2009 Recruiting: Will Chad James choose Mizzou?

Former Tiger pitcher Justin James' brother, Chad James, is a 2009 High School graduate, and is considering who he will sign with during the Early Signing Period coming up this month.

Scout.com has a story about James' decision being between Mississippi State and Missouri:

James, a 6-foot-4, 195-pounder who is ranked by some as one of the top four left-handed high school seniors in the country this school year, took four visits – Oklahoma State and Texas A&M in addition to Ole Miss and Missouri.
. . .

But there were many more schools interested and they let him know it, too. He already knew about the Missouri baseball program. His older brother, Justin, pitched for the Tigers and is currently with the Reds organization. “I know a lot of people there, and I’m comfortable there,” he said of Missouri.

James was 9-1 as a high school junior, pitched in 12 games, 67 innings, with 13 earned runs for a 1.36 ERA with 90 strikeouts and 21 walks. He had three shutouts. He is a good hitter, too, batting .423 as a junior last season with 10 doubles, three triples, and a home run.

Elsewhere, Scout.com has this scouting report on James:

LHP @Yukon HS (Yukon, OK) 6'3"/195 lbs. Throws Left. Chad is rated #84 prospect in 2009 class by Perfect Game. Chad is top level prospect that is a weekend type arm. He could end up being another Pomeranz type arm. He throws his FB 88-91 with a great CB and CH.

James participated in the World Wood Bat Tournament in Jupiter, FL, a couple of weeks ago, according to Baseball America, where he played on the Braves Scout Team.

The College Baseball Blog reports on the Area Code Games, saying:

Chad James is the top left-handed pitcher with his deceptive motion where he reaches 88 MPH with a very good curveball that has a good break ball at 73-76.

James is listed as a LHP/OF, 6'3", 195 lb, L/L, from Yukon, OK

James was an Honorable Mention on the 2008 Louisville Slugger High School All-American roster.

2008 Recruit David Rollins' whereabouts

Many have asked what happened to David Rollins. He was a highly touted recruit for Mizzou's Fall 2008 class who was drafted by the Dodgers back in June. Rollins did not sign with the dodgers, but also did not enroll at MU. A fellow MU fan tipped me off to the San Jacinto College baseball page, which lists David Rollins on their 2009 roster. SJC is a Junior College in the houston, TX area.

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.

Big XII Opponents Updates

CollegeBaseballblog.com, which is a great resource for daily news updates on the college game, has posted several pieces recently about Mizzou's Big XII opponents:

On November 4th, they've got an interview with Texas A&M Coach Rob Childress (Tigerboard's NSUDemon will be so happy):

This league is committed to winning, top to bottom, and there are no easy weekends. But in a way I do like the condensed schedule, because we’re going to get to find out early where we’re going to put the pieces of the puzzle on the mound. We’ve got a lot of options for starters, and we have a good core group of five or six guys that can really fit in well on the back end of the pen. It’s going to be interesting to see, by the time we get to the Baylor series, where each of those guys fit and what lines up best for us.

They also report that SoonerSports.com is running a feature on incoming players, including some video highlights

And CollegeBaseball.Rivals.com has ranked the best baseball conferences, slotting the Big XII at #4:

It's probably time for the Big 12 to rejoin the party at the College World Series. Since Texas claimed its sixth national title with a series win over Florida in '05, the Big 12 has done virtually nothing in the postseason.

Mizzou Baseball recruit dominates on gridiron

The Quincy Herald Whig has a feature on the St. Charles West Warriors in the state football playoffs, where they focus on Brannon Champagne:

Much of the Warriors' success rests is because of dual-threat quarterback Brannon Champagne, who is headed to the University of Missouri on a baseball scholarship.

This season, Champagne has completed 54 of 89 passes for 1,038 yards with 14 touchdowns and just two interceptions. He leads West in rushing with 883 yards and 17 scores. Defensively, he tops the team with five interceptions. He also kicks and punts.

"He's a multi-purpose threat that you have to game plan against," Strauss told the Suburban Journals.

All in the family: Champagne's father, Boo, was a defensive lineman St. Charles when it won the Class 4A state championship in 1982. He went on to pitch for the University of Illinois and was an 11th round selection of the Kansas City Royals in the 1986 amateur draft.

Evan Frey listed #7 among Diamondbacks' top prospects

Baseball Prospectus has posted a list of the Arizona Diamondbacks' Top 11 Prospects, and Mizzou alum Evan Frey is listed at #7, a 3-star prospect (out of a possible 5 stars). In addition, there's an audio interview with Evan Frey that's pretty interesting. He talks about his experiences in the minor leagues and even talks about Missouri's success in developing pitching prospects, with a shout out to Tony Vitello.

2009 Recruit: Brannon Champagne

Brannon Champagne, OF/C; St. Charles West HS;
6'0", 180 lb, L/R

2008 Stats: .351 (26-for-74), .478 OB%, .500 SLG%, 23 R, 5 2B, 3 HR, 14 RBI, 8 K, 13 BB, 5 HB, 18 SB, 2 CS,


Also plays football (QB) and basketball for St. Charles West

StLToday.com, 9/12/08: Brannon Champagne, a three-sport athlete at St. Charles West, has committed to Missouri to play baseball for coach Tim Jamieson.

StLToday.com message board thread:

· "He bats left handed, he is also a talented outfielder and catcher. He plays summer ball for rawlings prospects."

· "Brannon is always a tough out and is a threat to steal anytime he gets on base. He really puts alot of pressure on the defense. With all the talent in the GAC this past season he didn't get all the publicity some got, but he was definitely one of the better players in the conference."

2008 All-State Honorable Mention

2009 Recruit: Ryan Crowley

Ryan Crowley; LHP/1B; Morton, IL (Morton HS) has reportedly made an oral commitment to play at Missouri.


I have been unable to find many details on Crowley: no stats or other vitals, other than the following:

Crowley pitches for the Chicago-area Morton Mustangs, where he also plays golf.

The Chicago Sun-Times lists him among the Top 100 area prep baseball players.

He is described by a scout on the HSBaseballWeb message board as pitching in the mid 80's with a "nasty split"

Mizzou to play SLU @ Busch Stadium

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Tigers and Billikens will meet this upcoming season after all - at Busch Stadium!

Missouri and St. Louis University play the first sanctioned college baseball game at Busch Stadium at 7:15 p.m. on April 1. The game has been scheduled in lieu of the Billikens playing the Cardinals in their unofficial spring training opener.

This announcement, however, conflicts with the tentative 2009 schedule posted on the SLU website, which shows them playing Indiana State on that day.

Nevertheless, I've updated Mizzou's 2009 Tentative Schedule accordingly. Looks like the schedules for both these teams are indeed a work in progress.