College vs. Pro Ball

[Streak One]

Interesting comparison of recent top players out of NorCal.

In 2009, Max Stassi (Yuba City) was drafted and signed by the Oakland A's. He was traded to the Houston Astros and has made an appearance in the big leagues. He is hitting .237 with a .643 OPS in the Pacific Coast League. Andrew Susac (Jesuit) went to college at Oregon State and had a very good career with the Beavers. He signed with the San Francisco Giants after college. He was hitting .268 with an .830 OPS in the PCL before getting called up this summer. Both were Top 30 by Perfect Game.

In 2010, Robby Rowland (Cloverdale) was drafted and signed with Arizona. He was then traded to Pittsburgh and was recently released. AJ Vanegas (Redwood Christian) ended up attending Stanford and battled some injuries but had a nice career. He recently signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Both were ranked in the Top 50 coming out by Perfect Game.

Each case is different and there are thousands of factors that can help or derail a career, but it is a very interesting comparison of both routes coming out of high school.

Thoughts?

 

[NCSF]

Streak- So many factors here that it's very tough. The Stassi and Susac one is a good one. Vanegas turned down HUGE money to go to Stanford and was always a better prospect than the other guy.

I will give you an interesting scenario that we once had- We had a nucleus of about 15 kids that played together from 2002-2005 in the summer and fall. Very probably the best group we ever had. Of the 15 guys, no less than 10 had the ability to play in the big leagues. 12 played professionally.

Literally six or seven were projected to go in the first three rounds. One of them did go second round and signed and the others decided to go the college route. Of those guys, we had one bounce back to a JC and go 4th round in 2007. He was our number one catcher- ahead of a guy who went 1st round. We had our top SS have some academic and off field challenges and he never made it. He played ahead of a future big-leaguer (who played 2B for us a rule). We had another who most considered our top guy who turned down a supplemental first round offer (Austin Jackson picked there) and was felled by lots of injuries in college and forced to retire. The four guys mentioned were every bit as good as the six I will mention in the below paragraph. The reason for mentioning them is because you just never know the future.

In the 2008 draft, five of our guys went in the first 50 picks of the draft, including three 1st round picks, and another went in the 4th round. All six were juniors in college who went to prominent programs and came out going higher and making more money than they would have if they signed out of high school. All six have made the big-leagues. It worked well for them.

We have had almost three dozen big leaguers and have had almost 20 first round picks and all have taken different routes. Jimmy Rollins was ready to go at age 17 and has had an amazing career. Pat Burrell could have gone out of HS but picked the college route and it worked well for him. Chris Gruler was the 3rd pick of the draft in 2002 and signed for a big number. We had numerous shoulder problems and was forced to retire. Luckily, he was smart with his money, went back to school, started a great business, and is thriving. If he got hurt in college he might not be where he is now because he did get that bonus. Bottom line- You can never go wrong getting a paid college education but if you go high enough, sometimes you need to chase your dream.

 

[atcshrk]

Good summary Rob.

Bottom line is if we could predict all of the future (injuries, talent maturation, mental maturation, etc...) then these decisions would be easy. We can't so we (parents and players) do the best that we can. I do think there are scenarios where it is probably a no-brainer - but would I have recognized it if it had presented itself at that time? Not sure.

I often wonder, 'What if we'd taken a different route?' Including which college you select. Would it have been better or worse? There's just no way to know and the best thing you can have happen is 'no regrets.'

Thats what I hear from our older son "no regrets" and thats pretty much all I need to hear.

 

[CityVibesII]

Love the baseball site. The knowlegable ones share insight, not pipe dreams.

 

[Streak One]

Great insight. As it was already said, there are tons of factors that go into success.