Mickey Plyler's Blog for June 8

by Mickey Plyler - Radio Host - Thu Jun 08 09:23:05 GMT-04:00 2006

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Baseball Draft And Its Ramifications.

Clemson set a school record this season with 10 current players drafted. Four Clemson signees were drafted in the past two days as well. Here is the lists of drafted current players:

Player, Pos. CL. Rd Pick Team

Tyler Colvin, OF/1B Jr. 1 13 Cubs

Jason Berken, RHP Jr. 6 175 Orioles

Josh Cribb, RHP Gr. 8 227 Royals

Steve Richard, RHP Jr. 8 231 Mariners

Andy D'Alessio, 1B Jr. 10 293 Dodgers

Stephen Faris, RHP Jr. 12 363 Padres

Drew Fiorenza, RHP Sr. 15 441 Mariners

Herman Demmink, 3B Sr. 28 847 Phillies

Marquez Smith, INF Jr. 35 1,049 Cubs

Adrian Casanova, C Sr. 40 1,192 Tigers

The four signees were:

Jason Taylor INF of Virginia Beach, VA was the 45th pick in the draft taken by Kansas City.

RHP Alex Cobb of Vero Beach, FL was a fourth round pick (109th overall) by Tampa Bay.

RHP Ryan Morris was a 4th round pick (131st overall) by Cleveland.

Josh Thrailkill RHP was a 34th round pick by Philadelphia.

Negotiations will start after the season is over and could go throughout the summer in some cases. Because the season is still going on and the staff and players have more important things going on right now, I have not talked to any players about their intentions. However, we can begin to speculate about who will sign and who should come back.

I was watching ESPN Major League Baseball the other night and Rick Sutcliffe made a profound statement. Sutcliffe was a first round pick and signed out of high school. He had a great MLB career, but he said his biggest regret was not going to college first. He said he missed some great experiences by not going to college. I think high school players should hear his advice.

However, I would think Taylor, Cobb and Morris would be leaning towards signing a professional contract. In my opinion, Thrailkill would make a huge mistake by signing. He needs to come to college.

As far as the current players are concerned Cribb, Fiorenza, Demmink and Cassanova are seniors and have no decision. Colvin is a no-brainer as well. Berken came back strong from injury and might not improve his stock. Plus juniors have the leverage of coming back to school while seniors have no leverage.

The rest of the juniors have tough decisions. Richard is another that might not be able to improve his stock, but if I were he I would think twice. However, Richard was not a huge factor as a junior.

D’Alessio probably could not have a better year next year but he will not get a huge signing bonus and he could think about coming back for the glory of a senior campaign. His signing bonus would not dip that much next year if he came back. D’Alessio’s decision should come down to the question, “How much is your senior season worth?”

Like D’Alessio, Faris has a similar decision. His signing bonus is not going to be significant. Therefore, how much is his senior season worth?

In my opinion, Smith has no decision to make. He should come back next season and not give MLB a thought.

After the season is over I will take a look at what the 2007 Tigers could look like.

Basketball

Here is a quick basketball note for those looking forward to next season. This summer has been a setback for Sam Perry and Raymond Sykes. Both have had off-season surgery and both face about six more weeks of rehab.

Top National Wide Outs

Here are my top 10 wide outs this season:

1. Dwayne Jarrett - USC

2. Calvin Johnson - Georgia Tech

3. Sidney Rice - South Carolina

4. Earl Bennett - Vanderbilt

5. Jeff Samardzija - Notre Dame

6. Greg Carr - Florida State

7. Jason Hill - Washington State

8. Steve Smith - USC

9. Dwayne Bowe - LSU

10. Mario Manningham - Michigan

TGIDHTWHA

My heart goes out to Tiffany Souers’ family and friends. I know they will never be the same. The Clemson community hurts and yet has a sense of relief that her accused killer has been captured. I thought the community held together very well under the scrutiny of the national media. I think all of the agencies and their hard work will never be forgotten as well.

On a much lighter note the accused capture means one more thing: TGIDHTWHA meaning Thank Goodness I Don’t Have To Watch Her Anymore. Her being Nancy Grace.

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