It probably is coincidence. But for the guy who can't stop laughing at it...read the title. It's an observation with a bunch of "maybes".
What caught my attention originally was at one time with Cox on the mound, we had 4 kids from STM on the field and another from Teurlings. That's more than half the guys on the diamond from 2 schools in our city. It made me look at the roster to see if we actually recruit outside of Lafayette (half jokingly). That's when I noticed all of the regulars seemed to be private school kids.
Again, it's an observation. It may or may not have any merit whatsoever. But it's interesting.
Based on what I've seen, recruiters want to know how well high school players do against the best talent in the country with scholly/bonus money on the line.
Perfect Game has tournaments in Atlanta and Jupiter, FL with 88 of the best scout teams in the country. The Florida tournament is attended by literally hundreds of college coaches, MLB scouts for a week, watching games on 20 adjacent fields. Scouts and coaches run from field to field on a fleet of golf carts grading talent. Nobody cares if the schools are public, or private.
https://www.perfectgame.org/Events/D...spx?event=5981
I just think it's digging for any excuse someone can come up with. I ask any of you to go watch a practice at Teurlings/STM and then go watch a practice at Comeaux or Lafayette. I will guarantee you the private school practices are more intense and more organized. I know this because i've been to both. The public/private argument is merely a coincident. Heck, 3 of the top 4 hitters at the school down the road are private school guys.
Maybe we just aren't recruiting the right private school players.
Dad04,
You're missing the point.
It's not about talent. It's about mentality.
Why are there so many professional players from an island as small as the Dominican Republic? Are Dominicans genetically better baseball players? No. It's because if they want a better life, they'll do whatever it takes to be good enough.
I posted a #1 team in the country roster. And the last regional team roster. You can go look at other recent rosters here too. For whatever reason, the team has evolved into nearly all private school kids (that play). I'd argue that Kasuls and Toro seem to be more bull headed about winning than most of the other players on this years team. And they happen to be the only 2 that didn't attend private school. Wiley is another that's gotten some PT.
Add Toro, Wiley and Windham in to the opening day list I showed, and there's 3 of 12 that came from public schools. 2016 was 10 of 12. 2014 was 10 of 13.
Those were the days of tough as nails baseball at UL. Recently it's the exact opposite. Just like the numbers provided are the exact opposite from then to now.
It may be a coincidence. But you'll have a hard time convincing me that public school kids, on average, arent different mentally than private school kids. I've seen it as a student at private school for a year and public the rest of my life. I saw it as a college baseball player. I see it now with my kids and the kids they play sports with at private school.
Talent has nothing to do with it.
In my opinion this is far more coincidental than anything. I think it is more about the personality of the player than the school they attend. My guess is no matter what high school John Coker went to he would still charge headfirst into the centerfield wall at 100 mph. That’s just who he is, and the type of player he is. Watching us from 2017 up to today, I don’t see much fire and passion like we had pre 2017. I want to see us go back to recruiting those John Coker types again. I don’t know how or why we quit getting those types in recent years, but I personally feel that’s where the bulk of our problems start and end.
Again, it’s mentality. It’s not who works harder. Or who’s more talented. It’s more “I’m gonna lay my life on the line to succeed because I have nothing else” versus “I want to succeed to impress people and if it doesn’t work out, I’ll work in the family business or get a job from my buddy’s dad”
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