Arkansas Baseball: Hogs Lose McClure to Cleveland Indians
By Ryan Wright
Fayetteville, Ark. – Recruiting and signing highly sought after prospects in college baseball is a far more difficult process than with any other collegiate sport.
Convincing a top recruit to sign a letter of intent over the other 200 plus Division-I teams is hard enough but keeping said recruit from signing a professional contract worth upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, is deflating.
Despite early reports that Jacksonville (Arkansas) High School center field prep star D’Vone McClure (6’3”, 190 pounds) was going not going to sign his tender from the Cleveland Indians, the Indians announced they signed the 143rd overall pick of the 2012 MLB Draft on Thursday (WaitingForNextYear.com).
McClure, a fourth round pick, reportedly received a signing bonus of $750,000, more than double the slot value determined by the collective bargaining agreement put in place for this year’s draft.
Scouting reports on McClure like his athletic ability, quick bat, and above average arm.
McClure is the third signee to ink his professional contract joining Ty Buttrey and Shilo McCall.
Arkansas Razorback Signees Drafted
Pick/Position/Signee/High School/MLB Team/Round
No. 75 RHP Teddy Stankiewicz, Fort Worth Christian (TX), Mets, 2nd Round
No. 143 OF D’Vone McClure, Jacksonville (AR), Indians, 4th Round
No. 151 RHP Ty Buttrey, Providence (NC), Red Sox, 4th Round
No. 162 LHP Colin Poche, Flower Mound Marcus (TX), Orioles, 5th Round
No. 298 OF Shilo McCall, Piedra Vista (NM), Giants, 9th Round