Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Enjoy your day, and here’s a profile on a Red Sox prospect you may not have heard of… but you will soon…
Dubbed one of the top pitchers in the Midwest, Brock Huntzinger has a bright future ahead of him as a Boston Red Sox farmhand.
Drafted in the third round of the 2007 amateur draft, Huntzinger bypassed college to join a minor league system teeming with prospects, its latest successes being Clay Buchholz, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia.
Prior to being drafted, Huntzinger had an astounding 0.29 ERA in high school to go along with a 7-1 record, 95 strikeouts and only seven walks. He led the Pendelton Heights Arabians to the conference title and ended his high school career having whiffed 257 batters in 201 total innings.
Hailing from Pendleton Heights, Ind., Huntzinger had plans to attend Indiana University and would only bypass those plans if he got enough money to make it worth it to give up college and an education. He found the Red Sox were willing to provide that money, a reported $225,000.
Several teams besides the Red Sox were interested in Huntzinger. The Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins Philadelphia Phillies and Boston
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great insight to a player i never heard of – thanks evan! great work
10 to 5 slider. Is he a lefty?
http://theredsoxoutsider.blogspot.com/2007/08/draft-review-brock-huntzinger.html
Here is something i wrote about Brock a couple months ago. I really think he is the best player we drafted. Hagadone scares me and Middlebrooks is pretty overrated.
Quick question,
Is $225,000 a lot of money for a guy taken in the 3rd round? The article makes it seem like it is. What would be the normal “slot money” for this kind of pick?
Kevin,
This site: http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/draft/2006/dr_06_06_29_signingbonuses.aspx
Seems to show that it is NOT a lot for a 3rd rounder
It is not a lot for a third rounder…teams like to take some guys they like earlier then expected partly because they can adhere to the MLB slot recommendations and then go overboard later in the draft for tough signs. The Sox and many big market teams often take 1st/2nd round high-school talents that have given the indication that they will only sign for 1st round money and take them later in the draft in hopes they may be bluffing or reconsider. They will sign for 1st or 2nd round money and the team gets reprimanded by MLB…but there is no actual penalty…so I do not know what the reluctance is for other teams other then lack of $$. They probably really liked Huntzinger and thought while they could maybe get him in the 5th or 6th it was wise to draft him there and get a guy they like and look responsible in some of the earlier rounds…so they could try and pick and try and sign a guy like Grandal or Britton (he got 2nd round money in the 23rd round)