Clay, Grimes, Heddinger all go pro

[Eric]

Ouch on the last two.

 

[Stinger90]

Does hurt, but I can't blame them. Congrats to all and I'm still excited about what lies ahead for next year.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Good luck to them all. Clay makes a lot of sense.

Grimes and Heddinger surprise me somewhat. Does anyone know what their actual signing bonus was? If less than $100K, I think they made a mistake and would have done better to get more later.

Grimes would have been a rSr so I kind of get him leaving - hopefully with a degree. He didn't progress much this year. (4.39 ERA) But Heddinger has a lot of development and really came along this year. He would have been low 2 ERA next year (was 3.94 ERA for whole season but better at end of year) and much higher in the draft next year - probably. No one knows, so they did what they thought was best.

No wonder half our commits are pitchers.

 

[Stinger90]

Good luck to them all. Clay makes a lot of sense.

Grimes and Heddinger surprise me somewhat. Does anyone know what their actual signing bonus was? If less than $100K, I think they made a mistake and would have done better to get more later.

Grimes would have been a rSr so I kind of get him leaving - hopefully with a degree. He didn't progress much this year. (4.39 ERA) But Heddinger has a lot of development and really came along this year. He would have been low 2 ERA next year (was 3.94 ERA for whole season but better at end of year) and much higher in the draft next year - probably. No one knows, so they did what they thought was best.

No wonder half our commits are pitchers.

Credit Hall for not over doing our pitcher's arms. I have talked with some scouts at some of the baseball games here concerning pitchers over doing it. Some of them will not look at or concern with certain schools for that reason.

 

[Stinger90]

Good luck to them all. Clay makes a lot of sense.

Grimes and Heddinger surprise me somewhat. Does anyone know what their actual signing bonus was? If less than $100K, I think they made a mistake and would have done better to get more later.

Grimes would have been a rSr so I kind of get him leaving - hopefully with a degree. He didn't progress much this year. (4.39 ERA) But Heddinger has a lot of development and really came along this year. He would have been low 2 ERA next year (was 3.94 ERA for whole season but better at end of year) and much higher in the draft next year - probably. No one knows, so they did what they thought was best.

No wonder half our commits are pitchers.

Heddinger’s signing bonus was $100,000 as well as tuition payments, according to Heddinger’s advisor Allen McDuffie.

 

[dmurdock]

Heddinger’s signing bonus was $100,000 as well as tuition payments, according to Heddinger’s advisor Allen McDuffie.

I assume this means future tuition payments. To me that is a sign of a true student athlete, the education is as important as the sport. This clause really makes the pro contract a lot like the college scholarship, playing baseball gets your college paid for (or at least partially paid for with the scholarship). Difference is while playing for Tech, he goes to school most of the year while playing ball on campus but there is pressure to get good grades and make progress on a degree. With the pro contract he plays ball part of the year and goes to school part of the year, and with the school part he now gets to proceed at the rate/classes he chooses. All in all not a bad deal and I don't blame him for taking it.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

That is the way the tuition payments work - for the future. I would assume it is capped at some amount - not allowing 6 years at a $60K per year school. A friend of mine has a son who is pitching for Liberty. He says that this is a common benefit that most drafted players get.

Of the three, I would have only recommended Heddinger stay since he should get a lot better this year and would be projected to get a much better bonus next year. I have been really impressed with the development of our pitching staff - which I largely credit to the pitching coach, Jason Howell. So since Howell is staying (no rumors to the contrary), Heddinger should continue to develop. But you never know.

I hope they all do well and appreciate their time at GT! Just hope they all graduate from GT - eventually.

 

[Squints]

That is the way the tuition payments work - for the future. I would assume it is capped at some amount - not allowing 6 years at a $60K per year school. A friend of mine has a son who is pitching for Liberty. He says that this is a common benefit that most drafted players get.

This is true. Generally if the player is walking away from a scholarship to sign they'll pay for school at some point if the player wants to pursue it.