Anyone else notice that DawgNation took down the article about...

Jinx55 · January 2018

I think he could also do something similar to what @JeffSentell said as far as taking the baseball route of just playing in the required summer for whatever major league's minor league affiliate that he is drafted by. I know Russell Wilson went that route. He played like 30ish games for the minor league Rockies. So I do believe an MLB team can draft and claim your rights without you being obligated to actually fully commit.

Russell Wilson is currently a Texas Ranger under some draft rule. But simply said, if Justin feels the tug he can at least explore the option without the commitment!

JoelSidneyKelly · January 2018

@donm said:

@bigdawg2223 said:
Honestly I think he'd be a fool to pursue baseball, that's a long tough grind and the chances of making the show are smaller than the NFL. But hey it's his life

What are the respective odds of making it to the majors or the NFL? I've never really considered that before. With no evidence, I'd think it's easier to make it into the NFL than MLB. Of course, the longevity factor favors MLB and does the $ factor, I think.

The odds are much better for a five star, #1 QB recruit (C'mon, we all know 247 gave it to TL for the all-star game) to play in the NFL than for an off the radar, pretty good HS SS to play in MLB.

MIghtydawg · January 2018

A MLB multi million dollar signing bonus today is better than the chance of multi-millions 4 or 5 years from now. The signing bonuses in the 1st round of MLB draft ranged from $14.1 to $2.1 million. 2nd round ranged from $2.5 to 850K. 3rd round from $2 to $125K. If MLB is going to pay him enough money, he can always come back to football if he does not make it--like Chris Weinke.

BobcatGrad · January 2018

Although only a broken finger, I think the injury created more thoughts and concerns about a more significant injury.

I had a high school classmate named Casey Close who was an incredible athlete in football as a QB, basketball and baseball. His baseball talent was incredible so he gave up football when he was a freshman in high school. He threw four or five no-hitters in high school and his batting average was something crazy well over .600. Michigan signed him to a full ride primarily as a pitcher. He had a slight tear in his rotator cuff so he switched to outfield his freshman year and hit a Grand Slam that year to put Michigan in the final four at the College World Series.. To be brief he is one of the most decorated baseball players in Michigan history winning player of the year in the Big Ten and was the National College Player of the Year in 1986. and is still the leading HR hitter all-time. Despite all of this, he was only a 7th round draft pick by the Yankees. His first few years he hit with some power, but was hitting in the low .200's in AAA. He wound up with Seattle and hit 330 in AAA, but never made the big leagues.

My point is that there is no guarantee coming out of high school what level of success you will have. Kent Merker came through the same high school conference a couple of years later and had a high school career that I thought was a bit below Casey who was the better all-round athlete. Kent was drafted by Atlanta in the 5th round and turned professional instead of going to college. He wound up having a pretty good career in the majors although he went from team to team after Atlanta.

Things turned out ok for Casey as he was Derek Jeter's agent for his entire career and married former Miss America Gretchen Carlson.

I hope to see Justin play football at UGA, but he should probably try and focus on where is passion is.

Thelordjohnson · January 2018

From what Im hearing he's very raw baseball wise cause he isn't "focused" as the top guys and scouts wanna see him play this spring. As a father I think he should keep his options open.

Short-Term Baseball looks better but man the grind is deadly and besides that initial contract which will be higher than draft slot money wise because they are really banking on potential and paying him to not play football. Plus short term you know you arent hurt right now.

Long Term Football is probably the better route to go. He has a lot of good things in his favor.

@JoelSidneyKelly 247 moved Fields #1 because of his showcase showings over the summer. But Lawerence was always going to go back to #1 because his team was better, his stats are ridiculous, has 2 State Titles, and lost only in the playoffs. Plus Fields was hurt and didnt drop more than what should've been expected considering the teams each played for.

Denmen185 · January 2018

Listening to Jeff today it seemed that Justin would be a late round pick (30th?). That doesn't provide a good income and would take a very long time to make the majors if ever. His passion is BB but his career potential is much much higher in FB. As a late round pick he could still enroll at UGA with minimal summer commitments to BB

levander · January 2018

I think the reason they moved Fields to #1 was Lawrence was already committed and was pretty quiet as far as a media presence goes. However the Fields story was blowing up all over the place. So you bump Fields up a little in your rankings, call him #1 and it makes your newsprint a little more dramatic and maybe sells a little better.

After Fields committed and his story died down, they moved him back to #2.

But the distance between the rankings of Fields and Lawrence is so minute, it’s really even silly to call one of them #1 and the other #2. But such is the regular custom in our great nation...

levander · January 2018

@Thelordjohnson I’m not up on all the ins and outs. But just from a 10,000 foot bird’s eye view, yeah. That thing about keeping his options open. From what I know about it, it sounds like playing baseball keeps his options open and that’s why I imagine it’s in his best interest.

But I also don’t think it was in his best interest to sign with a school where he was one year behind an elite quarterback who’s already starting. And apparently Justin didn’t agree with me on that issue, so... I’ll just wait and see what Justin decides.

It would be interesting to know how much influence Kirby has over the situation.