SIGNED QB Bubba Starling

Pretty sure with bloom it was sponsorship money versus getting paid for a different sport. Many Olympic athletes live and/or train on corporate sponsorships. Start allowing sponsorship money to college athletes and anyone can funnel money to these kids.

 
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dylan said:
Pretty sure with bloom it was sponsorship money versus getting paid for a different sport. Many Olympic athletes live and/or train on corporate sponsorships. Start allowing sponsorship money to college athletes and anyone can funnel money to these kids.
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Yeah, that's it. Otherwise you could put an SEC player on skis once and than claim you are giving him money for a ski sponsorship. Can't make it that easy for them. But common sense says that Bloom was a legit skier and getting sponsorship money in line with his skiing ability and results. Or would be getting. I forget which way he went on that but he had to choose.

 
Bubba Starling turned 21 last August. He has played in only 178 games as a professional baseball player, and taken only 730 at-bats. The Royals cannot even determine his timetable for a major-league arrival, general manager Dayton Moore suggested on Monday, until he receives 800 to 1,000 more at-bats. That means two more seasons of evaluation — if Starling can avoid injury and the other pitfalls awaiting young players.
“He’s still a puppy,” Moore said. “He’s very young.”

But a trio of factors make Starling prominent for the fanbase: He grew up in nearby Gardner. He was a three-sport star who turned down a football scholarship to Nebraska. After the Royals picked him fifth in the 2011 draft, Starling received a $7.5 million signing bonus.

Of course, you know all this. But Moore would like the fans to remember the team placed a long-term bet on Starling, one they don’t expect to cash in on any time soon. He will begin this season in Class A Wilmington in the Carolina League. In the lower-level South Atlantic League in 2013, Starling batted .241 with 13 homers, 21 doubles and a .727 OPS. He struck out in more than 25 percent of his at-bats.

The Royals understood this might happen. Starling did not play the game full-time in high school. A hitter can only rise to his level of competition, Moore explained.

But Starling’s profile around the game has taken a hit. In 2012, Baseball Prospectus ranked him No. 27 among the game’s top 101 prospects. In 2013, he fell to No. 49. This year, he was not on the list.

For now, Moore indicated the club has little worry about Starling as a defender.

“He can play center field as good as anybody in the game, right now, today,” he said.
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Kansas City Star

 
I wonder how his adjustment to the travel-road life, straight out of HS, has played a role in his development? The Royals sure are a patient group and I hope he develops into a star for the organization.

 
Thought that was interesting for some who ask "why do we even try to recruit these guys who are going to play baseball?" Worth the shot, imo.

 
I've never in my life seen a high school kid that attracted the sort of dramatic over-exaggerations as a local legend that Bubba Starling did. It was hilarious seeing some of the stories people would come out with about him.

 
Now juxtapose that excerpt with this, taken this week from Patrick Obley in the Class A Carolina League:
Starling’s statistics are so bad that when he went 4 of 21 this past week, he actually raised his batting average to .133. His batting stance is an awkward combination of noisy and sluggish and seems to change from at-bat to at-bat. His 24 strikeouts in 17 games shows he has yet to bring a plan with him to the plate.
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He is a brilliant defender in center field. Last Wednesday against Lynchburg, Starling made a warning-track catch in right-center with his back to the infield, then whirled around and threw a strike to second base to nail a runner who was tagging from first. That said, time is rapidly running out on Starling, who likely only has this season to prove his worth before the Royals adjust their expectations and consider him little more than a future fourth outfielder.

Dayton Moore, Royals GM, said two months ago that Starling needs more time. ButBubba turns 22 in August. He would’ve been a fourth-year senior this fall at Nebraska (Time flies, doesn’t it.) I hope he plays at Kauffman Stadium someday. But I wonder how many nights he spends wondering about football. Wondering if he made the wrong decision.
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OWH

 
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Update stats as of April 24: (Wilmington Blue Rocks - Class A)

.132 batting average, 68 AB, 9 RUNS, 4 DOUBLES, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 26 SO, 9 BB, 1 SB, 0 Errors

Monte Harrison = Bubba Starling ? http://sports.omaha....n/#.U1q00FcytlM

and Carl Crawford too
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Hey, maybe Weeden and Weinke's paths ?? ....... Starling's LOI is still valid ??? (probably not)

 
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I keep seeing statements on boards wishing Bubba would quit baseball and come to NU for football. I thought his eligibility clock already started since he went to summer practice, and I am assuming you have to be enrolled to do that. You have 5 years to complete 4 playing years, he won't be eligible for college anything after this year. Am I missing something, could he be eligible?

 
caveman99 said:
I keep seeing statements on boards wishing Bubba would quit baseball and come to NU for football. I thought his eligibility clock already started since he went to summer practice, and I am assuming you have to be enrolled to do that. You have 5 years to complete 4 playing years, he won't be eligible for college anything after this year. Am I missing something, could he be eligible?
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Your "clock" doesn't start until you enroll. There are myriad examples of players who play baseball first them return as "seasoned" college football players. Chris Wienke winning the Heisman as a 26-year-old (or something like that) is one example.

 
caveman99 said:
I keep seeing statements on boards wishing Bubba would quit baseball and come to NU for football. I thought his eligibility clock already started since he went to summer practice, and I am assuming you have to be enrolled to do that. You have 5 years to complete 4 playing years, he won't be eligible for college anything after this year. Am I missing something, could he be eligible?
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Eligibility starts from the beginning of the semester in which the student-athlete first registered for a minimum full-time program of studies. From the way I read things, if a high school student has final transcripts and is accepted for enrollment as a regular full-time student for the next term they can practice during the summer. But the NCAA is insane and it wouldn't surprise me if he is out of eligibility also.

 
Eligibility isn't something that starts and keeps going regardless of circumstances like the timer on a bomb.

If you aren't in school, your eligibility is not being exhausted.

 
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