MD High School Baseball Star Arrested!

[big leagues 23]

Tyler Hibbs (http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/bal-va.hibbs05mar05,0,187651.story).

[TJ Wrangler]

The arrest has put the star pitcher's senior season in jeopardy.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. No matter what, the press finds some way to hype him somehow. Until he's a professional who is nationally known and has proved something beyond the high school level, he should not be regarded as a star.

Its unfortunate that his career is in jeopardy, but maybe this is step one for people to realize that this kid just isn't that great. Hopefully this will serve as a life lesson for him, and he'll make the best of everything he learns.

[big leagues 23]

This is exactly what I'm talking about. No matter what, the press finds some way to hype him somehow. Until he's a professional who is nationally known and has proved something beyond the high school level, he should not be regarded as a star.

Its unfortunate that his career is in jeopardy, but maybe this is step one for people to realize that this kid just isn't that great. Hopefully this will serve as a life lesson for him, and he'll make the best of everything he learns.

I really hope that he learns from this. If he stayed healthy and kept on improving his life was baseically set.

[TakebackOPACY]

According to WNST, he was arrested while driving with four people in the car and someone was smoking at the time. They had a big bag, an electronic scale, and 8 measured out baggies. He's been charged with possession with intention to distribute.

Florida State has renegged his scholarship offer. He is allowed to compete at Arundel due to county policy concerning crimes committed in season versus out of season. (It was four days before the spring season officially started). It doesn't sound like this is flexible, meaning the school doesn't have the option of being strict beyond the policy. EDIT: I don't KNOW this to be the case; it's just the way I understood it as they reported it.

[TJ Wrangler]

If Bernie Walter really wanted to send a message that his baseball team really is great, he should cut Hibbs and make it known that this kind of behavior is not to be tolerated. I know that move doesn't make sense from a winning perspective, but it would almost instantly give Arundel more respect from the county, because even more so now, they have very little respect from any county baseball team. It won't happen, but hey, is it worth the distraction he'll have to face all year?

I know from my playing days at Glen Burnie High, very good players were cut for character issues. Maybe it wasn't the best thing for the school's baseball reputation, but off-field character issues were not tolerated, and that helped to make for a better growing experience for all players involved.

[Bosibus]

Sun reports he loses scholarship. (http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/bal-va.hibbs07mar07,0,1105159.story) as TBOPACY posted earlier.

[ScottieBaseball]

This is exactly what I'm talking about. No matter what, the press finds some way to hype him somehow. Until he's a professional who is nationally known and has proved something beyond the high school level, he should not be regarded as a star.

By definition, he is a high school baseball star. I don't think he's portrayed as anything else.

[TJ Wrangler]

The sentence I quoted did not say anything about high school star...just star and season in jeopardy. To put it into perspective, Arundel is like the Yankees of Anne Arundel county. Every other school hates them and thinks they as a school and their players get more media coverage and hype than is actually necessary, and the public's reflection of them is positively influenced when in all reality, it is not necessarily deserved. Thats the point I'm trying to make here.

I've actually seen a lot of Arundel and Hibbs in particular, and while they are a great high school team and Hibbs is a great high school pitcher, they aren't a team full of major leaguers, and Hibbs isn't already a hall of famer, like the local press would have you believe.

I'm sorry if I was unclear with my point. Does this help to clear it up?

[ScottieBaseball]

The sentence I quoted did not say anything about high school star...just star and season in jeopardy. To put it into perspective, Arundel is like the Yankees of Anne Arundel county. Every other school hates them and thinks they as a school and their players get more media coverage and hype than is actually necessary, and the public's reflection of them is positively influenced when in all reality, it is not necessarily deserved. Thats the point I'm trying to make here.

I've actually seen a lot of Arundel and Hibbs in particular, and while they are a great high school team and Hibbs is a great high school pitcher, they aren't a team full of major leaguers, and Hibbs isn't already a hall of famer, like the local press would have you believe.

I'm sorry if I was unclear with my point. Does this help to clear it up?

I get the whole Arundel = Yankees, but are you suggesting the hype has corrupted the judgement of a good baseball school like Florida State to the extent that they offered him a full scholarship? Are you saying he's not worthy of the scholarship?

I say a free ride to a D1 school to play baseball makes you a high school baseball star, regardless of what school from which you hope to graduate.

[TJ Wrangler]

I get the whole Arundel = Yankees, but are you suggesting the hype has corrupted the judgement of a good baseball school like Florida State to the extent that they offered him a full scholarship? Are you saying he's not worthy of the scholarship?

I say a free ride to a D1 school to play baseball makes you a high school baseball star, regardless of what school from which you hope to graduate.

I never said the kid doesn't have talent, but look at him for what he really is. 5'9 160 lbs dripping wet..right handed pitcher who throws in the mid 80's. Hasn't grown or added velocity in the past 3 years. Yeah, he's good, and he'll probably be good enough to play college ball, but all I'm trying to say is that he isn't projectable to be the first round ballot hall of famer that he's hyped up to be. He puts up the numbers for high school, and he has the stuff to play college ball, but the question lies within his projectability to the professional level, and I believe (along with a lot of high school/legion coaches that I've played for and talked to) that he isn't projectable to the major league level, and thats not something you'd ever hear from the press, which seems to feed people the idea that he's a superstar.

So to answer your questions, yes he is a high school star, yes he deserves his scholarship, and maybe he does have D1 talent. My issue with him lies within his now known character issues and his lack of projectability in my opinion, and because of those issues, I don't feel he is necessarily worthy of the hype, and it bugs me that people just believe the press and assume he's some future mlb star. What the press won't tell you is that he's very arrogant, and he appears to be alienated from most of the team, save for his few buddies. From what I've seen, he's a me first player who doesn't really respect the game. After seeing that, and then reading almost the exact opposite in the papers, you really start to scratch your head at the idea of Hibbs being as advertised.

[aggro5288]

Do you want them to mention that he's in high school every single sentence? As a journalist, that's just simply ridiculous. They mentioned he was a high school star several times before that quote. Seeing as how he was all-metro player of the year sometime, that seems to make him a star...

[TJ Wrangler]

Do you want them to mention that he's in high school every single sentence? As a journalist, that's just simply ridiculous. They mentioned he was a high school star several times before that quote. Seeing as how he was all-metro player of the year sometime, that seems to make him a star...

Actually, the title says Arundel Star, and there is never a mention of "high school star" several times before that quote. If you look at the article, that quote is immediately after the first paragraph, and there is never several mentions of him being a high school star before that quote.

[backwardsk]

I heard about him this morning on the radio here in VA. What a terrible decision. I'm surprised that the school would let him play. Isn't intent to distribute a felony?

[TJ Wrangler]

..and to continue my previous post, I have no issue with him being in high school. All that I care about is that the press hypes him so much without mentioning that he has character issues, appears alienated from his teammates, and doesn't appear pro projectable, yet they hype him as this great leader who is a future MLB star.

[TJ Wrangler]

I heard about him this morning on the radio here in VA. What a terrible decision. I'm surprised that the school would let him play. Isn't intent to distribute a felony?

Great point. What hasn't really been mentioned is that he faces potential jail time. All this talk about college and high school seasons and how good/projectable he really is would become pointless to talk about if he ends up in jail for an extended amount of time.

[ScottieBaseball]

I never said the kid doesn't have talent, but look at him for what he really is. 5'9 160 lbs dripping wet..right handed pitcher who throws in the mid 80's. Hasn't grown or added velocity in the past 3 years. Yeah, he's good, and he'll probably be good enough to play college ball, but all I'm trying to say is that he isn't projectable to be the first round ballot hall of famer that he's hyped up to be. He puts up the numbers for high school, and he has the stuff to play college ball, but the question lies within his projectability to the professional level, and I believe (along with a lot of high school/legion coaches that I've played for and talked to) that he isn't projectable to the major league level, and thats not something you'd ever hear from the press, which seems to feed people the idea that he's a superstar.

So to answer your questions, yes he is a high school star, yes he deserves his scholarship, and maybe he does have D1 talent. My issue with him lies within his now known character issues and his lack of projectability in my opinion, and because of those issues, I don't feel he is necessarily worthy of the hype, and it bugs me that people just believe the press and assume he's some future mlb star. What the press won't tell you is that he's very arrogant, and he appears to be alienated from most of the team, save for his few buddies. From what I've seen, he's a me first player who doesn't really respect the game. After seeing that, and then reading almost the exact opposite in the papers, you really start to scratch your head at the idea of Hibbs being as advertised.

I just don't pereceive the same amount of hype that you do. Whether a high school player projects to a 1st ballot HOF'er is unrelated to his current talent level. I played one year of club ball with Ken Cloude who went on to be drafted by the Mariners. He was NOT the best pitcher on our team that season but was drafted 2 years later.

I still don't see anyone anywhere predicting success for him at the big league level. As far as arrogance is concerned...plenty of stud athletes are that way. For a teenager, character issues are nowhere near as newsworthy (although ALWAYS relevant in my opinion) as his success on the field. Kids change.

Kids also use bad judgement and often require learning a tough lesson before they shape up, particularly when they've been pumped up since tee ball.

[TJ Wrangler]

I just don't pereceive the same amount of hype that you do. Whether a high school player projects to a 1st ballot HOF'er is unrelated to his current talent level. I played one year of club ball with Ken Cloude who went on to be drafted by the Mariners. He was NOT the best pitcher on our team that season but was drafted 2 years later.

I still don't see anyone anywhere predicting success for him at the big league level. As far as arrogance is concerned...plenty of stud athletes are that way. For a teenager, character issues are nowhere near as newsworthy (although ALWAYS relevant in my opinion) as his success on the field. Kids change.

Kids also use bad judgement and often require learning a tough lesson before they shape up, particularly when they've been pumped up since tee ball.

I guess from playing with him, I've seen him in a different perspective than the press reports about him. I guess my issue is that the Sun really hypes him, but other sources such as Baseball America don't give him much coverage. Seeing that and playing in the same league as him, I guess I've grown to view the Sun's hype as a little unnecessary.

[Stotle]

Hibbs ranks as a three-star prospect for BaseballAmerica. Here is the summary of what that ranking means:

"A 3-star player has the potential to be an above-average college player capable of starring in the top NCAA programs, or a player who shows the physical ability to be drafted in the top 25 rounds in the professional draft. Often a player will show himself to be a good 3-star player in the college sense, but because of lack of size or speed or some other factor valued by professional scouts might not be as highly regarded as a pro prospect. In these cases the player will always be placed in the 3-star category, as that is what his college potential is evaluated as. Because of the amount of projection involved in evaluating 16-17 year old pitchers, the 3-star and 2-star categories will likely be heavy with this type of prospect. Some get stronger and develop into 4-star players, some will fall back. Every effort will be made to provide enough commentary on these type pitchers so that coaches/scouts reading the evaluation will hopefully be able to focus in on the areas they consider important."

[aggro5288]

Actually, the title says Arundel Star, and there is never a mention of "high school star" several times before that quote. If you look at the article, that quote is immediately after the first paragraph, and there is never several mentions of him being a high school star before that quote.

It's implied by "Arundel" and "All-Metro baseball Player of the Year." Anyone with any interest in the story knows these are high school things.

I don't doubt in any way that he was probably a jerk to you when you played with him. But you're coming off as extremely jealous ...

[TJ Wrangler]

It's implied by "Arundel" and "All-Metro baseball Player of the Year." Anyone with any interest in the story knows these are high school things.

I don't doubt in any way that he was probably a jerk to you when you played with him. But you're coming off as extremely jealous ...


I never said he was a jerk to me. Not once at all was he a jerk to me. Just said he seems to alienate his teammates for the most part, which is a bad habit to get into at a young age.

Even if it was implied, you said that the article specifically stated that he was a high school star several times before the phrase I quoted, which simply is not the case.

Read what stotle posted about him being a 3 star prospect, and then read what I've been saying about him being undersized and not projectable to the pro level. Just because I played in the same league as him, and what I said also happens to be similar in opinion to Baseball America, a highly regarded prospect site, does not make me jealous at all, and I'm sorry if you feel that way, but your claims are untrue.

[Big Mac]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/bal-va.hibbs11mar11,0,6942454.story

More on Hibbs' situation.

[bernie132000]

I get the whole Arundel = Yankees, but are you suggesting the hype has corrupted the judgement of a good baseball school like Florida State to the extent that they offered him a full scholarship? Are you saying he's not worthy of the scholarship?

I say a free ride to a D1 school to play baseball makes you a high school baseball star, regardless of what school from which you hope to graduate.

Just FYI, and this is a common misperception, no one gets a full ride for baseball. I've heard many people say they get a full ride and I know for a fact they haven't. The most I've ever heard of is about 60%. Teams have about 13.7 scholarships, so most people get less than 50%.

[epic]

Just FYI, and this is a common misperception, no one gets a full ride for baseball. I've heard many people say they get a full ride and I know for a fact they haven't. The most I've ever heard of is about 60%. Teams have about 13.7 scholarships, so most people get less than 50%.

I heard he got 80%.

[olehippi]

The percentage on baseball scholarships may vary from college to college. My oldest son was offered a baseball scholarship to Davis & Elkins. It was for 50%, and we were told that was the most they were allowed to offer. My son elected to join the Marines instead....wrong decision IMO....but it was his choice.

As for Tyler Hibbs' situation, it makes me sick to see any kid throw away his future because of drugs. It's happening far too often in todays' society.

[PlumOriole]

The percentage on baseball scholarships may vary from college to college. My oldest son was offered a baseball scholarship to Davis & Elkins. It was for 50%, and we were told that was the most they were allowed to offer. My son elected to join the Marines instead....wrong decision IMO....but it was his choice.

As for Tyler Hibbs' situation, it makes me sick to see any kid throw away his future because of drugs. It's happening far too often in todays' society.

I've also heard it was not his first offense and he has already mentioned getting back into the drugs once things cool down. He deserves everthing he gets IMHO.

[terps/wiz/o's/]

I was at a party with him the other night, I think he said he was going to go to Tallahasee Community College to play.

[epic]

I hear he's transferring to Archbishop Spalding. Just a rumor but he wasn't on their team this past weekend I can tell you that.

[big leagues 23]

I hear he's transferring to Archbishop Spalding. Just a rumor but he wasn't on their team this past weekend I can tell you that.

I'm almost certain he will not be transferring to Archbishop Spalding.

[TJ Wrangler]

I'm almost certain he will not be transferring to Archbishop Spalding.

I'd have to agree with this...no way Spalding takes him with drug charges.