An Encore at Packard Stadium?
The North County Times had some great news for Sun Devil fans tucked into its San Diego Padres notebook this morning. Someone’s coming back to Tempe!
We’re sorry to bump the poetic debut of our weekly Devils in the Pros baseball post, but the North County Times had some great news for Sun Devil baseball fans this morning.
Apparently, Arizona State centerfielder Jason Kipnis plans to return to Tempe after deciding not to sign with the Padres. According to the paper, Kipnis was slotted to receive a $220,000 signing bonus, but was asking for much more. (Nothing will be set in stone until classes begin on August 25.)
Although he’s three years removed from his high school graduation, Kipnis has two years of eligibility remaining thanks to a redshirt season at Kentucky. So Kipnis held all the cards in his negotiation. He could develop into a first-round pick with a big junior season at ASU.
Here’s Padres suit Paul DePodesta’s draft day scouting report on Kipnis:
Jason has played both CF and LF for ASU, though he has become the primary CF as the season has continued. He is a left-handed hitter who hits at the top of their lineup and has had a monster year, hitting .363 with a .484 obp and .677 slg. He’s a pesky player who is a very tough out, hitting the ball to all fields and running the bases aggressively (24 bases so far this year). Over the summer last year, Jason hit .318 with a .505 obp and a .591 slg while stealing 24 bases. Despite a limited projection in terms of physical size, he plays very hard and is surprisingly strong – 13 homers this year and 9 over the summer.
Does anyone remember Jeff Larish’s encore? We certainly do!
(Photo courtesy: MLB.com)
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Here’s hoping we see a few more Kipnis shots to the batter’s eye in CF!
GO DEVILS!
That’s great news. At this point that’s like a great pick up rather than not losing a guy.
I couldn’t agree more SplishSplash. ASU always seems to have enough young talent, but the mix of veterans is sometimes a bit shaky. With Kipnis back, it takes a little of the sting off.
And, yes, I could go for another shot over the batter’s eye too!
[...] a single school. That leaves just three bats from the 2008 squad back this season. Centerfielder Jason Kipnis turned down a sizeable contract offer from the Padres to return to ASU. He’ll headline an offense that also returns rightfielder Matt Newman and Raoul [...]