The opening night of baseball’s First-Year Player Draft was a bittersweet one for Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco.
As a college baseball coach, he is used to having to go through the draft process and see which players will end up on his roster the following season. But by the end of Monday night’s first round, two of his top recruits — shortstop Gavin Cecchini and right-hander Ty Hensley – had been drafted 12th overall by the Mets and 30th overall by the Yankees, respectively.
“You know there’s a chance, because they are so talented, they could go in the first round,” Bianco said yesterday by phone from the recruiting trail. “But both kids come from families where education is important, so for us it was worth the gamble.”
Bianco’s relationship with Cecchini goes all the way back to when Cecchini and Bianco’s oldest son, Michael, were in day care together growing up in Lake Charles, La., where Cecchini’s family still lives and where Bianco was the head coach at McNeese State.
Cecchini grew up in Lake Charles playing for his father, Glenn, at Barbe High School, and Bianco watched him grow into an elite prospect, one he thinks the Mets were wise to take when they did. The Mets officially signed Cecchini yesterday, with MLB.com reporting he signed for $2.3 million — slightly less than the pick’s $2.55 million slot value.
“He’s an all-around baseball player,” Bianco said. “As I listened to the TV coverage during the draft they talked about his speed and this and that, but I think he’s the full package.
“He can run, sure, but he played his senior year in high school with a wood bat … a lot of guys wouldn’t have the guts to do that. He’s got a good glove, good arm, and certainly is a very talented infielder and great athlete.”
The Yankees drafted Hensley, a hard-throwing 6-foor-5 right-hander from Oklahoma, with the purpose of using him exclusively as a pitcher. But Hensley, whose father, Mike, was the 53rd pick by the Cardinals in 1988, was a good enough athlete Bianco signed him to not only pitch, but play both ways for the Rebels.
“For us he was a dual player in that he would swing the bat,” Bianco said. “He’s a switch-hitter, which shows his athleticism … he’s not a guy that can’t move around. He should be able to control the running game.”
While watching Monday’s coverage, Bianco said he heard people say Hensley needs to work on his offspeed pitches. But Bianco said that shouldn’t be surprising considering few high school hitters were able to touch his fastball, which sits in the low-to-mid 90s and has touched 97.
“People don’t understand that guys who throw like he does [in high school] don’t need average to above-average offspeed pitches,” Bianco said. “How many changeups do you need to throw to the average high school hitter? But he’s certainly got the feel for them, and a lot of those pitches will develop as he progresses.”
With Cecchini already signed by the Mets and Hensley likely to agree to terms with the Yankees before the July 13 signing deadline, Bianco likely won’t coach either of them again.
But, at the same time, he’s excited to see them get a chance to pursue their life-long dreams of becoming professional baseball players.
“As their senior years progressed and you watched them continue to improve and move up the ladder on draft boards, you knew there was a good chance they would go in the first,” Bianco said. “I’m excited for them, because they are terrific kids who have worked for this for their entire lives and certainly deserve it, but you’re disappointed you won’t get a chance to coach them.”