Phillies sign North Dakota star
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Phillies sign North Dakota star
Daily News staff
The Phillies have signed North Dakota high school star Ryan Bollinger, their 47th round draft pick in June. Bollinger will report to the Phillies' Gulf Coast League affiliate in Clearwater this week.
"It was a tough decision to choose between that and school, but it is my chance to do what I always wanted to do," Bollinger told the Minot Daily News. "My family and I came to a decision that that's what I want to do and that's what I need to do. I'm going to work hard to get where I've always wanted to be."
Bollinger was drafted as a first baseman, but also pitches and plays the outfield.
Comments (44)
A 47th round draftee, signed to a 7 year contract????? Murph, is someone hacking into your blog?— Mark1npt- A 47th round draftee, signed to a 7 year contract????? Murph, is someone hacking into your blog?— Mark1npt
- MArk1npt: Where does it say "7 year contract"?— bensalemite
- Ryan Bollinger is a 6’6-190 lb left-handed pitcher/ first baseman out of Minot, North Dakota. Bollinger has racked up many accolades while being a star in North Dakota that include 1st Team All State and All Region in ’07 and ’08. While not only helping his cause at the plate hitting .344 Bollinger racked up 71 strikeouts in just 50 innings pitched last spring along his way to a 1.52 ERA. Continuing his success this past summer Bollinger hit .439 with 10 home runs while hurling 7 complete games over 85 innings pitched and striking out 77. http://www.iccac.org/20082009/bb/IWCC%20Baseball%20Signees.pdf— smel4727
- seven year contracts (the length is in the article that is linked in the blog post) is pretty standard for low-level picks like Bollinger...it assures the team that he will remain their property as he develops (or doesn't). If he is added to the 40 man roster at some point in the future (which means the Phils think he has a legitimate shot in the bigs), then he will get a new contract at that point.— MichaelJack20
Comment removed.- Murph, give us an update on this breaking news in the Spring of 2013. Thank you. Pork belly futures are also promising this year.— mick314
- Wow, this is bigger than the Cliff Lee trade— efrye13
- So basically we signed a player who may be ready to play for us in 5 years. Okay. Thanks Murph, I guess it's a real slow news day— fan_in_jerusalem
- i think this is a better prospect than the 47th round indicates. i believe this player was expected to go to college & demand big $$ to sign so many teams passed on him. big pick up for the phills. i'm up here in minn now and the HS baseball is pretty competitive, surprisingly. i love how the phills have become one of the big money teams, very aggressive— bumbaca90
- he just reported a signing, never said it was astonishing groundbreaking news.— AlonzoMoselyFBI
- Regardless, a waste of a post. 47th round means we'll never see him. Not usually critical of Murph, but this is pretty lame.— ematusko
- He is from North Dakota, thanks for another accurate article by a Philly sports reporter. Murphy is a joke, better take some more journalism classes at La Salle, pal.....— mpt29
- Ben, the original post from Murph had a different opening sentence which stated it was a 7 year contract. Hence, my comment. You can see now why I questioned the absurdity. Of course, now I look like the idiot since it's been corrected. Thanks Murph!— Mark1npt
- Ben, the original post from Murph had a different opening sentence which stated it was a 7 year contract. Hence, my comment. You can see now why I questioned the absurdity. Of course, now I look like the idiot since it's been corrected. Thanks Murph!— Mark1npt
- Thanks for the update. Always nice to see young guys added to the system. It is my understanding that the late round guys are usually high school guys with college commitments, so it is nice to see a signing. Who knows whether he will amount to anything, but it certainly can't hurt.— jfar86
- Now I know why they had to can Coste. The organization's North Dakota quota is one.— Dull
- At least they gave the kid time to work the prom out.— MFPhils
- from the looks of this headline, i thought Chris Coste was headed back to Philly.— costeguard
- Is this the best story you could come up with for a first place team in the midst of a pennant race? Give me a break dude. WOW I'm glad we got him signed, you know how tough those 47th rounders could be. Maybe we could get his agent to work with Maclin.— david1
- I think all of this traffic from Murph's post has effectively crashed the "Minot Daily News" website. The article won't load at all, and their main local sports page took about three minutes to come up. Way to go Murph!!!!— B in DC
- the article it points to says it is a 7 year contract.— MFPhils
- bumbaca90 -- you made good points. Murph thanks for the info its always good to hear the Phils are out there looking at all the talent. You just never know who will be the next Howard or Schmidt. Last year they signed Anthony Hewitt out of high school and he was mentioned in one of the original trade proposals by the Jays.— Wally 24
- The Phillies have been pretty successful getting high upside, high risk players in the draft. Everyone is raving about Dominic Brown. Well guess what? He was a 20th round pick who fell that far in the draft because everyone thought he was going to U. Miami on a football scholarship. Don't know if this is a tongue-in-cheek post by Murphy or he is a guy who was committed to college and the Phils changed his mind.— Philliesguy
- Comment removed.
- Savery won his 'pigs debut and he isnt even a Dakotan.— mick314
- I wish the kid the best of luck and health in the future. I look forward to seeing his name on the Phils roster. Hopefully, it won't take as long as it did for another Dakota native.— Erich H
- http://www.ballcharts.com/Cardinals1 old news, Steve Inch signed today. 6th round pick of the Phils.— joboggi
- http://www.ballcharts.com/Cardinals1 old news, Steve Inch signed today. 6th round pick of the Phils.— joboggi
- What's the matter, all the philly.com-hyped "prospects" have left town last week, and now you've got to manufacture some new ones? Murphy can't even get a non-story like the signing of a 47th-round draft choice correct. First he's got he contract length wrong, then the player's state is wrong. Why even bother with the original post? This makes Martino look like Joseph Pulitzer. Why can't philly.com hire some journalists? (Or at least a proofreader and a spellchecker for these clowns.)— jman
- 47 th round high school kids usually do not sign. They usually go to college, and increase their market value. More than likely, The Phils bonus offer went over slot. That is the real news. The Phils are entering the 21st century. They are signing their draft picks, because they know this is the least expensive way to stock your major league team.— joboggi
- Comment removed.
- ematusko, Not every Major Leaguer is drafted in the first round.— PhightinPhil
- Some of us enjoy following the draft and minor leagues- the post is appreciated. 7 year contract is misleading- minor leaguers become elligable for free agency after 6 years. And a minor league contract is like an NFL deal- its not guaranteed unless specified.— SJ_CJ
- Isn't there more important Phillies personnel news to report - I think they hired a new yearbook vendor this week as well - how about a profile.— evanzanten
You guys are missing the big picture here...that is, that the Phils farm system is being agressive. They are everywhere looking for talent. And this kid seems like he has some serious upside. That means the Phils are not only looking hard for princes among toads, they are also astute enough to find them and even better - polished enought to sign these kinds of kids. I ask you, 5 years ago would this kid as is have signed with the Phils? No. Yanks, Dodgers - yes. So read between the lines occasionally fellas...sheesh.— Poppys- North Dakota. The baseball hot bed of Canada. PK— PhillyTheKid
- theres 47 draft rounds??!!— TempleKev
- Just a footnote, the post says 'Daily News staff' which I would gather means that someone else posted on Murph's behalf. Perhaps this is explanation to some of the mis-information.— randy_w
Are there really 47 rounds in the draft? If so, why?- Comment removed.
- was he the 47th pick in the draft or a 47th round pick? yea i don't care too much about a 47th round pick either but i guess it is a slow day...— WC-Jonesy
- The level of stupidity in the comments section is ridiculous...if you don't understand the MLB draft process and don't care about this blog post (BIG difference between a blog post, which takes as little as 10 minutes to write and upload and an actual news story), that's fine. Just don't waste your time posting. Bollinger is a high school kid with a college commit who most clubs assumed would head to school. Phillies were able to buy him out of that commit with a significant signing bonus. They've been doing a lot of that these past couple of years. Example - Jarred Cosart, one of the more talented pitching prospects in the system, was a 38th rd pick last year who signed for $550k.— tjc
- Wow, Peter Gammons has an interesting article on how prospect rankings are often poor projections of player talent. Here's an excerpt: "The 2003 Baseball America Prospects Handbook had four top 50 lists by four highly respected BA writers. None of the four lists had Chase Utley in its top 50. At the time, Jesse Foppert of the Giants was the fourth-best prospect in the game; Matt Cain was the 11th-best prospect in the Giants' system. Brian McCann was the 28th-best prospect in the Atlanta organization, far, far below Andy Marte, Bubba Nelson and Macay McBride. Chone Figgins was the Angels' 29th-best prospect, and Jason Bay was the Padres' 21st-best prospect, who twice passed through the Rule 5 draft en route to making the All-Star Game in 2006 while he was a member of the Pirates. Brad Nelson and Mike Jones were ranked above Prince Fielder on the Brewers' '03 prospect list. Josh Johnson was the 26th-best prospect in the Florida organization; Joey Votto was ranked as Cincinnati's 14th-best prospect, way below Chris Gruler and Bobby Basham. And believe it or not, Matt Holliday was listed as the Rockies' 18th-best prospect in 2003. John Van Benschoten (20), Hee Seop Choi (30), Jose Castillo (32), Joe Borchard (33), Mike Gosling (40), Kris Honel (43) and Mike Jones (44) were all on BA's top 50 list in '03, ahead of Cliff Lee (46) and Adrian Gonzalez (49), along with Utley, Johnson and Holliday, who didn't make the top 50." Good example of why those Baseball America prospect rankings are a joke.— JimG
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