Baseball Recruiting Update: Commit #9 for 2014
The spring signing period begins tomorrow for baseball and many other sports, and perhaps the Michigan program will be issuing an official release on their 2013 signees later this week or soon thereafter. In the meantime, late last month, Erik Bakich and his staff secured their ninth 2014 commit, Ty Kiafoulis.
Hello: Ty Kiafoulis
OF, Birmingham Brother Rice (MI) — 6-5, 230 lbs.
Committed: March 2013
Rankings/Grade:
- Perfect Game: grade of 8 ("potential draft pick and/or excellent college prospect")
- Prep Baseball Report: not known
- Michigan Baseball Prospects: ranked #14 in the state
Scouting Report: from his PBR profile, posted Feb. 2013:
Kiafoulis is a hulking presence, checking in at 6-foot-5, 230 pounds. He showed extremely well overall in the outfield. His throws were accurate and showed some carry. But Kiafoulis excels at the plate. He is athletic and has a swagger in the box. And for a big man, he has a very short compact stroke. Kiafoulis also showed that he can run well for his size (7.03).
And here's a bit more on Kiafoulis and his commitment from a MIPrepZone article:
“Getting the decision taken care of this early is exciting and takes a lot of pressure off for the next two years,” said Kiafoulis of accepting his offer from the Wolverines. “Michigan is a great school with a great tradition and the baseball team is on the way up, so to be a part of all that is an awesome feeling and something I’m extremely looking forward to.”
In Brother Rice’s season-opening doubleheader sweep of Grosse Pointe North on Tuesday, Kiafoulis showed off his power and quick bat, clubbing three hits and four RBI in the set of wins, highlighted by a towering three-run homer in the first game of the day.
His head coach Bob Riker is fast to compliment his rising batsmen and his college selection.
“Ty has big-time potential, we’re talking a very high ceiling with the kind of player he could end up becoming,” Riker said. “He’s a natural hitter with pop in his bat and a good eye at the plate. I think it’s a great fit for both of them. They’re (Michigan) fortunate to get his commitment.”
2014 and 2015 Commits
Below are charts listing the known Michigan baseball commits for 2014 and 2015. There are a number of links in the PG and PBR columns to profile pages at those sites. Cursoring over the underlined text in the rightmost column will cause boxes to pop up with a scouting report on the player (taken from one of the sites linked).
EDIT: The charts wouldn't display properly here, so I've inserted them as replies below.
April 16th, 2013 at 10:59 AM ^
2014 Commits | Position, School | Hgt., Wt. | PG Rank/Grade | PBR Rank | MBP Rank | Scouting Rpt. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jake Bivens | SS/2B, Battle Creek Lakeview H.S. (MI) | 6-0, 175 | n/a | MI: #5 | MI: #8 | PBR |
Brandon Hughes | LHP, Sterling Heights Stevenson H.S. (MI) | 6-2, 175 | n/a | MI: #11 | MI: #5 | PBR |
Oliver Jaskie | LHP, Forest Hills Central H.S. (Ada Twp., MI) | 6-4, 190 | n/a | MI: #14 | MI: #16 | PBR |
Ty Kiafoulis | OF, Birmingham Brother Rice (MI) | 6-5, 230 | Grade: 8 | n/a | MI: #14 | PG |
Drew Lugbauer | C/3B, Arlington H.S. (Pleasant Valley, NY) | 6-4, 210 | Grade: 8.5 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Bryan Pall | RHP, Carl Sandburg H.S. (Orland Park, IL) | 6-1, 190 | US: #343; IL: #10 | region: #47; IL: #10 | n/a | PBR |
Grant Reuss | LHP, Cranbrook Kingswood (Bloomfield Hills, MI) | 6-5, 210 | n/a | MI: #3 | MI: #2 | PBR |
Jayce Vancena | RHP, Lake H.S. (Millbury, OH) | 6-4, 210 | n/a | n/a | n/a | PBR |
Rahman Williams | SS, Morgan Park H.S. (Chicago) | 5-11, 170 | US: #139; IL: #3 | region: #25; IL: #7 | n/a | PBR |
April 16th, 2013 at 11:01 AM ^
2015 Commits | Position, School | Hgt., Wt. | PG Rank/Grade | PBR Rank | MBP Rank | Scouting Rpt. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Charlie Donovan | SS, Westmont H.S. (IL) | 5-10, 165 | n/a | region: #7; IL: #1 | n/a | PBR |
April 16th, 2013 at 11:50 AM ^
What is baseball?
April 16th, 2013 at 12:05 PM ^
Looks like a good, solid group. Hopefully at least one of the lefties is well-suited for the bullpen.
Am anxious to see what Coach Bakich can do with these guys.
for posting this great info. Looks like a great group of incoming athletes. My question though is why is your post getting downvoted?
Do you see Coach Bakich as being a good recruiter so far?
There's someone who negs just about every baseball post—it's best just to ignore him or her.
Bakich has been getting commits from highly ranked players in the region, so I think he's doing well so far.
Looked into it and he's caved but not blocked and apparently unaware of this fact. Here's my upvote in exchange.
Also wanted to add that I've been clicking on baseball threads regularly with the modding stuff (I didn't before) and have been impressed as always with the info you get up.
I figured that must be the case with him. I think he even posted in this thread, but I can't see his post because I'm not on the app.
And thanks for the compliment.
Michigan is leading Notre Dame 5-0 in the 6th.