Hello: Johnny Slater (baseball)

Submitted by Raoul on

Erik Bakich gets his third commitment this month, with Johnny Slater's verbal pledge yesterday to become part of Michigan's 2013 class. Slater announced the news on Twitter . . .

Verbally committed to play baseball at the University of Michigan! #wolverine

— Johnny Slater (@J_Slate2) July 29, 2012

. . . and it was also included in a brief item posted with a Free Press article on Bolden.

The 6-1 Slater attends Southfield Lathrup H.S. and also plays on the Michigan Concealed Security travel team. The Free Press item has him as a centerfielder, but his Perfect Game profile lists him as left-handed pitcher with a fastball topping out at 86 mph. I couldn't find much else about him.

Photo source

MaizenBlue93

July 30th, 2012 at 3:20 PM ^

I've seen him play a lot of baseball, he's a great all aroundball player. He's a good pitcher, but not sure if he'll step foot on the mound at Michigan.

Raoul

July 30th, 2012 at 5:07 PM ^

A side note on Michigan baseball: Perfect Game has an article today on the Cotuit Kettleers that talks about how Pat Biondi, who went undrafted in the June MLB draft, could sign as a free agent before the fall:

Biondi and Connolly joined Cotuit this summer after going undrafted as juniors; Aldrich and Nelubowich were passed over as draft-eligible sophomores.



They were all non-drafted players,” Roberts said, “and they’ve really picked up their games considerably this summer. It hasn’t gone unnoticed. In fact, I’ve had a bunch of calls from scouts, including three scouting directors, in just the last 24 hours inquiring about them and other players in the same situation.”



While Aldrich, Biondi, Connolly and Nelubowich went undrafted in June and unsigned by the July 13 deadline, all actually remain eligible to sign with big-league clubs before they are scheduled to return to college in August. Under provisions of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, all players that were eligible for the draft in June and went unselected are still eligible to be signed as non-drafted free agents before fall classes begin.



On the strength of his league-leading .400-plus average after hitting just .304 at Michigan in the spring, Biondi is typical of a player that has drawn increased scrutiny from scouts as the summer season has moved along.

cheesheadwolverine

July 30th, 2012 at 8:39 PM ^

Is there any formal system for ranking (at least the most elite) baseball recruits similar to the scout/rivals/espn basketball and football rankings or the NHL draft service hockey rankings?