re: 2017 #5 Auburn Baseball (30-12) and #9 Softball (39-8) Season Thread

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Tanner Burns, Alabama's Mr. Baseball and perhaps Auburn's top signee, was projected as a possible first-round draft pick, no later than the second round. Through seven rounds, he hasn't been chosen.

No, his stock didn't crash overnight. The likely scenario is that clubs did not view him as signable. He comes from an Auburn family. His brother is a team manager on the Auburn baseball team. I'm told his girlfriend attends Auburn, though I can't verify that.

Burns is viewed as a pitching prospect by major league clubs, but he is also a big-time position player. He wants to do both. He can do that at Auburn. In his final season at Decatur, he was 10-1 on the mound with an 0.88 ERA. He hit .467 with 16 home runs and drove in 46 runs.

The bottom line is that it appears very likely now that Burns will be part of Auburn's baseball program for the next three seasons.

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He tweeted he's coming

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McGill-Toolen rising junior Nathan LaRue knew the timing was right to make his college decision.

The versatile Yellow Jacket star committed to play baseball at Auburn this week.

"There was just nothing holding me back," he said. "Everything about Auburn was good. I love the campus, the school. I think the program is headed in the right direction. I wanted to get the weight off my shoulder and go ahead and make a decision. It feels good."

LaRue said he grew up a fan of Alabama. The Crimson Tide recruited him as well and he visited Tuscaloosa, but he said "it just didn't feel right."

As a sophomore this spring, LaRue helped McGill to a 31-8 overall record and the No. 1 ranking in Class 7A for most of the season. The Yellow Jackets lost a best-of-3 series against Auburn in the second round of the playoffs.

LaRue played right field and pitched for McGill this past year, though coach Tim Becker said his best position is catcher. LaRue said Auburn coaches have talked about playing him at all three positions in college.

"We don't catch him that much because he is one of our key pitchers as well," Becker said. "We don't want him going from catching to pitching if we can help him. So we put him in the outfield. He's very athletic and has a tremendous arm out there."

Becker said LaRue would play right field and pitch again as a junior with senior Hayden Patrick returning to catch. LaRue will take over behind the plate in his final year at McGill.

"Nate will rotate to catcher when Hayden graduates," Becker said. "Some of these college coaches like him as a pitcher. They feel he could be a low to mid-90s guy as a senior. But in Nate's heart, he wants to play every day so we will see what happens."

LaRue is coming off a banner season for McGill. He hit .404 with 13 doubles, five triples and five homers. He drove in 32 runs and scored 23. In just 38 innings on the mound, the right-hander went 3-3 with a save and a 1.82 ERA.

"Auburn is where Nate wanted to go," Becker said. "He looked at some other schools I think, but he really liked Auburn. I told him he would not go wrong. They have a great coaching staff and are building a great program."

LaRue said he has been working on his throws to second this summer as well as driving the ball from gap to gap at the plate and making good contact.

"Just working to perfect the little things," he said.

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