Recruiting Outside Washington State

What made the UW baseball recruiting class of 2012 different from recent classes? Geography. One factor that sets this group apart is the amount of talent from outside Washington.

Unlike in past years, the Huskies were able to attract players from outside the state. Of the 21 players the university’s baseball team recruited, 13 were not natives of the Evergreen State. 13 players may not seem like a significant number of non-Washington natives to be brought into the program, but when compared to the four out of state freshman on the Husky roster last year, it is easy to see the improvement being made.

In fact, last year’s entire roster had a total of only nine non-native players. This stat means that this year’s recruiting class, courtesy of Coach Lindsay Meggs and his staff, has more than doubled the number of Husky players who played high school ball outside of Washington.

Recruiting from outside the state is important because it increases the talent pool the team is drawing from. States like California have a reputation for producing excellent ball-players in large quantities.

It goes without saying that not all Californian prospects are equal, but it appears that the Huskies were able to bring in some of California’s top talent as two of the five recruits from that state were drafted including a first round pick, Robert Stephenson. In addition, one of the two Hawaiian recruits was also chosen in the MLB Amateur Draft. Hopefully this year’s recruiting class, which reached California, Hawaii, and Idaho, will lay foundations in those states for recruiting in the future.

While it is exciting that recruiting outside of Washington is developing, the Washington coaching staff also did an excellent job within our home-state. Out of the eight Washington natives to sign letters of intent to the University of Washington, five were drafted.

With Coach Meggs attracting talent from both inside and outside Washington State, Husky baseball fans have reason to be very excited for the future of the program.