Derek Klena and Josh Leyland earn CIF player of the year honors; Kevin Smith and Mike Regan earn CIF coach of the year honors

Congrats to Torrance High WILLIAM KOLLMEYER. In my book, you are the Greatest.

Brad

At the first round level its all about the money. That why they sign...

If Meir was drafted in the 30+ round do you think he would sign? Would potential or physical attributes matter?

Its all about the money in the upper rounds..

Congratulations to both South Hills and San Dimas and their Player's of the Year Leyland and Klena and to the two coaches. Especially pleased for Klena, what a HS career for a local boy to pitch at both MLB ball parks!
As for Mier congratulations on being drafted, as far as CIF, he didn't even win MVP of his league, which is usually nominated by the head coach. He is being evaliuated on a different level for a completely different thing.

Steve, I watched the televised portion of the draft and a lot of noise was made by the commentators about "signability" but this term appeared to be synonymous with the players who have hired Scott Boras as their agent. Considering that 1st round picks can expect to receive a signing bonus of somewhere between $1.5 to $6M, this usually isn't an issue for high school draftees. In 2008, only two of the thirty 1st round draftees didn't sign and both were college players. And, I never said that it is all about talent, instead, I said that it is about "who has the physical attributes to play the grown man's game" which is why Pedroza from Northview and Jensen from San Dimas, who are both very good high school shortstops that have the "potential" to improve but lack the size and most of all the arm strength to play the big league game, were not drafted and Mier was. Does anyone think that if either Pedroza or Jensen were offered $1.5M, they wouldn’t sign?

Steve, I watched the televised portion of the draft and a lot of noise was made by the commentators about "signability" but this term appeared to be synonomous with the players who have hired Scott Boras as their agent. Considering that 1st round picks can expect to receive a signing bonus of somewhere between $1.5 to $6M, this usually isn't an issue for high school draftees. In 2008, only two of the thirty 1st round draftess didn't sign and both were college players. And, I never said that it is all about talent, instead, I said that it is about "who has the physical attributes to play the grown man's game" which is why Pedroza from Northview and Jensen from San Dimas, who are both very good high school shortstops that have the "potential" to improve but lack the size and most of all the arm strength to play the big league game, were not drafted and Mier was.

Brad,
The MLB First-Year Player Draft is all about signability. The spot a particular player was selected doesn't mean he's that much better than someone who is picked later, it usually means to these clubs that he is more signable. It's a balance between their talent level and their ability to sign easily. These clubs don't want hassles, that's why some players drop completely out of the draft and others make big jumps up the latter. There was a player in our area last year who told teams that unless than were willing to pay a big chunk of change, he was going to honor his college letter. I heard a MLB team official say this week that drafting high school players is like throwing darts, most don't stick, but when you get one that does, he can be that diamond in the rough. Sometimes they draft on trying to figure who has the higher ceiling. Player A might be better now, but Player B has the potential to be better three years from now. I can remember a few years ago when the Seattle Mariners spend a sandwich pick on Nomar Garciaparra's younger brother, who hadn't even played his senior year at Bosco Tech, but they took a chance on the bloodlines. But it's not an exact science, and that's why most teams go with the college players, who statistically have a better chance of making to the Major League than the high school players for a variety of reasons, including a resume of playing a higher caliber of competition and the adjustment to playing on the road. But to say it's all about talent would be a mistake, because that's not always the case.

Brad

The reference to stats was why CIF passed on Jio not the minors.

Read the post.

But lets get real, his bat needs work big time. He could be a back up in the bigs in two years, because backup dont hit, but if he wants the starting job, he better mash.

LetEmPlay... I realize that Pedroza and Jensen are in D4 but my point in using them as examples is that they were draft eligible players, which as a Junior, Ibarra wasn't. The vast majority of high school and for that matter college kids are hard working, intelligent and from good parents so this is a non-factor as to who gets drafted...unless a kid is a drug using, gang-banging ax-murderer, clubs look at who has the physical attributes to play the grown man's game, that's it. And Time Tells, don't get caught up in stats as teams keep and report their own stats with some programs having more integrity about what's a hit or an error than others...5 or 6 favorable scorekeeper rulings a season sure inflates the average. And, Mier played in the Miramonte who as a league proved to be better than average as evidenced by their showing in CIF. So, comparing stats is dubious which is why Mier was drafted and Jensen and Pedroza weren't. I havn't seen Ibarra play for a few years but I'm going out on a limb right now that he won't be drafted next year in the first round.

Maybe CIF figured that hitting under .400 for D3 wasn't enough to reward him this year.

Does it really matter at this point? The kid just needs to work harder from this point on and he'll be fine...

Brad

Compare Jio not to Pedroza and Jenson from D4 but to Ibarra and other infileders from D3 where he plays. What the CIF teams should be recognizing is who actually performed the best THIS season. For a shortstop that would include all facets of play from fielding, hitting, base running, team leadership and the impact (premium for clutch play) that player had on the games in which he played.

Much was made by the press and scouts about the "intangibles" the go into a draft selection and particularly of how this young man Mier was picked partly based on a very high degree of positive overall qualities. That's a recognition of a great attitude, great work ethic, intelligence, good upbringing and other factors that a professional team prefers on top of the necessary size, strength and skill. On a sheer talent basis it's ridiculous to exclude Jio from these teams. Maybe there was some clerical error or oversight as to why a top pro draft pick doesn't win some local high school award. But it could also just be that some of these other players had slightly better years and deserved this award. I haven't seen enough of the other boy's play to rule out that possibility.

I'm not a Bonita shill but saw Mier play several games this year. I must say that Mier being the 21st overall pick but not being the best shortstop in the division, a division that had zero other shortstops drafted, is one of the most ridiculous statements that I've ever read. He is the best shortstop in the league and one of the top high school players at his position in the country. MLB teams are run by the best baseball minds on the planet and they know that Mier, unlike his contemporaries in the SGV, for example Jensen at San Dimas (appears to be 5'8", 150 lbs with average arm) or Pedroza at Northview (around 5'6" and 140 lbs with very average arm), presently, yes at this very moment and not projectedly, possesses the physical ability namely, size (about 6' 2" and 180 lbs), major league arm strength, excellent running and hand speed, to play at the professional level. Whether he makes it to the bigs will be dependent upon whether he develops these EXISTING skills to the level and consistency that is required of a big leaguer. He'll never be drafted higher so to not sign would be a big surprise. Good luck to him.

What's imteresting about Jio going 21st, is that the Astros beleive this kid will develop in the future. It's their projection, not so much what he did this year..

Did he have a big year at Bonita? Some in the know say No! They believe he had a better better junior year.

Does it matter now? No, and god bless him for getting picked high!

Reality - He will now have to produce at the next level to make it. It all starts now, because each step is way tougher than playing at in HS.

Good Luck..

Did you see Orange play?

Jio Meir might have been the 21st pick and still not be the best SS in his division.

Andre Byum's teams lost in the first round of the basketball playoffs and 3 months later he was the Lakers # 1 pick

It happens both Andrew and Jio will just have to suffer the indignity...lol

hahahah how do orange players get 1st and 2nd team when they lost their opener and no recognition to any los altos players??

I'm sure Jio Mier will have 1.5 million reasons why he'll get over it.

BTW, also in the later rounds of the draft was Bonita's Jeff Gelalich.

I suspect his choice of the UCLA ride or the minors will be easier than guys picked in the big money rounds but picked is picked.

Way to go Jello.

How the hell did Jio Mier not get any kind of recognition? The 21st overall pick in the draft cant get all CIF? WOW thats pretty stupid if you ask me. It seems like a lot of players got robbed by CIF and others were way overrated and had no business being there. Some of these players are getting voted in just because they are a "big name" player now and there stats really arent that good. Crazy how CIF comes up with this stuff.

I was thinking the same thing, how was Jio overlooked?

Jio Mier is the 21st player taken in the MLB draft, but according to CIF he isn't one of the top 44 players in Div. 3.

That makes as much sense as one of Ken Huths sentences.