(04-01-2018 04:16 PM)WillyEagle Wrote: I am just surprised that we cannot sign any better pitchers than this collection of middle relievers. Madison Central HS has four or five guys that are better than this staff right now. Speaking of pitching, we are not in on a single one of the Top 5 pitchers in MS for High Schools right now.
I don’t know anything about MCHS’s team, but I’m guessing all those guys are committed to OM/MSU. If OM and/or MSU want a guy, they’re usually gonna get him unless they have some sort of tie to USM (Braley, McCarty). There was a guy from Ocean Springs in the 2016 class that went to MSU as a walk-on after we offered him some scholarship $$. It’s just tough to get Mississippi guys out of HS to commit here. Our rotation is made up of 3 non-MS guys and our stopper is out-of-state as well.
It’s a miracle that our pitching numbers are close to what they were last year. Last year we had 5 draftable guys. This year we have 2. There’s just not much talent on the mound at all this year.
Which brings me to this .... we have to quit relying on these JUCO guys. They have limited potential for the most part. Every now and then you’ll get someone like an Andrew Pierce that’s a high-quality pitcher from the JUCO ranks. But usually the best-case scenario is that they end up like Colt Smith (decent pitcher but not very talented and doesn’t get a ton of Ks). And most of the time they end up like the pitchers we have on our staff right now (not very good). It’s fine to have a couple on the roster, but I’m hoping Ostrander will recruit more HS arms.
We’ve missed on some arms here in the past couple years, though. Obviously Garrett Crochet is the big one. Committed to Jones but got drafted late and then was picked up by Tennessee and is already their Friday night starter as a true freshman. Will Warren from Prep is a true freshman at Southeastern and is their stopper. He has put up some decent numbers. I don’t know if we offered him or not but he would have had an impact this year..
Let’s give Ostrander a little time to see how he evaluates and recruits/develops pitchers. He signed a LHP from Mobile back in September that might be the best pitcher we’ve signed in a while. Dude has thrown 2 no-hitters and a perfect game this year and is getting looked at by scouts for the 2019 draft.
