The Engineer

He's 6'0" 180 and plays outfield some. He's ranked as the 3rd top 2013 prospect by Perfect Game and obviously is the top ranked 2013 in Kentucky.

Yeah it is always a worry when someone starts throwing at such a velocity at an early age.

Clinton Hollon. Was at Lafayette in Lexington, now has transferred to Woodford County for the time being. RHP who has hit 92 before his sophomore year. Has verbally committed to UK.

At least we had some fun huh?

Yeah it was pretty great.

Even if its prohibited, can you fault a parent for a move like that, (if there was not any recruiting by the other school).

You absolutely can. Moving a kid for the sole purpose of getting seen in high school is a terrible example for parents to set. Education is the number one goal of going to college, and baseball doesn't offer nearly the same financial gains in college as academics. And, by your logic as posted above, High school ball is much less important than summer ball and showcases in the baseball recruiting process. Moving a kid 100 miles south during his senior year of school, away from his friends and comfort zone for the sole purpose of gaining better exposure during a high school season seems to be extremely flawed logic. And, in this case, the topic is moot, as we have absolutely NO proof whatsoever that Sexton is moving schools in the first place.

I highly doubt coach Morse would recruit anyone to Danville. He's not that type of guy.

Engineer, either you didn't understand what i was trying to say or I don't understand what you are saying, I think the best way to get noticed, unless you are a high level D1 or pro propect is to go the rout of summer and fall ball and showcases. Is that what you said or do you think the good player(D2, D3 or NAIA) will get noticed by just playing HS ball in the spring?

I think it's a crap shoot. But, like you said, many smaller colleges get a better chance to see players' skill sets through summer exposure. That being said, the network of college scouting during the high school season IS getting better. However, I would definitely agree that kids who attend showcases AND who play higher profile summer tournaments are more likely to be seen than kids who rely strictly on HS seasons.

Colleges can not talk to Junior until after July of there Junior year, and the early signing is Nov, so no way are Juniors getting offers. Just this past summer a School came and watched a player an could not talk to him because it was before July 1.

Colleges cannot call kids who aren't past July 1st before their senior year, but kids can contact colleges, and colleges can email kids. When kids are on campus, they can be verbally offered scholarships, and can verbally accept them. There have been several sophomores in the area who have been offered and accepted scholarships as sophomores.

That statement is not true anymore, college coaches don't have the money in there budgets or time,(when they are in the middle of their own season) to go see a HS game and see one player, when they can go to a showcase or large summer or fall tournament and see 50 to 100 talented HS kids. Its just the way its done now.

 

The first part of your statement is erroneous. College coaches have networks all over, and with the advent of file sharing through video phones (the new iPhone has HD video which can be immediately emailed), Flip video, and 3 and 4 G networks, it has never been easier for a player to get exposure. College programs at all levels are spending more and more money each year on recruiting....as budgets have been reduced in many cases, recruiting coffers have remained well stocked. After all, recruiting is the crux of all college programs' existence. The second part of your statement is somewhat true, however. Showcases and summer tournaments are extremely beneficial. That being said, recruiters go to tournaments that are in areas that are easily accessible and the talent is good across the board. Tournaments in Cincinnati (TOC hosted by the Flames), Lexington (Kentucky Baseball Club / Pastime), and of course the big Perfect Game events in Atlanta give kids a chance to be seen by a variety of professional and college scouts. Kids can and will be found, but the expectations have changed. Now, recruiting cycles are MUCH earlier than in years past. Many schools are already done recruiting for 2011, and are getting verbal commitments for 2012. So, the perception that kids are being "overlooked" sometimes results from people's expectations being too great at too young an age. The upper echelon players get seen and get offers as Juniors, and late bloomers feel like they're getting neglected.

Do we know for sure that he's moving schools?

Vance Sullivan - Walton Verona - OF and LHP

Congrats to those guys. Really looking forward to seeing them pitch next spring.

I may have spoke with haste in saying 400 plus scouts were there at the game. There was indeed a buzz there, and were easily more than 3-400 people there at the quad-plex that night. I don't think it's possible to say exactly how many people were in attendence. Regardless, this guy has some serious stuff, and definitely put himself on the map as being and easy top ten rounder in 2011.

94 mph is 94 mph. I don't care of he's 4'10"

According to Perfect Game from Thursday

Kentucky Baseball Club RHP Matt Spalding was just as impressive as Davis on the mound. Throwing 2 innings of scoreless relief, Spalding pitched in the 92-94 mph range from a very extended high 3/4's release point that gives his pitches much more downhill angle than you would expect from a 6-0, 190 lb right hander.

I was in the crowd....I do some scouting myself as a bird dog. I actually had a hard time seeing the field because there were so many people there and I got to the game late. There are only about 8 games on Thursday night at the Jupiter event, and scouts only have about 3 games to choose from as opposed to 15 or 20 during the day. So, there were a LOT of guys there. There were several arms throwing in the same game for the Yankees scout team from Texas who were touted to be mid to upper 90's as well, so that game was packed....I would say 350-400 people were in attendance, though it's hard to estimate exactly. Basically every college team you could think of was represented there along with all the MLB teams. Spalding is around 6 feet to 6 feet 1 inch.

should be exciting year in northern ky. Hempel will be a top player especially when he gets the football out of him. Teegarden a real good two way player. Same goes for Laumann on mound and at plate. He recently was in Ft. lauderdale for Midland redskins and Kansas City Royals scout team. Sexton also a good two way guy but he has never been 90 or even real close according to college coaches and scouts. What I have heard though, is that these are by far the best kids up here for next year.

It would be interesting to see what Hempel would have done in HS baseball if he had just played one sport. He should be interesting to watch this year. Also, Sexton is an 85-86 guy and hasn't touched 90 at any of the showcases. He was 83-85 in the KHSBCA Junior showcase in June and was slightly higher than that recently.

Matt threw for the Kentucky Baseball Club the past two weekends. Last weekend in Indianapolis, he hit 96mph once. This news brought out over 450 scouts to see him pitch this past Thursday night in Jupiter Florida where he worked 91-93 and hit 94 a few times. After this recent showing, WKU will be lucky to have him show up next fall. There's a good possibility that he will be a top 5 rounder in next year's MLB amateur draft.

I wasnt at the Showcase but I was talking to a couple of the coaches and scouts that were there and they told me that Sexton started the All Star Game on the mound? They also stated that he was constintly arond 87-89 and touched 90. Also I was told that Cottingham has been hitting the ball great in the tournament but just struggled at the all star game. They also did say that his pop time was around a 1.92 1.95.

I was there. Sexton topped out at 85. Cottingham's best pop time in-game was 2.09

They are the all-stars from the Champions Elite Fall Showcase held last week at Midland. It was mostly the top kids from the Champions Fall League, and then after the showcase, college and pro scouts voted on who made the all star team. 18 kids are making the trip down to Tennessee to play 5 games this weekend. This Champions Fall All-Star group has won this particular tournament two years in a row.

I heard he hit 105.

You really think it is that easy to get out of the 11th?

To be honest, no. I am more reacting in a pessimistic manner to the whole situation. When the dust settles, the 11th will always be a dogfight, and this year will be no exception. Tates Creek and Lafayette could both make a big challenge for the title. Lex Cath though has a very legitimate shot no matter who the coach is. It all should be very interesting to see what the KIDS do on the field. After all, it's their game, not the coaches and most definitely not us armchair managers.

Hellen Keller could coach this group to the final 16. Good for him; shame on the Administration for this embarrassing episode. If they were worried about Clary's affiliation with kentucky baseball club, then why hire another kbc coach with twenty fewer years of experience? This is almost as mind boggling as the Martin hiring, though somehow predictable. I wish this young man nothing but success....but wow, what a mess.

They had several young assistant coaches who are very inexperienced, and probably would be a risky choice at this point, especially after all the embarrassment. One of the older more experienced assistants has already taken a job elsewhere. At this point, there aren't really any good candidates out there who are in the Lexington area who aren't already committed other places.

Clarkson from Ryle and Sullivan from Walton Verona.