Kentucky Baseball: Draft Signings and Summer League Update

MLB Draft Update

The signing deadline is Friday, July 17.  Here is where the draft Wildcats and recruits stand with a little under two weeks to go.

Signed

Nothing surprising here.  All 4 of these players were expected to sign once they were drafted.

Yet to Sign

Well this is interesting.  I did not expect Cody or Shumpert to be in this category at this point.  There is now a very good chance that Shumpert could be on the team next season after the Tigers went well over slot to sign 14th round pick A.J. Simcox out of Tennessee.  Detroit does not have much left in their bonus pool to use for Shumpert, making it more likely he'll follow his father's footsteps to Big Blue next year.

I think Cody will sign though as there is very little room to improve his draft position.  I can't find anything recent about his status, but based on some of his twitter comments it looks like he's ready to start his pro career and it's just a matter of time.

Although there can always be surprises, at this point I expect Pompey, Beggs, Tillo, and Fettes to be on campus next season.  I'll delve into that more thoroughly once the signing deadline passes in a couple weeks and we know for sure who will be on the team next season.

Summer League

There are a number of ways that college baseball differs from football and basketball and one of them is the prevalence of summer leagues that many college players join once the season is over.  The best known of these is the Cape Cod league which regularly draws the top baseball talent from across the country, but there are many, many more spread across the country (and Canada).

Here's a list of UK players who are participating in a league this year and a brief summary of what they've done thus far.  While it's great if they are performing well, don't get too caught up in the numbers - just playing during the summer is of benefit.  I've tried to get everyone, but I've probably missed a few.  There doesn't seem to be a comprehensive list for where UK players are this year as there was last summer, so that means searching each roster of each team in each league to find any Kentucky players.

Cape Cod

JaVon Shelby: 82 AB, .268 BA, 7 XBH, 7 BB, 20 K
Logan Salow:  6 G, 7 IP,  2.57 ERA, 5 K, 4 BB

Coastal Plain

Dorian Hariston: 73 AB, .233 BA, 3 XBH, 10 BB, 19 K, 4/5 SB

Florida Collegiate

Tyler Marshall: 40 AB, .200 BA, 0 XBH, 9 BB, 5 K

Futures League

Blake Oyler: 6 G, 15.2 IP, 1-1, 1.72 ERA, 12 K, 2 BB
Marshall Gei: 31 AB, .323, 0 XBH, 4 BB, 4 K

Perfect Game

Riley Mahan: 89 AB, .303 BA, 7 XBH, 16 BB, 16 K, 9/9 SB
Zach Logue: 6 GS, 5-0, 2.72 ERA, 29 K, 10 BB
Brad Schaenzer: 5 GS, 2-0, 3.75 ERA, 15 K, 14 BB

Valley Baseball

Ryne Combs: 4 GS, 1-2, 4.50 ERA, 15 K, 15 BB
Bo Wilson: 7 G, 7.2 IP, 1-0, 4 Saves, 7.04 ERA, 4 K, 1 BB