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Baseball recruiting class
MacDawg15
Posts: 3,059 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
Finally we've brought in a haul that we should do annually in such a hotbed of elite talent. Stricklin said it's his best class since coming to UGA. One big difference in this class is we've brought in some big time bats to go WITH the stud pitchers. There's no Wilcox in the class but some kids did have the opportunity to sign professionally and instead decided to become Dawgs. For me the biggest fish in the class as far as need and meeting that need was Corey Collins 6'3 220 (catcher, 1b, corner OF) from North Gwinnett. This kid has lumberjack power from the left side! Is an excellent defensive catcher as well with a really good arm. Considered one of the best hitters as well as overall players in America. Should be a huge contributor as a true freshman imo. Saw this kid play and he's absolutely legit. Imo what Hancock and Wilcox meant for the starting rotation when they signed with UGA; this kid means the same for the lineup as a whole. Great hips and therefore tremendous bat speed. 2019 Gwinnett County POY. All state. Hit .483 with 50 RBIs and 16 dingers. We also brought in another catcher (Fernando Gonzalez who is pretty d a m n salty himself which will allow for both of em to be on the field together (if they are 2 of the best 9.) Only got to the US 2 years ago but I saw his tape and this kid is an excellent defensive catcher with a quick release and great arm. No doubt one of the top 5 best defensive catchers for the class. Not alot of thump, but can handle the stick and will be somewhere in the .280-.340 range for a career college average. Not too shabby when that's your 2nd best catcher in the same class.
Parks Harber 6'3 215 3B from Atlanta is gonna be a superstar in the same lineup as Collins. Book it. Saw him play as well and he's the real deal. Played good competition at Westminster where he hit .431 with 10 HR n 46 RBIs. 2018 3A POY and 1st team all state. Was the QB on the FB team. And led them to the playoffs in 2018. The kid can do anything on a baseball field. With him and Collins in the middle of the lineup for the next few years I would pay attention when they are up if your in the parking lot or behind kudzu hill.
Garrett Spikes 6'4 195 from Lawrenceville is as good of an athlete as you'll see anywhere. Saw him play 2x and he's a future star himself. Played football and also was a state champion wrestler for the 170 lb class. Kid can pitch and crush the ball from the left side of the plate.
The future is really bright for the Diamond Dawgs. There is a ton of talent coming to Athens and plenty to be excited about. Brought in some great arms but can't believe I've made any message even this long. But Hank Bearden is probably the top arm for this haul imo. But Patrick Holloman from McDonough is a weekend starter definitely. Just don't know if it happens as a freshman. Colin Caldwell has some great stuff from the tape I've seen. Ball moves A TON. More excited about these guys than any in a long time for us. GATA
Comments
Awesome post! How big of an impact on our recruiting class do you think the shortened draft had? Which of our signees were the highly touted prospects the MLB was most interested in? I would imagine we’d lose a couple more commits to the MLB had it been a standard format.
Holloman is from my neck of the woods. He was a Jr when they lost the state championship. I was really hoping to catch some games this spring 😕
Thanks for sharing! Great to hear.
Hard to tell in some cases. We had I believe about 6 guys that would have been drafted. Where they could have went after the 5th round is hard to say. But personally I know how hard it is to be drafted our of hs even with great numbers against great competition. But for the most part I think that of the 6 or 7, ALL seemed to WANT to be at UGA. Luke Wagner from Pennsylvania is a stud that'll play in any of the outfield spots when he's not the SP. He's uber nasty on the mound, and will have a leadoff type role because he's such a good hitter nd overall athlete. Collins, Barber, Bearden, Spikes, Holloman probably would have been drafted imo. Plus maybe Gonzalez and Caldwell. Remember guys we had the #2 team in the country before the shutdown and could have played with anyone. Cole got the $ he was looking for even though he didn't go til the 80th pick. If he didn't get what he was wanting I think coming back would be his best option. We could be talking 4-8 million bucks between a top 10 pick with his signing bonus in a "normal" draft and not going til pick 80. But it's a moot point because he DID get the money he thought he deserved and nothing is final yet, but I fully expect him not to be in Athens next year.
Great news!! 😊
Nice thread Mac. Parks Harber can definitely play. I don't know Collins and Gonzalez but I love your write up. No reason our baseball program can't match football with the talent in Georgia. Excited about the future.
For anyone interested, the 16u national championship is taking place tomorrow at East Cobb Baseball at 2:00 p.m.
The semifinal games are in the morning at 9:00 & 11:30.
9:00 a.m. Team Elite (Winder, GA) vs. Canes National (Fredericksburg, VA). The Team Elite program has had 180 players taken in the MLB draft. The current squad has 18 major college commits, including Ga Tech, Clemson, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, NC State, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Auburn, and Michigan. The Canes National program has had 286 players taken in the MLB draft. Their current squad has 20 major college commits, including Ole Miss, Vandy, Duke, NC State, Virginia, Tennessee, LSU, Florida, UNC, Mississippi St, Washington, Oregon St, Texas Tech, and Indiana. They knocked off the ECB Astros in the Round of 16.
11:30 a.m. Florida Travel Baseball (Kissimee, FL) vs. Dirtbags Tap Out (Sedalia, NC). The FTB program has had 280 players taken in the MLB draft. Their current squad has 19 major college commits, including Vanderbilt, Florida, Miami, Florida State, and Texas A&M. The Dirtbags program has had 90 players taken in the MLB draft. The current squad has 12 college commits, including Duke, UNC, GA Tech, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Stanford, and LSU.
Here's a link to the tournament site:
https://www.perfectgame.org/Events/Brackets.aspx?event=11279
Preciate it brother. The new normal is gonna look different due to the pandemic. But we definitely have good reason to be excited about the future of Dawgs baseball. I've always thought that if we could just keep more of the alpha dawgs home and not leave the state to play, we'd be contenders every single year. HS and travel ball in the state of Ga is absolutely as good as anywhere in the country. SO many absolute future stars are in our back yard. Really excited to see how we look going forward. We're gonna be young next year; but extremely talented.
Family and friends in winder....they'll probably close the town down if they win. And I lived In Kissimmee when I first moved out of Georgia...they play a lot of good baseball down there too