2015 MLB Draft

[shock10]

Where do you see R. Beichler? And Sandburn?

I see them as bullpen guys a left right combo. Mostly because of last year.

[1972Shocker]

I'll play along. If we do lose the player's in question. A starting pitcher group of Tewes, Jones, Tyler, Bargfeldt, and a freshman maybe Lungwitz.

Tewes and Bargfeldt would be in the mix for sure and probably Cody Tyler if healthy. Maybe Juco transfer Tyler Gibson. We could have 6 or 7 freshmen on the pitching staff so we probably are going to need a few of those guys to step up in some way, shape or form if we lose Schwanke and Williams.

If Schwanke and Williams return then we are probably looking at Tewes, Schwanke, Williams and Bargfeldt or Tyler and can perhaps bring the freshman along a little slower with Biechler, Sanburn and maybe a couple of Juco guys taking the lead in middle relief. Based on this year's experience it is really difficult to know what to expect from the Jucos. I thought last year was a mixed bag at best from the 9 Juco transfers we brought in.

Troutwine should be the No. 1 catcher and the infield would seem to be pretty much set with Tinkham, Kirk, Vickers and Rader.

The outfield won't be very deep and will lack power outside of perhaps Dayton Dugas. I would guess Mucha, Dugas and perhaps Eaton starting in the OF unless one of the other Freshmen can forge their way into the starting lineup. How strong of a defensive OF that would be remains to be seen.

Still potentially a lot of questions. Hopefully, we have the answers lurking in the shadows of whatever 35 players make the roster next year.

I can see next year's roster consisting of as many as 16 Freshman (including Redshirts), 9 Sophomores, 4 Juniors and 6 Seniors if Schwanke and Williams return. If they don't return we will be even a little less experienced. Either way not exactly a team consisting of a ton of D-1 experience.

[shock10]

I see 5 Juniors not counting Williams. I see 5 seniors not counting Schwanke. I see 9 sophomores that leaves 14 to 16 FRESHMAN.

[mjbaker84]

can hctb redshirt some of the incoming freshman and have them not count towards the 35?

[1972Shocker]

can hctb redshirt some of the incoming freshman and have them not count towards the 35?

Technically yes, but if they are on a baseball scholarship they still count against your 27-player scholarship limit. If you aren't on the roster you can't work out with the team or participate in any team activities once the 35-man roster is set. You simply would not be part of the team at that point.

As a practical matter if you are one of the max 27-player scholarship recipients you will more than likely be on the roster. After that you can have 8 walk-ons to get to the 35-man limit. Technically only players on the roster can be redshirted although the effect is the same if you aren't on the roster and don't play. The only difference is that if you aren't on the roster you can't be put back on the roster until the next season. You can always take the redshirt off a roster player at any point by playing them plus redshirts can continue to workout the team and participate in all team activities.

So the bottom line is that redshirted players do count against the 35-man roster. I suppose it is technically possible to stockpile players as non-roster students who are not part of the team if the player wants to come back and try to make the roster again next year. Not sure I can cite an example of that happening in the past however and your 11.7 scholarships are generally too valuable to use on players not on the roster. I do not think there are any provisions for taking a scholarship award away from a player that doesn't make your roster and give it to another player but since this determination is usually made after the 2nd semester is well underway I don't see how that would be possible.

[xazshox]

Shocker Outfield Prospects

72, I saw what you wrote about the OF. One player you didn't list is Brett Fehr, 6-3, 195, who was redshirted despite being a 1st Team Louisville Slugger All-American. He is from Manhattan, KS. It'll be interesting to see how he does next fall in the series then. Another player I wonder about is Zach Redding. At the 1st pitch banquet last Jan or Feb, I had a discussion about the outfield with a group of players standing around before dinner. We figured Kihle would be in CF & Mucha, in LF. I asked them who they thought would be in RF & the consensus was that it would be Zach Redding. However, he only hit 0.196 this spring. HCTB played him in RF in the last series of the year VS Dallas Baptist and he didn't do much. The games were in Dallas where he is from, so perhaps Coach thought that might spur him on a bit. Kennon Eaton had been starting prior to that and was doing pretty well. He ended up hitting 0.289 for the year in 45 AB's which is pretty good for a frosh. He's pretty big and fast at 6-1, 215, so he should be able to hit with some power in the future.

[Ricardo del Rio]

This has nothing to do with nothing, but I hate the baseball scholarship limitation.

It seems so dumb, despite the intended advantages.

[1972Shocker]

72, I saw what you wrote about the OF. One player you didn't list is Brett Fehr, 6-3, 195, who was redshirted despite being a 1st Team Louisville Slugger All-American. He is from Manhattan, KS. It'll be interesting to see how he does next fall in the series then. Another player I wonder about is Zach Redding. At the 1st pitch banquet last Jan or Feb, I had a discussion about the outfield with a group of players standing around before dinner. We figured Kihle would be in CF & Mucha, in LF. I asked them who they thought would be in RF & the consensus was that it would be Zach Redding. However, he only hit 0.196 this spring. HCTB played him in RF in the last series of the year VS Dallas Baptist and he didn't do much. The games were in Dallas where he is from, so perhaps Coach thought that might spur him on a bit. Kennon Eaton had been starting prior to that and was doing pretty well. He ended up hitting 0.289 for the year in 45 AB's which is pretty good for a frosh. He's pretty big and fast at 6-1, 215, so he should be able to hit with some power in the future.

All valid and reasonable observations. However, they are based on hope and not on any established prowess at the D-1 level. After watching last year we know how the results on the field don't always measure up to the hope and the hype. You also note that I specifically mention that one thing that makes this exercise difficult is that I have very little to go on in evaluating the redshirt players. While I do project Bret Fehr to be on the roster I only know what I have read about him in the always exuberant recruit signing announcements. I am assuming Bret did not redshirt for injury reasons although I do not know that.

One thing I have wondered about is why did HCTB redshirt all these freshman this past season in a year where quite frankly we need all the help we could get. Is HCTB being super patient and taking more of a long-term approach or did all of these freshmen have holes in their games that need work? One thing I have not heard HCTB or PCKB talk much about was this unusually high number of redshirts.

As far as Zach Reding goes you pretty much said it yourself. As an experienced player, he was a redshirt junior last year having taken a redshirt in his one-year at Texas Tech he hit 0.196 in somewhat limited at-bats (56). I thought he did have some nice pinch hitting appearances late in the season. Did not really show home run power though. In any case, Zach does have that actual performance to overcome in convincing the HCTB is worthy of a scholarship and/or a roster spot.

Keenan Eaton actually did not fare badly at all hitting 0.289 in 45 at bats but, as with Zach Reding, did not really exhibit much of a power stroke. Small sample size but I was not overly-impressed with Keenan's defensive play in the OF.

After taking a while to get going Sam Hilliard finished last season hitting 0.333 with 14 doubles, 4 triples and 8 home runs in 218 at bats and had a slugging percentage of 0.546. Mucha, Eaton and Reding finished last season hitting a combined 0.287 with13 doulbes, 1 triple and 2 home runs in 319 at bats with a combined slugging percentage of 0.358.

Mikel Mucha is probably the only one that you can write into the everyday starting lineup for sure. The advantage the other guys have is that we are not real deep in outfielders so the opportunity to earn playing time is definitely there.

As I closed my earlier post their are lots of questions remaining to be answered and the OF is definitely one of them.

I do have a feeling that HCTB and PCKB probably expected to have more players drafted then they did back in November when the put this recruiting class together both among the Shocker juniors and the incoming recruiting class. The probably were not anticipating having to trim quite so heavily from potential roster.

It is quite a balancing act college baseball coaches have to deal with and they have so little to offer in the way of scholarship aid that would probably make their job easier.

[1972Shocker]

This has nothing to do with nothing, but I hate the baseball scholarship limitation.

It seems so dumb, despite the intended advantages.

Actually, it probably has something to do with everything and is very much one of the key factors in the Shockers and other programs being in these kind of situations. If you are over-optimistic in evaluating the draft prospects of you players and recruits you can easily end up with a situation like the Shockers have with their roster heding into next year. If you undervalue those draft prospects and the draft decimates your upper-classmen or your recruiting class and you have recruited only to anticipated needs you end up scrambling for players at a time when the cream of the crop has already been harvested.

I totally agree with you about your dislike of the baseball scholarship situation. It sucks.

[1972Shocker]

WSU Draft Report and Update by Paul Suellentrop.

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/article24504265.html

Nothing really new. Pretty much as has been reported on ShockerNet so far. HCTB did say that he does not expect Willie Schwanke to pitch this summer and that both Dayton Dugas and Connor Lungwitz are expected to attend Wichita State. But you just never know for sure until the July 17 deadline passes.

[1972Shocker]

I was listening to the Royals game tonight on the radio and I believe they said the Royals had signed 30 of their 41 draft picks already.