Rick Zagone's big season

MASN Sports' Steve Malewski has a write-up about Mizzou alum Rick Zagone's big year with Aberdeen after being drafted by the Baltimore Orioles organization. A few qotes:

"It went really well. I got out there and got used to pro ball pretty fast," Zagone said. "I had a week or two to rest between Missouri and Aberdeen. Then I got off to a nice start."
. . .
He only threw 70 innings in his junior year at Missouri, going 2-3, 5.25, so he had a pretty fresh arm when Aberdeen's season began in June.

He can't really explain how he had an ERA of 5.25 in college and 2.89 in the pros.

"I was just more comfortable at Aberdeen, I don't know exactly why that was true but it was."
. . .
This winter he is spending some extra time working on his changeup.

"I'm playing catch a lot with it now. In high school, I was a fastball, slider pitcher and never really developed a change until college. I really need to continue to perfect that pitch and get better location with it. That, and you always work on your fastball command."

As for the rest of this winter, he looks forward to spending the holidays with family and friends. He'll continue his workouts at the University of Missouri and start his throwing program in January.

Garrison McLagan makes it official

According to the Columbia Tribune, Garrison McLagan officially signed his letter of intent to play for Mizzou. McLagan, from Columbia's Christian Fellowship School, will actually graduate from high school in December and join the Tigers when he enrolls at the beginning of the spring semester.

And KOMU has a video report on McLagan's signing, with a few words from Garrison.

For more details on McLagan see out previous feature on him HERE.

Cody King signs with MU

KTVO in Kirksville reports that Cody King has signed his letter of intent to play for Missouri:

Photo: Brannon Champagne signs to play at MU

Above: Brannon Champagne, OF/C from St. Charles West HS, signs his Letter of Intent to play baseball with Mizzou.

Garcia, Opel, Kaden sign with Mizzou

On the second day of the Early Signing Period, news of Mizzou recruits signing is coming fast and furious.

The photo at right is of Eric Garcia, SS from Pflugerville, TX. He appears to be all smiles as he signs to play for the Missouri Tigers.

The Austin American-Statesman.com confirmed Garcia's verbal commitment earlier this week: "Garcia was a second-team All-State pick as a junior. He received offers from Texas, Texas Tech, Arkansas, LSU, Texas State and Sam Houston State. He is the first Hendrickson baseball player to sign with an NCAA Division I school."


The Belleville News-Democrat reports on Metro-east athletes signing lettters of intent, including Edwardsville's Dane Opel:

"He's a really nice player now and he's got the potential to be even better," Edwardsville coach Tim Funkhouser said of the 6-foot-2 Opel, who hit .439 last spring as a junior with nine homers, 36 RBIs and 28 extra-base hits. "He's got the potential to be a five-tool guy. I've heard some different (draft) interest, it's always hard to tell.

"A lot depends on where you're signing and how much interest you have. He's also left the window of opportunity open that if the opportunity does come, it's something to think about."
. . .

"Word's gotten out on the success that Culp and Frey had in transitioning that program up another level," Funkhouser said. "They enjoyed it from the baseball end, the student end and the academic end, and had a lot of positives going forward."

Still no word yet, though, on Opel's teammate, Gregg Culp.


And the Stillwater News-Press has a good write-up on Kale Gaden, who officially signed his letter of intent to play for Mizzou.

Kale Gaden was never really a believer in magic — until Wednesday.

Before the Stillwater High senior signed his letter of intent with Missouri, he was presented with a pen by Kevin Ehlers, the father of former Pioneer standout Cody Ehlers — who competed for the Tigers from 2001-04.

Gaden signed his letter with the same pen Cody used to make his commitment official. Cody went on to play for the New York Yankees’ minor-league organization after college.

“Hopefully there’s some magic left in that pen,” Gaden said.
. . .
The Pioneer catcher chose Mizzou over Arizona, Mississippi State, Duke, Arizona State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma State.

“When I took my official visit (to Columbia), the feeling was just like home,” Gaden said. “Walking around campus, I knew I could live there and succeed there."

Early Signing Period Underway

The early signing period for the National Letter of Intent began Wednesday, November 12th, and continues through Wednesday the 19th. This is the open signing period for high school seniors and Junior College players to officially declare their intent to play for an NCAA team beginning with the 2009-2010 school year.

We've compiled a list of reported verbal commitments to Mizzou, plus some that are on the fence while considering MU:

Updated Thursday 11/25/08, 9:00 AM

Garrison McLagan, LHP/OF, Columbia, MO (will graduate at the end of this semester and join the Tigers in January, 2009)

· According to the Christian Fellowship School website, McLagan signed his
letter of intent to play for Mizzou on Monday, November 17th, at his high school
gym

Cody King, RHP/SS; Kirksville, MO

· KTVO.com reports King has signed with Mizzou

Dane Opel, OF; Edwardsville, IL

· St. Louis Post-Dispatch confirms Opel has signed with Mizzou

Brannon Champagne, OF/C; St. Charles West, MO

· St. Louis Post-Dispatch confirms Champagne has signed with Mizzou

Ryan Crowley, LHP/1B; Morton, IL

· PrepBaseballReport.com lists Crowley as signing with Mizzou

Kale Gaden, C/OF; Stillwater, OK

· Stillwater News-Press confirms Gaden has signed with Mizzou

Eric Anderson, RHP/IF; Highlands Ranch, CO (Mountain Vista HS)

· The Rocky Mountain News confirms Anderson has signed with Missouri

Eric Garcia, SS; Pflugerville, TX (Hendrickson HS)

The Austin American-Statesman.com confirms Garcia's verbal commitment: "Garcia was a second-team All-State pick as a junior. He received offers from Texas, Texas Tech, Arkansas, LSU, Texas State and Sam Houston State. He is the first Hendrickson baseball player to sign with an NCAA Division I school."

Andy Heifner, 3B/RHP; St. Charles West HS, MO

· St. Louis Post-Dispatch confirms Heifner has signed with Mizzou

Blake Brown, OF/P; Bloomington, IL (Normal West HS)

· Pantagraph.com confirms Brown has signed with MU

Jack Dudenhoeffer, 3B/RHP, Pembroke Hill HS, Kansas City

· Confirmed: has signed with MU

Zach Hadroin, LHP, Blinn College


A couple of players known to be considering Mizzou along with other schools:

Gregg Culp, RHP; Edwardsville, IL; brother of former Tiger Nathan Culp

Chad James, LHP; Yukon, OK

- I have received word that Chad James has committed to Oklahoma State

We will continue to update this information as official word of signings reaches us.

If anyone out there has more information about these or other MU recruits, feel free to posts comments here or send me an e-mail at simmonsfield@hotmail.com.

A lot of money buys a lot of ugly

The University of Oregon is starting up with Baseball as an NCAA sport for the first time in 2009. They've thrown a lot of money at the startup of the program, including hiring one of the top college coaches in the country (George Horton, who took Cal State-Fullerton to the CWS) and they're building a state of the art ballpark for the team.

And now they've unveiled their opening season uniforms.

Most of them are pretty cool. But the big "O" is horrible.

Of course, Oregon has a reputation for ugly uniforms in all their sports. They are heavily subsidized by money from Nike, and that company likes to experiment with unusual styles for the Ducks' uniforms, apparently.

Even those better looking uniforms in their collection are offbeat. Note this quote:

"A close look at the gray pinstripe reveals the pinstripes are made with the words of the Oregon fight song."

2009 Recruit: Cody King

Cody King; RHP/SS; 6'2", 155 lb, R/R; Kirksville, MO

2008 stats (from MaxPreps.com):
· Batting: .273 (18-for-66); 17 R, 15 RBI, 3 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR; 10 BB, 14 K, 2 HBP, .385 OBP, .424 SLG; 9/10 SB

· Pitching: 6-2; 2 Saves; 1.721 ERA; 2.143 OBP; 40.2 IP, 182 BF, 18 R, 10 ER, 32 H, 20 BB, 62 K, 8 HBP, 2 CG

Missouri Class 3 All-State: 2007 & 2008 Second Team

According to Perfect Game Crosschecker, King has committed to Mizzou

King is a 3-sport athlete (baseball, basketball, football)

King is the starting QB for the Kirksville football team:

· King's Football STATS

· Video of King at QB

However, according to the Kirksville Daily Press, King's football season ended early due to an October 17th concussion.

King was name All-Conference in basketball; MaxPreps has his basketball STATS

2009 Recruit: Andy Heifner

Andy Heifner, 3B/RHP; (Full name: William Andrew Heifner); 6'5", 185 lb, R/R; St. Charles West HS (MO)

2008 Offense: .177 (11-for-62), .282 OB%, .242 Slg %, 6 R, 7 1B, 4 2B, 10 RBI, 9 BB, 13 K. 0 SB, 1 CS

2008 Pitching: 1-3, 15.7 IP, 22 R, 21 ER, 9.38 ERA, 20 H, 6 2B, 1 3B, 13 BB, 12 K

2007 Offense: .250 (13-for-52); .350 OB%, .327 Slg%, 5 R, 9 1B, 4 2B, 14 RBI, 8 BB, 8 K, 1 SB

2007 Pitching: 1-0, 5.7 IP, 18 R, 11 ER, 13/59 ERA, 8 H, 6 2B, 11 BB, 8 K


Selected for 2009 Rawlings Prospects

Heifner also plays basketball for St. Charles West

According to post on the STLtoday.com Message Board, Andy Heifner has made a verbal commitment to Mizzou. I don't know much about him. His stats are unimpressive on paper. Following are some comments about Heifner from that forum thread:

· Andy Heifner, St Charles West: 6'5" 180lb RHP loose arm, projectable frame who should develop in to low-90's type of guy. Currently mid-80's. Began pitching full time over summer.

· [Heifner] has a big frame and can still add a lot of size to it. He is focusing on pitching now (I'm sure will hit and play infield in HS), but his future is on the mound. The folks from the Prospects I talked with yesterday, said he hit 87mph over the weekend in Chicago.

. . . once he adds 25 pounds or so, he may very well be a low 90's guy. So does he go to Mizzou and pitch on the weekend as a freshman, no, but Mizzou obviously has a track record of taking very similar body types and developing them to their ultimate potential. Heifner has increased his velocity 3 to 4 mph since the spring. It's all about projectability in some cases. I would imagine that Mizzou has seen him throw on several occasions and wants to make that investment. With the roster size cap, money cap, etc, every roster spot whether it's a scholarship slot, or non-money guy, is precious. Decisions are not made lightly.

Another source tells me that the scouts like Heifner's frame and arm action. His velocity is 85-87 mph right now, and he throws a tight, late-breaking breaking-ball with a change up.