The Portal benefits baseball more than any sport......

[BigOrangePhoenix]

If you have a big time program(like Tennessee).
As most of us know, baseball recruiting is very tricky for several reasons.

For one, it is harder to project baseball talent more than any sport. These guys develop at different stages in this sport. One small adjustment, or developing a new pitch can significantly impact a player. This can even happen at MLB level(Cliff Lee for example).

Because of this, talent can be spread all the way from the minor leagues to mid major programs. Mid Major programs have won National titles.

Also, signing a top class is meaningless if you are going to lose a lot of those guys to the draft. It can be hard to project, as some of those guys will go from being fringe draft players to the first round before their senior season is completed.

This is where the Portal can help. Now when you lose those guys you can replace them with more proven players from other programs. Those guys are going to have a higher rate of success than unproven lower ranked high school graduates. It is not a perfect science, but the analytics of it is in your side in the long term. NIL fan even help attract players from other big time programs as well. We lost a big time pitcher to Wake, but the net gain has far surpassed that

Saying that though, the Portal and the NIL has crushed mid major programs in baseball.

Agree with this?

 

[cardvolfan]

If you have a big time program(like Tennessee).
As most of us know, baseball recruiting is very tricky for several reasons.

For one, it is harder to project baseball talent more than any sport. These guys develop at different stages in this sport. One small adjustment, or developing a new pitch can significantly impact a player. This can even happen at MLB level(Cliff Lee for example).

Because of this, talent can be spread all the way from the minor leagues to mid major programs. Mid Major programs have won National titles.

Also, signing a top class is meaningless if you are going to lose a lot of those guys to the draft. It can be hard to project, as some of those guys will go from being fringe draft players to the first round before their senior season is completed.

This is where the Portal can help. Now when you lose those guys you can replace them with more proven players from other programs. Those guys are going to have a higher rate of success than unproven lower ranked high school graduates. It is not a perfect science, but the analytics of it is in your side in the long term. NIL fan even help attract players from other big time programs as well. We lost a big time pitcher to Wake, but the net gain has far surpassed that

Saying that though, the Portal and the NIL has crushed mid major programs in baseball.

Agree with this?

I agree with a lot of your points except that “signing a top class is meaningless” statement. With PG’s rating for the 2024 signing class finishing at #2, Vitello commented that they signed great talent with lots of depth. Sure, I expect that a few will take the professional pathway, but the redundancy of this class will still make it one of the strongest classes in college baseball.

 

[Christian Lowe]

I agree with a lot of your points except that “signing a top class is meaningless” statement. With PG’s rating for the 2024 signing class finishing at #2, Vitello commented that they signed great talent with lots of depth. Sure, I expect that a few will take the professional pathway, but the redundancy of this class will still make it one of the strongest classes in college baseball.

This is true but it reminds me of a class Clemson had about a decade ago that had like 3/4 of its commits go to the minor leagues or something insane like that

 

[vol66]

If you have a big time program(like Tennessee).
As most of us know, baseball recruiting is very tricky for several reasons.

For one, it is harder to project baseball talent more than any sport. These guys develop at different stages in this sport. One small adjustment, or developing a new pitch can significantly impact a player. This can even happen at MLB level(Cliff Lee for example).

Because of this, talent can be spread all the way from the minor leagues to mid major programs. Mid Major programs have won National titles.

Also, signing a top class is meaningless if you are going to lose a lot of those guys to the draft. It can be hard to project, as some of those guys will go from being fringe draft players to the first round before their senior season is completed.

This is where the Portal can help. Now when you lose those guys you can replace them with more proven players from other programs. Those guys are going to have a higher rate of success than unproven lower ranked high school graduates. It is not a perfect science, but the analytics of it is in your side in the long term. NIL fan even help attract players from other big time programs as well. We lost a big time pitcher to Wake, but the net gain has far surpassed that

Saying that though, the Portal and the NIL has crushed mid major programs in baseball.

Agree with this?

In a vacuum, I agree with ya. This may be the first time in a while to have a group ranked this high. It just happens to coincide with NIL. Heads, we’ll probably lose some to the draft, Tails, NIL makes the decision for the young men a bit more interesting possibly. It certainly makes things more interesting for guys taken after the first couple rounds. I don’t think it’s meaningless to have a highly ranked class. It is an indication that kids with options chose UT as the fall back plan. It indicates the staff is hitting the road hard to get the best talent, and, it does come with a certain amount of prestige at the same time LNS is getting a facelift. JMO, and I’m looking forward to the upcoming season!

GBO!!!