2009 Recruit: Dane Opel

Dane Opel, OF; Edwardsville, IL; 6'1". 183#

2007 Offensive Stats: .409 (47-for-115), .493 OB%, .617 SLG%, 43 R, 14 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 37 RBI, 71 TB, 14 BB, 5 HB, 8 SB

2008 Second Team Louisville Slugger Pre-Season High School All-American

from RawlingsProspects.com, 2/21: Dane Opel (2009) has given a verbal commitment to University of Missouri

from Belleville News-Democrat, 3/19/08:

. . . Junior Division I prospects Dane Opel and Gregg Culp and senior shortstop Zach Frey are the headline returnees for the 2008 Tigers [Culp is also being recruited by Mizzou, but had not made any coomitments yet - trripleplay].
. . .
Culp, the brother of San Diego Padres minor-league hurler and former Missouri star Nathan Culp, is considered one of the top junior pitchers in the state.

He emerged as a potential ace last spring, crafting a 5-1 record with a 1.94 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 54 innings.

"I think his command can improve, and he's gotten a little better with his location," Funkhouser said. "We were hoping to get a good four or five innings out of him last year, and as the season progressed, he was able to get deeper into games."

Opel moves from right to center and should be one of the top hitters in the region. He hit .409 as a sophomore with 14 doubles, two homers and 37 RBIs and scored 43 runs.

"He really improved as the season went on and his power numbers increased," Funkhouser said. "I see him being a guy that can hit a lot of doubles and hopefully can increase that into some home runs as well." . . .

Telegraph Varisty reports on Opel playing in the Area Code Games this past summer

Telegraph Varsity also has a good story on Dane Opel being named Large-School Player of the Year:

"He really unleashed his power in the second half," Edwardsville coach Tim Funkhouser said. "Dane's a mature hitter with a real good swing and a lot of power. He really busted out."

Opel, who hit .409 with 37 RBIs last season as a sophomore, ended his junior season with an 18-game hitting streak that produced eight of his nine home runs and a slugging percentage of 1.097. He finished with a .439 average and Opel's 28 extra-base hits fell one shy of the school-record 29 set by Nick Seibert and Matt Bogle in 1999.

"I guess I was just seeing the ball better, more than anything," Opel said of his second-half surge that included homers in four of his final five games. "I wasn't swinging at bad pitches. I was hitting strikes."

And he was hitting them hard. Opel finished the regular season as the Southwestern Conference's leader in doubles, triples, home runs and slugging. Splitting time between hitting leadoff or No. 3 in the Tigers lineup, Opel also had 36 RBIs and scored 39 runs.

A left-hander with five-tool skills rare for a prep player, Opel provided stellar - and sometimes spectacular -- defense in center field with speed and a strong arm that assured another Division I branch for the family tree. His size and athleticism are gifts of fate, not fluke, and the Tigers have long benefited from dips into the Opel/Barton gene pool.