Bundy or Starling?

[Stotle]

A decent career at NEB could mean a LOT more money in 3 years than if he went #1 overall even with baseball then. Depends on how this rookie wage scale and hard slotting thing play out.

I cant imagine him getting lots more than 6 or 7 mil out of Nebraska, with less leverage. Also, Nebraska fired their baseball coach this past week, which may or may not affect things.

[allstar1579]

I cant imagine him getting lots more than 6 or 7 mil out of Nebraska, with less leverage. Also, Nebraska fired their baseball coach this past week, which may or may not affect things.

Meant as a football player.

[AliceSweet]

I cant imagine him getting lots more than 6 or 7 mil out of Nebraska, with less leverage. Also, Nebraska fired their baseball coach this past week, which may or may not affect things.

I follow Nebraska, and can tell you the firing should have little to no impact. Tom Osborne is still A.D. which has been great for stability the last 3+ years. Changes needed to be made.

[Stotle]

I follow Nebraska, and can tell you the firing should have little to no impact. Tom Osborne is still A.D. which has been great for stability the last 3+ years. Changes needed to be made.

I could see the football mattering more to Bubba, but I'd be surprised if the guy running the baseball program has no effect at all on whether Starling decides to pass on six or seven million dollars, no? I agree that ultimately it could just be a question of whether he wants to play football.

[tilgaham]

The probability of him having a career shattering injury are so much lower in the outfield than behind center, especially with the way he runs the ball at QB. Take the 6 million and play ball, dude.

[Hooded Viper]

Bump:

I just read that Starling is still in instructional league, if true is it because he was raw or is there some problem?

[Stotle]

Bump:

I just read that Starling is still in instructional league, if true is it because he was raw or is there some problem?

No problem -- they want him in short season ball and it hasn't started yet.

[Hooded Viper]

No problem -- they want him in short season ball and it hasn't started yet.

Thanks, rep to you. Is this unusual for such a high draft pick or generally the norm. Just curious.

[Stotle]

Thanks, rep to you. Is this unusual for such a high draft pick or generally the norm. Just curious.

Not necessarily unusual, but Starling is a little on the older side so my guess is that analysts would tell you, "He should be playing." To be honest, I saw him really take to instruction, so I wouldn't be surprised if KAN is taking advantage of extended ST to work with him as much as possible, with the idea being that he'll be able to potentially get to LoA this year and AA next year. Lots of variables, though.

[Hooded Viper]

Not necessarily unusual, but Starling is a little on the older side so my guess is that analysts would tell you, "He should be playing." To be honest, I saw him really take to instruction, so I wouldn't be surprised if KAN is taking advantage of extended ST to work with him as much as possible, with the idea being that he'll be able to potentially get to LoA this year and AA next year. Lots of variables, though.

Thanks again.

[Stotle]

2000 Draft - Adrian Gonzalez (1) Lou Montanez (3) Rocco Baldelli (6)

2001 Draft - Joe Mauer (1)

2002 Draft - B.J. Upton (2), Prince Fielder (6), Scott Moore (8)

2003 Draft - Delmon Young (1), Chris Lubanski (Royals) (5), Ryan Harvey (6), Ian Stewart (10)

2004 Draft - Matt Bush (1), Chris Nelson (9)

2005 Draft - Justin Upton (1), Cameron Maybin (10)

2006 Draft - Billy Rowell (9)

2007 Draft - Mike Moustakas (2), Josh Vitters (4),

2008 Draft - Tim Beckham (1), Eric Hosmer (3), Kyle Skipworth (4)

2009 Draft - Donovan Tate (3)

2010 Draft - Manny Machado (3) Delino Deshields Jr. (8)

2011 Draft - Bubba Starling (5), Francisco Lindor (8), Javier Baez (9)

By my count, 27 HS hitters have been chosen within the top ten picks of the draft since 2000. By my count, 24 played a full season in a full season league in their first full professional season. The three who did not were Donvan Tate, Bubba Starling, and Javier Baez. A large reason for Tate not doing it was healthy as he battled injuries his first few seasons. Starling and Baez were both drafted in last years' draft. Baez just started playing in Low A Ball and his off to a slow start in 16 AB's with 2 hits and 7 strikeouts. Now, I'm not saying any conclusions should be drawn from Starling's debut being delayed. What I am saying is that it's fair to call it UNUSUAL as in not the norm.

Sort of I mean, approach to prospect development has changed a fair amount, so I'm not sure 2005 has much relevance. Additionally, limiting to top 10 is fine, I guess, but ignores a huge pool of players (including what I would assume to be a fair amount that received top 10 money but were drafted outside of the top 10) who did not skip short season ball. Finally, and more importantly, the issue isn't really what they did in their first full season so much as whether they skipped short season ball entirely.

Tate's injury occurred after he started with Rookie League (Short season) Padres in the ARL. So he was at the same place as Bubba (extended ST until short season started). Beckham signed right after the draft and played almost the entire short-season league with Greenville/Princeton (and since Beckham, you'll note Tampa has put all of their top HS signees, including 7-figure kids, in short season ball for a full season). DeShields signed in time to tick off around three weeks of short season ball after spending time in instruction getting up to game speed. Skipworth logged almost 50 games in shorts season ball, signing well before the deadline. Hosmer, Lindor and Machado made jumps right to full season ball, but all three were highly advanced prep players.

The other issue is that, for all we know, Starling will get some time in short season ball and then play a significant portion of the season at Burlington.

I guess all I'm saying is that I don't really have a strong handle on "usual", or if there really is a "usual" when it comes to how prospects are handled. Even when you limit to top 10 picks, there are a lot of variables that could cause a player to be handled in different fashion that another.

[Frobby]

Bump:

I just read that Starling is still in instructional league, if true is it because he was raw or is there some problem?

No problem -- they want him in short season ball and it hasn't started yet.

Starling hit 2 homers yesterday in the Appy League and has gone 5 for 17 with 3 BB so far.

[Can_of_corn]

Starling hit 2 homers yesterday in the Appy League and has gone 5 for 17 with 3 BB so far.

Nice to see he is healthy.