Todd4State]

First off, to call a kid a bust due to an injury is crappy at best. A bust is someone who comes in and sucks, not someone who has a terrible injury that shortens his career. Besides that, as others have pointed out, McCord has a chance to come back. Labrums are tough, but it's not a death sentence.

Second, Swinarksi's issues have not just been concussions. The kid just wasn't as good as advertised.

WTF is going on around here? I said there is "a better than average chance" that he is going to be a bust- not that he "will be". And yet I get accused by some on here for
"pumping up" recruits?

How about this- Jesse McCord and Luke Reynolds are going to be All-American first round picks and make Bryce Harper look like Mario Mendoza. Everyone happy now?

Or would people on here actually like to discuss reality. The REALITY is it's difficult to come back from a labrum tear. I HOPE he does. At this point it's a total unknown- but the REALITY is the odds are stacked against him.

Mark Prior was a talented pitcher who had the same injury. Most people would consider him a bust. Kirk Presley had injuries- most people consider him a bust. As I said, the harsh reality in LIFE in sports is sometimes things do not work out- and sometimes it's not totally the fault of the player.

In fact, I could make a strong argument that it's easier to come back from a concussion than it is a labrum tear. But let's move the goal posts with Swinarski because- well, I don't know why you want to do that to be honest with you. Swinarski made a mistake by not staying in HS for his senior year- something I disagreed with him doing at the time. I believe it set him back. Regardless, he still is a bust as well.

Why our fans are so overprotective of some of our baseball players is beyond me.

[Homedawg]

Heard from a friend of the family that Small turned down four offers in the 5th round.

I'm not saying this didn't happen, however, lots of guys get calls asking would you sign if we took you now. In some cases it's legit, in some cases it's feeling a guy out. Nothing is cut and dried, nothing. and once the guy is drafted, both sides try to waver often....I'm certainly not saying that small didn't get a call, nor am I saying it wasn't legit, but I am saying its a chess game and we will never know. What we do know is Cohen is going to tell us numerous guys turned down money to come play here. That's a fact.

[Bully13]

Everyone gets killed compared to Vandy. We do just fine compared to everybody else. Think about it - every HS kid drafted is signed somewhere. We lost 3 kids in a great class, which is just fine.

nobody still can produce the dollars / numbers. I bet if you look at the numbers and dollars turned down at schools like stanford, ucla, vandy and lsusux, you will see a huge disparity between them and us.

we just can't compete in this arena which is paramount on producing an elite program. we just don't have it. it's time we accept it and quit pumping sunshine..

yes, I know, all programs lose players to the draft. quit pumping that same old tired bullhsit. focus on the overall numbers. nobody seems to want to focus on that because it is anti-wool.. but the facts are the facts and our results along with who goes to omaha on a regular basis is quite evident.

[Todd4State]

nobody still can produce the dollars / numbers. I bet if you look at the numbers and dollars turned down at schools like stanford, ucla, vandy and lsusux, you will see a huge disparity between them and us.

we just can't compete in this arena which is paramount on producing an elite program. we just don't have it. it's time we accept it and quit pumping sunshine..

yes, I know, all programs lose players to the draft. quit pumping that same old tired bullhsit. focus on the overall numbers. nobody seems to want to focus on that because it is anti-wool.. but the facts are the facts and our results along with who goes to omaha on a regular basis is quite evident.

Maybe off topic, maybe not...

I hope Vanderbilt keeps winning. That may be the best way to curb their advantage over time.

Because then people will ask "how are they doing it and LSU, MSU, Florida, etc. aren't"? That's how stuff like their scholarship advantage gets exposed. And I guarantee you that the SEC members would vote 13-1 to stop it if it comes down to it.

Like the TOPS stuff has been curbed somewhat by the NCAA making teams have x amount of players with at least 25% athletic aid or whatever the number is. The difference is you have more schools that have lottery scholarship money- like LSU, Georgia, Tennessee, etc. than have the same advantage that Vandy has.

[baseballfan]

Fenter also turned down 3rd round offers. He had already given up and left the house when his advisor called.

[baseballfan]

For the top 10 rounds of the draft, a player has to agree to the offer or they won't get drafted. If a team drafts a player in the top 10 rounds and the player doesn't sign, the team loses the draft pick and the money for that slot. (Look at last year). So yes it is true, a player is not drafted until they are drafted, however, players do have to agree To take a certain $ amount (signability). I think it's a good thing that we have 3 guys that turned down offers...strengthens our program.

[maroonmania]

For the top 10 rounds of the draft, a player has to agree to the offer or they won't get drafted. If a team drafts a player in the top 10 rounds and the player doesn't sign, the team loses the draft pick and the money for that slot. (Look at last year). So yes it is true, a player is not drafted until they are drafted, however, players do have to agree To take a certain $ amount (signability). I think it's a good thing that we have 3 guys that turned down offers...strengthens our program.

So sounds like with the current system if you see one of your signees go in the Top 10 rounds, expect them to be signed by MLB because it likely means they have already verbally agreed to an offer.

[baseballfan]

That is correct

[Intramural All-American]

WTF is going on around here? I said there is "a better than average chance" that he is going to be a bust- not that he "will be". And yet I get accused by some on here for
"pumping up" recruits?

How about this- Jesse McCord and Luke Reynolds are going to be All-American first round picks and make Bryce Harper look like Mario Mendoza. Everyone happy now?

Or would people on here actually like to discuss reality. The REALITY is it's difficult to come back from a labrum tear. I HOPE he does. At this point it's a total unknown- but the REALITY is the odds are stacked against him.

Mark Prior was a talented pitcher who had the same injury. Most people would consider him a bust. Kirk Presley had injuries- most people consider him a bust. As I said, the harsh reality in LIFE in sports is sometimes things do not work out- and sometimes it's not totally the fault of the player.

In fact, I could make a strong argument that it's easier to come back from a concussion than it is a labrum tear. But let's move the goal posts with Swinarski because- well, I don't know why you want to do that to be honest with you. Swinarski made a mistake by not staying in HS for his senior year- something I disagreed with him doing at the time. I believe it set him back. Regardless, he still is a bust as well.

Why our fans are so overprotective of some of our baseball players is beyond me.

Mark Prior was not a bust. Mark Prior was a very solid pitcher who had injuries that killed his career. Bust has a negative connotation. Mark Appel has been a bust so far. Someone who gets hurt is not a bust. So if McCord never makes it back, he was not a bust, he was just a kid who unfortunately had his career cut short.

[Todd4State]

Mark Prior was not a bust. Mark Prior was a very solid pitcher who had injuries that killed his career. Bust has a negative connotation. Mark Appel has been a bust so far. Someone who gets hurt is not a bust. So if McCord never makes it back, he was not a bust, he was just a kid who unfortunately had his career cut short.

However you want to look at it "from a certain point of view" Obi Wan.

Either way, the odds of him contributing are unfortunately stacked against him.

[baseballfan]

Maybe off topic, maybe not...

I hope Vanderbilt keeps winning. That may be the best way to curb their advantage over time.

Because then people will ask "how are they doing it and LSU, MSU, Florida, etc. aren't"? That's how stuff like their scholarship advantage gets exposed. And I guarantee you that the SEC members would vote 13-1 to stop it if it comes down to it.

Like the TOPS stuff has been curbed somewhat by the NCAA making teams have x amount of players with at least 25% athletic aid or whatever the number is. The difference is you have more schools that have lottery scholarship money- like LSU, Georgia, Tennessee, etc. than have the same advantage that Vandy has.

Vandy has endowment money that provides for every student's unmet need (not just athletes). Just like Harvard. They also use their own income guidelines which allows families to make a lot of money and still qualify for endowment money. My cousin went to Vandy (non-athlete) and cost was less than going to UT out of pocket. So, most athletes get more $ not on athletic scholarship.