Lets just hope Lee stays in school. A couple of seasons with him on the mound could be something to see. ldskule:
Guasman who was also drafted by the Dodgers in the 6th round is saying 80% chance he ends up at LSU. Tigerbait article but I didn't read it. Would be great and I hope it works out.
Whatever happened to Manieri's "deadline" ? I thought he was going to pull offers by a certain date so that recruits couldn't use going to college at the last minute as a bargaining chip with the MLB teams. MLB ought to cooperate more with the universities, I think. The timing seems off. First of all, the draft is in the middle of the CWS process and this seems to be a huge distraction for the players during the time when everyone's attention should be on the business at hand...not the future. Secondly, signing deadlines are way too late in the recruiting season leaving not enough time for the colleges to fall back on a plan B if most of their recruits and players turn pro. The college game has improved so much that they are de facto farm teams for MLB so maybe there could be some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, for college programs left holding the bag. When a triple A team gets raided by the bigs, it's no real big deal because those teams are supported by the parent organization, but the college teams get nothing...and this gives the major league teams the ability to throw much larger signing bonuses at the athletes than they would if they had to pay the colleges also. Maybe, for recruits and underclassmen, the colleges should get a percentage of the signing bonus. Bonuses of seniors who use up their eligibility would not be affected. I'm just a cook though...would you like fries with that opinion?
Mainieri announces 2011 baseball roster. bios of the 2011 class here: LSU's Mainieri announces 2011 baseball roster That article didn't fully point out the following: One LSU newcomer was on the All-USA U18 National Team that won the Gold --RHP Kevin Gausman Two LSU newcomers made the Aflac All-American High School Baseball Classic --RHP Kevin Gausman --INF Jacoby Jones Three LSU newcomers made the Under Armour All-America Baseball Game --RHP Kevin Gausman --INF Jacoby Jones --INF Kevin Koziol Three LSU newcomers are on the MaxPreps Top 100 #16 Jacoby Jones #19 Kevin Gausman #79 Kevin Koziol Two LSU newcomers were selected as player-of-the-year in their state --Mississippi Player of the Year (Jacoby Jones) --Illinois Player of the Year (Kevin Koziol) One LSU newcomer set a career state record in high school --All-time career leader in hits for the state of Mississippi (Jacoby Jones) One LSU newcomer was selected the best guy in his national league --NJCAA Division II National Player of the Year and 1st Team All-American (Raph Rhymes). He led LSU-Eunice to the 2010 national title, batting .483 with 31 doubles, four triples, 12 homers, 98 RBI and 15 steals--only striking out 9 times in 238 at-bats. (Mainieri: "Raph has the potential to make a great story for himself at LSU....this past year where he put up one of the greatest offensive seasons in the history of college baseball. He hit .483 with 31 doubles, 12 homers, 98 RBI, and only struck out 9 times in 238 at bats. Raph was named a first team All American and the Junior College National Player of the Year. To say the least, we are ecstatic about the offensive contributions that Raph will bring to this year’s team."). Seven LSU newcomers (five pitchers) were selected in the 2010 MLB Draft: --RHP Kevin Gausman (sixth round, Dodgers) --INF Jacoby Jones (19th round, Astros) --RHP Ryan Eades (19th round, Rockies) --RHP Tyler Jones (21st round, White Sox) --LHP Mitchell Hopkins (42nd round, Reds) --C Tyler Ross (46th round, Phillies) --RHP James Dykstra (50th round, Rockies) Mainieri on Jacoby Jones: "We were lucky that Jones fell to the 19th round of this year’s MLB draft. Before the draft, a lot of people thought he would be a top 3 round pick, but ended up falling to the 19th round because of his strong commitment and dedication to playing at LSU." Mainieri on Kevin Gausman: "Kevin Gausman is the main reason this is considered a special class. Hands down, he is one of the best pitchers in the country...His fastball has been clocked up to 100 mph. Kevin will be a dominant figure on the mound for the next couple of years and we are excited that he passed up the opportunity to play pro ball to join the Tigers. He can be one of the next great, dominant pitchers in LSU Baseball history."
