(05-17-2021 03:54 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  We just received a commitment from Parker Smith, a senior pitcher at Bellaire HS.

Any one know how many players are gone? I'd assume everyone in this photo is done.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1hOv8vXIAEQ...name=small

Looking at that photo, from left to right:

??? (maybe Christian Acosta-he's a manger-but idk why he'd have a numbered jersey)
Brayden Combs
Braden Comeaux
Dominic Cox
Cade Edwards
Roel Garcia
Brad Gneiting
Mitchell Holcomb
Josh Larzabal
Ryan Rickett
Will West (I think-makes sense from an alphabetical perspective and the last digit might be a 6-he's #26)
Adam Gurin (Manager)

Good to see Hal Hughes will return... Can be a valuable player for us if he hits like he did in the 2nd half of the season.

Sam Houston had over 40 players on their rosterthis year.

(05-17-2021 05:51 PM)Texasowl Wrote:  Sam Houston had over 40 players on their rosterthis year.

... for an average of 0.2925 scholarships per player.

(05-17-2021 03:54 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  We just received a commitment from Parker Smith, a senior pitcher at Bellaire HS.

Any one know how many players are gone? I'd assume everyone in this photo is done.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1hOv8vXIAEQ...name=small

We lose a ton of regulars (Comeaux, Edwards, Karp, Gneiting, Garcia, Holcomb, DeLeon and I believe Greenwood, as well). However, we return Garibay, Becker, Walsh, Hughes, Bulman, Dunlap, Long, Cruz, Brogdon, Deskins, Wood and the quartet of Freshmen arms (who all struggled mightily the 2nd half of the season).

We do have a highly regarded catcher (who played for the Banditos) and a couple quality pitchers (including the JUCO POY) coming in. I suspect Bulman will move to 3B, where he played before coming to Rice, and Becker moves to 1B. Wouldn't be surprised if Dunlap moves back to 2B, and Garibay moves back to RF (assuming Walsh can finally stay healthy). Antonio Cruz may finally get an opportunity to see what he can do as an everyday player (LF). He was actually hitting pretty well for a bit there before coming down with COVID.

serious question--when does the transfer portal open, and for how long does it stay open?

(05-23-2021 07:11 PM)Swede Owl Wrote:  serious question--when does the transfer portal open, and for how long does it stay open?

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/eligibility_cent...ansfer.pdf

Looks like a player has to submit his request to transfer by July 1. I read this quickly, but didn't see any back-end date.

I'm sure the coaching change will impact some of the commitments we have picked up. Looks like the first de-commit is Jayden Davis out of Tennessee (Class of 2022).

Barton is still following one of our incoming recruits on twitter, so he may still be employed...

https://twitter.com/jmatthews_01/status/...7140636678

(06-01-2021 07:41 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Barton is still following one of our incoming recruits on twitter, so he may still be employed...

https://twitter.com/jmatthews_01/status/...7140636678

I like the kid's last name, albeit misspelled.

Rice commit (class of '22) name all-greater Houston Pitcher of the Year (as a Junior)...

https://twitter.com/HoustonChronHS/statu...4624273418

We shall see if he stays put…

(07-06-2021 03:58 PM)Swede Owl Wrote:  We shall see if he stays put…

I would hope with the hiring of Cruz and Bostick, and the soon to be announced creation of the bio lab for pitchers, that would be enough to keep him in fold.

I was curious since Cruz Jr is a latino, is he going to recruit or can he recruit Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, etc. for potential players? I noticed there were hardly any players in the College World Series from these countries even though a lot of great players are in MLB from these countries.

(07-07-2021 04:25 PM)Texasowl Wrote:  I was curious since Cruz Jr is a latino, is he going to recruit or can he recruit Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, etc. for potential players? I noticed there were hardly any players in the College World Series from these countries even though a lot of great players are in MLB from these countries.

Or simply recruit in the Latino-heavy communities in Florida. FAU, FIU and Miami almost always have multiple latinos on their roster.

(07-07-2021 04:25 PM)Texasowl Wrote:  I was curious since Cruz Jr is a latino, is he going to recruit or can he recruit Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, etc. for potential players? I noticed there were hardly any players in the College World Series from these countries even though a lot of great players are in MLB from these countries.

I think academics are still a high bar at Rice so it may be for this reason that international recruiting might be difficult. Heck, just getting the correct age of some of these players can be a struggle.

(07-07-2021 04:34 PM)Musicowl1965 Wrote:  

(07-07-2021 04:25 PM)Texasowl Wrote:  I was curious since Cruz Jr is a latino, is he going to recruit or can he recruit Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, etc. for potential players? I noticed there were hardly any players in the College World Series from these countries even though a lot of great players are in MLB from these countries.

I think academics are still a high bar at Rice so it may be for this reason that international recruiting might be difficult. Heck, just getting the correct age of some of these players can be a struggle.

Well we've had plenty of Houston-area Latino kids (Cruz, Rendon, Roel Garcia, etc.), and then a few from other parts of Texas (Mario Ramos) who have done quite well. I don't recall having any prep players who were from a Latin American country - weren't we going to sign Dickie Thon Jr. (or I guess Dickie Jo Thon) potentially, but he turned out to be a 5th round pick out of HS and he signed straight into pro ball instead in 2010.

Ty Baker (Second Baptist 2023) 1B, P - announced his commitment to Texas A&M. His dad, Jake, and uncle, Josh, both played for Rice.

(07-07-2021 04:34 PM)Musicowl1965 Wrote:  

(07-07-2021 04:25 PM)Texasowl Wrote:  I was curious since Cruz Jr is a latino, is he going to recruit or can he recruit Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, etc. for potential players? I noticed there were hardly any players in the College World Series from these countries even though a lot of great players are in MLB from these countries.

I think academics are still a high bar at Rice so it may be for this reason that international recruiting might be difficult. Heck, just getting the correct age of some of these players can be a struggle.

I think the primary reason is that US schools generally don't (can't?) give financial aid to international students. They can and do give scholarships to foreign athletes (just check out any tennis roster for starters) but if that kid is not getting a full scholarship--and very few baseball recruits are worth blowing a whole scholarship on when you only have 13.X to work with--they have to pay the difference out of pocket. Not really within the realm of possibility for most kids from the DR, etc. Whereas US partial-scholarship athletes can (now) stack any need-based and/or merit-based aid they qualify for on top of their partial athletic scholarships.

Puerto Rico -- which of course is not a foreign country! -- could be a fertile recruiting ground then but not so much the rest of the Caribbean.

(07-07-2021 04:57 PM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  Ty Baker (Second Baptist 2023) 1B, P - announced his commitment to Texas A&M. His dad, Jake, and uncle, Josh, both played for Rice.

As did an uncle by marriage. His name escapes me right now.

(07-07-2021 05:03 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  His name escapes me right now.

Think about it. It will come to you.