SOMEBODY HAS BEEN BUSY RECRUITING
With the demise of feeders one good thing is we now have a lot more college baseball programs to follow and it appears a few of the ones we had not heard of before are trying to make some waves this season. The most active schools in landing high school senior commitments for next year are Bluegrass State and Eastern State with 11 each, followed closely by Grange College. Mississippi A&M, with 7, is the most active of the schools we have grown to know over the past 8 seasons. Must be something about Louisville as both Bluegrass State and Grange College are located there.
It likely doesn't mean much as pretty much all of their commits will bypass college and sign with a FABL team after the draft but I thought I would take a quick look at the recruiting classes for the most active schools. First, here is a list of the schools with the most high school recruits.
Code:
SCHOOL # OF RECRUITS TOP RECRUIT MOCK DRAFT
Bluegrass State 11 2B Elmer Miller, Medford(MA) HS not ranked
Eastern State 11 1B Sig Stofer, Atlantic City (NJ) HS 4th round
Grange College 10 RHP Ace Harmon, Los Angeles (CA) HS 3rd round
Portland Tech 8 LHP Lou Johnson Austin (TX) HS 2nd round
Mississippi A&M 7 OF Ducky Pugh, Fairland (OK) HS 3rd round
Amarillo Methodist 6 LHP Pat Witkins, Amherst (NH) HS not ranked
CCLA 6 OF Tony Hendricks, Reading (PA) HS 2nd round
Central Kentucky 6 OF Fred Galloway, Evansville (IN) HS 1st round
Constitution State 6 OF Bob Mullins, Brooklyn (NY) Tilden HS 2nd round
Maryland State 6 OF Martin Brown, Staunton (IL) HS not ranked
Opelika State 6 3B Joe Bell, Slayton (MN) HS 3rd round
Red River State 6 OF Heinie Billings, Macon (GA) HS 3rd round
Redwood University 6 SS Milo Stockbridge, Chicago (IL) Leo HS not ranked
Bluegrass State in Louisville invaded the northeast in search of middle infield help and they landed a pair of pretty good ones in Medford (MA) second baseman Elmer Miller (.517,1,32) and shortstop Guy Williams (.383,2,24) from Peckham Technical in Buffalo, New York. Williams will have big shoes to replace as the Mustangs will be losing senior SS Tip Harrison, who is ranked as a top 10 pick in the OSA Mock Draft.
The
Eastern State Monitors also landed 11 recruits led by the top ranked high school first baseman in the nation in Sig Stofer. The 18 year old, who is a 4th round pick according to the OSA Mock Draft decided to exchange the beaches of Atlantic City for the campus in Virginia Beach, although odds are that Stofer, who tied for the high school lead with 11 homers this season, will be in the minor leagues next season.
Righthander Ace Harmon, who went 10-2 this season for Los Angeles (CA) High School headlines the 10 commits that
Grange College landed this summer. Must be something about Louisville as both Bluegrass State and Grange College are located in the Kentucky city. The Mustangs (same nickname as Bluegrass State as well) also landed Tony 'Pooch' Puccinello from Bryant High School in Queens, New York. Puccinello was 7-3 as a senior and some scouts feel he stands a good chance of pitching quite effectively in the major leagues some day. To further enhance their class, Grange also inked Jack Loomis, an outfielder from St Albans High School in Washington DC who is tabbed as a possible 3rd round selection in the Mock Draft.
The
Portland Tech Magpies come in at fourth with 8 recruits. The best of which is long slender lefthander Lou Johnson, who was 8-2 for Austin High School in Texas. Johnson is pegged as the number one high school pitcher in the nation, at least according to the OSA Mock Draft.
A school Figment followers are very familiar with is
Mississippi A&M, which comes in fifth with 7 recruits. The Generals have been dubbed Outfield U because of the large number of quality outfielders they have developed through the years including the Lightbody brothers, Doug and Frank, as well as Jim Renfroe. The Generals recruiting class is led by centerfielder Ducky Pugh, a potential 3rd round pick according to OSA who is already drawing comparisons to what Pittsburgh Miners centerfielder Jim Renfroe was like until injuries derailed his career. Ducky has huge upside after hitting .550 for his high school team in Fairland, Oklahoma. Mississippi A&M also landed a potential fourth rounder in first baseman Paul Sammons, who hit .505 with 10 homers for Western High School in Louisville. Surprised that Bluegrass State and Grange College let him escape from right under their noses.
That's all for now. Expect more previews as we approach the December 1934 FABL first year player draft.