Ole Miss drafted players to this point. Slot values, not signing bonuses, are next to the teams.
Round 2 (Pick 68) | Grae Kessinger - Houston Astros $953,100
Round 5 (Pick 159) | Will Ethridge - Colorado Rockies $327,20
Round 5 (Pick 163) | Thomas Dillard - Milwaukee Brewers $315,400
Round 6 (Pick 172) | Cooper Johnson - Detroit Tigers $291,400
All those players should get around slot value. I don't see any red flags for why that wouldn't be the case. Even though it's day three I still think there are four current players to keep an eye on today. Cole Zabowski should get drafted early today, and I think it's possible he signs. I also think Zack Phillips and Austin Miller are potential day-three signs. And there's no real cutoff point, especially for Miller and Phillips, today so it'll just have to play out.
Ole Miss would obviously be happy with Parker Caracci returning for his final season. I know Parker has been told to not feel like he has to sign just to sign. So we'll see with him, too.
The big news from the last two days is no Ole Miss signees have been drafted. I think the Rebels are in the clear with every high school signee and every signee overall except for Meridian RHP Braden Forsyth. Junior college players operate on a different deal than high school kids, so we'll still be on the lookout for Forsyth today and see what happens there.
Just for not-jumping-the-gun purposes, we'll save major analysis of the signing class for after the Draft is complete, but this has the chance to be a really special class. There are immediate impact position players with Connor Walsh and Trey Lafleur and ready-to-go arms with Derek Diamond and Drew McDaniel plus upside guys like Wes Burton and others. Hayden Dunhurst is obviously a huge signee in a vacuum but he also helps competition. His presence will make Knox Loposer better and vice versa.
This class is currently fourth nationally behind Vanderbilt, LSU and Florida. The Commodores can't be caught unless something really weird happens, but I could see the Rebels slide up to third and maybe in a perfect world second. I haven't dissected other teams' classes so that's a guess just looking at player point values.
And then there's the big overall news of the day that Jerrion Ealy is going to play both sports. His football importance is understood, and it's a great athlete for free for the baseball program. The Rebels get two of those benefits with Ealy and John Rhys Plumlee. As I've said before, I think Ealy and Plumlee are big for each other because managing both sports is very hard. It's much easier when someone is on your schedule and there's a partner to hit with and work out with at odd times. We'll see how he balances workload, but I think Plumlee could find a role relatively early. It's just hard to predict because of football being the primary variable.
All in all, this has been a great draft for the Rebels. Barring any surprises, it's a reload class at the perfect time.
Round 2 (Pick 68) | Grae Kessinger - Houston Astros $953,100
Round 5 (Pick 159) | Will Ethridge - Colorado Rockies $327,20
Round 5 (Pick 163) | Thomas Dillard - Milwaukee Brewers $315,400
Round 6 (Pick 172) | Cooper Johnson - Detroit Tigers $291,400
All those players should get around slot value. I don't see any red flags for why that wouldn't be the case. Even though it's day three I still think there are four current players to keep an eye on today. Cole Zabowski should get drafted early today, and I think it's possible he signs. I also think Zack Phillips and Austin Miller are potential day-three signs. And there's no real cutoff point, especially for Miller and Phillips, today so it'll just have to play out.
Ole Miss would obviously be happy with Parker Caracci returning for his final season. I know Parker has been told to not feel like he has to sign just to sign. So we'll see with him, too.
The big news from the last two days is no Ole Miss signees have been drafted. I think the Rebels are in the clear with every high school signee and every signee overall except for Meridian RHP Braden Forsyth. Junior college players operate on a different deal than high school kids, so we'll still be on the lookout for Forsyth today and see what happens there.
Just for not-jumping-the-gun purposes, we'll save major analysis of the signing class for after the Draft is complete, but this has the chance to be a really special class. There are immediate impact position players with Connor Walsh and Trey Lafleur and ready-to-go arms with Derek Diamond and Drew McDaniel plus upside guys like Wes Burton and others. Hayden Dunhurst is obviously a huge signee in a vacuum but he also helps competition. His presence will make Knox Loposer better and vice versa.
This class is currently fourth nationally behind Vanderbilt, LSU and Florida. The Commodores can't be caught unless something really weird happens, but I could see the Rebels slide up to third and maybe in a perfect world second. I haven't dissected other teams' classes so that's a guess just looking at player point values.
And then there's the big overall news of the day that Jerrion Ealy is going to play both sports. His football importance is understood, and it's a great athlete for free for the baseball program. The Rebels get two of those benefits with Ealy and John Rhys Plumlee. As I've said before, I think Ealy and Plumlee are big for each other because managing both sports is very hard. It's much easier when someone is on your schedule and there's a partner to hit with and work out with at odd times. We'll see how he balances workload, but I think Plumlee could find a role relatively early. It's just hard to predict because of football being the primary variable.
All in all, this has been a great draft for the Rebels. Barring any surprises, it's a reload class at the perfect time.
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