re: Baseball Recruiting Discussion

Speaking of the Draft, John Whittle wrote up his MLB Draft Preview for Current Players & Recruits, here's what he had to say on Recruits:

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C Nick Ciuffo: The first name with South Carolina ties off the board should be Ciuffo, who is probably a late teens or early 20s pick in the first round of the draft. He’s been invited and accepted a trip to New York for the draft, which is a pretty good indication of his intentions to sign. Area scouts, crosscheckers and scouting directors have come in droves to see Ciuffo, who has also done multiple pro workouts in leading up to the draft. St. Louis is a team that likes him a lot and they have picks at 19 and 28 in the first round. The Cardinals may not be ready to take him at 19 but he certainly won’t fall past 28. I feel like he’ll go to the Rays at pick No. 21 but Baltimore at 22 is another possibility. I expect him to get in the $2 million range and sign.

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RHP Canaan Cropper: With Cropper, he’s kind of hard to project at this point. He’s set a dollar amount that I think will keep him from being drafted early enough to sign. I don’t think there’s going to be a team that’s willing to give him the money he wants, which will probably cause him to fall way down the boards. He’s a player who is a top 10 round kind of talent but could easily not be selected at all.

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RHP Wil Crowe: Probably a fourth round pick if he’d sign for slot money, Crowe could easily fall towards the bottom of the draft or completely out of it altogether. Crowe’s signing bonus figure has done nothing but go up in recent weeks and he wants first round money to sign a professional contract. He won’t get that though and should be in school this fall.

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RHP/3B Travis Demeritte: Another player not to get too attached to is Demeritte, who could end up anywhere from late first round to the second round. He’s a tremendous athlete and one of few players who profile as a position player or pitcher who will probably wind up at a position. It shouldn’t take too long for Demeritte to get his deal worked out once he is drafted.

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OF Brock Maxwell: A lot of scouts have taken in Maxwell’s games this high school season as he does very little in the summer and fall because of high school football. Scouts view him as a currently a 7-10 round talent but he’s not going to consider signing at slot there. We’ll pass along if something changes but we expect Maxwell to be in school this summer.

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LHP John Parke: In late May, Parke said he will honor his commitment and attend South Carolina this fall. There’s no reason to believe that won’t stick. He probably a 5-8 rounder if he showed the willingness to sign, but he’ll come to school for a few years.

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RHP/SS Cory Thompson: Some like Thompson as a position player but almost everyone likes him as a pitcher. Thompson had a lot of draft “helium,” a scouting term used to describe a player moving up draft boards, in the spring. Scouts love his athleticism in the field and love his easy arm action and effortless 92-94 mph delivery on the mound. The teams that like him as a pitcher like him in rounds 4-6 while the teams that see him as a position player like him 6-8. He should come off the board as a pitcher.

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RHP Matt Vogel: The New Yorker may be the hardest player in this draft to project, not only where he will go but what he will do. Vogel has worked out for several teams and he’s still raw as a pitcher. It’s hard to tell just how much teams like him as a project and where he would be selected. He’s a player we don’t have a great feel for and will just have to keep tabs on as the summer wears on. For the record, he says he believes he will end up at South Carolina but he’s had at least some contact with every MLB team except for one. Vogel has had various workouts for scouts in the area in recent weeks and also flew to Arizona to work out for the Diamondbacks. Aside from the three of Ciuffo, Demeritte and Thompson, he’s the player most likely to sign, but that isn’t a projection I’m ready to make at this point.

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RHP/1B Taylor Widener: Scouts’ jaws dropped in January 2012 when Widener showed 91 mph on the radar gun at Diamond Prospects Pro Day and was as high as 93 as a junior. He was a player to watch this year but he never quite was able to hit those numbers again with much consistency. If Thompson had helium, some air was let out of Widener’s balloon. It doesn’t mean that he had a bad season or isn’t a good player, but he will not be drafted as high as initially expected. Unless he drops his bonus demand, he will be in school this fall.

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