Baseball Hello: Nick Plummer

Submitted by Raoul on

The latest Michigan baseball commit is Nick Plummer, a 5-10, 185-lb., left-hand-hitting outfielder out of Birmingham Brother Rice, class of 2015. Plummer attended last week's Top Prospect Games, an invite-only showcase held at Ray Fisher Stadium. Presumably, his performance there led to a Michigan scholarship offer and then to his commitment today.

Last month, PBR included Plummer among four in-state "impact prospects" for 2015:

Nick Plummer, OF, Brother Rice HS, 2015 - Plummer has been impressive thus far this spring and arguably has one of the most advanced approaches in the Class of 2015.  Most noticeably, Plummer has been extremely aggressive on the basepaths.  The patient Plummer is hitting .323 on the year with 31 walks and only 17 strikeouts.  He has swiped 18 bags and only been caught 3 times at an 85% success rate.  Plummer's approach allows him to carry a quiet and calm confidence about him.  He, too, will be attending Top Prospect Games and Midwest Futures this summer.

And here's a bit of hyperbolic prose from Scott Burnstein in a MI Prep Zone profile titled Nick the Quick:

The best way to describe Plummer's talent is 5-TOOL!!!

My boy Nick the Quick has speed, strength, athleticism, a killer clutch bat and a sick arm from the outfield.

Plummer earned a spot as a starter on the state powerhouse Warriors varsity roster as only a ninth-grader and Brother Rice skipper Bob Riker has shown nothing but confidence in his talented young star, throwing him into the fire right off the bat, so to speak, hitting him at the top of his order.

Plummer helped lead Brother Rice to the state Division 1 title game this season, where they lost to Bay City Western (featuring 2013 Michigan signee Brett Adcock). Plummer also plays quarterback for Brother Rice, and his gridiron skills are featured in this highlight video.

Plummer is Michigan baseball's third 2015 commit, following Charlie Donovan (Hello post) and Nick Azar (Hello post).

michiganprepzone.com photo


EDIT: Forgot to note that Plummer is a high school teammate of Ty Kiafoulis, a 2014 Brother Rice outfielder who committed to Michigan in April.

EDIT2: Prep Baseball Report currently has Plummer ranked #7 in the state of Michigan in the 2015 class.

trueblueintexas

June 23rd, 2013 at 9:11 PM ^

Thanks for the updates. Looks like Bakich is doing a great job of locking up the local talent. I like Plummer's choice of number. (Barry Larkin who played short stop for Michigan and the Reds wore #11).

UofM626

June 23rd, 2013 at 9:43 PM ^

Like I've said before, until we troll Southern California it's not going to matter. So Cal has so much talent that goes to community college and NAIA that these kids would jump at the chance to go to Michigan! Way better kids trolling the lower ranks and end up in d2 and D3 schools because no one bothers to go after them in High school, so many damn showcases here and travel ball and camps that this state is oozing w talent.



Go get the Cali kids!

Philbert

June 23rd, 2013 at 11:33 PM ^

This kid seems pretty solid. I have to wonder how many of these guys we will have to fight with the draft over in the coming years. I briefly looked into Texas baseball recruiting a few years ago and they had to take about 20 players in each class because over half would sign an MLB deal. I doubt we will ever have that kind of success but if we can start landing kids that are getting early round draft interest, that would speak volumes to the talent that is coming in.

Raoul

June 24th, 2013 at 12:20 AM ^

The thing is that Big Ten baseball recruiting rules don't allow a team to oversign by as many as Texas and other southern schools can. But the Big Ten rules have been loosened a bit and will be loosened even more, and this should level the playing field somewhat for the conference programs. Here's how Chris Webb explained it in a post from earlier this month on his B1G Baseball blog:

No element more than weather has restricted growth of Big Ten baseball as guidelines placed upon extending aid-in-grant.

Less than five years ago, a Big Ten school was bound from offering aid beyond the college baseball’s allowed 11.7. While all teams must have a roster composed of players equaling 11.7 scholarships by the time games are played, what is offered and extended can, and outside of the conference, has exceeded that.

If right-handed pitcher suddenly bursts onto the prospect scene his junior season and is drafted to the surprise of his coaches, whatever commitment in scholarship he had, that could not be released to other players until he signed a professional contract. If it required 75% of a scholarship to have blue chip prospect sign a National Letter of Intent to play for a Big Ten program and he is drafted, never steps foot on campus, that 75% scholarship for all intents and purposes was wasted, a program is suddenly playing with 10.95 worth of scholarship players.

In light of how programs were being ravished by the draft, three years ago the Big Ten permitted a scholarship to be spread over two players to protect programs, to provide a bit of wiggle room. Going forward that one scholarship had been changed to two, the additional leeway having no restriction on how many players it must be spread upon.

So, yes, I do think with the way Bakich is recruiting he will be facing more fights with the draft, as you put it (it happened to a degree during the recent draft with both Jackson Lamb and Johnny Slater coming close to agreeing to sign with MLB teams). But Bakich will have a bit more flexibility because of the rules changes, so he'll be able to take a few more chances on prospects with high draft buzz.

Vote_Crisler_1937

June 24th, 2013 at 8:11 AM ^

If you are a great baseball player in So Cal you are better off going NAIA or JC/CC than going to the Big Ten. Good NAIA programs have a lot of scholarship money (they are not subject to the NCAA 11.7 max) and kids can go pro from CC/JC their first year, second year, or transfer to a powerhouse NCAA school and get drafted from there.



The argument against a Cal kid giving up one of these schools for M is that he would have to pay 25%-75% (assuming he has a baseball scholarship) of out of state cost vs free for the other schools, and he has to stay 3 years vs being able to go pro any time at the other schools, and he has to face the awful weather and schedule disadvantages. Lastly, far less steroid testing at most NAIA or JC CC schools than the BIG requires. If that's your thing.