Fans Q&A with Ritch Price

by James Quinn on Apr 9, 2009 9:24 PM CDT in Kansas Jayhawk Baseball

Kansas baseball head coach Ritch Price will be answering questions from fans on Rock Chalk Talk for the rest of the 2009 season. If you have a question for Coach Price just submit it below in the comments section or e-mail it to jqku at hotmail . com. Please include the name you would like to see posted.

Below are Coach Price's replies to last week’s questions.

Who is coming in next year for the Jayhawks, and do you feel that your recruiting strategy will center more on potential “HS to MLB” players with last year’s success. (SweedishHamma)

We signed four quality players in the early signing period in November to replace the four seniors on our current roster.

Tanner Poppe, RHP from Girad, Kansas 6'5" 250 is a big time prospect. 90-94 and is valadictorian of his class. Turned down Arizona, Arkansas, Nebraska, and Wichita Sate.

Shawn Blackwell, 6'5 '190 RHP Clear Creek, Texas 88-92 with tremendous upside. Rated in Top 100 high school players in America

Alex De Leon, C/3B from El Camino High School, Woodlands California 6'2" 215 Physical Righthanded hitter with pop. Has plus arm and ability to play multiple positions. Highly recruited out of Southern California, bat will play and contribute as freshman

Brandon Macias, SS South Mountain College, Phoenix, Arizona Rated by many as one of the top defensive infielders in the country. Plays in a wood bat conference and hit 350 with 7 homeruns as a freshman. Was at Arizona State on scholarhship in the fall of his freshman year.

More questions and replies after the jump.

What is your relationship like with Bill Self and Mark Mangino? (Rock Chalk)

Outstanding! Coach Self sent me a text after we swept #1 Texas opening weekend in the Big 12. Coach Mangino is a big baseball fan.

Who is the best player you’ve ever coached? (Rock Chalk)

I've coached eight guys who have played in the majors, but the best player I've ever coached was Scott Kidd. He won the Big West batting title, got to AAA with the Yankees and is now the West Coast Cross Checker for the Oakland A's.

Who do you believe on this team has the best shot at making it in the Majors? ( From Jordon Carroll, Lawrence)

Lee Ridenhour

David Narodowski is one of my favorite players. Do you expect him to stay at Kansas next year? If Narodowski leaves who do you expect will play shortstop?

David is an outstanding college player. He reminds me a lot of David Eckstein, who has won 2 world championships. He doesn't have the physical tools that jump off the chart, but is a winner! As a righthanded hitter it will be hard for him to be drafted high enough to sign a pro contract as a junior. If he was to sign, Brandon Macias would be the shortstop, he can really pick it.

What teams do the players most enjoy playing against? (Okay, that was my question there, but I'm a fan also!)

Our players really like playing at Texas A&M, the environment is big time.

Thanks to Coach Price for taking the time to answer these questions. Keep them rolling in. More replies will be posted next week.

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Comments

Great Stuff!!!!

tell Coach Price thanks

Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.

by Owen on Apr 9, 2009 9:50 PM CDT reply actions

Hi Denver, will do.

I’m glad he was able to answer the questions in as much detail as he supplied. That list of of recruits is golden information.

www.rockchalktalk.com for pretty good KU baseball coverage

by James Quinn on Apr 9, 2009 10:07 PM CDT up reply actions

Some quick thoughts on incoming players

Tanner Poppe looks really interesting. At 6’5" 250 he will be a huge freshman. Since he is already working in the 90’s I guess the big issue will be control. I love to see KU out-recruiting those other schools Price listed (Arizona, Arkansas, Nebraska, and Wichita Sate.) I suspect that a few years ago KU would not have had much of a shot picking up a recruit who was also being recruited by any of those other programs.

Shawn Blackwell, Another good looking pitcher. He can be expected to put on a little weight over the next two years so he looks to have that pro-build so many scouts love to see. Another hard thrower who can work around 90. Love it.

Alex De Leon. Another big freshman. If he can stick at catcher that solves a team need. Afenir will be leaving at the end of the season. Joe Lincoln has done a fine job but he will be a step down from Buck. Another Southern California recruit. Price has done a great job getting good talent out of that area, and lord knows there are plenty of good baseball programs down there which he has to compete with for these players. Price is a great recruiter.

Brandon Macias. I loved seeing this entry on the list. I really want to see a good quality shortstop come in to either replace Narodowski if he leaves, or back him up and get ready to take over the slot in 2011. I do not expect James Stanfield to be the long term solution at shortstop, he seems to be more of a second baseman. I love that Macias’ defense is hyped here. KU has been spoiled over the last decade with a line of great defensive shortstops. They are not a plentiful commodity in NCAA baseball, believe me! Every year I see visiting teams come in to Hoglund playing guys at shortstop who fail to convert at least one play per game I know the KU shortstop would routinely handle. If Macias can hit as well, so much the better.

www.rockchalktalk.com for pretty good KU baseball coverage

by James Quinn on Apr 9, 2009 10:05 PM CDT reply actions

does look to be a nice looking list of incoming players...

Poppe was also a football prospect last year as a TE but it always sounded like his interests lied more with baseball than football.

Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.

by Owen on Apr 9, 2009 10:07 PM CDT up reply actions

Funny thing

John Allman came to KU on a recruiting visit for football. His father played corner back for the Rams in the NFL for one year. Anyway, John saw Hoglund and visited with Price. He said he thought he could play baseball at the Big-12 level. The next year he came to campus as a baseball walk-on. Allman ended his KU career one of the better hitters in school history.

www.rockchalktalk.com for pretty good KU baseball coverage

by James Quinn on Apr 9, 2009 10:18 PM CDT up reply actions

More on Tanner Poppe

A profile of Tanner Poppe here from the Pittsburg Morning Sun.

Poppe has been under the scrutiny of several different college coaches in a variety of sports. He said he was courted by bigger schools, including Arizona and Nebraska for baseball, as well as several smaller Division One and Division Two in basketball.

One observer at the World Wood Bat Association Championship in October, 2008 was very impressed with Poppe. Here are his comments:

Tanner Poppe, rhp, Girard (Kan.) HS (2009)

The 6-foot-6, 225-pound Poppe was No. 2 (behind WWBA MVP Garrett Gould) on our Kansas state-by-state list of top prospects for 2009, but was notable by his absence from PG Crosschecker’s list of the top 1,300-plus prospects nationally. A couple of Midwest college coaches I talked to in Jupiter had also never heard of him. All that has changed as Poppe threw 93 mph with little effort and projects extremely well. He could become the Tyler Sample (a relatively unknown arm from Colorado who blossomed in his senior year) of the 2009 draft.

www.rockchalktalk.com for pretty good KU baseball coverage

by James Quinn on Apr 9, 2009 11:17 PM CDT reply actions