At
Perfect Game we fully realize we cover the game of baseball in a
variety of ways. Our No. 1 reason for existence of course is to
produce events for young players to put themselves in a better
position to get attention from college recruiters and professional
scouts to further their aspiring baseball careers.
However,
we also cover the game of baseball at the amateur level, from our
college content, which just got underway, to our high school baseball
content, which will begin the first week of February. Also included
is our draft coverage, a nearly year-long process that is tied
directly to our events, and is also connected to our expansive summer
collegiate coverage.
We
frequently receive a lot of emails, Tweets and posts on Facebook
asking for clarity as the sheer number of events, volume of content
and aspects of the game that we cover can, at times, create some
confusion. It also brings out the fan of all of us, not to mention
parents and mentors that are looking to put young players that are
close to them in the best position to succeed.
Whatever
your reason for visiting Perfect Game we would like to hear from you,
and welcome you to submit questions that we can post in a regular
mailbag feature similar to this notebook.
To
do so simply drop me an email (pebert@perfectgame.org)
or send me a tweet (@PGPatrickEbert). We'd like to use your name in
our responses, so don't be shy, and remember, there are never dumb
questions, only dumb answers.
And
that's where I come in.
Jacob
Nix to play for IMG Academy
Jacob
Nix, who was selected in the fifth round of the 2014 MLB Draft by the
Houston Astros and initially agreed to a $1.5 million signing bonus,
has agreed to pitch for IMG Academy this spring according to a
release on Monday. Nix' situation was tied directly to that of Brady
Aiken's, and when Aiken didn't sign with the Astros, they couldn't
sign Nix without receiving a harsh penalty for drastically exceeding
their allotted bonus pool.
Because
Nix had what was called a “binding agreement” with the Astros,
Nix, on behalf of the player's union, filed a grievance with the
Astros. That grievance was settled just before the holidays for an
undisclosed amount, but still left Nix without a team to play for in
2015.
You
can read more about Nix, Aiken and the Astros' draft in Perfect
Game's 2014 Year in Review feature.
Nix
will play for IMG Academy's post-graduate program, a team that
largely plays against junior colleges and Division II schools in the
state of Florida.
“We
are looking forward to Jacob joining us at IMG Academy, where we feel
he will be in the ideal environment to continue his development on
and off the field,” said IMG Academy’s Director of Baseball, Dan
Simonds, in Monday's release.
IMG
Academy is based in Bradenton, and also fields a high school team as
a private school with a talented roster of high school juniors and
seniors. Some of the more notable names on their 2015 roster include
lefthanded pitchers Logan Allen, Dion Henderson, and Jason Groome,
infielder L.T. Tolbert and outfielder Danny Blair. These teams are
set to participate at Perfect Game Park South at LakePoint this
coming spring as part of PG's new Spring Swing series of
events, including the 2015 Perfect Game High School Showdown
and the 2015 Louisville Slugger Select Classic.
To
view the IMG Academy full release visit this link.
All-American
feedback
The
past several years I've had the pleasure to watch the feedback that
Kendall Rogers received on social media after he released some of the
most highly anticipated college baseball features, most notably the
Preseason All-American teams and the Preseason Top 25 Teams. We have
yet to get to the preseason top 25 teams, but the Preseason
All-American teams were unveiled last Friday.
This
year I got to experience it for myself.
These
are the times when fans come out and share their
displeasure with the notable omissions, usually, of course, from
their favorite teams.
This
year the omission of Ole Miss lefthander Christian Trent drew the
most ire, with a variety of reactions questioning the credibility
(among other things) of our list. I'm honestly not trying to pit
myself against the fans or their reactions in sharing this, I'm just
trying to create a frame of reference for our thought process.
If
you follow me on Twitter you likely saw my numerous responses to such
inquires, along the lines of “so many good pitchers, PLAYER NAME
just missed the cut.” This was not just a standard company response
to those inquiries, as Frankie Piliere and myself discussed at great
length the number of players, pitchers in particular, that were
really hard to leave off the first, second and third teams.
In
previous years these teams featured four starters each. Two weeks ago
Frankie approached me and asked if we could expand the teams to five
each to accommodate the wealth of arms. We also decided to make the
individual second base and shortstop positions two middle infield
positions, recognizing how many talented shortstops there are in the
college game of baseball.
We
could have easily added a fourth team, and possibly even a fifth, if
we wanted to. However, three teams fits the standard, and we also
didn't want to seem as though we were giving a ribbon to every player
set to take the field a few weeks from now.
However,
if we had, the fourth team pitching staff may look like this:
SP:
Andrew Suarez, Miami
SP:
Christian Trent, Ole Miss
SP:
Trent Thornton, North Carolina
SP:
Tyler Davis, Washington
SP:
Kyle Cody, Kentucky
RP:
Hayden Stone, Vanderbilt
RP:
Ryan Burr, Arizona State
Still
on the outside looking in are starters such as Brett Lilek of Arizona
State and Trey Killian of Arkansas, two players that we really feel
are going to have strong seasons, and as a result, will be high draft
picks come June. The same could be said for Southern California
reliever Kyle Davis, who had a huge year for the Trojans in 2014.
And
speaking of relievers, we felt Hayden Stone was the hardest player to
leave off the All-American teams, but we just couldn't bring
ourselves to removing any of the six pitchers already listed. Stone's
performance last year was near ridiculous, although he didn't have
the gaudy save totals since Carson Fulmer opened the year as
Vanderbilt's closer before being inserted as a weekend starter. Fully
expecting to spend all of 2015 as the Commodores' closer, look for
Stone to put up numbers that will firmly place his name among those
considered for postseason All-American honors.
Outfield
is another position that is was difficult to limit ourselves to three
players per team given the wealth of talent at the position. Not
surprisingly, each of the three designated hitters honored play the
outfield regularly.
Some
of the other non-outfield position players considered for the teams
include catchers Anthony Hermelyn (Oklahoma) and Tres Barrera
(Texas); first basemen Sikes Orvis (Ole Miss) and Blaise Salter
(Michigan State); middle infielders Tyler Krieger (Clemson), C.J.
Hinojosa (Texas), Kal Simmons (Kennesaw State) and Jake Noll (Florida
Gulf Coast); as well as third baseman Jose Cuas (Maryland).