Texas Baseball Signs 12 Players For 2016-17

[NBHorn7]

Texas baseball signs 12; five from Austin area | Hookem.com

As expected more pitching is added, hopefully some productive hitters. Also more sons of former Longhorn players. We may be able to put a starting nine of legacy players on the field soon. I hope they all have as much success as their dads did in Austin.

Here's a more in depth look at this class.


Texas Longhorns Athletics - Baseball signs 12 for 2016

 

[NBHorn7]

This class was ranked lucky #13 by Perfect Game. This is partly because it is a fairly small class, with two top 100 players.

Hamilton and Thompson are are those top 100 guys.

Hamilton is a very fast infielder, with a good glove. He will eventually move to short and be a good candidate as a leadoff hitter. He has a short quick bat and will probably get a lot of bunt and infield hits.

Thompson is in the mold of Kasey Clemens, in that he is supposed to be a top notch pitcher, who can play a good defensive first base. He has also played some outfield. He is also supposed have a good bat. That would certainly help things.

Problem with Thompson is that he is coming off "Tommy John" surgery. That happened last spring, he may not see any action in his senior year in high school. This has almost become common place, but it's still major surgery and takes a year or more for a complete recovery. It can't be taken for granted that it will always be a complete success.

It still worries me a little that we continue to get the majority of our players from Austin and the central Texas area. I know it's a rich place for recruiting, but so is other places in the Metroplex and Houston/Golden triangle of Texas. Then there is the national scene.

I just worry that Texas is still not getting out there and recruiting as hard as possible. Hopefully this is not the case.

 

[Brad Austin]

With football already in the tank, baseball can't come soon enough. Funny how we thought the exact opposite when baseball was winding down last season. Getting to be a vicious cycle of longing for the next sport to drown out sorrows.

Hope Shaka can provide some quality moments until we get to baseball.

 

[mchammer]

Yeah, I went to the Texas-Rice game last year at Rice. Sat with some players from The Woodlands. They acted as if Rice was their team, not Texas. I think we need more Houston players on the team and not surrender the Houston area to Rice or UH.