Rippee Writes: MLB Draft, football commits, two longshot winners
Hoglund, Nikhazy drafted, football recruiting picks up and two longshot winners on PGA and Korn Ferry Tours
A good Monday to you all. We have a new podcast out with, well, just me, taking Mailbag Friday questions on a Monday. I have no idea if it is any good or not, but we had some technical difficulties on Friday and the listeners provided questions in droves, so I didn’t want to let them go to waste. Check that out here or anywhere you get podcasts. We’ve got some draft, golf and recruiting to discuss today.
Pair of Rebels taken (so far) in MLB Draft
We had a later start than usual to the newsletter, so I opted to wait a little longer to see where Doug Nikhazy landed. As of this writing, Ole Miss’s 2021 Friday and Saturday guys have been selected in the MLB Draft.
Gunnar Hoglund was picked by the Toronto Blue Jays last night with the 19th overall pick. The slot value of this pick is $3,359,000. First off, this is tremendous news for a kid that has had some tough luck over the last couple months. Hoglund’s injury and ensuing Tommy John Surgery likely only ended up costing him 7-10 spots in terms of deteriorating draft stock. I have no idea if he will sign for above or below slot value, but I hope he goes way above it and earns as much money as possible. All in all, Hoglund can still view this as mission accomplished. He was a first rounder out of high school after being selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates 36th overall as a compensatory (competitive balance) pick. At the time, that pick’s slot value was $1.9 million. So, despite the setback to the start of his professional career, Hoglund went to college, improved his draft stock and acquired life-changing wealth. His frame and effortless delivery conservatively projects as a serviceable Big League rotation guy for a long time and his stuff has improved every year since he was drafted out of high school. Good for Hoglund. I am glad this injury did not alter things dramatically.
Doug Nikhazy was taken 58th overall by the Cleveland Indians earlier today. That spot has a slot value of $1,214,300. This is a steal for the Indians, in my opinion, and a great spot for Nikhazy to land. Cleveland has a pretty good recent track record of developing pitching and despite any valid knocks on Nikhazy’s measurables, the guy knows how to pitch and gets people out. Those two traits play at any level of the sport. This is about where I figured Nikhazy would land, though it wouldn’t have stunned me if he had gone late in the first round or the very beginning of the second. Scouts and clubs were likely deterred a bit by Nikhazy’s size, and had concerns about him potentially being unable to maintain steady velocity when pitching more often at the professional level. But again, at the end of the day, the object of the game is to get guys out and Nikhazy did that perhaps better than any starter in college baseball this year. His two breaking balls will play well and the fastball has a deceptive angle that will only improve with professional coaching. I think Nikhazy will pitch in The Show for a long time and believe this is a great landing spot for perhaps the greatest competitor to ever step on a mound at Ole Miss.
Now, from an Ole Miss standpoint, all eyes are Tim Elko, where he will land and whether or not he will return to school. Elko could be selected as early as the eighth or ninth round today, as clubs often use the late single digit rounds as value selections, meaning they’ll draft an older player (Elko, of course, has one more year of eligibility), offer them way less than the slot value and see if the guy signs anyway. If this doesn’t happen, Elko will likely be picked early on tomorrow (rounds 11-20) and offered somewhere in the $150,000 range. If the latter is the case, I would assume he’d return to Ole Miss for one more year, but who knows. I’d say it’s closer to a coin flip than a certainty.
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Jobe goes third overall to Detroit
Ole Miss signee Jackson Jobe, who has shot up draft boards over the last couple of months, was selected third overall by the Detroit Tigers last night. Jobe is the son of PGA Tour pro Brandt Jobe. The right-hander had showed up in Oxford as a precautionary move, but most believed Jobe would be drafted early in the first round and sign, barring something stunning. The slot value of this pick is $7,221,200.
Translation: he gone.
A pair of longshots win on Korn Ferry, PGA Tours
I am not sure longshot is the best word to use here but I couldn’t think of a better one. Lucas Glover fired a final round 64 to win the John Deere Classic, his first PGA Tour win in 10 years. Glover has played better golf over the last two years and was already in this week’s British Open due to making the Tour Championship in 2019 (no Open Championship in 2020 due to COVID), but anytime a guy goes that long without winning, it’s pretty cool to see them get back to the mountain top again.
Not to be outdone, 46-year-old Tag Ridings won on the Korn Ferry Tour yesterday in wild fashion. He was in a playoff with David Skinns, who drained a 33-foot bomb for birdie on the first hole. Ridings had 13 feet left to extend the playoff and drilled it. He won on the next playoff hole. Ridings hasn’t won a PGA Tour-sanctioned event since 2002 when he won a Korn Ferry event in Midland, Texas. He hasn’t registered a top-five finish since the 2017 (PGA Tour) Barbasol Championship. He went 19-years between victories and has been a journeymen for the better part of the last decade.
“Staying up late, gluing clubs, all that, just because I can’t sleep because I want to do something so bad to make them understand I can support them doing this,” said Ridings, who has a 14-year-old son and daughters who are 12 and 8. “I’ve stayed awake at night hoping to win a tournament while my kids were alive.” (quote via Korn Ferry Tour Website)
Pretty cool stuff on both tours this week.
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Ole Miss snags four 2022 commitments
Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss coaching staff are building momentum on the recruiting trail. The Rebels landed four commitments over the weekend. I am no recruiting guru, so I will refer you to Neal McCready and Zach Berry’s great work.
On speedy receiver Jeremiah Dillon
Former Mississippi State commit (DL) Jacarius Clayton commits to Ole Miss.
OL Timi Gagophien chooses Ole Miss over Houston and Tennessee
OL Preston Cushman chooses Ole Miss
Four commitments in a weekend and a flip from an in-state rival seems good. This is my official analysis.
On the horizon
-Back to our regularly scheduled programming as far as podcasts and newsletters are concerned
- A beer-related guest on the pod this week. If you have questions about craft beer, send them.
- Chad Ramey feature.
That is all from me today. Thanks for being a loyal subscriber. Send to your friends and tell them to join the fun. Back with more tomorrow.