MIF04

Here you go: Thursday, June 17 2:00 PM Sun Devils Gold vs. Houston Power Baseball 4:30 PM Sun Devils Black vs. Centex Buzz 7:00 PM Houston Slam vs. DBAT Mustangs Friday, June 18 9:30 AM Centex Buzz vs. Houston Slam Noon Sun Devils Gold vs. East Texas Prospects 2:30 PM Houston Power Baseball vs. Powerhouse Mariners 5:00 PM Powerhouse Mariners vs. Sun Devils Gold 7:30 PM DBAT Mustangs vs. Sun Devils Black Saturday, June 19 10:00 AM DBAT Mustangs vs. Centex Buzz 12:30 PM East Texas Prospects vs. Houston Power Baseball 3:00 PM Sun Devils Black vs. Houston Slam 5:30 PM Powerhouse Mariners vs. East Texas Prospects Sunday, June 20th 9:00 AM Pool A #4 Seed vs. Pool B #4 Seed 11:30 AM Pool A #3 Seed vs. Pool B #3 Seed 2:00 PM Pool A #2 Seed vs. Pool B #2 Seed 4:30 PM Pool A #1 Seed vs. Pool B #1 Seed

Both Johnny and Kenny signed.  Johnny has already reported to the Brewers minor league team in Montana.

Wow...1 week into the summer select season and, already, someone (e.g. the Gladiators) slams the Sun Devils.  It really gets old  -- understandable but old. As a previous poster noted, we do recruit players that we believe are legitimate players at the next levels.  We offer them an opportunity and some accept, and others do not.  On the list that was posted earlier on this thread, only 1 of those players is 'new' to our program.  I would not suppose to know what his (or his parents) thought process was but I would imagine that the fact that we have had 5 classes come through our program, and seen 75 of our players get college scholarships, might be a good reason.  Our record in the draft is equally good (we had 13 current or former Sun Devils drafted this year alone).  I also suspect the quality of competition and instruction may have played a role as did the 'word of mouth' from his HS teammates/opponents.  Maybe the simple fact that, on the HS Home Run thread, he noted that a Sun Devil was the leader.  Performance counts, too. Sometimes, people are better served tending to their own house (or, here, coaching and improving their own players instead of worrying about what we are doing).  That's what we do and that's why it works.  And, Jeff:  we have more of your guys calling us instead of us calling them.  I think that says it all, don't you? Best of luck to all teams, and players, this summer.

Thanks for all the kind words for Tim and Johnny.  And the road goes on...

[quote name="adminbaberuth" post="804457" timestamp="1274548321"] [quote author=GCMPats link=topic=69942.msg804436#msg804436 date=1274541437] Did Trae Davis pitch for Mexia? [/quote] Yes, plus 2 run HR. [/quote] FWIW...a Sun Devil and Baylor signee (and probably go inside 1st 10 rounds of draft).  Better yet...a heckuva kid.

Not to split hairs but Johnny has been starting in LF for the majority of the past 2-3 weeks.

[quote name="RedBarn" post="778612" timestamp="1268931281"] Nice list.  How many of the Sun Devils made it? [/quote] Only because someone asked for these numbers: Sun Devils on Rawlings All American Teams: 1st team (2) 2nd team (2) 3rd team (1) Hon. Men. (6) Sun Devils on Rawlings All-Regional Teams: 1st team (9) 2nd team (2) 3rd team (0) Hon. Men. (3)

SE Texas is well represented on the Rawlings All American Team: Jacob Felts was named 2nd team All American while Jace Statum, Shane Waddell and Matt Hicks were named Honorable Mention. Rawlings also names All Region Teams: 1st Team All Region:  Felts, Statum, Waddell and Hicks 2nd Team All Region:  Bellow Hon Men. All Region:  Henderson, Hester, Morgan, Robertson,Ty Parker, Mcdonald,Cardenas,Benoit,Sweetenham Congrats to all.

SE Baseball has named Beaumont's Tim Ferguson as All SEC preseason 1st team. [Hidden Content]

I tried…really tried…not to respond to this; however, people just do not understand how or why the Sun Devils work.  These posts start with [i]“I really like the Sun Devils BUT…”[/i] 1. What we do. First and foremost, we are a teaching organization.  We train and teach year ‘round.  Any player in our organization has 24/7 access to our training facility and our coaches.  They are full-time coaches with only 1 job:  the Sun Devils.  They are quality people and quality instructors.  I think they are absolutely the best; otherwise, they wouldn’t work for the Sun Devils.  During our playing seasons, we travel.  Our mission is to provide the greatest exposure for each of our players.  We do play on a national stage (although we have been asked, and have agreed, to host a top level tournament this summer in Texas).  We strive to have our players seen by as many college coaches (and MLB scouts) as possible.  Like courting, it only takes 1 to fall in love with you to make a match.  We do that.  In fact, we work very hard at that.  The work we do is beyond training and coaching.  We spend an inordinate amount of time calling, and answering calls, from recruiters, scouts, etc.  With all due respect to HS coaches, they do not (in large part) do that.  I have had one local HS coach say (flat out), “That is not my job”.  It is our job and (I think) we do it well.  I do give a ‘tip of the hat’ to Griff.  He is, unfortunately, the exception and not the rule.  One last point:  we have been criticized for not doing things locally.  This is, admittedly, true.  First, I do not think it is the wisest use of our time to play a local tournament with very little exposure for our players.  If Lamar (for example) hasn’t seen a local player by then, they never will.  Second, most of our players (including the majority of our local players) have aspirations to “spread their own wings” and play somewhere other than home.”  That is not our decision; rather, that is the players’ decision.  We honor that.  Third, we have had multiple D1 coaches come to us to watch 1 or more of our players.  We have even had a D1 school come to our facility to practice.  We have had MLB scouts in our facility watching and have hosted a scouting combine for the MLB Scouting Bureau.  Again, we hosting a top level tournament this summer in Texas and, last summer (and at the request of several coaches and scouts), did play at Angelina. I think that most, if not all, of our players are happy with their experience with the Sun Devils.  That, along with our record, is probably the best endorsement we could have.  But, on to the naysayers… 2. It’s free – so we get the best talent As one poster to this thread said, [i]“They usually get the best talent around, because everything is FREE.”  [/i] I think the fact that we have made our program affordable is something to be commended; however, some imply that somehow it is not.  Whether it is free, cheap or costs a fortune, what we do is hard work.  The hours at times are long.  But, at the end of the day, the reward is great:  there is nothing that makes us as happy as this phone call, “Hey Coach, I just committed to __________.”  Like the commercial says, “Priceless”. And, we do not always ‘get our man’.  Over the years, there have been some players who have chosen to play elsewhere.  I don’t know if that is our misfortune, or the player’s misfortune.  It is probably somewhere in the middle.  I do know that there have been players that have chosen to play elsewhere…and we could have done them better than what they got.  That may not always be the case but (I believe) we are very good at what we do. 3. If you’re good, they’ll find you That sounds good but, quite frankly, (and in today’s world) that is not true.  It is an urban legend.  Do I believe some kids would get ‘found’ anyway?  Sure.  A kid that is 6’4, 220#, throwing in the mid-90s is hard to miss.  They have a term for that kid:  “first rounder”.  But, even that kid (if he really wants to maximize his potential) still plays on the summer circuit.  The scouts (in particular) want to see how he performs on a larger stage and against better competition. Although I could fill up this thread with examples, I will use the two closest to my heart.  Tim Ferguson was recruited by Ole Miss in East Cobb, Georgia.  They never saw one single HS game he played.  They never once called his HS coach.  The same was true with Johnny Dishon.  LSU saw and recruited him at a tournament in Baton Rouge and at a tournament in East Cobb.  He made his decision to commit in San Diego, California when he was offered during a Perfect Game event.  LSU never came to a HS game he played.  Last spring, we found a pitcher for a 3A school in central Texas.  No one had heard about him except a good friend of one of our coaches.  He went and watched him. He was raw, untrained but had great potential with his arm speed.  We worked with him and took him with us during the summer.  By the end of the summer, he was sitting at 91-93 MPH.  He was offered, and accepted, a D1 scholarship to a Big 12 school and is now ranked in the top 150 for 2010 draft prospects.  The point here:  [u]he is good, and no one had found him.[/u] 4. Why not 100% local kids? In a perfect world, we would use nothing but local players.  Certain things prohibit that:  First (as mentioned earlier), we do not get every local player we want.  Sometimes, players get hurt. Third, the available local talent pool determines our ‘out of state’ recruiting.  I cannot control that – some years are simply better than others.  In any event, close calls always go to the local player but we do not limit ourselves to a geographical region.  While some harp on the ‘out of town’ players, our roster is nearly 75% local.  If you count all of the Louisiana players as ‘local’, then the number goes up to nearly 90%. Our tournaments are week-long events.  We may play anywhere from 7-10 games over that span.  The weekend tournaments usually consist of 5- 6 games.  If nothing else, you need a lot of pitching to make it through those games.  Since we do not overthrow our pitchers, we need a lot of ‘em.  If there are not enough quality arms in SE Texas, we look elsewhere.  Second, the more top notch talent we put on the field then the more recruiters and scouts we draw.  A college may be drawn to the California kid who is throwing 94 for us but also falls in love with our local OF…and a match is made. One must also realize that we do not always go out and recruit ‘out of state’ players.  Most of the players (outside of our Tex-La base) come to us through some other source.  Sometimes, an organization like Perfect Game will call us and ask us to pick up a player.  We have even had college coaches ask us to pick up a player for the summer.  Sometimes, the player will call us and, yes, sometimes we might recruit.  Of all the players on our current roster who is outside of our Tex-La base, only one is a true recruit. Since at least one poster has a ‘man crush’ on Mike Rutledge and Houston Kyle Chapman, let me say that Mike does a first rate job and rarely (but not ‘never’) uses out of state talent.  It is a ‘class’ organization.  On the other hand, Mike’s ‘local’ talent pool is quite a bit larger than here in SE Texas (more than 10 times larger according to the latest census figures).  I would expect him to have the luxury of recruiting only ‘local’ players. Let me repeat:  we would much rather be ‘local-only’; however, and for the reasons already written, that is not practical given our goals and objectives.  And, we did not expand our base of players to enter the national stage:  we have always played there.  We simply needed to supplement our roster to be as competitive as we wanted to be.  All of the kids (including the local ones) deserve that opportunity.  As far as one of the poster’s comment that [i]“ I do commend Chip on what he has done for OUR local boys BUT could care less about the out of the area players”[/i], I disagree.  We DO care about all of our players.  That is why we are who we are. 5. The results? The class of 2010 will be our 5th graduating class.  To date, we have had 69 players (if I have counted right) go on to the proverbial “next level”.  Of those, 53 players went to Division 1 schools.  We have had 16 players drafted and, quite honestly, the 2010 draft will probably be the ‘best one yet’ for our players.  I am fiercely proud of these results.  Do I think we deserve all of the credit?  Not in your wildest dreams.  On the other hand, I do believe we have made a lot of things happen for a lot of young men that otherwise would not have occurred.  As far as the comment that, “if not for them what would these boys do, probably be sackers at Market Basket or door greeters at Wal-Mart”, I have two comments:  One, there is nothing wrong with either of those jobs and, two, our players have the qualities and character to succeed in nearly any endeavor they choose.  To imply otherwise is insulting. We also do not take credit for any young man’s talent.  That is God-given.  How that talent is developed is another story.  A lot of people get credit for that:  parents, coaches and the player himself.  I do think we (the Sun Devils) play a role in this.  Come to our facility and watch our coaches.  See the time and effort that goes into developing these young men.  Ask our players if they think we help. Instead, we get this:  [i]“What gets my goat is that I hear "if it were not for the sundevils bla bla bla" or "thanks to the sundevils".  [/i] I truly do not know why an expression of thanks or recognition would get your goat – really, I don’t.  I think everyone knows that I do not make one red cent from the Sun Devils (in fact, it is quite the opposite).  All we get (and all we really want) is a thank you.  While that may get your goat, it makes my day.  Maybe that is why the Sun Devils are different – and better. 

Ryan Eades -- LSU Ryan Comford -- San Jac JC Hommy Rosado -- LSU-Eunice

A great accomplishment for him.  One of the best and hardest working guys around.  He had a superb year last year (led NCAA in hits, if I remember correctly) and poised to do even better this year.

[quote name="EAGLE07" post="735795" timestamp="1262052141"] [quote author=Scalp'em link=topic=62870.msg735631#msg735631 date=1262031941] WB Brian Droptini Lamar Jimmy Neale Lamar Chad Becks Angelina JC Derek Cox Angelina JC I can't think of a bunch of them that atleast played jc ball [/quote] Todd Wallace, WB '08 @ Angelina. [/quote] Pat Ford -- UH-Vic James Ewing -- Ark./So. Miss Michael Ewing -- So. Miss Mark Serna -- Angelina Bobby Armstrong -- Angelina/Howard/Texas State Josh Fisher -- Wharton (If memory serves me right) Tim Ferguson -- Mississippi David Murphy -- Houston

[quote name="78Stang" post="733627" timestamp="1261329093"] One comment. Why not move this topic over to the Select/Babe Ruth/Little Leauge Forum? It is obvious to me that most if not all of the posters on the subject have motives and are are pro-select. To be honest, frankly my dear I dont give a dang. This forum is "[u]HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL[/u]". Last thought, the post which has #4 being discussed. That says it all, the High school teams matter. Select teams do not matter to a high school baseball player. All that select teams are about is to live out a dad or moms dream and to make some wanna be, has been coach money while that dream lives. I have seen it too many times! [/quote] Since I wrote #4, I would prefer to be accurately quoted.  The full text was that select has the mind but HS has the heart.  Select teams matter very much to the HS player (and, whether 78Stang likes it or not) to the HS coach.  Those players choose select to (a) improve and (b) open doors beyond the HS experience.  I am not sure what 78Stang has "seen too many times", but he is obviously looking in the wrong places. On another topic, I agree that select at the younger ages poses different issues than at older ages.  We stayed in the local league thru Little League and wouldn't do it any other way.  That experience was wonderful.  In Beaumont, there was no true alternative beginning at age 13 so we went the select route...a choice that not only I do not regret but one that was, by far, the best for my son.  By the way, we are only 6 weeks or so from the best time of all:  practice starts !!!!

Having been out of town for the past 6 weeks, I only now have seen the “How does select impact HS baseball” thread.  An interesting topic to say the least… It probably comes as no surprise that I fall in the “select has a positive impact” camp.  The reasons have been well discussed here but I will add my thoughts: 1. The UIL limits the time that a HS baseball coach can spend being, well, a HS baseball coach.  That leaves a wide gap in which to provide the player teaching, reps, and game experience.  Select baseball provides that avenue.  Simply taking lessons (without anything more) only provides part of that ‘gap filler’.  The player needs more than being in a cage, taking hacks for 45 minutes.  It needs to be put into action.  Games do that. 2. What HS coach wouldn’t want his players to get more teaching, more experience, more game time?  If his players get better, it makes the HS team better, and so on and so forth.  In fact, our experience tells us that the HS coaches are grateful for the select baseball experience, and they encourage it.  Many HS coaches (within the parameters of UIL regulations) work for select organizations.  Those that have sons put them in off-season select baseball.  If select baseball was a negative, do you really think the HS coaches would support it? 3. A select team is designed to create competition:  both inward and outward.  With a team of ‘select players’, the competition for playing time increases.  With that, a higher level of performance is required.  Second, you play against a higher grade of competition on a more consistent basis.  Again, this creates better (and more confident) players.  While this not only helps the individual player, it also inures to the benefit of the HS team. 4. Select baseball is not a substitute for HS baseball.  I never saw my son ‘cry’ over the loss of a select game…but I have seen tears over the loss of a HS game.  The pride in playing for your school can simply never be duplicated.  While select baseball may appeal to the ‘mind’ of the player, it will never win over the ‘heart’. 5. The contention that the select players return to the HS team as ‘prima donnas’ is contrary to our experience as well.  In fact, the opposite has been true.  These players return and are the team leaders.  Plus, I take issue with the idea that select players are ‘given’ a position.  I think that insults the integrity of the HS coaches that, in SE Texas, is a very accomplished group of coaches.  6. Select baseball supplements a lot of what HS coaches do.  Besides the additional teaching and playing, it also provides assistance is seeking out college opportunities, scholarships, etc.  We take some credit for that but, also, recognize that (on signing day) it’s the parents and HS coach in the picture.  There are probably other areas of select baseball (in all its forms) that are open to legitimate debate.  Whether it helps HS baseball is not one of them. 

And to Trae Hester (Vidor) who made it official with Lamar today. And congrats to 2 others who (although not Sun Devils) did good today:  Matt Hicks (UL-L) and Kane Benoit (Lamar).

Also congrats to another Sun Devil:  Trae Davis (Mexia) who committed to Baylor.

WOS's offense couldn't score on Silsbee.. much less get to mid field from what i understood from the updates and such... then play HF and have a big number on the board and think yall turned everything around... so how about you and everyone else come to reality... yall are still playing the same way yall have been all season... it's going to be a great game... the winner wont win by more than a TD... promise you that so far we have the second best offense and the best defense in district... bc has the second worst offense and second worst defense! you score a little but you cant stop teams from scoring either! you were shutout by lcm and couldnt keep the powerhouses of buna, kountze, liberty, and kelly off the scoreboard. if kelly put 28 on your defense we should put 56 on you guys and if you couldnt score on lcm it will be slim pickins for your boys against wos! bc has nothing for wos and i hope after friday you dont disappear from the board because i promise you we will be here to remind you of your predictions! Speaking of reminding people of their predictions, my good friend Venom 33 took Silsbee by 35...or was it 42? Word of advice: stay away from Vegas....

This is true.

Congrats to Matt...maybe he can get 'em back to CWS now...but, first, how 'bout a trip to Austin for the Cards?

Congrats. Texarkana has had a lot of really great players come out of their program over the past few years. Could be a great fit for him.

First, we do try to find the best talent. That includes spreading our wings to include Baytown/Barbers Hill and over into SW Louisiana. Beyond that, we do pick up a player from outside our radar but that is usually when (a) the player approaches us, ( a scout/agent/advisor approaches us or © someone like Perfect Game asks that we take someone on. Every now and then, we also have college coaches ask us to do that (e.g. Ole Miss, LSU, and San Jac come to mind). Second, our core remains SE Texas. At last count, we had nearly 20 players on our team that are SE Texans. Of course, not all of them went to Tucson (football, injury, couldn't miss school, conflicts). They are (and I hope I didn't miss anybody): Kirby Bellow (Ned) Cameron Dishon (BC) Tyler Erickson (Lum) Jacob Felts (OF) Will Henderson (WB) Caleb Henry (Silsbee) Trae Hester (Vidor) Darrian James (WB) Colby Jenkins (Silsbee) Caleb Kellogg (BC – now back in La) Matt Menard (BC) Aaron Morgan (WB) Joe Robertson (BC) Ronnie Sanchez (PAM) Trevin Sonnier (Ned) Jace Statum (OF) Shane Waddell (LCM) Brantley Wilson (Kelly) If you move west a few miles, you have very talented guys such as Price Jacobs (Goose Creek) and Tyler Beasley (Barb Hill). If you go into SW La, you find guys like Garin Cecchini (USA National Team), Gavin Cecchini, Hommy Rosado and Sam Smith. Hope this helps.

SE Texas Sun Devils win 6 in a row before losing in finals of WWBA/PG Nationals. Tournament was comprised of top 64 teams in country (invite only) and was heavily attended by both college recruiters and MLB Scouts. Good showing for the locals.

Matt had concussion. Out the rest of game, but on sidelines.

Congrats to Trae and his family. Great kid, very patient recovering from arm issues and now ready to blow and go.