Two main pieces of news today:
- First, Quin Snyder has a new job. Atchison and I exchanged a couple of e-mails about this yesterday...I was going to post about it last night but just really didn't have the energy to go down this road. Good for him for getting back on the horse. I think he's the rare type of coach that might actually be better coaching a pro team than a college team. He always seemed to think his players at Mizzou were on a higher skill level than they actually were, and when he flooded them with ways to improve (ahh, the famous 'Player Development' book), it resulted in their spending way to much time thinking on the court and not enough time playing instinctively. You knew if Rickey Paulding dribbled more than twice, he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do with the ball. On a pro level, his free-flowing-but-strangely-heavy-handed style might have a better chances of success. And I think it helps him tremendously that he's coaching in a city that's a) bigger, and b) not hardcore midwest. Austin should be a great place for him. We'll see what he's learned in his 16 months away from coaching.
- And second, the MLB draft is today. As Tim Jamieson said in Gabe Dearmond's write-up the other day, he expects to lose Brock Bond (.316 BA, .423 OBP, 44 RBI) and Evan Frey (.348 BA, .445 OBP, 35 RBI) to the draft, and I suspect he's right. Neither hit for much power, but they're both strong defensively and show great patience at the plate. I guess they're not gimmes for a high draft slot, but we'll just assume he's right here. Jacob Priday, on the other hand, might still be up in the air. His numbers (.297 BA, .384 OBP, 13 HR, 59 RBI after a slow start) were quite solid, but he's a college DH...he's played lots of positions, but none of them all that well. I'm simultaneously rooting for him to get drafted and kinda hoping he doesn't so he can anchor the offense next season. Guess we'll just see where the cards land.
- And one other small tidbit: congrats to Mizzou catcher Trevor Coleman for making the Freshman All-American team. He and Aaron Senne were both key cogs for the Tigers this year, and they both played well in the postseason. The future is bright. We'll see just how bright the immediate future is after today's draft, I guess.
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