The LHP from Alabama will sign with the Marlins for $350,000, he told a newspaper in his home state. That’s not really a surprise. As I posted earlier today, if a pitcher from that far off the board goes that high, there typically is already an agreement in place.
No surprise. All in all, this has to be one of the best drafts I can remember for Arkansas keeping current players and signees.
Is that selective memory? Seems like we get gut punched more often than not. Maybe we were due some good luck.
Arkansas has fared better since the new MLB Draft rules were implemented a few years back. I think you have to wait to see who signs before you can say how well it turned out.
This reminds me a little of the 2014 draft when Luke Bonfield and Keaton McKinney both came to school. Both were top 80 prospects and turned down quite a bit of money. Nathan Rodriguez was a highly touted catcher in that class who came to school, too, but he never panned out because of some legal and grade issues.
Dominic Fletcher and Jordan McFarland both turned down some good money last year.
There have been others: Andrew Benintendi, Zack Cox and Brett Eibner come to mind.
Good points. How quickly I forget. I guess it’s easy to remember the draft losses through the years and forget we’ve had quite a few that could’ve gone but didn’t.
I don’t know when the right time might be for this, but when we have a little clearer picture after the signing deadline, I would love to get your take on the potential of this team. Specifically, is this a team that gives us a better chance of winning titles than we’ve had in a while? We’ll have a lot of experience and talent, but is it one good enough to give us a real shot at winning the conference? Obviously that would make you a legitimate national title contender.
I’ve felt great about teams in the past, but it seems we were always just a little short of pitching when we had great hitting and vice-versa. I know it’s mostly speculation at this point, but I would love to know your thoughts on what needs to happen for this team to have a national seed, SEC champ type of season. Besides luck!
Sorry for another long one…
Just out of curiousity, has there been an Arkansas Baseball recruit that signed a pro contract out of high school instead of coming to play for Arkansas that turned out to have a successful career in the pro’s?
Yes. Michael Fulmer, Travis Wood, Robbie Ray and Greg Bird are a few in MLB right now who went pro instead of coming to Arkansas. Brandon Nimmo has been up and down with the Mets.
Chris Davis was supposed to come to Arkansas out of junior college, but opted to go pro.
Torii Hunter signed with the Razorbacks. He had a decent pro career.
Who was the guy - maybe 5-7 years ago? - that signed with a team after the draft, but almost immediately regretted the decision and wanted to come to Arkansas. Called DVH and appealed to the NCAA, but after a few months of review, they would not let him come and play for us, so he was ‘stuck’ in the minors.
Does anyone remember that? Just curious how it turned out for him.
Thanks Notorious. Yes, that’s the story I was thinking of.
Seems impossible it’s already been 12 years! Just doesn’t seem that long ago.
Looks like he just played for 2 years in the Rookie League, and then either left, or was released.