columbiaguy

Powerpitcher, I saw, on a gun, and heard from several reliable sources, that he was 82-83. I will leave it at that. What is getting lost is that I said the guy can pitch either way. I have also cenceded that he must have made a leap, as many people do the summer before their Senior years. I don't understand why I am being made out to be the bad guy. I will see him in the Spring and go from there.

My radar eye is just fine. I did not see that game. When I saw him, he was 82-83. Please read all of my posts before thinking you know more than I do.

I believe if you go back and read my post, I said unless Orphanos made a big jump, he doesn't throw 88. He was more like 82-83 during the high school season. He may have made a jump and good for him. I also said he was a good pitcher regardless. Brothers does have potential. Anybody that throws that hard does, but as of right now he is not a great pitcher. He wasn't even one of Shelbyville's top three guys by the end of the season last year. If he can consistently find the strike zone, he will be dominant. Until then, he is just an average pitcher that has a chance to shut you down IF he can throw strikes. Those are just the facts. I didn't say I wouldn't want him in Columbia!

Jake Little, Jr. Franklin. UT, Vandy, Ky,Southern Ill, & a few others have seen him play or have him on their radar thur coaches & reports on his fielding, hitting & knowledge of the game. He is only a junior & should get several D1 offers or be drafted out of high school. keep dreaming

Hunter Brothers is not a great pitcher. He throws hard but has trouble throwing strikes. Orphanos can pitch but unless he made a big leap this summer, he doesn't throw 88.

I would say Columbia at the top and Shelbyville right behind them. After that, I see a HUGE drop off to everyone else.

bump for Limbaugh

Coach Messer holding out on you Limbaugh? haha

I am not sure how this money issue started getting so much attention and getting thrown out of whack. There is a certain, MINIMUM amount of money that it takes to run a succeful program. That is what the coaches in Columbia asked the parents to raise. Some of the parents started complaining about the amount of time they were putting in to raise money. From what I have been told, the coaches came up with the amount of money the program needed to do the necessary things. Umpires, travel, uniforms, baseballs, fungos, catcher's gear, field maintenance, caps, belts, socks, etc. They divided that among the number of parents and the total came to $800. They required each set of parents to raise $800 and gave them numerous options on how to accomplish that. This was done to minimize the amount of time the parents had to spend on fund-raising. NEVER did they say you had to pay $800. That is certainly an option if you wanted to. I know that I would write a check for $800 if that is all I had to do. Some would rather work for it which is fine too. The problem with everything is, if you look at all of the schools in columbia's region, they are in the bottom third as far as fundraising goes and they still complain. To get back on the summer topic, however, the fee was, I believe, $250 per family. That includes parents with two kids on the team. They played about 25 double headers and several other tournaments. Every player, jv and varsity, got about 30 games. I don't know for a fact, but I would guess that by the end of the summer, the coaches were paying for things out of their own pockets and it was probably more than $250. He catches a lot of crap and the parents have no clue what he does behind the scenes for that program. People in Columbia don't know how good they have it right now. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. If they run him off, that program will be in for a rude awakening. I doubt the next coach will do some of the things he has done for the people there that no one has any clue he has done. Obviously, I am not talking about all the parents in Columbia, but unfortunately it is usually the acts of a few that hurt everyone in the end.

Can you give us a list of who is in at this point?

Newstang, I can assure you that those players going to play in college have nothing to do with the Legion program in Columbia. Players have already committed to a college by the time they play Legion and that is the team I was talking about with the lack of discipline and some of the other comments. I do agree with some of your points though. Columbia does run a good program and I don't think those kids need to play travel. Columbia and Riverdale probably are the exception and not the rule. I guess I take for granted sometimes that all coaches want the best for their teams and work hard. I guess the answer is a case-by-case scenario. If you have a good high school program, with coaches that care, it is probably beneficial to stay together. If you are in a situation where the high school coach just wants to relax in the summer and isn't going to work at it, you might need to play somewhere else.

Don't think it doesn't happen. I have seen it too many times.

The problem is that you are coming from a biased opinion. You assume that elite travel ball is better than playing for your high school in the summer. Maybe in your case, with the high school your son attends, that is true. Here is my problem with travel ball. Most teams charge at least $1,000 to play and you might get 30 games. Also, those coaches have nothing invested in the players. If a pitcher goes out and throws 150 pitches and gets hurt, oh well, at least we won. Then the high school team is punished because that coach is just in it to win games. There is also less discipline on travel teams. I have seen kids roll in about 15 minutes before the start of the game, throw their stuff on, and go play. That is not the right way to do things and the kid learns bad habits. Also, there is nothing prohibiting a high schoool team from playing travel teams in the summer. I know Columbia played the Donelson Cardinals and went to the 18U Sandlott World Series and the 17U Sandlott World Series and their kids paid a lot less than ANY travel team would charge. Also, playing for these travel teams does not get you more exposure. That is a misconception. The college coaches are going to watch the good players regardless of where they are playing. Columbia has put a lot of players in college and have kept their high school team together for the past 10 years. Last point, if the better players stay with the high school team it does a few things to benefit everybody. the younger players can watch how the better guys do things and learn from it, and the colleges coaches that come watch the older players also get a chance to see other players on that team that they may not have otherwise seen. It does nothing but benefit the program to keep them all together. And if you were wondering, i played a year of travel ball in high school as well as playing with my high school team. I didn't want anyone to think I had never expeienced the alternative so why should I speak on it.

Limbaugh - have you finalized things for the Warrior Classic yet? If not, when do you think that schedule will be done?

Mookie is a good player but there is no way he is a high draft pick. Probably won't be drafted at all out of high school.

Grissom High School in Alabama.

Do you have the rosters for each team?

Any scores from Lipscomb?

I completely disagree with your last statement. Coaching positions should not be tied to teaching positions. Coaches are hired as teachers first, and coaching is their secondary responsibility. You are also a little mistaken on the situation in Columbia. They have told her that her contract is different from other teachers and if she gives up her coaching position she can no longer teach at Central and they will transfer her to another school. They have said nothing about ALL pe teachers should be coaches. Also, in Maury county, there is a scale for supplements. Football and basketball coaches get 15%. Baseball and softball get 5%. All other sports get 2%. Columbia is also not allowed to have a booster club. So, Coach Pickle will spend about 40hrs a week just on the baseball field, not including what is spent on games and practice, and he gets 5% extra pay. It is probably a few cents an hour. That is just the way it is. He doesn't complain (although I am sure he would like to) because it isn't about the money when it is all said and done.

If you want to get paid in the summer, host a few tournaments.

This is not a complete list but these are the only ones I know for sure. Coffee - Estill, Davis Columbia - Horne, Keeton, Armstrong, Taylor, Ray Franklin County - Arnold Lincoln County - Matt and Blake Sharpe Lawrence County - Brown, Rodgers Tullahoma - Bryant Shelbyville - Cooper, Brothers MVP - Cooper and Arnold were Co-MVP's and Cooper was the pitcher of the year.

You throw the 3 on Wed. and start your 1 on Friday and have the 2 in relief.

You would still be playing against other Single A teams so I don't think it would be a problem.

People are underestimating Lawrence County. They can flat out hit. I'll take Blackman in a slugfest 11-8.

Columbia has put over 30 players in college since '98. I'd say that has to be up there in the top 10 at least.