A big welcome to Lawrence goes out to Zac Elgie and Lee Ridenhour. Elgie and Ridenhour were drafted in June by MLB teams. The signing deadline ended last night at midnight eastern time. Both Elgie and Ridenhour declined offers to play professional baseball, preferring instead to come to the University of Kansas. This is obviously big news for the KU program. Coach Price is in line for a big congratulations here.
Elgie might be the highest profile player to sign with KU ever. He was taken in the 12th round by Oakland but was seen as a "first day talent" (top-6 rounds). He fell to the 12th round due to his statement that it would take a very substantal signing bonus to coax him away from becoming a Jayhawk. Here is an excerpt from a June Baseball America feature on Elgie:
After committing to Kansas over the winter, Elgie said he will take a wait-and-see approach to the draft.
"I'm excited about it. Like (Vistas coach Todd Larson) said, I've got a win-win situation," Elgie said. "If I don't go where I want (in the draft), I'll be at Kansas. If I get drafted and things fall my way, then I'll have the opportunity to play pro baseball.
"We have some figures and rounds in mind from what we've heard from the scouts, but we don't have our mind set on a certain round. It's more play it by ear."
Elgie estimates he has had contact with 15-20 major league scouts. He said about 10 scouts have traveled to see him in person, including representatives from the Twins, Indians, Phillies, Diamondbacks and Dodgers.
"At first it was a little overwhelming," he said. "I've grown used to it. You just have to go out there and hustle and try to sell yourself by what you do on the field. You just have to go out and play."
I'll post more information about the 2009 roster as it shapes up. For the time being here is the fall 2008 roster, slightly revised from the version posted earlier this week. I italicized the incoming players. Some trimming will be necessary as NCAA D-I teams can only carry 35 man rosters. I do not know how injuries work with NCAA rosters. I expect some of the incoming players will redshirt. I'll try to have this all sorted out for you by January.
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