10/20/12

Draft 13 – Logan Koch, Clemson, Clate Schmidt, Aaron Judge, Weekend Showcases

South Carolina commit Logan Koch (2013 Catcher, Charlotte NC) played all 9 positions in a recent Dirtbags showcase game in North Carolina. He started out at his familiar spot behind the plate and wound up at the end of the game on the mound getting the final out in an 11-2 win. Koch said, “it was fun to do but it reminded me how much I love to catch. Playing out in the field can get boring.” Logan is the first player in the 13 year history of the Dirtbags to play all 9 positions in one game.

Clemson is scheduled to have 19 new players on the squad and, according to Collegiate Baseball, they come in ranked fifth (behind Vanderbilt, UCLA, Arizona State, Louisiana State) in the nation in recruiting. The c lass includes three players that have been drafted before: Infielder Tyler Krieger (Johns Creek, GA) was a 35th-round draft pick of the Seattle Mariners, infielder/catcher Kevin Bradley (Pennington, NJ) was a 36th-round draft pick of the Colorado Rockies, and righthander/infielder Clate Schmidt (Acworth, GA) was a 36th-round draft pick of the Detroit Tigers. Schmidt is an interesting study. He throws a 92-94 fastball (considered a plus pitch with good motion) that occasionally hits 96. He also has an excellent second pitch, a sharp breaking low 80s curveball. He was expected to go earlier in the draft, but, like he said on draft day: “(My family and I) talked to some of the area scouts and teams before the draft and let them know ahead of time of my decision. We thought it was best for me to go to college and develop as a player and as a person. It really wasn’t a surprise that I wasn’t picked because teams knew where I was heading.”

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