Cam Collier

[Bardman]

He gone. Once again one of UofL’s top commits is not going to reach campus (barring a miracla). He reclassed to 2022, got his GED and then went to Juco in the Spring. It appears he will go in the top 5-15 which of course means He Gone. I hope that is the only draft casualty and maybe we get a surprise player who returns to school.

 

[Jhectus18]

Yeah he was gone the moment he re-classified. Be interesting to see how the rest of the draft class shakes out for us.

 

[Telsler47]

Praying Zion Rose makes it to campus.

 

[KozmasAgain]

Right now our incoming class is ranked 3rd in the country.

 

[earsky]

Right now our incoming class is ranked 3rd in the country.

Probably fall a few spots minus Collier but still looks to be a really nice group.
I'm continuing to hear good things about the 'help on the way' with the pitchers. I'm not sure if there are any others gonna bounce after draft day or not. Again,fingers crossed.

 

[TheRealVille]

According to what I read at Card Chronicle, it's doubtful the top 4 recruits will not sign a MLB contract. Maybe even 5 or more.

I think McDonnell was spoiled by Brendan McKay not signing and coming to school because recruiting guys that are 1st and 2nd rounders in the draft is not working so well.

I hope McDonnell stubbornness about not using the transfer portal changes. It's hard to keep finding all those diamonds in the rough.

 

[earsky]

According to what I read at Card Chronicle, it's doubtful the top 4 recruits will not sign a MLB contract. Maybe even 5 or more.

I think McDonnell was spoiled by Brendan McKay not signing and coming to school because recruiting guys that are 1st and 2nd rounders in the draft is not working so well.

I hope McDonnell stubbornness about not using the transfer portal changes. It's hard to keep finding all those diamonds in the rough.

Wow,didn't know that. If so,you either have to trust in your farm system or go to the portal.
Or maybe some of both.

 

[Bardman]

Read a part of that article and then just had to stop. Makes me sick to my stomach. I mean, if UofL loses 5-6 recruits from this class it could be Very bad. Maybe, as it was alluded to above, the recruiting strategy may need to be adjusted. Maybe Top 30-40 guys need to bypassed unless a recruit straight-up says they want to come to school.

 

[Winkscott44]

I heard from a pretty reliable person that Jacob Miller isn’t likely to sign and that he will honor his commitment

 

[Bardman]

I heard from a pretty reliable person that Jacob Miller isn’t likely to sign and that he will honor his commitment

Let’s hope.

 

[Bardman]

Maybe CDM was hearing the whispers of his commits going high in the draft and started making moves. He took that Juco pitcher and got a late commit from LHP Smoot, from Ohio.

 

[Bardman]

Praying Zion Rose makes it to campus.

Gotta another year to wait on that one. To your point, we need to have a couple of these top guys stay with us. It makes a big difference .

 

[earsky]

Anybody besides me thinking NIL abruptly affecting our favorite College past time?
I suppose that there's a lot of back and forth right about now. The usual is no longer the norm and everybody and their brother wanting a piece of the pie to wear those college colors for you. Baseball has a unique setup with the sign or wait 3 year rule.

 

[Thecycle27]

NIL should really help baseball but maybe there isn’t a market.

 

[earsky]

NIL should really help baseball but maybe there isn’t a market.

Yeah I think what I meant was it will be used by these kids coming out of high school as a bargaining chip. It will help if you can get them on campus and seemingly locked in for 3 seasons. In that regard I completely agree. Gonna have to pony up the $$$

 

[Bardman]

Maybe. For these guys who can handle college-level work and have some level of ‘wanting’ to go to college then some NIL may push them to school. But, as mentioned…is there a market? Maybe for baseball-related ‘stuff’ there could be a niche. McKay would have raked in some $$$.

 

[earsky]

Yeah I hear what y'all are saying. So if there's not a market for it in baseball,maybe we see what we're seeing now? Guys feeling left out and making a decision they wouldn't have 5 years ago? Signing a contract out of high school,foregoing a shot at much better money 3 years down the road.
I get it. It's surely a personal choice.

 

[Bardman]

Those huge signing bonuses are tough to say no to. The going is tough in the minors though. Yet, take that $1M+ and play ball for a few years. If you don’t make it hopefully you saved some money and you go back and get a degree. I guess many see the reward of the huge signing bonus and take it over the risk of going to college and possibly getting hurt I guess.

 

[TheRealVille]

I think it's more about getting their pro careers started while they're still teenagers. After three years of college, most players are 21 or 22 years old and when they reach triple A minor league baseball, they're 25 or so competing with teenagers right out of HS.

By the time they get to the show, they're on their late 20's. Now if they're a phenom like Detmers who played only a year and a half of minor league baseball, those three years at college were good, but if it takes several years to reach the big leagues, you might wish you had those college years back.

Players like Corey Ray, Devin Mann, and Josh Stowers still are working to make the big show and all of them are counting the years to get there. Then there's Drew Ellis and Nic Solak who have tasted the big leagues but are now back at AAA.

Money is always a factor, especially now in the era of inflation, but if I were a 18 year old HS star, my motivation would be to get started professionally as soon as I can so I'm not 27 before I see the big leagues.

 

[earsky]

And either way,whether it's multi millions,a million or a couple hundred grand,we're seeing a shift in the process that we got used to seeing,which was guys passing on smaller signing bonuses to play college ball for 3 seasons.
Stay tuned for sure on the ever changing landscape of collegiate sports.

 

[jpa2825]

I don't recall McKay being that highly touted out of HS. I seem to recall that he played for his HS team but did not pursue an aggressive travel schedule like most do know to improve exposure. Maybe he told teams that he was going to UofL regardless, but he was not drafted until the 34th round out of HS (which is basically just a "flyer pick" in case something weird happens.

 

[earsky]

That's a really informative article in the Chronicle. Let's get the money and pay these guys for NIL.😜
Three years from now they triple those bonuses.😳

 

[TheRealVille]

I don't recall McKay being that highly touted out of HS. I seem to recall that he played for his HS team but did not pursue an aggressive travel schedule like most do know to improve exposure. Maybe he told teams that he was going to UofL regardless, but he was not drafted until the 34th round out of HS (which is basically just a "flyer pick" in case something weird happens.

Mckay was a big time recruit as a pitcher and had he chosen to pitch only, his draft projection would have been much higher. But he wanted to be a two way player and that wasn't going to happen in pro ball. A team will say sure but when you sign, you do what they say.

So he found McDonnell would gladly accept his two way skills and three years of collegiate brilliance ensued. He proved that it was possible for a pitcher to DH as well and he wasn't a 35th round draftee this time.

Injuries have derailed his pro career so far. He finally gave up hitting but until he gets back out there and show he can pitch, that decision years ago to be a two way player may have been a mistake. I really hope not.

 

[Bardman]

His injury was with his elbow so I’m not sure hitting had anything to do with it. He is back on the 60-day IL unfortunately as he is trying to work his way back from the injury.

 

[nccardfan]

Mckay was a big time recruit as a pitcher and had he chosen to pitch only, his draft projection would have been much higher. But he wanted to be a two way player and that wasn't going to happen in pro ball. A team will say sure but when you sign, you do what they say.

So he found McDonnell would gladly accept his two way skills and three years of collegiate brilliance ensued. He proved that it was possible for a pitcher to DH as well and he wasn't a 35th round draftee this time.

Injuries have derailed his pro career so far. He finally gave up hitting but until he gets back out there and show he can pitch, that decision years ago to be a two way player may have been a mistake. I really hope not.

It wasn’t a mistake. That’s what made him that high of a draft pick.

 

[TheRealVille]

It wasn’t a mistake. That’s what made him that high of a draft pick.

A mistake in the sense that his major league career has been delayed because of his two way status. The Rays made it clear they wanted him as a pitcher first. My point is not that hitting caused his injury but it interrupted his pitching progress and in retrospect if he had focused only on pitching, he could be further along with his career.

John Smoltz has said several times that a top level pitcher will not be his best if he tries to be a two way player. He's very adamant Shoei Ohtani should pitch only and if he did, he could be a all time pitching great.

I believe McKay quit hitting because he finally realized or was convinced he was only MLB worthy as a pitcher and once he came back from injury, he needed to concentrate solely on pitching.

 

[Thecycle27]

Minors is tough. It is ridiculously tough. Have to get lucky or be extremely good.
If you are being drafted 1-5 rounds teams are invested in you. After that minors is a crap shoot. I don’t think NIL will change very many minds if they are being drafted in 1-5 rounds.

Hitters takes more time to develop than pitchers. It is a quicker path to Majors through college than minors.

 

[earsky]

So I read on the football board that Addidas was maybe putting together a nice NIL deal for Owens and I wondered if something like that might be in the works for any of these highly regarded baseball commits. If not Addidas,maybe the manufacturers of baseball equipment. Anybody got any insight on this?

 

[Bardman]

You’d think Louisville Slugger would be an excellent NIL partner for some UofL baseball players. Would make sense.

 

[earsky]

You’d think Louisville Slugger would be an excellent NIL partner for some UofL baseball players. Would make sense.

BINGO

 

[SoulSr]

BINGO

Especially if you can hit home runs!

 

[earsky]

You’d think Louisville Slugger would be an excellent NIL partner for some UofL baseball players. Would make sense.

I'm assuming(and we know what that gets us) that a guy like Collier who's projected to be picked around that 7th spot,would spark interest with more than Louisville Slugger. I know Addidas is still driving the bus over here,but I'm not sure how that would work for baseball NIL agreements. Does Addidas have that foothold in our favorite National past time like they do in the other 2 big ones?

 

[Bardman]

I don’t know. There are many NIL opportunities for our guys. Yet, a top 10 pick is going to have a HUGE signing bonus. Fact that he jumped to Juco in the Spring tells me he is all in on going pro.

 

[CardX]

I don’t know. There are many NIL opportunities for our guys. Yet, a top 10 pick is going to have a HUGE signing bonus. Fact that he jumped to Juco in the Spring tells me he is all in on going pro.

What did Henry get guaranteed? $7M-$9M? I’d forgo college for that if I were CC.

 

[Bardman]

6.5M. I agree - for that money you sign. Of course the slot money isn’t nearly as much once you hit the second round, etc. 1.5M (for example) is a lot of money. Is that enough to forego college life, a degree (or very close to one) and playing college ball? If I wasn’t what they called a smart kid I would take the money because school probably isn’t for me. If I have at least competitive grades (to get me into college regardless of playing ball) I think I go to college. YOLO. The ROI on going to college and getting that degree is huge - just sayin’.

 

[earsky]

We wouldn't even be having this discussion a few years ago. Jordan Adell never had the option to look at getting some kind of deal to put off going pro out of high school,but we are in uncharted waters. Is it a bit of a long shot for a top 10 draft to take the route of waiting for 3 years ? Yes,but in this landscape not impossible.
The likelier scenario might be that those other draft picks could end up at 3rd and Central. Stay tuned.
Like I said before,it's probably a very busy time around the baseball program right now.

 

[Thecycle27]

You also have to keep in mind baseball players aren’t on full rides. That is a factor so even some of the NIL money is going to their education.

It really boils down to is college a good fit for the player and players family. Personally I would have told my sons to go to college if they weren’t in the top 5 rounds. It really is a special time in a kids life. Going straight to Pro’s is going up too fast for most players. College is single A and in some cases double A level baseball. It comes with a lot of perks that just aren’t available in the minors.

 

[2330859]

Someone should conduct an objective survey on those who left HS or College early for a MLB career, as to determination of the percentage who believe it was the best decision. Fans, relatives and friends of these athletes have their own opinion, but I would be more interested in how the young men feel about their decision to pursue a professional career instead of the college experience.

Jo Adell would be an interesting study; on one hand, he was the recipient of a huge payday ($4+M) when signing out of HS in 2017, but it took 3 years before he saw his first MLB action, and it has resulted so far in a rather disappointing experience, as he is back down in triple A ball.

Adell was believed by many to be the most talented HS Baseball player to come out of KY in recent memory; his decision to walk away from his scholarship at UL was considered as a “no brained”; particularly from the financial reward he was assured and received. Some of his friends believe he regrets that decision now, as he would have received the same big money later, but he missed the college experience and the degree that is still elusive at 23.

 

[earsky]

There's always a chance you could injure yourself I suppose and the thought of passing on money like what Adell got was hard to do.
In the current state of college athletics,the NIL factor would help to sway these type draft choices towards a decision to take that college experience...provided it is even an option. It alleviate a concern that you might not ever make a dime if you were injured.

 

[earsky]

I really am interested to see how this goes with all of the guys signed but expected to be drafted,but particularly Collier. New precedents could be on the horizon.