I understand the draft has hurt Texas baseball recruiting but we are still the most successful program of all time. How are other schools in our own conference out playing and recruiting us. I don't get it, on a down year we should still be in the mix to make the CWS
I am going to try to make an analogy and I hope I tie it up nice and neatly.
Back in 2006 when then Pitching Coach Tom Holliday left and went to North Carolina State, that year pitching class all opted out of their LOI and went else where-Including Brandon Belt... Well that left Skip holding a very empty pitching staff to work with so it had to go to the Juco route to add some depth... It took time for Skip to add depth to the Pitching depth..Chance Ruffin, Brandon Workman and Cole Green.. Then Taylor Jungman was added= CWS trips in 09 and in '11
These kids are either sophomore or would have been
Parker French - RHP - Dripping Springs Friday Night Starter
Dillon Peters- LHP - Cathedral HS (Indiana) Saturday Starter
Toller Boardman - LHP/OF - Bellaire Injured his Freshman year trying to regain his form
Blake Swihart- C - Cleveland HS-S/R Signed with the Red Sox
Matt Dean - IF - Colony HS-R/R Signed with the Blue Jays
Ricky Jacquez - RHP - El Paso Franklin Dismissed
John Curtiss - RHP - Southlake Carroll Tommy John Surgery Last July
Dylan Bundy - RHP - Oswasso (Oklahoma) Drafted 4th overall by the Orioles, Called up last September, will start in AAA
Brooks Marlow-2b-Giddings High School Starting 2nd base
Collin Shaw-OF-Westlake High School Bench Player
Josh Bell CF- Jesuit High School Signed with the Pirates as they threw a ton of money his way
These kids are Freshman or would have been
Wyatt Mathisen INF/C - Corpus Christi Calallen- Drafted by the Pirates with the 69th pick overall
Austin Dean INF - Klein Collins, Drafted in the 4th round
Spencer Edwards SS/2B - Rockwall Drafted in the 2nd Round by Tampa
Steve Bean C - Rockwall Drafted with the 59th pick over all
Travis Duke LHP - Pearland Dawson Reliable LHP out of the Bull Pen
Chad Hollingsworth RHP - Robinson- Reliable RHP out of the Bull Pen
Holden Helmnick RHP - Conroe Willis- Tommy John Surgery in March
Ty Culbreth LHP/OF - Bryan Another LHP that is coming on out of the Bull Pen
Courtney Hawkins OF - Corpus Christi Calallen Drafted in the 1st round by the White Sox
Ben Johnson OF - Round Rock Westwood- Played Two Sports in High School, leads the team in HR
Tyler Gonzales SS - San Antonio Madison - Blue Jays draft Tyler with the 60th pick over all
With the collapse of last season & Tommy Harmon being relieved of his duties, again Texas had to find bodies in the Juco ranks to give it some depth.. These players that Harmon recruited, those plays had built up a relationship with Him.. With him no longer there, those kids made it clear to the MLB teams that they were willing to sign..
Skip and Nicholson needs to get Barrera, McGuire, Clemens, Schiraldi and Boswell on campus...
Might be tough to get LHP/OF Trey Ball on campus but these 5 along with Gurwitz, RHP Goins, LHP Malmin, & RHP Cooper will provide a very strong corner stone for the team...