Kingston's back at again. No, not the class we had this past year (that would be ridiculous) but he's already got 9 commits for this class. He's going pitcher heavy. Either that or he just got those ones early and now he'll focus on other positions. I think it's the former. I think he sees how much this rotation is hurting and he needs to fill it. I know that two of our starters are pretty much out for the year because of surgery and the remaining is youth but you need to load up and make sure you get some talent there because you aren't going to hit on everyone.
Levi Borders will be gone after this year (I'll miss him and he will absolute be drafted) and I believe that Tyler Dietrich will be taking his spot. He's already seen plenty of looks this year. Kingston has a recruit in this next class for catcher though in Jordan Santos. He's got some speed...something that Kingston looks for.
Outside of Levi, Kingston will be losing Clarkson (RHP), Kelley (RHP), Maglich (will also get drafted), and Valdes (RHP). So, it makes sense that Kingston is going after pitchers in this class. However, I can't remember who the two pitchers were who had Tommy John surgery before the season. Maybe it's one of these guys. They were labeled as starters so you would think they would be veterans. If that's so, maybe they get a medical redshirt and come back next year. Only Clarkson of the above mentioned names has used a redshirt year already.
However, we have a TON of young pitchers. Kingston went crazy on pitchers in the last class as well. Plus I believe he has secured a transfer pitcher who is really great and should come in handy next year. So, for freshman pitchers we have Burns, Perez, Bye, Cross, McClanahan, and Sellers. Burns, Perez, Bye and Cross have already seen the diamond this year of my knowledge. Cross isn't really a first year player but like I've said before, we have been desperate at pitcher so we needed to use him.
As of right now, we have 6 pitchers committed to us out of the 9. The other three are SS, 3B and C (as I stated above). So, heavy on the pitchers again. Maybe more will come with possibly three leaving and expiring eligibility. The stud of the class so far is Deaundre Roberts, or DJ. He's a RHP who can also play 1B. Seems like he will play pitcher though. He scored super high at a Perfect game event and has even made 2015 Underclass 2nd team. Schools like Florida State, Mississippi and South Carolina are interested in him but he's committed to us. Another nice player is Tobias Myers. He's a RHP too who can play 3B and MIF. He too scored high at a Perfect Game event and is in the high percentile. Speed isn't quite there but he did make the 2015 Underclass 3rd team. Nick Cerelli is another commit to us who's a SS who although doesn't have the scores like the two above, he's got some nice schools looking into him like Florida, Texas and Vanderbilt. He's also made the Honorable Mentions list in both 2014 and 2015. Three other players didn't score as high as DJ or Myers at PG but they did score close to it and fall into a nice percentile. I'm talking about Korosec, Ragsdale (6'7"!!), and Velez. Nearly all of them were placed in the 92nd percentile or higher. Pretty damn nice. Only Korosec has any other listed schools after him like North Carolina, Mississippi and C. Florida. He made High Honorable Mention in 2014 and then made 3rd team in 2015. The other two made the High Honorable Mention and Honorable Mention in 2015, respectively. I think we have kind of a sleeper in Gonnella. He isn't listed in a percentile and he doesn't have a PG score however he was listed on the High Honorable Mention list for 2015. He hits nice so that's the power and offense that Kingston looks for. I think if he ever gets ranked, it will probably be a pretty nice score.
Overall, based on average recruit ranking, USF is ranked at 31st right now. Not close to what we were last year but that's not something to be worried about. That last class was ridiculous and had a ton of players. 31st is still pretty good and I don't know what the non-rated players do to the overall. We may possibly pick up more but I don't know how many scholarship spots we have available if we aren't really losing that many to begin with. Still some nice studs in the class to be excited about already. Just need to hold onto them.
Levi Borders will be gone after this year (I'll miss him and he will absolute be drafted) and I believe that Tyler Dietrich will be taking his spot. He's already seen plenty of looks this year. Kingston has a recruit in this next class for catcher though in Jordan Santos. He's got some speed...something that Kingston looks for.
Outside of Levi, Kingston will be losing Clarkson (RHP), Kelley (RHP), Maglich (will also get drafted), and Valdes (RHP). So, it makes sense that Kingston is going after pitchers in this class. However, I can't remember who the two pitchers were who had Tommy John surgery before the season. Maybe it's one of these guys. They were labeled as starters so you would think they would be veterans. If that's so, maybe they get a medical redshirt and come back next year. Only Clarkson of the above mentioned names has used a redshirt year already.
However, we have a TON of young pitchers. Kingston went crazy on pitchers in the last class as well. Plus I believe he has secured a transfer pitcher who is really great and should come in handy next year. So, for freshman pitchers we have Burns, Perez, Bye, Cross, McClanahan, and Sellers. Burns, Perez, Bye and Cross have already seen the diamond this year of my knowledge. Cross isn't really a first year player but like I've said before, we have been desperate at pitcher so we needed to use him.
As of right now, we have 6 pitchers committed to us out of the 9. The other three are SS, 3B and C (as I stated above). So, heavy on the pitchers again. Maybe more will come with possibly three leaving and expiring eligibility. The stud of the class so far is Deaundre Roberts, or DJ. He's a RHP who can also play 1B. Seems like he will play pitcher though. He scored super high at a Perfect game event and has even made 2015 Underclass 2nd team. Schools like Florida State, Mississippi and South Carolina are interested in him but he's committed to us. Another nice player is Tobias Myers. He's a RHP too who can play 3B and MIF. He too scored high at a Perfect Game event and is in the high percentile. Speed isn't quite there but he did make the 2015 Underclass 3rd team. Nick Cerelli is another commit to us who's a SS who although doesn't have the scores like the two above, he's got some nice schools looking into him like Florida, Texas and Vanderbilt. He's also made the Honorable Mentions list in both 2014 and 2015. Three other players didn't score as high as DJ or Myers at PG but they did score close to it and fall into a nice percentile. I'm talking about Korosec, Ragsdale (6'7"!!), and Velez. Nearly all of them were placed in the 92nd percentile or higher. Pretty damn nice. Only Korosec has any other listed schools after him like North Carolina, Mississippi and C. Florida. He made High Honorable Mention in 2014 and then made 3rd team in 2015. The other two made the High Honorable Mention and Honorable Mention in 2015, respectively. I think we have kind of a sleeper in Gonnella. He isn't listed in a percentile and he doesn't have a PG score however he was listed on the High Honorable Mention list for 2015. He hits nice so that's the power and offense that Kingston looks for. I think if he ever gets ranked, it will probably be a pretty nice score.
Overall, based on average recruit ranking, USF is ranked at 31st right now. Not close to what we were last year but that's not something to be worried about. That last class was ridiculous and had a ton of players. 31st is still pretty good and I don't know what the non-rated players do to the overall. We may possibly pick up more but I don't know how many scholarship spots we have available if we aren't really losing that many to begin with. Still some nice studs in the class to be excited about already. Just need to hold onto them.
