Baseball Transfer Portal

[CajunT]

Kimple and Fitzgerald actually signed while Robe was still the coach, although he never coached them. Fitzgerald is in th eportal.

Talley also signed when Robe was the coach, I think Wilson also, not sure.

The majority of that class was already signed when Deggs was named coach. The majority of the top HS athletes for the 2020 HS class were also committed or signed.

[ManAboutTown]

The majority of that class was already signed when Deggs was named coach. The majority of the top HS athletes for the 2020 HS class were also committed or signed.

That is true as well.

But Deggs will sign JUCOs. And I’m not saying I don’t want to sign them. I just don’t want to rely on JUCOs to turn the roster over when we missed on others year in and year out.
I want to see us build our foundation via HS talent, as local as possible (Barbe just named #1 HS team in America.. again) and fill gaps with highly regarded JUCO talent. To me, that’s the recipe. All of our best teams were built in that mold.

[CajunT]

That is true as well.

But Deggs will sign JUCOs. And I’m not saying I don’t want to sign them. I just don’t want to rely on JUCOs to turn the roster over when we missed on others year in and year out.
I want to see us build our foundation via HS talent, as local as possible (Barbe just named #1 HS team in America.. again) and fill gaps with highly regarded JUCO talent. To me, that’s the recipe. All of our best teams were built in that mold.

Ideally that is what you would want to happen. But in any given year that talent could be deep locally, or in the state and in other years it may not be deep. The reality is we have seldom kept the best talent in the area at UL under Coach Rob. We had Conrad, Trahan, Robichaux and later we had Marks, Lee and Leger. All top ten players in the state when we signed them. Right now Miss State, LSU, Ole Miss and Tulane have signed a number of the top players in the last few classes and commitments going forward.

I agree with Jay that a good number of our athletes were from Louisiana during our most recent stretch of regionals. But JC players were also major contributors to those teams and part of the formula for success.

On the 2014 team Caleb Adams, Greg Milhorn, Ryan Wilson, Kyle Clement (local), Cody Boutte (local), Seth Harrison , Ben Carter (local), Matt Plitt and Carson Baranik (state) were all from the JC ranks. We don't get to the Super Regionals without these guys.

JC signees will always be part of the formula for our program going forward. We can not sign enough of the top hs talent in Louisiana or Texas in any given year to compete at the highest level of college baseball without them.

[Duggie35]

How many are from the lower division of JUCO ball like LSUE?

I have no idea. My point was in response to someone who indicated they didn't want UL to build with JUCO players. My point is that if you can get the "right" JUCO players, that is not necessarily a bad thing.

[ManAboutTown]

Ideally that is what you would want to happen. But in any given year that talent could be deep locally, or in the state and in other years it may not be deep. The reality is we have seldom kept the best talent in the area at UL under Coach Rob. We had Conrad, Trahan, Robichaux and later we had Marks, Lee and Leger. All top ten players in the state when we signed them. Right now Miss State, LSU, Ole Miss and Tulane have signed a number of the top players in the last few classes and commitments going forward.

I agree with Jay that a good number of our athletes were from Louisiana during our most recent stretch of regionals. But JC players were also major contributors to those teams and part of the formula for success.

On the 2014 team Caleb Adams, Greg Milhorn, Ryan Wilson, Kyle Clement (local), Cody Boutte (local), Seth Harrison , Ben Carter (local), Matt Plitt and Carson Baranik (state) were all from the JC ranks. We don't get to the Super Regionals without these guys.

JC signees will always be part of the formula for our program going forward. We can not sign enough of the top hs talent in Louisiana or Texas in any given year to compete at the highest level of college baseball without them.

At one time, that may have been true. But we didn’t spend $20 mil on a new stadium and top notch clubhouse (and more to come) to become a JC mill. We didn’t charge our fans with additional fees and responsibilities to be a second tier program. There is no reason we shouldn’t be competing for the top talent in LA. Of course LSU will have a certain amount of clout in this state, but we’ve recently had kids choose Lafayette over Baton Rouge. With Deggs’ pipeline we would be just fine in south and east Texas as well.

Do we need to sign JCs? Sure. Always have. Do they need to be the bedrock of our program and recruiting strategy? Slippery slope IMO.

[JayWalker]

At one time, that may have been true. But we didn’t spend $20 mil on a new stadium and top notch clubhouse (and more to come) to become a JC mill. We didn’t charge our fans with additional fees and responsibilities to be a second tier program. There is no reason we shouldn’t be competing for the top talent in LA. Of course LSU will have a certain amount of clout in this state, but we’ve recently had kids choose Lafayette over Baton Rouge. With Deggs’ pipeline we would be just fine in south and east Texas as well.

Do we need to sign JCs? Sure. Always have. Do they need to be the bedrock of our program and recruiting strategy? Slippery slope IMO.

If you miss on too many of them, yes. But if you hit, they can be a motherlode.

[CajunT]

At one time, that may have been true. But we didn’t spend $20 mil on a new stadium and top notch clubhouse (and more to come) to become a JC mill. We didn’t charge our fans with additional fees and responsibilities to be a second tier program. There is no reason we shouldn’t be competing for the top talent in LA. Of course LSU will have a certain amount of clout in this state, but we’ve recently had kids choose Lafayette over Baton Rouge. With Deggs’ pipeline we would be just fine in south and east Texas as well.

Do we need to sign JCs? Sure. Always have. Do they need to be the bedrock of our program and recruiting strategy? Slippery slope IMO.

It's the cart before the horse argument in my opinion. Yes, we've built a top facility, but you must win first to draw top players. Napier has top facilities as well, but his first two classes were mediocre compared to his last two classes. Win, and they will come play for you. Everyone in this region that we compete against has great facilities for the most part.

[Dad04]

Losing Ben Fitz stings.

[LifeTimeCajun]

If you miss on too many of them, yes. But if you hit, they can be a motherlode.

Lets not forget that Jake Wells signed a ton of juco kids at Tech to turn that program around pretty quick. He might know where to find them.

[SlickRick]

Lets not forget that Jake Wells signed a ton of juco kids at Tech to turn that program around pretty quick. He might know where to find them.

Good point!