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Congrats to Mikey Polansky, Hickory HS, for his commitment to Va Tech, joining his 2015 brother Stephen.

 

Mikey is the 1st 2017 EvoShield Cane to commit.  

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I should think he's the first 2017 in Virginia to commit.

 

Holy moly!

 

How many 2017's are already committed?  We're talking about kids who haven't played a varsity HS game yet.

 

Congrats to the young man.  Because of the family experience, I should think he's the rare exception where both sides knew each other well for quite some time. 

 

Meaning no disrespect to him or his family, but I would hope he's the exception and not an indication that people are really going to move the recruiting time table up that far. 

Only two things that are measurable at that age and wont likely change...
 
Pitching / velocity
 
Foot speed
 
 

I should think he's the first 2017 in Virginia to commit.

 

Holy moly!

 

How many 2017's are already committed?  We're talking about kids who haven't played a varsity HS game yet.

 

Congrats to the young man.  Because of the family experience, I should think he's the rare exception where both sides knew each other well for quite some time. 

 

Meaning no disrespect to him or his family, but I would hope he's the exception and not an indication that people are really going to move the recruiting time table up that far. 

 

Originally Posted by Midlo Dad:

How many 2017's are already committed?  

 

I believe there are 7 or 8, as per Perfect Game.  Half from Cali.

 

Maybe it's me.  My son's focus and mine is to concentrate on improving his skills. Practice reps, game reps, speed, strength and agility are the focus.

 

And you're correct, 2017's haven't played a single game of HS spring ball.  My son has only one marking period of the sixteen he'll do in HS in the books.  He's played up on travel and with the HS summer and fall team, but there's time before he has to worry about college.  

 

At this point I just want him to enjoy the HS experience, not look past it.

 

But congrats to the young man.  Obviously he knows where he wants to go.

 

 

I checked the commits listed on the PG web site.  Apparently Alabama is into lining up freshmen in a big way.  Beyond them, there are just a few here and there.  I think we can safely assume that they are exceptional cases -- guys who stand head-and-shoulders above the rest, guys with pre-existing ties to the programs, etc. 

 

I'm not saying anything negative about someone like that committing.  But to me, freshmen committing definitely needs to be limited to the exceptional case.  I'd shiver to think of this becoming a typical occurrence.  And I'd sure hate to see it lead to a push for NCAA rule making, because if the NCAA took action you just have to know they would foul it up big time.

Holy moly is right.

 

Can somebody mark their calendars for June 2021 to see how his career with the Va Tech went?

 

This is a very slippery slope.  Great for posting on websites on the front end.  But typically forgotten about down the road when things change or don't workout.  I hope this does not become a trend.

 

Big brother is not yet on campus for another 18 months.  Is there perhaps close family ties?  Great grand parents, grand parents, parents all went there?  Father is in hall of fame?  Buildings on campus named after moms family?

 

Rich

www.PlayInSchool.com

A quick google search shows that although they may not be graded, they are in PG's system -

Mikey
http://www.perfectgame.org/Pla...ofile.aspx?ID=375510

Stephen
https://www.perfectgame.org/Pl...ofile.aspx?ID=291096
http://dynamicbaseball.org/fea...polansky-hickory-va/

Stephen's write-up says that Coach Hughes' son played on the Canes with him and that Coach Hughes has seen him play.  Clearly they were both on VT radar.  Sounds like a great example of talent, projectability & networking.

I think this is bad for baseball and the kids.  So as we move the recruiting window up, now to 8th graders essentially, what happens to the kids that work their tail off and out perform the kids recruited early?  What happens to the kid that gets recruited early but never gets any better?  After spending four years wearing his Virginia Tech gear he finally gets to school and just isn't good enough? Who tells him and what does he do now?

Even worse in my opinion it pushes,dads and coaches to showcasing their little stars when they are 12/13ish.  This is going to lead to more poor sportsmanship, injuries to young players and kids not getting a chance to play so that daddy coach can make sure their son is next in line to be a superstar. 

I understand their are some special circumstances in the case above but when a school like VT gets into this trend I hold my breath.

Perfect Game lists nearly 3,500 commitments from the 2012 class, almost 3,200 from the class of 2013.  If the class of 2017 gets to 3,200 to 3,500 commitments when it's all said and done and 7 to 10 (or even double that number) of that total committed as freshmen in high school,  I would say they were special circumstances and not a trend.

 

As far as the questions of what happens if he doesn't get better or gets to school and just isn't good enough, I would say those same questions are applicable to kids committing as Sophomores, Juniors or even Seniors.  They transfer to Division II, III or go Juco if they want to pursue college baseball.

Originally Posted by Go Dawgs:

Perfect Game lists nearly 3,500 commitments from the 2012 class, almost 3,200 from the class of 2013.  If the class of 2017 gets to 3,200 to 3,500 commitments when it's all said and done and 7 to 10 (or even double that number) of that total committed as freshmen in high school,  I would say they were special circumstances and not a trend.

 

As far as the questions of what happens if he doesn't get better or gets to school and just isn't good enough, I would say those same questions are applicable to kids committing as Sophomores, Juniors or even Seniors.  They transfer to Division II, III or go Juco if they want to pursue college baseball.


Dawgs,

 

Your point is well taken, although I do believe the general trend of early committments is a little alarming.  Over time, things change.  I was an "early committment" many years ago.  Back then, committing in the summer or fall of your senior year was considered early.  To see kids committing in their sophomore or junior years, and that being considered "normal" today, is certainly a major sea change.  Then again, kids today have the benefit of playing on a number of college campuses, and seeing a lot more, much sooner in the recruiting life cycle, than we did years ago.

 

Separate note:  I understand your son had a great fall!  Best wishes to you and your family, and his continued success in college!

There are too many what ifs for us to be critical about early commitments.  You were referring to the academic ground a kid has to go but I am sure there are conditions with every commitment.  We want you to come here and we will take your commitment but to do so we need x on the SAT/ACT and a blank.baGPA.  I know that to be the case with some in state schools.  I was also at a coaching clinic last month and listened to an ACC school tell us they had 2 2019 commits. That's 8th graders.   How far is too far?  I have 2 elite kids playing for me right now and they both felt pressure to be committed summer after their soph years.  It's a tricky path but one some need more than others.  I truly believe offering kids earlier than most was a recruiting tactic (and a good one) by VT to help land some elite in state talent.  If they offer kids the same time as UVA and show the same "love" as UVA they aren't going to win a lot of those battles right now-it's just the state of those programs.  

Originally Posted by wahoo24:

 I was also at a coaching clinic last month and listened to an ACC school tell us they had 2 2019 commits. That's 8th graders.   

Goodness.  I checked on the PG website and you can't even search for 2019s yet (at least on what you can see for free).

 

But it does look like Redbird needs to start a 2018 commitment thread.

I sent some video of our neighbor to Va Tech - they said he looks great and have him on the radar but 3rd grade is to young to recruit....they seemed a bit put off by the conversation since the kid is 8. It was odd but they also say 5th grade is when they get serious! "You want to lock them up before they get to the big field" they also mentioned calling ole miss since they aren't as stringent on the academic side!! 

 

The schools themselves should be embarrassed and the alumni - it cheapens them and their reputation. 

We're in the era of data collection and predictive analytics.

 

Predictive Analytics: based on past behavior data analytics, the ability to predict future actions when applying findings to the complete database. This is a given in the world of digital marketing: the second you enter a URL, your IP address is communicated to the URL's server, and you are in the database, tracked, measured, analyzed. And with your behavior in the DB, predictive analytics is applied and offers are directed to you with a high degree of probability that you'll bite (the collective "you"). 

 

In arguably the most quantitative sport on earth, the baseball database continues to get bigger and bigger (ask Perfect Game's PGStaff). And to that end, the ability to project is starting to have a quantitative aspect to accompany the qualitative aspect. Result: a program's capability of correctly offering is getting better and better.

 

Not foolproof at all, but the ability to project is improving. There's a bit of science behind it. And with this analysis, baseball separates itself from the insanity coming from AAU Basketball and the European soccer's offers to 5 year olds.

 

Bottom-line: I'm not surprised to see the offers going younger and younger. Frankly, it is inevitable. And with a fail-safe (pulling the offer), the program's risk is minimal.

right arm of zeus posted:

Congrats to Sam Ewald from Kettle Run on his commitment to VMI. 

Great kid, good family...blessed to have him with us over the past two summers.  Perfect example of how setting a goal and achieving it.  He told me from Day 1 that is where he wanted to be and he worked to get there.  Congrats to the entire Ewald family!

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