How Does UK Improve Recruiting?

[Comebakatz3]

As I said in the Bohannon post, UK has slipped in the recruiting rankings. Here they are:

2011: 22
2012: 25
2013: 50
2014: 41
2015: 64

Currently UK is ranked 11th in 2016.

The problem seems to be that UK is not able to get the big time recruits to forgo pro and to head to UK. In 2015 UK had 3 top 100 players committed. Nicholas Shumpert (5), Nick Plummer (20), and Travis Blankenhorn (58). The later two signed with pro teams while Shumpert snuffed UK to go to JUCO (possibly for academic reasons, and likely also because he didn't want to wait 3 years to get drafted). Losing these three dropped UK significantly in the rankings. With one of them their class is at least a top 35 class instead of 64th.

Compare this result to what Vanderbilt was able to do this year. They signed 13 players (UK had 9) and 5 of those players were top 100 recruits. These include, Donny Everett (11), Alonzo Jones (40), Julian Infante (65), Chandler Day (72), and Matthew McGarry (90). They had 9 players committed to them that were in the top 100 and they had 5 of them head to Vanderbilt. To be fair, this was an abnormal and amazing class for Vanderbilt, but UK hasn't been able to sign a top 100 player since Connor Heady in 2013, and have only signed 2 total since 2011. Florida, on the other hand, signed 9 in 2011 alone, and Vandy has signed 15 since 2011.

I don't think UK has recruited too poorly over the past 5 years, but we can't seem to keep many of the big time players from going pro. How can UK be like some of these top 25 teams and convince the big time players to head to college rather than going pro?

 

[Big_Blue_1018]

Im not exactly sure there is a sure fire way for this staff to improve recruiting. Henderson seems content on going after mid level guys. And besides, even when we get quality guys here, they seem to never sniff the field. A few examples come to mind with Dallen Raber, who transferred to BYU, Casey Schraeder, who transferred to Coastal Carolina and actually led his team in homeruns. We have several pitchers leave who never saw anytime. Henderson has shown he refuses to adjust his line up and pitching staff even if someone is struggling.

I think for UK to improve, follow the football model. Hire a staff who refuses to set idle to the big boys in the SEC. Improve your facilities. I know there is a baseball field in the works, but its been in the works since 2006. And I as much as I would like to say I love the cliff, its an embarrassment to play on a field that really doesnt deserve to be played on at a high school level. And lastly, you have to promote the program. This is everything from the news down to social media. I think whoever is in charge of the UKBaseball twitter handle needs to be fired or reassigned. That account is beyond pathetic on giving updates on the team, fall practice and just news of the program. You realize UK has had 9 scrimmages and I have only seen one report? And that report wasnt even done on the official UK athletic website.

What can UK do to improve recruiting? Actually give a damn about the program.

 

[BluegrassBlake]

You can add Jaren Shelby,(brother of JaVon) John Flowers, and Parker Scott to the commitment list. This 2016 class looks to be the best we've signed in several years. It looks as though we have at least 4 commitments that could be drafted within the first 10 rounds.

 

[BluegrassBlake]

Another new commitment is Tommy Mace, a pitcher in the class of 2017.

 

[Comebakatz3]

The problem is that we have not yet signed the 2016 class. I think in the past we've done an excellent job of getting some kids that were top draft picks. However, most of the time those top draft picks went pro instead of coming to college. Will 2016 be different? We're currently 13th in the country in recruiting with 2 top 100 players. Will we be able to keep those top 100 players? What about the other 2 that might go top 10 rounds? It's still quite a while before the draft and some of our commitments might also blow up like Plummer did. I like seeing us in on the big names, but we have to start bringing more of them to campus.