With the upcoming Major League Draft just a few days, T.R. Miller’s Kevin Davis could possibly have a decision to make on whether to sign with a professional team that drafts him or honor is committment to play college baseball at Auburn University.
Davis said he is not leaning a certain way as of right now.
“Signability is term you will hear a lot in draft terms,” Davis said. “Basically it is how much it is going to take to get someone to sign. Is a person wanting to go to school or is he wanting to play professional baseball? First and foremost, it is everybody’s dream to play professional baseball. Every kid that steps on a baseball field or watches one of those games wants to be one of those guys playing in front of 40 or 50,000 people.”
While it may be a dream of his to play professional baseball, Davis says he is open to going to college first. Although if he goes to Auburn first it will be at least three years before he can go to professional baseball.
“It takes three years once you go to a division one school to be able to go in the next draft,” Davis said. “If you go to junior college, you are draft eligible every year. If you go division one, you are eligible after your junior year and your senior year. To sign is that first step in getting there because it has always been one of my dreams to play professional baseball and it will always be. If I sign out of high school, it is going to be my first step in getting there. If I don’t sign and go on to Auburn and play in the SEC, it is literally almost like a minor league baseball deal because the brand of competition is so good. There are pros and cons of both.”
Davis said some college coaches have ties to professional baseball and that is one reason why he chose Auburn because of their track record.
“A lot of pitchers who pitch three years in college, you see them move quickly in the minor leagues,” he said. “I am open to both situations. I am just going to wait and see what happens. When your dream is to play professional baseball, you want to go ahead and get it started. Then again, I want to enjoy college and pitch there. The 2011, 2012 and 2013 class that Auburn has brought in is really solid and we are going to do great things there. I have to look at how long is it going to take me once I graduate high school to get to the big leagues from both situations (college or right into the minor leagues).”
Auburn lost their head baseball coach Sunday afternoon as John Pawlowski was let go after five seasons. Auburn failed to make the baseball regionals this year and it was the third straight year without an appearance in the NCAA tournament. Pawlowski was 167-126 in five years in Auburn. The Tigers won the SEC Western Division crown in 2010 and hosted an NCAA regional. Coaches listed as possible replacements for Pawlowski at Auburn are: Casey Dunn (Samford head coach), Butch Thompson (Mississippi State pitching coach), Bobby Pierce (Troy head coach), Scott Forbes (North Carolina pitching coach) and Mark Calvi (head coach at South Alabama).
Davis said despite the loss of Pawlowski, if he goes to Auburn, it is more about the people he will be surrounded with.
“I think Auburn was on the verge of being a perennial power in the SEC under coach Pawlowski,” Davis said. “They started out their SEC schedule with LSU and Vanderbilt (two teams that played in the championship game of the SEC tournament this year) and that made them start 0-6 in league play this year. I talked with coach (Scott) Fox(hall) (assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Auburn) yesterday (Monday) and he said he has not been notified of any other changes and that coach Pawlowski is the only one gone as of now. He said they could go in a different direction now or ask the others to stay around. It is more about the people you will be surrounded with. I know a lot of the guys in the 2012 class and some of the guys in the 2011 class.
“You put us all together and the change of a coach will not affect too much of the outcome of getting everyone together. The 2011, 2012 and 2013 classes are the first three they really could recruit and do the things they wanted to do with. They take a lot of pride in their recruiting and I think Auburn is right there on the verge of being a contender in the SEC. With starting with LSU and Vanderbilt, it starts your season tough. They won series late in the season against four teams in the SEC tournament.”
After Pawlowski was let go, Davis said his phone was constantly being messaged.
“I had several players call or text and say that I didn’t need to let it bother me and that I didn’t need to change my mind about anything,” he said. “I will know here before long. Right now it is nine days before the draft. In the next couple of days we will start getting phone calls asking if I will sign for this much or if I am signable on this. Questions of if I will sign for this amount will come in a few days. They can’t play with the money like they used to be able too. They have got to know early on, especially in the earlier rounds, if you will sign for this amount. If they call and you say no, they will pass on you. There is a lot that plays in to it but you want to be more signable. The more signable you are, the more you can improve year round. The next couple of days, I will have an idea of what is going to happen.”
So what will Davis be doing June 6-8 when the draft occurs?
“I am going to be hanging out at the house just seeing what happens,” he said. “I will have an idea by then if I am going to sign or get drafted or whatnot.”