quote:(1) Are there not enough quality NC, SC, GA, FL, VA, and MD players to round out Wake's roster?
(2) Did Northwestern and Illinois and Michigan etc. all ignore this kid?
(3) How big is St. Ignatius and what were his numbers in HS and travel ball?
(4) Did he play travel ball in the Mid-Atlantic, or did Wake see him at a PG event, or did he attend a Wake camp?
(5) Why did he choose Wake over other schools (I am assuming he had options)?
Answers:
1. Maybe there are plenty of kids from the immediate area, but what difference does that make? From Wake's perspective, I'm sure the coaches don't care where you're from. If you can play and you can cut it academically and the coaches like you, you could be from Egypt for all they care. For the player, it's not unusual for a northern kid who feels he can really play to want to head to southern climes, esp. to play ACC or SEC.
2. I don't know, but in my very biased opinion, Wake offers as good or better academics and a higher level of baseball competition. So even if they did go after him, I would hope we would win out!
3. I don't know his numbers, and in travel ball they usually aren't even kept. Evaluations tend to be more subjective when scouting travel ball -- tools, attitude, competitiveness. A kid who hits a lot of line outs is going to rate more highly than the kid who hits lots of safe bloopers and bleeders.
4. His WWBA profile indicates he made a point of attending several WWBA events over the years, joining different teams to do so. Yet another testament to the power of those events. (And yet tonight, I had a conversation with yet another Legion coach who told me those tourneys are really only helpful for pitchers. Sour grapes!)
5. Why wouldn't you? Take your top 30 major national universities using, say, the U.S. News & World Report rankings. How many of them offer college baseball at the highest level, either as top programs in their own rights, or in a top conference, or both? You can argue about particular schools if you want, but if you can pick your top 10 out of those and not include Wake, you're dead wrong!
