Did we recruit Cliff Lee when he was at Meridian CC?

drt7891

Redshirt
Dec 6, 2010
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I'm sure we looked at him... I don't remember that far back, but I do know he was looked at pretty heavily by MLB scouts. He went in something like the 7 or 8 round in '97. I know as a Braves fan, I get sick of seeing him.
 

dawgphd

Sophomore
May 16, 2008
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He is from Arkansas and signed with Upig.

I recall this from an interview a couple of years ago.

Don't know if the Upig signing was out of high school or after MJC.
 

FlowoodBulldog

Redshirt
Jul 6, 2013
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Back when Raffo was recruiting a kid from Noxapater back in the late nineties, the kid was a fast throwing 95 per hour fastball and in very much control of his pitches , he struck out most of the batters he faced and set a record of strikeouts over two seasons,Unfortunately, he was playing on at a small A public school and they pitched this kid almost everyday without must needed rest in between games and just basically wore out his pitching arm. He lead them to a State Title but by the end of the season, his arm was worn out. Raffo and State backed off and told him to sign with the Meridian program and play for two years. Unfortunately, due to the massive overuse of his arm in high school , by the time he got to MCCC, he could not throw hardly 75 per hour and had no control, his arm was effectively gone. Needless to say his future was done. I felt so bad for the kid because he had to live with his career being over and his dream of pitching for the Dogs was effectively over. So Sad !
 

haildearoldstate

Redshirt
Mar 28, 2013
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Yep, truly sad.....Check out a guy by the name of Randolph Salters from

Mooreville, MS. Won a "national highschool record" 25 or 26 games in 1985. He threw it mid 90's too but Rex Berryman pitched him to death. Ran was a big kid, 6'5 or so and prolly 250 lbs. By the time he was finished in HS, his arm was dead. Ending up signing with Jackson State and was never the same. Oh yeah, he also struck out 366 batters in '85......I was among those victims.....http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View.aspx?article=186 http://www.nfhs.org/search.aspx?searchtext=randolph salters
 

RougeDawg

Redshirt
Jul 12, 2010
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Since this was during the Polk years, Ill say no.

Just curious.

I was talking to Greg Drye one day asking him why they didnt offer Tony Sipp a scholarship. He only threw 95 from left side with nasty curve and sliders. I thought he might be quality enough to warrant even the slightest of look or preferred walkon offer. Drye said Tony who? I knew right then that the stories about Polk's recruiting, or lack thereof, were true.

Sipp had been in the bigs for 5 yrs now as a setup guy making a cool $1.27 mil. But a lefty hitting 95 with 2 other nasty pitches to back it up wasnt even worthy of one look from a MSU coach. He got drafted lower rounds because he stayed in school at Clemson and finished degree. He was drafted 5 straight years.