Tuesday, June 08, 2004

Beesball Notes

SHOULD THE REGIONAL BE A TURNER FIELD?
Well, no doubt this would be a disadvantage for the Jackets, but would probably be good for baseball in the state of Georgia. Story here.

Granted, you probably won't be able to get a ticket to Russ Chandler for this weekend's Georgia-Georgia Tech meeting. Talk of moving the Super Regional to Turner Field, while likely being more of a disadvantage for host Tech, was interesting. It might've been the best thing ever for college baseball in this state, because college baseball in the postseason is a blast.

UFKA-UGA DOESN'T WANT ALL THEIR TICKETS
UGAg could have had 600 tickets and elected to only take 300. Word was they didn't want the hassle of having to distribute them. Wow, what a service oriented group...... Tickets are selling fast, and they haven't even been opened for the general public.

FORGET BRAGGING RIGHTS
This one's about moving on - story here..... Well, bragging rights will be like icing on the cake.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW
Kyle Davies passed on his commitment to GT in 2002 after getting drafted 176. Jason Perry left GT in 2002 after being drafted by the Blue Jays. Story here.
Former Stockbridge pitcher Kyle Davies is the veteran of the group, now entering his third year in professional baseball. Davies is now with Myrtle Beach, an advanced Class A team of the Atlanta Braves organization. Davies was selected as the 135th overall pick in 2001.

In 2002, Jason Perry left the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets after his junior season, and signed with the Toronto Blue Jays organization as the 176 pick of the draft.

Perry played high school ball for Jonesboro head coach Don Corr before embarking on an all-ACC career with the Yellow Jackets.

A trade made Perry the property of the Oakland Athletics, and he began playing in their farm system last season.

A year ago, Perry's former college teammate Matt Murton became a first round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox organization after getting selected as the 32nd pick.

Like Perry, Murton racked up several college accolades.

All three players are making strides toward eventually making it to the Major Leagues.

Perry began the year at Class AA Midland, Texas where he hit four home runs. Now, he has been moved back to Modesto, Calif., where he is has hit a home run and driven in three RBIs through four games for the Class A squad.

MORE ON THE MLB DRAFT
Here was the final tally:

Round1..#28.....Blake Dewitt.....Dodgers.....high school....signed w/GT
Round3..#82.....Eddie Prasch......Pirates.....high school....signed w/GT
Round4..#111....Brandon Boggs...Rangers.....GT
Round5..#133....Andrew Kown....Tigers......GT
Round5..#141....Mike Nickeas.....Rangers.....GT
Round8..#246....Eric Patterson....Cubs........GT
Round11.#323....Clifton Remole..Angels......GT
Round14.#409....Kyle Schmidt.....Orioles.....GT
Round18.#547....Jeremy Slayden...Athletics...GT
Round19.#576....Micah Owings.....Cubs........GT
Round25.#732....Brian Burks......Padres......GT
Round28.#825....Nick Wagner......Devil Rays..GT
Round30.#885....Aaron Walker.....Devil Rays..GT

So the Cubs finally decide to be the one to take a chance on Micah Owings. That means the Cubs have Corey Patterson and brother Eric P. They also have former GTYJ Richard Lewis, and now they have Owings....... The Devil Rays picked a pair of Jackets, both pitchers.

With all these guys leaving, here is an old article detailing the recruiting class coming in - keep in mind that DeWitt is now history.

Blake Dewitt comments on passing up the opportunity to wear the white and gold - story here.
"Blake's got all the tools -- he can run, he's got good hands, he's got a good arm, and a great bat obviously," said Self. "He's got the grades, he's top 10 percent in his class. He's got it all. All those things combined put a higher market value on him. When Baseball America puts you as the No. 1 pure hitter in high school in America, well that's a pretty big honor and teams are going to take notice of that. That probably also propelled him in the draft."

DeWitt also said that he won't be attending Georgia Tech, a school that he signed with last fall.

"They're a great school and if I had to do it over I wouldn't pick another school besides them," said DeWitt. "They are the best. It's unreal how much of a class act those guys are down there. But another opportunity arose and I don't think I'm going to be able to pass it up."