Max Wagner and Mack Anglin still have eligibility left at Clemson, but Erik Bakich isn’t sure if he’ll get to coach either one.
Theoretically, Wagner and Anglin would be cornerstone pieces for Bakich’s first baseball team at Clemson next spring. Problem is, they’re widely considered the program’s top prospects for next week’s Major League Baseball Draft. Wagner, who took home ACC Player of the Year honors this past season after tying the school record for home runs, is ranked by D1Baseball as college baseball’s No. 35 overall prospect while Anglin, Clemson’s right-handed ace, comes in at No. 78 on the list.
Bakich said he’s talked to both about their futures since being hired as the Tigers’ head coach last month. Neither gave him an indication of which way they’re leaning, Bakich said, but he’s approaching it as if neither player will return to Clemson next season.
“I think I’ve framed it in my mind that they’re both going to sign,” Bakich said. “And if they didn’t, it would be a huge boost. But I’m not going into it with an expectation that they’re 100% coming back, but that’s just more me personally and our staff personally making sure we’re making preparations for their departures. Not banking on them coming back and then all of a sudden we’re reacting to that. So I think we have to look at it that way from a roster management standpoint.”
Like every coach in the sport this time of year, Bakich is in wait-and-see mode to find out exactly how much the three-day draft will alter his personnel plans for next season. Generally, the higher a player is selected, the more the amount slotted for a signing bonus. Draft-eligible underclassmen (either three collegiate seasons completed or at least 21 years old) have the option to return to college if they’re selected and don’t sign, but for first- and second-rounders in particular, those amounts are seven-figure types that are hard to pass up.
It’s why Clemson could lose two of its best players early to professional baseball, but Bakich has given up trying to predict what will happen once the draft begins Sunday with the first two rounds. Rounds 3-10 will be held Monday before the draft wraps up Tuesday with rounds 11-20.
“I’ve been paying close attention to it for the last 21 years and seen a lot of guys go lower than I thought they were going to go or go higher than I thought they were going to go,” Bakich said. “I’ve just come to the conclusion that sometimes it’s an inexact science and you can’t control it. The decision-makers that make those decisions know what they’re doing and have their reasons, but you certainly can’t predict it.”
Other players with eligibility remaining could also have decisions to make once it’s over. Shortstop Ben Blackwell and pitchers Geoffrey Gilbert, Jackson Lindley and Ryan Ammons are among the players that Bakich believes could hear their names called next week, too.
But it’s not just current players that he will be monitoring.
Clemson has more than 10 high school players signed or committed to its 2022 recruiting class. Three of those – Winnacunnet (New Hampshire) pitcher Joe Allen, Chaminade (New York) shortstop Nolan Nawrocki and St. Mary’s Prep (Michigan) infielder Jack Crighton – were former Michigan commits who intend to follow Bakich to Clemson, but most eyes are focused on a couple of pitching signees, St. Mary’s Prep’s Brock Porter and Boiling Springs standout Tristan Smith.
There’s a chance neither makes it to campus depending on how high they’re picked. Porter, a 6-foot-4 right-hander, is ranked the draft’s No. 11 overall prospect by MLB Draft Pipeline while Smith, a 6-2 southpaw, checks in at No. 46. Each of the first 68 picks has a slot value of at least $1 million, according to MLB.com draft expert Jim Callis.
“It’ll be interesting over the course of the next week just to kind of see what happens,” Bakich said.
Next season, college baseball rosters will be going back to a limit of 35 players with a caveat: a maximum of 40 will be allowed if the extra five players lost their 2020 season to the coronavirus pandemic. Still, with a plethora of incoming players – Michigan transfers Riley Bertram and Willie Weiss are also following Bakich to Clemson – and without knowing exactly how many current players are on the way out, the numbers are tight for the Tigers’ 2023 roster.
Bakich said Clemson could sign two more transfers for next season but only if a pair of underclassmen end up leaving early to play professionally. Of course, that number could grow if there are some surprises next week.
“I thought it was a quick adjustment back to the 35-man (roster) with the exception of only five additional COVID super seniors. That’s going to be tough,” Bakich said. “The draft, the roster, it’s something every coach, not just myself and Clemson, but every coach will have to figure out. We won’t know really what it’s going to look like until after the draft.”
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