Football has been and will always be the king of collegiate athletics, and that past few years has seen football recruiting skyrocket in popularity. However, the true fascination of recruiting has to go to college baseball.
With football and basketball recruiting, there are certainly dramatic storylines all the way until signing day, as competing schools go head-to-head to land the signature of the top players in the country, but with baseball, a different variable comes into play: the Major League Baseball draft.
Most top college baseball recruits aren’t just getting calls from schools all around the country, they are also getting calls from major league scouts to talk about the possibility of turning pro right out of high school and foregoing their college years.
So when a college coach is looking to turn his program into one of the nation’s elite, how does he do it? Does he recruit the best players regardless of the possibility of them signing a professional contract or do they go for the second-tier players that are sure to make it to campus, but may not be enough to get the team to a championship caliber level?
It’s a tough choice and one that college coaches have to make every year.
Under the direction of head coach Mike Bianco, Ole Miss has seen all kinds of different strategies. Sometimes gambling with a top prospect pays off, but sometimes it can turn an elite recruiting class into one that is average at best.
For instance, in last year’s MLB Draft, the Rebels had three of their signees drafted in the first round. As expected, none of those players made it to Oxford. Sometimes the risk is worth the reward, but when it doesn’t pay off, you better have a backup plan.
Other times, you sign a guy that you think will be a big part of your season next year, but that season between him signing and the MLB draft, his stock suddenly rises, and he’s gone before you know it. This year, that guy for Ole Miss was left-handed pitcher Cody Reed, who signed with the Kansas City Royals Tuesday after being picked in the second round of last week’s draft.
That’s the constant battle college coaches are dealing with, and that’s what makes college baseball recruiting more fascinating than football.
Luckily for Ole Miss, Reed appears to be the only casualty they will suffer from their signing class. Both shortstop Dalton Dulin (36th round by Philadelphia Phillies) and outfielder J.B. Woodman (40th round by New York Mets) were drafted, but both should make it to Oxford, barring an unexpected turn of events.
So this year, the Rebels avoided trouble for the most part from the draft, but what is the plan going forward? I don’t think anyone has a strategy that is sure to get the best on-the-field results, but with Bianco’s back against the wall, he could use a little luck on his side.
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss baseball, follow @DavidLCollier and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
