Todd or whoever--thoughts on committing Luke Alexander?

[AFDawg]

[No message]

 

[MSU124]

He is 14 right now, wow.

 

[DirtyLopez]

when do we start worrying about how high he will be drafted?

 

[Foronce]

Belmont (MS) High school 8th grader Luke Alexander has already played on the highest stage a 14-year-old can, for the 14-U USA National Team this past summer. While that was a honor only 18 other 14-year-olds in the United States received this past summer, Luke is back at Belmont High School just trying to become an even better baseball player.

 

[Foronce]

link

 

[Todd4State]

Yeah- I know, private commit....

I will say this about him- he is probably the best prospect to come through Mississippi since Anthony Alford. We will hear about him for awhile. If he goes to MSU as opposed to pro baseball, I think he will be a SS for us. He's a legit talent.

 

[Todd4State]

Since we're talking four years out, I would say the top sophomore in the state this past year was Reid Humphries. He is related to former MSU first baseman Tyler Moore and he plays at Northwest Rankin. He can pitch and possibly play SS. He is about 6'2" or so.

Also, Rafael Palmeiro has a son named Preston Palmeiro from Texas, and he will be a top prospect in the coming years as well. I believe he will also be a junior. Preston is a middle infielder.

 

[PineGroveBully]

My baby sisters boyfriend was a very good pitcher in the same division, saw him play 6-8 times over the years. Heck of a frame, love to see him get on a real weight program, ( to bad he signed with state), joking aside, I had heard it would take north of a half mill to sign him. Then I saw where a few guys drafted between 5th-10th round had already signed for between 700k-1.3m, doesn't sound good.

 

[JackBauer.sixpack]

Baseball camp last summer. He was on the mound pitching and kids were swinging their bats after the ball had hit the catchers mitt.

I know they're saying 2nd/SS but you could tell the stuff he was throwing was unlike anything the kids those age had seen. His fastball had to be in the upper 70s.

 

[Todd4State]

nothing has changed. I think it will be hard for the Rangers to sign him, but it won't be impossible. I feel like there is a decent chance that he comes to MSU.

 

[Todd4State]

said that he throws in the low 80's. I could certainly see him being a dual position guy. I do think that as far as the pros are concerned, he is probably a middle infielder.

 

[KurtRambis4]

diamondreb has questioned this pickup over on nafoom, so I'm not so sure about this. I mean Cohen's judgement just doesn't quite comfort me as much as diamondreb's...

 

[wo fat]

Palmeiro is mostly a corner player, not a middle infielder. Saw an interview with Preston recently and he said LSU, Florida, Florida State, Texas and Oklahoma have shown early interest, but didn't say anything about MSU. It's unlikely Preston will go to State as long as John Cohen is here. Ron Polk has great influence on the Palmeiro family, that's why Patrick is not at State.

 

[KurtRambis4]

reason Pat isn't at State is that he isn't a SEC caliber player. Hell, didn't he have to walk-on at UAB?

 

[wo fat]

Patrick was coming to State out of high school, until the Cohen/ Polk fiasco. Whether he was a great prospect was not the point.

 

[KurtRambis4]

the point. Polk was gong to let some CUSa caliber walk-on come play for his bunch of clowns. Enter Cohen. Cohen tells him we have a full circus show as it is. Pat walks on at UAB. This isn't the YMCA.

 

[wo fat]

Get a clue pal. He was coming to State idiot but his parents didn't want him playing for Cohen.

 

[KurtRambis4]

You're right.Pat was coming to State and on his way to being all SEC, until mean ol John got the job. Then Polk told him no way he was going to State. Hey, try Genespage.com. It's a great board. You'll fit in great there.

 

[Todd4State]

that Ole Miss recruited Alexander too. Which is true. As well as LSU.

 

[TilloDawg]

asdf

 

[Todd4State]

about Palmeiro not wanting Patrick to play for Cohen. My hope is that would have possibly changed with us having some success- which I knew was a long shot.

I'm honestly not sure if Patrick is a walk-on at UAB or not. He actually had a pretty good year for them, and he was drafted by the Pirates out of high school, but he really didn't do much in JUCO, and then he goes to UAB and has a solid year for them. I don't know why he didn't perform so well in JUCO, but I think a lot of the credit has to go to Brian Shoop.

About Preston being a corner guy- we'll see about that. I think he is only 5'10" right now or so, but he has time to grow. His Dad is only about 6'0" tall if that as well. I think it's certainly possible that he could become a corner infielder, but it's hard to say at this point because he is so young.

One thing I would do if I was Cohen is recruit him anyway- you never know, especially since he has our program headed in the right direction.