Ryan Ripken

I don’t follow young Mr. Ripken but I would think he would be an easy "mistake" for the organization to explain if it didn’t work out for him or Baltimore.

20th round? What about the commitment to South Carolina?

He is 6'5" tall 193 lbs......and his pedigree is Cal Sr.-Cal Jr....add in Uncle Billy and he has the lineage.....

if thats not enough.....there is plenty of historical evidence that doing this is a sound baseball move.....Alomar, alou, bonds, griffey, Fielder, Boone, Bell, Gwynn,.........

a 20th round pick?.......pretty cheap for the potential return......the Orioles might be a bit tongue in cheek by saying the name had NOTHING to do with it.........but hey, thats the advantages for winning the genetic lottery....

Alex, it's your 11th post and it's an attack on a kid by name? We haven't seen your swing so please post it for review as well as why you think you are qualified to insult someone else by name while hiding in anonymity?
Really, it's the 20th round and if the Orioles wanted to take a chance on a 6'5" lefty who are we to complain.
Not sure what can be gained by calling out by name an 18 year old kid. I'd give him the benefit of any doubt based upon his father's stellar example through the years.

I faced Ryan Ripken this summer in a collegiate summer league, where he was competing against players several years older than him. He hit .267 with 2 HRs, 21 RBIs and played a sound first base. He struck out just 12 times all summer, and even threw a few innings off the mound.

He didn't distinguish himself as a top prospect in the league by any means. But given the fact that he just graduated high school and was playing in a pretty competitive collegiate league against players with several years of experience more than him, he did pretty well in my opinion.

quote:

he did pretty well in my opinion.

I’ll bet he learned a lot and didn’t worry about others too much. Probably the kind of player that worries about the things he can control and worries less about the things he can’t. Hope the young man does well. Sounds like he is off to a good start so far.

Alex -

I have to agree with Calisportsfan. Your attack on this kid absolutely unnecessary and mainly uncool.

Normally on this site people try to keep it positive. To call a kid out by name, no matter what his last name is, is not very mature.

But if you want to get into, the O's could have chosen him in the 1st round and no O's fan would have batted an eye. If Cal had a kid that didn't even play baseball the O's might draft that kid in the 30th round. Cal is the most popular Oriole of all time. Period.

The fact that the kid is a 6-5 lefty makes him an easy pick. Will he be a big leaguer? Who knows? Thats besides the point.

My advice, get over it. I'm sure your time is more valuable then to just bash kids. We'd all love your insight on topics that you know, but keep it positive.

Rich
www.playinschool.com

I've seen Ryan play several times. The video shown was taken when he had lost 20 lbs with Mono. He had actually hit very well at several tournaments against some of the top pitching in the country.

If you saw him 6 months later, you wouldn't believe it was the same kid.

As others have said, He has a great body, he has natural ability to make contact, he's athletic, and obviously he has exceptional blood lines. This all adds up to him being extremely projectable!

It's not how good you are, it's how good can you be. In his case, he has a chance to be very good. Plus he is a great kid!

I think you were misinterpreting my intentions. I wasnt trying to call a kid out. And your right I havn't seen him recently, so i have no idea. And at 6'5 he's probably going to be a heck of a player. All i'm saying was that from that video of batting practice, i didn't think he was worth a 20th round draft pick. i understand that I should just get over it, because i doubt i'll ever get drafted at all.

First of all, he may be 18, but he now is a professional athlete. This makes any comments just as credible as they would be for Pujols.

And it doesn't take a pro scout to see the flaws in his swing in the video. The velo as reported is very low for a "projectable" 6'5" lefty. Call a spade a spade! If not for the name he would not get the PG rating (9.0), offer from SC, or drafted.

I've seen numerous kids of the same size, with better hitting and velo, and that's just here in the DFW area.

No matter what, congrats to the kid for getting drafted.

Alex - dont worry about "the draft"... just yet. Work on your game at your level and the rest will come. I am sure you did not intend to bash anyone, you are young and it probably came out wrong. Take some of what was said above and learn from it to better yourself as a baseball player. Ryan may not look the best to you in his BP video, but someone saw something else in him that resulted in his commitment to a D1 program as well as a 20th round draft pick. He obviously worked pretty hard or he would have just been "Cal's kid".

Keep charging hard at your goals... don't worry too much about other. Control what you can.

Clemson896- He is not a professional athlete, he is a college athlete.

In my personal opinion, I do believe that being a Ripken helped him with respect to the draft. However, it was not completely unwarranted. He is a talented player and extremely projectable. It wouldn't surprise me to see him excel in the future, assuming he puts on some pounds at South Carolina. I wouldn't necessarily peg him as a pro player right now, but I definitely see potential for him to be one in the future.

He would most certainly have been a high DI recruit and have gotten professional looks regardless of his last name or not.

Fair enough, I didn't research if he signed.

But back to the OP, based on the film and velo on the PG profile in question.....he would not make a lot of high school varsity teams in Texas.

But whatever, I never cease to be amazed at how kids are projected.

First of all, congrats to Alex for manning up and accepting the constructive criticism.

Next, who wouldn't want to take a chance on a kid named Ripken? Huh? His old man will go down as one of the greatest baseball players of all time.

In my son's class, I saw draft picks of a Dunston and a Gretzky. Saw them both play and they're both worthy but just on paper...old man Dunston had one heck of a pro career and old man Gretzky was nicknamed THE GREAT ONE!!!!

Especially with these new draft rules...20th round for Ripken amounted to about $100K signing bonus. So in the grand scheme of things, they're not losing too much money if he doesn't pan out.

It's not nepotism or daddy ball if the kid can play.

I seem to remember a kid a few years back that was drafted in the final round as a favor by the Dodgers. Wonder how that ever worked out. Never really found out if it worked out. His name was Mike Piazza.

Alex, count yourself lucky they didn't ex communicate you from HSBBWeb, lol! I have room for you with me in the Woodshed.

You would have thought you called the boy an axe murderer......

See, here's the problem lately, someone makes a statement. Someone else doesn't like the statement.

The young man made a statement. Several posters disagreed and gave calm, reasonable reasons why. Then the young man said, hey, maybe I jumped to conclusion. Seemed like thing were going along just fine.

I don't have time to research why you're in the "woodshed" PopUp but I'd encourage you to chill out and come on back!

http://articles.baltimoresun.c...utive-vice-president

I didn't see where the Orioles released a statement saying his name had nothing to do with it. Looks like they expect him to go to college. Fairly clear from this article that the management thinks he is a fine young man and a good ball player.

Buck may have been a bit over zealous in an interview. We don't know the question he was asked.

I did like Bucks statement: "You can't teach 6 6 and left handed,"

Of course this kid got drafted because of his old man. No way ge gets drafted otherwise since he was hardly a top prospect. Otherwise he woulve gone much higher than the 20th round. Nepotism in baseball no different than with real jobs. It should be no big deal since it isn't costing the Orioles much to do dad a solid and draft his kid. If he did sign, what's a hundred large to a professional baseball club and most likely going the college route.It is what it is. I don't see the big deal that the Orioles drafted him.

It is what it is...one of my favorite sayings! I keep telling my wife that I'm going to have that tattooed on myself at some point since we use it so often!

I doubt it was about the money - from either side of this one...I would assume that neither side is hurting financially...

quote:

You can't teach 6 6 and left handed,"

Or speed.Or athleticism.

As well you cant teach heart,passion or work ethic.

Just like beauty is in the eye of the beholder! We all value different things....loyalty is way up there in my book. I like heart, passion and work ethic too and would sometimes take a kid in possession of those traits over a kid throwing flames who lacked them.

quote:

Originally posted by fanofgame:

quote:

You can't teach 6 6 and left handed,"

Or speed.Or athleticism.

As well you cant teach heart,passion or work ethic.

Don't tell my dad that you cant teach heart, passion or work ethic. He sure worked hard to teach these to his three kids. As I have done with mine.

quote:

Don't tell my dad that you cant teach heart, passion or work ethic. He sure worked hard to teach these to his three kids. As I have done with mine.

.

I understand your position.

Work ethic can be taught at a young age and we all strive for that.We can teach them to play or do all things with passion and with their heart.

But HEART and PASSION at the collegiate level and beyond comes from a player.

How do you teach somebody to love the game of baseball? You expose them,But they may not like it.They may not want to work that hard,not because thay are lazy,maybe they just dont like it.

I know this is somewhat irrelevant, but he lost an inch between a couple showcases. It's somewhat funny IMO.

Now to go back on topic, his swing may look somewhat obscure, but he slots his hands well and seems to have pretty quick bat speed. his infield velo was 79 which is a bit slow but what happens when he is 6'5 and 210 or 220? then it might be where we think it should be. Plus there have been way more nepotistic draft picks but no one knows that the kid in the final rounds is the son of a scout or whatnot. This guys bloodlines make him a bit better just because of all the batting practice he has taken with his dad or grandpa or uncle.

quote:

Originally posted by Clemson896:
he would not make a lot of high school varsity teams in Texas.
.

My a$$. A 6-5 lefty shows up to tryouts, he pretty made the team if he can tie his shoes. Then introduces himself as Ryan Ripken?

quote:

Originally posted by Mizzoubaseball:

quote:

Originally posted by Clemson896:
he would not make a lot of high school varsity teams in Texas.
.

My a$$. A 6-5 lefty shows up to tryouts, he pretty made the team if he can tie his shoes. Then introduces himself as Ryan Ripken?

quote:

Originally posted by biggerpapi:

I don't have time to research why you're in the "woodshed" PopUp but I'd encourage you to chill out and come on back!

This is an example of why so many people don't post or remain on this site, I make a little joke and someone has to take it seriously. I'm about a chilled as you can get......

Now back to our regular scheduled programming of picking on St. Ripken's kid.

quote:

Originally posted by Mizzoubaseball:

quote:

Originally posted by Clemson896:
he would not make a lot of high school varsity teams in Texas.
.

My a$$. A 6-5 lefty shows up to tryouts, he pretty made the team if he can tie his shoes. Then introduces himself as Ryan Ripken?

Bingo! Talk about upside. Whatever the kid's upside potential may be, the kid will reach it. How many kids have the key to a modern professional baseball facility for offseason workouts. In every aspect of baseball, physical and mental development the kid will have the best made available to him.

If you're the brightest businessman in the world you still won't get to be chairman of the board at Ford Motor Company if your last name isn't Ford. Sorry, it's the way life works. It won't be changing any time soon.

Maxpreps had him ranked pretty high for HS Seniors.

Hitting started out in Cal Ripken League on fire.

Then platooned vs lefty pitching by Youse's Head Coach.

Faded at end.
Summer Team had many injuries at 500 W/L
Struggled at AAABA in Johnstown

Good d at 1b.

Dad at many summer games.

Future might not be on bump.

College Coaches say probably won't see time until Jr College year.

As a side note to this thread, I met Cal twice this summer at Ryan's games. Both times he took time to shake hands with whoever wished to meet him and pose for pictures when asked to. Certainly seemed like the class act I always envisioned him to be.

The player went to college, just as he had intended.

The organization drafted him because of who his father is, just like the cardinals drafted Matheny's son along with other coaches son this year. Just like many teams draft their staff's sons. I see no problem with that.

They didn't waste a draft pick as they probably already drafted who they wanted knowing he would not sign.

I am not sure why it was even brought up to begin with, but that is water under the bridge at this point.

Does it matter how he did or didn't do this summer? Let's see what happens after 3 years at South Carolina.

TPM, maybe you don't see a problem with organizations drafting there staffs sons. Heck one of our team did it again this year to a player that did not start on his high school team. Plenty of people do have a problem with teams doing this.

I know I do as it takes away a draft pick from some other player that has worked harder and longer than the special treatment player. I don't see this going away anytime soon but we don't have to like it.

One of my favorite lines I read here is it was a late pick so it doesn't matter that much, tell that to the player could have been drafted but was not. In fact tell it too the Mark Buerle's of the world that was one of the 30th plus round guys drafted that turned out okay, I guess that wasn't a wasted draft pick.

2bagger,
It's ok to disagree, I respect your opinion.

These days, it seems that a lot of people have problems with stuff like this. Just a while back there was a topic about a player that got drafted and had not one hit in his first stint at pro ball.
To some it was a wasted pick.

Many people believe that a player that displays a strong work ethic and worked harder and longer should be a draft pick, but children of those involved in the game should not. The bottom line is that if a player has the skill and pro potential he will be drafted and not a player with a relative in any organization or a player that has worked harder or longer in the game will stop that from happening.

I have never said a late pick doesn't matter. Sometimes (as very much in the past), players are drafted late because of demands or because of commitments, do we know why Buerle was drafted late? Either way he was drafted, which shows my point I am trying to make above.

Much of this business is just like anything else in life, who you know, who you are associated with, who was your HS coach who was your TB coach, who is your college coach, what conference did you play in, who did you play against, what summer collegiate league did you play for, what former team did you play for, who is your agent, and last but not least, who are your relatives.

I have a question to ask. If you were involved with an organization for many years and your son was looked over in the draft, would you be ok with that?

I was just wondering, because I don't think that many here would. I would be highly insulted. JMO.

TPM, in answer to your question if my son was overlooked and he had earned the right to be drafted it would bother me. That being said if was drafted just because I was a vp or gm that would also bother me.

I wish in business and in life the most qualified would be first on anyones list, I do know it does not always work that way.

My point regarding those that have worked harder and longer at least in my opinion were also deserving by the numbers they had put up in college, high school, summer ball. The longer part meant they had at least 3 years of college ball against very good competition. There are plenty of players that get missed that I would be happy to pick up before a high school player that could not start on his high school team.

Beleive it or not the company that I work for had a sons and daughters program that allows preferential interviews and hiring and their qualifications were much less than the general pool of applicants. Most people would not like knowing that in some fields. But hey we do know it happens in many fields.

Give it a rest. The kid is a good person, above solid pedigree, serious upside/projectability. It's not affecting anyone here...stop please.

Folks he's from the 1 percent crowd, no surprise there. Maybe ole Cal made a deal with MLB, he'll sign a hundred balls or show up someplace for autographs....

The reality for our kids, is to continue playing the game they love, they should look into slow pitch. Everyone plays and if they win, a night at the tavern to celebrate. Daughter plays it, her little brother jacked a few home runs his first at bats, no pop ups! And best of all the coach/manager plays too.

99 percent will have to work a day job like us and after 30 years will have earned about as much as a first rounder's bonus. If they are lucky, they'll retire with a paid off truck.

So their required reading at this point is not how to hit a curve ball, but "Rich Dad, Poor Dad".