'11 KS QB Bubba Starling (Nebraska Verbal)

[JDAtlanta]

I read somewhere that his Dad was laid-off. This could be a big factor. The kid seems like a good person on top of being an outstanding athlete. I hope he does well in baseball. I'd hate to face him in a bowl game. But, it would be fun seeing him tear up the Big 10/12 in football.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

MLB draftee Bubba Starling not at Nebraska Cornhuskers' 1st practice - ESPN

Blessing in disguise that he didn't come to ND.

Kid has a bright future with whatever he does.

 

[ndfi78]

Dude needs to go play baseball IMO

 

[D-BOE34]

Dude needs to go play baseball IMO

+1 .... If it doesn't work out he can come back and play some football

 

[chgocub23]

Gerrit Cole among 23 unsigned MLB 1st-round picks - ESPN

Looks like He will be going to Nebraska afterall...

Just kidding, ESPN just changed the story up on me, I swear it said they hadn't signed yet.

 

[zbikowski88]

Royals reach agreement with Bubba Starling - Rotoworld.com
Royals agreed to terms with first-round pick OF Bubba Starling.
Starling held out until the last minute while considering a football scholarship to the University of Nebraska. But the Royals' generous signing bonus -- worth $7.5 million over three years -- eventually swayed the highly athletic 19-year-old. Bubba has superstar potential and has drawn comparisons, at times, to Bo Jackson.

 

[chgocub23]

Darn You Zibby! stupid espn ruined my glory! thanks for getting the story right though.

 

[KPENN]

Did anyone have any doubt? In truth he is a great baseball talent, and he never showed himself to be the kind of team player that ND recruits. I heard the breaking point in his recruitment was when Kelly refused to name the Stadium after him. Plus the special order helmets . . .

Huh? You've gotta be frickin kidding me. If you put a $7.5 million dollar in front of every player on ND's roster every single one of them would think twice about it and probably take it. The kid now can help support his family. And your calling him selfish. Why? Just cause he didn't go to ND? Wow just wow

 

[IrishJayhawk]

Huh? You've gotta be frickin kidding me. If you put a $7.5 million dollar in front of every player on ND's every single one of them would think twice about it and probably take it. The kid now can help support his family. And your calling him selfish. Why? Just cause he didn't go to ND? Wow just wow

^This. Reps.

He just set his family up for the rest of their lives. Would you take it? Or are you just too much of a "team player"?

Hope he helps dig the Royals out of the ditch.

 

[IrishJayhawk]

I think Bogtrotter07 was trying to be funny

It seemed to me that the "team player" comment was serious, but the rest was sarcastic.

If that was not the case, my apologies.

If that was the case, I do not apologize.

 

[BeauBenken]

How much guaranteed is he getting?...Yea, I'd take it.

 

[dublinirish]

randomly saw this tweeted
Royals' Dayton Moore is confident Bubba Starling just needs more time - KansasCity.com

Sounds like he is still a few years away from the Show

 

[Kaneyoufeelit]

randomly saw this tweeted
Royals' Dayton Moore is confident Bubba Starling just needs more time - KansasCity.com

Sounds like he is still a few years away from the Show

At least a few years away. I saw him play this summer and he definitely looks the part and has all the tools but he looked gross at the plate. He was stiff and looked overwhelmed by fastballs and clueless on breaking balls. He did not a have good year last year

 

[dublinirish]

Royals prospect Bubba Starling starting to put it all together | The Kansas City Star

 

[Legacy]

Bubba's star is finally exploding

"After a bumpy road, Bubba is finally going supernova. His future has yet to be written into the stars, true, but he has pulled himself out of the bottomless prospect black hole and is closely orbiting the Major League club--surprisingly close. Bubba has willed himself into the outfield picture of 2016 and perhaps even 2015."

 

[IrishLax]

This is an epic read back. First, an illustration of why I've never been able to stand Pete Sampson's style of reporting:

Bubba told Pete Sampson (II) that he ran an electrically timed 4.38. Pete says he is a ND lock to this point and will be talkin with him sometime this week about his visit. He said he is also shocked about him not committing this weekend, but that its probably coming soon. Bubba is just probably seeing if his feelings for ND are the same 3-4 days later as they were this weekend.

As far as ND coverage goes, Pete has always been the KING of over-stating and premature reporting. But then when he gets scooped, he pulls out the "well I knew this too but chose not to report it"... which is total bullshit, because when he has any sort of indication or inkling he puts it out there. (Or uses "TJ" to do it).

Worley
Marquise Williams
Jacoby Brissett

and waiting in the wings, Kevin Hogan

Notre Dame passed on Kevin Hogan in 2011, opting instead to target other QBs after missing on Bubba and eventually landing on Golson. Golson beat Hogan in their only head-to-head matchup, and Hogan has played 2.5 seasons of rather mediocre football for the Cardinal. Every year he is tabbed as "could this be his breakout season?" and it has yet to happen... but he's consistently not terrible despite very average skill position talent around him, reasonably athletic, and has NFL upside.

If you could go back in time, would you take a consistent player with a good head on his shoulders over Golson? I think you'd have to knowing that Golson would start for 2 seasons, be carried by the defense for one of them, and then implode over the second half of his last one.

First he's a quarterback who just picked Nebraska over ND with Brian Kelly. That signals to me that he either:

A.) Wants to play ASAP
B.) Football isn't important.

Baseball looks to be more important to him. Going to Nebraska allows him to stay closer to home and not have to buy into the whole ND experience, when he might be gone right away or in a year or two.

We're probably better off not bringing him in. He'd probably only get our hopes, only to see very little playing time inside ND Stadium.

Look at Rocket89 with the crystal ball! This post is freaking prophetic.

It would be a big loss if it was 2001 and we didn't have Crist and Hendrix long-term.

And then... woof. Shows prognostication is far from an exact science.

How absurd is it that Charlie Weis did not bring in a single competent QB as a potential successor to Clausen? He had three full recruiting classes to get it right... and instead left the cupboard barren.

How much different would Kelly's tenure at Notre Dame have been is Crist has lived up to his 5-star billing? How much different would it have been if Weis had signed a QB in the 2009 class? Or if any of the three 2010 signees had the tools to run the offense?

 

[dublinirish]

Dayne was a 5 star though, and physically looked the part, I think most people thought he would be great at ND..

 

[irishfan]

Dayne was a 5 star though, and physically looked the part, I think most people thought he would be great at ND..

Agreed. Crist and Luck were the only two QBs that Harbaugh offered at Stanford. He was a legit prospect, just seemed to lose it between the ears after his two knee injuries.

 

[IrishLax]

Dayne was a 5 star though, and physically looked the part, I think most people thought he would be great at ND..

Everyone thought he would be great. I even remember people calling for him to start over Clausen sight unseen. He was your prototypical QB in every measureable category...

...but then it turned out he wasn't very accurate, and despite being a very smart person never really mastered the mental side of the position.

 

[ulukinatme]

Count me as someone who thought Crist would do great things. Seeing him spell Clausen in 2009 had me excited for the future. After the knee injury in 2010 though, and seeing the way he played against South Florida and USC in 2011, I was behind Tommy till he graduated. On top of Hendrix's struggles it was clear that Rees was the best we had at the time. Golson certainly gave us more big play ability in 2012, but if he wasn't in the picture I'm willing to bet that defense still would have produced 12 wins with Rees starting.

 

[dublinirish]

Baseball Prospectus calls Bubba Starling one of biggest busts ever | The Kansas City Star

 

[dwshade]

Man I completely forgot about that guy. Can't believe it's been six years.

 

[dublinirish]

apparently he almost quit baseball this year but he's been batting better since. Only 24 years old, he could probably still play college ball, not too late

 

[dwshade]

apparently he almost quit baseball this year but he's been batting better since. Only 24 years old, he could probably still play college ball, not too late

Another Chris Weinke.

 

[dshans]

Another Chris Weinke.

He should have his agent contact FSU.

If the price is right, who knows?

 

[dwshade]

If the kid invested his baseball money well he won't need any help.

 

[KPENN]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/07/royals-promote-bubba-starling.html

 

[ACamp1900]

I love the comment sections... "Any human looks bad in an A's uniform... " lol

 

[IrishLion]

This is an epic read back. First, an illustration of why I've never been able to stand Pete Sampson's style of reporting:

As far as ND coverage goes, Pete has always been the KING of over-stating and premature reporting. But then when he gets scooped, he pulls out the "well I knew this too but chose not to report it"... which is total bullshit, because when he has any sort of indication or inkling he puts it out there. (Or uses "TJ" to do it).

This recruitment is the one that sucked me into following recruiting in general.

I was always aware of Weis's classes when they were signed, and I followed BK's first class at ND because I played with/against the NKY guys that were committed, but Bubba Starling is the one that turned me into a recruiting addict.

And to be fair to Sampson, it was probably because so many of the ND reporters seemed certain that Starling was gonna pick ND and crush the world in BK's offense. Sampson wasn't the only one.

I remember falling down the rabbit hole of ND blogs and reports that could be found copied from premium sites, and they all thought that it was simply a matter of days before Starling picked ND.

(Starling's recruitment turned me on to recruiting news in general, but Davonte Neal's is the one that made me sign up for IE lol)

 

[Legacy]

Starling was taken off the Royals 40-man roster last winter and was a free agent. Nobody wanted him. He re-signed with the Royals on a minor league deal. An impressive spring training and a minor league season that earned him an appearance in the Triple A All-Star game puts him back on teams' radar. He's out of options and if sent down would have to clear waivers

Inexplicably, in the offseason Royals GM Moore signed OF Billy Hamilton for $4 million on a one year contract. Hamilton may be released to make room for Starling. Hamilton is hitting .217 with a 0.5 WAR.

Enjoyed this comment from an Indians' fan:

Maybe they are getting ready to trade Jorge Soler. I would love to see him in the 4 hole in Cleveland. I wonder what kind of prospects he would cost?

Soler is having his best season in his eight year career. It's worth seeing if Starling can hit major league pitching. Maybe Starling moves on next year.