Shox vs Devils

[7hottamales]

downtown, you would be awesome in a debate class. your arguments are relevant and well supported with tangible facts. however, the fact remains, we are doing poorly against ranked teams, and for that matter, poorly against weaker teams from stronger conferences. intangibles of your tangible facts is the fact that they are averages, and are in no way achieved in consistent form.

we are not as good this year, and i am in agreement that recruiting has a lot to do with it. the staff needs to look outside of their mold, and start recruiting stone cold baseball players, as opposed to trying to develop projectability. physical acumen can give you an advantage, if you can play the game....we have guys that, quite frankly, can't. their have been players in this state that we could have had, and went for the prettier picks, even though they were proven players. example...ben carlson for mo state is leading the conference in home runs, from only 2 hours away in topeka. big physical kid, but slow, and a weak arm, so he goes to a "lesser" school. we need to recruit competitors, because we are lacking.

In the coaches defense, two of this last years recruiting class were 1st round draft picks so I think they are going after baseball players, they just don't always make it to campus. So to another posters point that Brent might not know a hitter if it bit him on his tail, he obviously knows hitters, you just can't control the draft and what kids will do once drafted.

Anyone can identify the guys on Baseball America's top 100 list. The trick is evaluating the guys that are going to produce in college, but lack a one projectable skill or another for the next level.

[SekShocker]

Than I will go with Conor. He wasn't highly recruited out of HS and now he is projected as a high round draft pick. I know we need to see more offense and that the production isn't what it should, but I do think Gene and Brent know what they are doing. Conor, IMO does fit more into the "baseball player" category as opposed to the good athlete that can be made into a baseball player, so in that regards we do need to find more Conor type players.

[7hottamales]

Than I will go with Conor. He wasn't highly recruited out of HS and now he is projected as a high round draft pick. I know we need to see more offense and that the production isn't what it should, but I do think Gene and Brent know what they are doing. Conor, IMO does fit more into the "baseball player" category as opposed to the good athlete that can be made into a baseball player, so in that regards we do need to find more Conor type players.

Conor is exactly the type of recruit we need to be looking for. Some guys don't have the best 60, have great raw power, or are that smooth in the field with a canon for an arm, but they just have a higher ability to center the ball on the barrel. It's not that difficult to identify who centers the ball consistently. Those are the guys that won't get drafted as 18 year olds, but you can get production out of quickly which is huge when you consider it is a 3 or 4 year window.

Find those guys with great work ethics like the Conors, Blake Blasi, Kevin Hooper, Pat Magness, and Andy Dirks of the world and you will have a hell of a college player.

[Shocker85]

Find those guys with great work ethics like the Conors, Blake Blasi, Kevin Hooper, Pat Magness, and Andy Dirks of the world and you will have a hell of a college player.

Can I add Jeff Ryan to that list? Another guy who brought an innane ability to hit and learned to be a player.

--'85.

[WeWillShockU]

[I wouldn't trade a single guy on our team for Ben Carlson in a hundred years. But thats just me.[/quote]


WSU has missed on several of the Carlson boys. I don't know if WSU didn't recruit these kids but I am sure that they were aware of them. The Carlson's played for Seaman HS which has won several 5A state championships in recent years. Ben has an older brother that was an all american at New Mexico after first starting out at K-State. He is now playing pro ball. There is another Carlson currently at Seaman HS. I think he is a junior. I know he plays baseball and is a very good HS player.