Miles Clauss is doing very well at Texas.

Thats good to hear

Great for the Clauss family!

Congrats to Miles!!!! Sounds like he is getting off to a brilliant start. Another Illinois son getting it done at the highest level. Good luck and wishing Miles continued sucess.

Miles...Go get 'em!

Saw you pitch a dominating game against Lockport a couple of years ago.

Best wishes from the Southwest suburbs.

Was Miles working himself back from an injury? Just curious. Definitely congrats to him and his family.

Miles broke his right (throwing side) collar bone in a post game celebration almost 2 years ago. He was tackled by an assistant coach (totally by accident). He was not quite the same after that injury. Prior to that injury Bill Jauss from the Trib said Miles was one of the top pitchers in the Illinois. His velocity dropped drastically from that point (about 8 mph. He finally showed signs breaking out of it very late spring 05 and especially mid June 05, where his Jugs times started to touch 90 mph again. Texas knew of him prior to that injury, but they did see him last fall at Perfect Game where he was hitting 86-87 mph with a great cutter(the pitch that interested Texas to be honest). Tom Holiday (2005 "Collegiate Baseball News" College Pitching Coach of the Year) knew at that point Miles was on the way back and told him to take his time and recover totally. Texas offered Miles a scholarship last fall and he grabbed it. Right now he is throwing at a low of 89 and high of 92. His curve is starting to improve as well. He has always had a great cutter, but his curve was very inconsistant.

congrats to miles, keep it up!

thanks tt41, Its really nice to hear that Miles is doing so well. I guess it prooves that the best players in Illinois can play anywhere in the country.
I know that Tim Dennehy was also going to Texas as well, however, when I went on their web site he was not listed on the roster. Does anybody know what happend to Dennehy?

I have herd Chandler-Gilbert CC in Arizona is where Dennehy is currently, although I have no confirmation. Does anyone know why he did not go to Texas, I suspect a scout influenced that decision.

I am pleased to hear that Miles is playing well.
Continued success to Miles and his family.

quote:

Originally posted by MTW:
I have herd Chandler-Gilbert CC in Arizona is where Dennehy is currently, although I have no confirmation. Does anyone know why he did not go to Texas, I suspect a scout influenced that decision.

I could find out, but if it were for a negative reason, I'd rather not comment. These kids are amatures and should not be subject to negative comments. Infact I will not comment one way or another, that would give the reason away. I am going to assume Dennehy had a change of heart.

I am just happier than heck for Miles. I have heard that the U.T. staff is very happy with his progress.

I am glad Miles is throwing the ball well getting his chances and enjoing himself at Texas. As far as Denehey goes, he is in Arizona, and I dont beleive any scout influenced him in any way. If that were the case they sure don't want to draft a kid here and have him run out west. Those guys have their own boys to watch. A draft and follow you want to be able to do exactley that.
I coached him during the Summer and this I beleive was strictly his choice. Right or wrong. I heard many things about him prior to having him and they were not real positive, therefore I am assuming comes his low draft selection, mph , pitch selection and so forth.
He was pretty darn good with us, anywhere from 86 to 91 on any given day. He needs a little work but he is left handed and the arm works good. I beleive, and only my opinion, that where he went in the draft caused him to change his mind. I had the feeling that he did not want to wait 3 years, and thus you have him in AZ and back in Junes draft. If I am not mistaking Tom Doyle drafted him and he lives in Elmhurst. If a scout would have pursuaded him it would have went more like Triton or Elgin or Logan, not out there. I personally did not want to get real involved with the situation for many reasons.

thanks for the info ducedoc, I am sure ur info was very accurate

Is it fair to say that the MAJORITY of the best high school players in the state of Texas forgoe college baseball and sign with a pro team? What i mean is that even though Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A@M and Baylor are some of the premier programs in the country, are they not even getting the best talent in there own state, as oppose to Illinois.

They get them if they don't go pro. I don't think you will see very many elite players from Texas or the South in general coming to Illinois for college. Bowden signed with Arizona St, Clauss to Texas, Dennehy signed with Texas, Keating to Florida just to mention a few, all went to warm weather states.

The very early picks generally go pro if the money is big. The kids who do not do as well in school generally go pro as well. The University of Texas is equal to at least a minor league high A level. To say the best go pro is very untrue. I had a team in which my best pitcher signed a division 1 scholarship while my # 2 turned pro. The kid who went to college ended up in AAA after being picked in the 2nd round of his jr. college year, while the kid who turned pro out of high school lasted 2 years and was out of the game. Many times kids who get drafted in the very late rounds 30's on down, never even get college scholarship offers.

quote:

The University of Texas is equal to at least a minor league high A level.

Here we go again.

High A has more talent but not 1/3 the dicipline and "team" effort found in Austin.

I think Soxnole hit it on the head. Minor League baseball is full of individuals trying to make it.....sometimes at the expense of their teammates with little if any team baseball or loyalty. College Baseball is much more about the team and the program. I thought I saw a stat once about American ML pitchers and the percentage of them who went to school for at least 3 years being very high relative to the number of pitchers who never went to school.

At one point when I played in the PAC 10 we had 4 teams ranked in the top 20. The scouts compared those 4 teams to AA baseball. However, the pressure in the minors was far greater budgeting your meal money was not fun.

I understand both sides of this argument, but when Texas and any other top level college team takes the field, only half of those players will be good enough get drafted or sign professional contracts. EVERY guy on a minor league roster has been good enough to have been drafted, and in the case of high A or double, get weeded out by that time. Comparing it to AA baseball is outrageous, low class A argument could be a good one.

A wise baseball man once told me this about the low minors: There are many players on those teams to facilitate the developement of a very few who really are prospects. Yeah, playing in Class A Ball for little money and as BTIL would say, McDonalds Coupons isn't glamorous and there is pressure to perform.....but don't tell me that at Texas, Stanford, Cal State Full. or any of the Florida or Southern schools there isn't pressure to perform as well.

What does this have to do with Miles Clauss? Great for Miles! Wish him nothing but success.

D1 perform or done, draft you have time to develop in 3 to 6 years.

I heard Eric Marshall has also had a very good fall at TCU. Maybe an Illinois duel down the road!!

3-6 years?....maybe if you got $250K or more.

Major D1 schools are similar to high rookie ball teams with the exception that rookie ball has deeper pitching (typically 10-11 guys that are consistiently 90 mph or better). You won't find that many on most college staffs (most have 4-5)

As for the 3-6 years to develop in pro ball? Absolutely ludicrous statement.

It has been said that there are 3 types of players in the minor leagues at any level in 3 year cycles: Those that are coming (in), those that are going (out) and those that are on the way up (advancing).

Agree with Blazer25 again...except that on the top 25-40 D1 program teams, I believe the pitching is signifigantly better than rookie ball. They may not have the "across the board" speed as Blazer mentioned, but after a year or 2 they absolutely have a better idea of how to pitch effectively.

Miles had another very good outing on Monday 11/14. He pitched 3 innings retiring the first 7 batters he faced before giving up a single then retiring the last two. IT looks like U.T. is assigning Miles to the Maryland Orioles this Summer in the Cal Ripken Sr Collegiate League. That is another good sign for Miles!

I thought there was a player from Notre Dame H.S. going to Texas. Here is the early sign list from U.T. Does anybody know what happend?

2006-07 University of Texas Baseball Signing Class (as of Nov. 16, 2005)
Name Position Hometown Current School
Brandon Belt LHP/OF Lufkin, Texas Lufkin Hudson HS
Michael Demperio INF Marietta, Ga. Kell HS
Carmine Giardina LHP Valrico, Fla. Durant HS
Taylor Hammack LHP/1B Angleton, Texas Angleton HS
Nathan Karns RHP Arlington, Texas Martin HS
Marcus Lemon SS Sanford, Fla. Eustis HS
Kyle Lusson CF Austin, Texas McCallum HS
Russell Moldenhauer C Boerne, Texas Boerne HS
Josh Prince INF Lake Charles, La. Baibe HS
Clint Stubbs OF Atlanta, Texas Atlanta HS
Jordan Walden RHP/1B Mansfield, Texas Mansfield HS
Blake Williams RHP Sweeny, Texas Sweeny HS

Question.....As fall practice is over for Texas, where did Miles pitch,for what team, versus what team?

You may be thinking of Tim Dennehy, top rated LHP out of OPRF, not ND.

Tim opted for Chandler Gilbert JC in Arizona.

TT41 your right i remember hearing that a catcher from ND was going to Texas

It was all intersquad. But what is impressive is that he is doing it against some of the best players in the country. He was basically pitching against as good a talent as he will face during the regular season when he faces the Texas hitters. I know practice is over, I thought this last outing was 11/14, I guess it could have been the week earlier.

Someone posted a player from Notre Dame going to Texas for next year. The post was recent, about a month ago. I cannot remember where it was.

Here are 2 quotes I found.

quote:

Originally posted by NPOF2:
Congradulations to Nick Robinson who verbally committed to the University of Texas after an official visit this past weekend.

quote:

Originally posted by uppercut:
Nick is a senior at Notre Dame . He has 5 uncles who all played ball at a high level including one who made it to the bigs . His father was also a terrific high school player.

Why isn't he on the Texas early sign list? Could he be going to Texas at Arlington?

I'm an ND alum and I could be wrong... but i think the kids that posted that were just screwing around. As far as I know, Nick Robinson is not going to UT.

Saw Miles throw today and he looked better than ever. Texas must have fed him something fierce too because he looked huge!!! (in a good way).

ditto

Let's not spread rumors and slander ones name.

Tom Holliday (U.T. Pitching Coach) has left U.T. for N.C. State (the team that eliminated U.T. in last seasons regional)

Miles has asked for, and has been granted a release from U.T. and will now attend N.C. State. I guess when the 2005 National Division 1 Pitching Coach of the Year (Tom Holliday) say's "follow me to N.C. State because I really see a lot in you", you transfer... so Miles did! Miles has a great relationship with Holliday and wants to continue to work with him.

Good luck to Miles....