WSU Baseball Recruiting - Class of 2014

[WstateU]

Hall of Fame Manager Earl Weaver had an opinion on the size issue. http://youtu.be/QWQbN0jFo_k?t=55s

[Kung Wu]

Hall of Fame Manager Earl Weaver had an opinion on the size issue. http://youtu.be/QWQbN0jFo_k?t=55s

Hilarious!

[1972Shocker]

Shocks had 7 members of their 2014 recruiting class drafted.

16/490 - Chase Rader 1B - Coffeyville CC - Detroit Tigers
19/575 - Isaac Anderson RHP - College of Southern Idaho - Cincinnati Reds
31/920 - Sam Hilliard LHP - Crowder College (MO) - Minnesota Twins
34/1026 - Storm Rynard RHP - Cowley County CC - Texas Rangers
37/1097 - Chase Williams RHP - Eastern Oklahoma State - Miami Marlins
39/1162 - Keenan Eaton - OF - Chaparral HS (CO) - Pittsburgh Pirates
39/1180 - Taylor Sanagorski C - Bishop Carroll HS - Detroit Tigers

Good chance that Chase Rader and Isaac Anderson will sign pro contracts. I expect Sam Hilliard, Storm Rynard, Chase Williams, Keenan Eaton and Taylor Sanagorski will be in the Shocker fold.

[1972Shocker]

Report by Paul Suellentrop on status of the 7 Shocker recruits that were drafted.

http://www.kansas.com/2014/06/14/3508098/wsu-notes-baseball-recruits-mull.html

Sounds like Storm Rynard picked by Texas in the 34th round apparently has a strong desire to start his pro career and seems intent on signing.

Otherwise, it appears the Shocks have a shot at keeping the other 6 including Juco transfers 3B Chase Rader selected by Detroit in the 16th round and RHP Isaac Anderson selected by the Reds in the 19th round.

Sounds like some our recruits dropped in the draft because they were sending vibes to the pros that they might be difficult to sign.

Still nothing is certain until it is certain. Chase and Isaac may simply be posturing to enhanced their leverage in negotiations. Time will tell.

It probably doesn't hurt the Shocks cause any when Chase and Isaac can see what happened to Casey Gillaspie after a big junior year.

[1972Shocker]

Storm Rynard has signed with Texas.

[1972Shocker]

Isaac Anderson leaning to attending Wichita State.

[Play Angry]

Getting at least one of Rader/Anderson to attend would be nice. Getting both would be fantastic and a huge boost for next year.

A tough choice no doubt but here's hoping we get to see these young men in a Shocker uniform.

[WuShock16]

It probably doesn't hurt the Shocks cause any when Chase and Isaac can see what happened to Casey Gillaspie after a big junior year.

I know Casey wasn't draft eligible last year, but let's just say for the heck of it that he could have been. Where was his talent level last year in regards to the draft? I don't remember him being near the offensive threat last year that he showed this year. How would you compare Casey last year with these guys right now, particularly Rader since he is a position player?

[1972Shocker]

I know Casey wasn't draft eligible last year, but let's just say for the heck of it that he could have been. Where was his talent level last year in regards to the draft? I don't remember him being near the offensive threat last year that he showed this year. How would you compare Casey last year with these guys right now, particularly Rader since he is a position player?

Those are good questions, but I'm not sure I'm qualified to answer those. His numbers were much better as a Junior vs his Sophomore year but as we know the pros draft perhaps as much on potential as on performance, although I'm sure actual performance gives them a greater confidence in drafting a player. I don't think Casey was drafted out of high school but that could be because he may have made it know he was college bound and would be a tough sign.

I really have no way to compare Chase Rader to Casey other than Casey was picked at #20 in the 1st round and Chase was picked at #490 in the 16th round. Also, keep in mind Casey has 3 years of D-1 ball under his belt. I am assuming he consistently saw much better pitching than Chase saw at the JUCO level.

I am pretty skeptical that we will successfully be able to replace Casey's production with any single player. But we don't necessarily have to if we can improve up and down the lineup adequately.

[pogo]

Casey had a great season in the Cape Cod League where they use wood bats. I would think that that alone probably garnered him a great deal of attention from the scouts. Of course I have been wrong so many times in life that there could be a strong probability that I'm in the dark here as well.

[1972Shocker]

Adding walk-on Travis Young from Derby.

25 signees which includes 3 walk-ons, at least a couple who will receive academic scholarships. Possible that one or more of the other signees are walkons as well I suppose.

So far have only lost Storm Rynard to the pros. Friday, July 18th is the deadline for drafted players to sign pro contracts.

Gunnar Troutwine, Catcher (6-2, 210) Shawnee Mission East. Sounds like Brian Walker was a big factor in signing this young man.

Brian Fehr, Outfield/LH Pitcher (6-2, 185), Manhattan (KS)

Matt Whelan, RH Pitcher (6-6, 205) Valor Christian (Highlands Ranch, CO)

Trey Vickers, Shortstop (6-1, 180), Rockhurst (Kansas City, MO)

Tyler Jones, RH Pitcher (6-2, 170, Andale-Garden Plain (KS)

Jordon Boyer, Shortstop (6-2, 180), Dear Creek (Edmund, OK)

Taylor Sanagorski, Catcher (6-0, 200), Bishop Carroll (Wichita)

Jeb Bargfeldt, LH Pitcher (6-0, 170) Owasso, OK (one of 34 pitchers on he Louisville Slugger H.S. All-American Team as a Jr.)

Taylor Goshen, RH Pitcher (6-1, 235), Carroll (Ft. Wayne, IN)

Brad Kinsey, LHP (6-0, 148), Norman North (OK)

Chandler Sanburn, RH Pitcher (6-1, 175), Avon High School (Indianipolis, IN)

Chase Rader, 1B (6-0, 200), Coffeyville C.C via Shawnee Mission NW (KS) - described as very athletic with 42 steals last year at Coffeyville and played SS in high school - not really that big of a kid I doubt he will paly 1B at WSU.

Sam Hilliard, LH Pitcher (6-5, 205), Crowder College (MO) via Mansfield, TX - played his freshman year at Navarro College (TX)

Alex Van Pelt, 1B/LHP (6-4, ???), St. Thomas Aquinas HS, Overland Park, KS (Not a lot of info on Alex -- not sure if he is a scholarship player or a walk-on.

Isaac Anderson, RHP (6-1, 185), College of Southern Idaho - Listed as an IF/OF on Southern Idaho's roster. Drafted out of high school in Round 34 by the Royals.

Jordan Farris, 2B/3B (6-3, 215 R/R), Oxnard College (CA) - Played at Arkansas his freshman year. 2014 MLB Draft Profile.

Jon Ferrendelli, RHP (6-0, 180), Chandler-Gilbert CC (AZ) - Throws 88-91 with good command.

Willie Schwanke, RHP (6-1, 195), Grayson College (TX)

Chase Williams, RHP (6-6, 210), Eastern Oklahoma State - Throws 92-95 but is a little raw and a little wild.

Storm Rynard, RHP (6-1, 180), Cowley County CC (KS) - Signed with the Texas Rangers.

Ryan Tinkham, 1B/C (6-5, 215), Oxnard College (CA)

Keenan Eaton, OF (6-1, 205), Parker Chapparal High (CO) - Originally committed to Vanderbilt

Walk-on, some or all of whom will have some kind of academic scholarship aid:

Adam Thies, Shortstop/3B/UT (6-0, 165), Olathe East (KS)

Josh DeBacker, Outfielder (6-3, 185), Lee's Summit (MO) North

Travis Young, Infielder (6-2, 212) Derby, KS - Initially was going to paly defensive back at Butler County but decided to walk-on with the Shocks.


Wichita State Announces 1st Half of Baseball Signing Class (Early Signing Period)

Wichita State Announces 2nd Half of Baseball Signing Class (Early Signing Period)

Lots of juco pitchers.

Rynard and Williams are two hard-throwing additions.

A two-way player from Arizona and a former Razorback.

The fall class went heavy on pitching.

[Play Angry]

There are a helluva lot of good looking pitchers in that class, both JUCO and HS. I hope we can cobble an offense around them.

[WSUwatcher]

That's just about a complete makeover. Those who have wondered what Butler will be able to do with his own players are about to find out, so hang on and let's hope it's a good ride.

[1972Shocker]

That's just about a complete makeover. Those who have wondered what Butler will be able to do with his own players are about to find out, so hang on and let's hope it's a good ride.

The roster on goShockers.com shows a carryover of 15 players from last year and only about half of those played much last year. The roster includes Cody Tyler who underwent TJ surgery this past May. Not sure he will be able to pitch next season.

With 24 players coming in (assuming no one else signs a pro-contract this week) and perhaps a couple more walk-ons showing up in the fall we will have around 38-42 players on the roster heading into the fall. That will have to be whittled down to 35 before the games start next season. 2 or 3 of those could come from the 15 guys currently listed on the roster.

The core of the returning players include Sam Tewes, assuming he can rehab sans surgery, Ray Ashford, Daniel Kihle, Mikel Mucha, Tanner Dearman, and Tanner Kirk. Hopefully, TJ Looney can carryover and build on his summer performance. Overall not exactly a group that will strike fear into anyone.

One thing the Shocks have in abundance this year is a lot of available playing time for he taking.

The dearth of D-1 experience will be a major issue the Shocks will have to overcome to be successful next year. If nothing else it will be interesting to see how this all unfolds.

[Play Angry]

Next year will definitely be interesting. We're gonna take some licks (probably a lot) early. The bright side is that we had 7 signees drafted, and 6 of them remain on track to arrive on campus. Even if one of them signs before Friday's deadline, that is an unusually high percentage for us in recent years. I am too lazy to dig it up, but my guess would be somewhere in the 2005-2007 range for the last time we had similar luck with that many draftee recruits turning down contracts. It's been a long time. Of course, this is also an irregularly enormous class so the sheer number of draftees is not overwhelming, but the retention percentage is very encouraging.

This recruiting class probably holds Coach Butler's future in its hands. Next year will obviously be too soon to judge, but the following couple of seasons will determine whether we can bounce back to being the team us fans hope we can be.

Fingers crossed.