Law facing cuts and draft

Vance Law is holding his breath.

Next month, the baseball draft will pick talent from among high school and college players. He has seven recruits signed to play for his struggling program and they are of the caliber that could really help, especially on the pitching mound.

The question is, how many of BYU’s recruits will be drafted? And how many of them will choose the money over playing college baseball? It could be all seven, half of them, or a couple.

Last year, Law said one of his recruits that got drafted, ended up negotiating a contract from June to August. During that time, he played the conservative card and held out the scholarship for the prospect, not knowing if he’d turn pro or enroll in school. He did not offer the grant-in-aid to another recruit and ended up losing both when the prospect signed a pro contract.

After Title IX was passed in the 70s, male sports in college have been forced to reduce the number of scholarships to balance out the number given in football when compared to women’s sports.

Right now the NCAA allows 11.7 scholarships per year for baseball and rosters cannot be more than 35 including walkons. This year, Law will be allowed to have a total of 27 scholarships, which he can divide amongst recruits.

Because college baseball has fallen behind in the APR (see Thursday’s blog explaining the APR), the NCAA has forced baseball programs to at least give out a .25 grant-in-aid as a minimum. It used to be that a coach could offer less, taking care of more athletes, a coach could at least offer a player books for school. Now it has to be a minimum of more.

“I’d like the NCAA to have to look the four players in the face and tell them they were having their scholarship taken away, that was a very tough thing to do this year,” said Law.

In the interest of festering discussions, my employer wants me to start posing questions to issues on this blog. So, here’s the first one.

Here is a list of recruits who signed in November. The names of two who just signed have not been released, but I have learned one of them is Nathan Bunch, a pitcher from Renton, Washington.

Here are the early signees:

Bret Lopez, a 6-0, 187 infielder batted .450 with 10 doubles, three triples, seven homers and 36 RBI last year for Timpanogos High in Orem. Lopez was the Utah Valley Player of the Year, is currently student body president and was recruited by Washington State, Cal-Fullerton, Stanford, Pepperdine, Army and Utah. Lopez was first-team all-state and all-region.

Daniel Sechrest is a 6-8, 245 righthander from Lone Peak High in American Fork and was recruited by Oregon State, Texas, LSU, Baylor, and Clemson. He was 10-2 as a sophomore and in 2007 had a 1-1 record , a 2.00 ERA, seven saves and was all-region and second-team all-state. He pitched in the Mariner Cup at Safeco Field this past Fall.

Brock Whitney, a 6-3, 185 infielder/pitcher from Bingham High in South Jordan was an second-team all-state performer last year. He was all-region and twice received the team leadership award. He was recruited by USC, Mesa State, UVSC. Batted .373, six doubles and four triples and 21 RBI. Was 2-1 with a 2.55 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 24 innings.

Jeremy Toole, a 6-3, 235 pitcher from Alvin CC near Houston, was a 41st –round draft of the Kansas City Royals in 2006. He had a 5-2 record last season with an ERA in the low 4.00 range. He prepped at Huntsville High were he is a member of the Hornet Baseball Hall of Fame. Selected for the JUCO All-star team. Two-time all-district as a prepster.

David McKnight, a 5-10, 170 pitcher from SLCC had a 4-2 record at SLCC with a 1.64 earned runs average in 14 appearances, striking out 22 batters in 22 innings with seven saves. He is a team captain this year and was recruited by Arizona, Arkansas and St. John’s. He prepped at Chaparral High in Parker, Colo., where he was second team all-state, All-Continental Conference and 11-2 with a 1.20 ERA as a senior.

Adam Miller is a 6-0, 175 pitcher and infielder following a long line of players from Yucaipa, Calif., to BYU. Current star Kent Walton and former players Ryan Chambers and Matt Carson all hailed from Yucaipa. The righthander has a 94 mph fastball and had eight saves and a 2-0 record with a 2.10 ERA in 25 innings with 45 strikeouts. Miller was second team All-Citrus Belt League and team rookie of the year. He was recruited by Stanford, UC Riverside, Kansas and UCLA. He has a 3.9 GPA with an academic letter and bar.

Nik Turley is a 6-4, 210 lefty from Harvard Westlake High in La Canada, Calif. He had a 5-3 record with a 4.25 ERA in 51 innings with 57 strikeouts. He was named to the Valley Invitational Summer League All-Star team. He participated in several showcase events: the California Baseball Coaches Association North/South Tryout, the Area Code Games and the Atlanta Braves Scout Team. He was recruited by Loyola Marymount, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Cal Fullerton, Pepperdine. and UNLV.

How many of BYU’s seven recruits will be drafted come June?

And, is the NCAA being fair to college baseball and other male sports, in regards to Title IX?