Connor McCaffery Winds Down Prep Career, Looks to Future

RobHowe

Administrator
Connor McCaffery isn't exactly sure how next year will go for him. That's OK. The son of the Iowa head coach is focused on the present:

LINK
 
Thanks Rob. Perfect timing as we were discussing this in another thread. :)

Whatever CM decides to do, and however the scholarship situation shakes out, I think Iowa basketball is in good shape next year and going forward.
 
Baseball is clearly still in the picture as well for Connor.

I just look at Connor and I think if that was me, I'd drop BB and put everything I had into baseball. He obviously is not a NBA basketball player, but at 6'6 he could be a 230lbs first basement or OF.
 
I think the McCaffery's are handling this perfectly.

1. They can't come out and say Fran is going to "Crean" some kid to free up a basketball scholarship for his own son.
2. If a scholarship does open up, maybe by this spring a HS senior may want to be released from his letter of intent due to a coaching change (a la Ben Brust) or a 5th Senior wants to transfer in, then maybe Iowa would be in play, and Connor could still "walk on".
or
3. Maybe Connor is waiting to see what happens with the MLB draft this summer. Maybe a team would be willing to let him play minor league baseball in the summer, under contract, and then return to Iowa to play basketball as a walk on. This way Connor gets the best of both worlds. I assume this is stilled allowed, but I haven't heard if NCAA has any rules against this now
 
I think the McCaffery's are handling this perfectly.

1. They can't come out and say Fran is going to "Crean" some kid to free up a basketball scholarship for his own son.
2. If a scholarship does open up, maybe by this spring a HS senior may want to be released from his letter of intent due to a coaching change (a la Ben Brust) or a 5th Senior wants to transfer in, then maybe Iowa would be in play, and Connor could still "walk on".
or
3. Maybe Connor is waiting to see what happens with the MLB draft this summer. Maybe a team would be willing to let him play minor league baseball in the summer, under contract, and then return to Iowa to play basketball as a walk on. This way Connor gets the best of both worlds. I assume this is stilled allowed, but I haven't heard if NCAA has any rules against this now
I wonder if he can do pro baseball and hoops.... I feel like it's been done before. Wasn't Russell Wilson playing minor league ball and football at NCstate?
 
I wonder if he can do pro baseball and hoops.... I feel like it's been done before. Wasn't Russell Wilson playing minor league ball and football at NCstate?

Two different seasons though, Basketball tends to run into baseball season more than football does as far as competition.
I would be surprised if Connor was drafted at this point. Could be wrong, but would just be surprised. A team could possibly take a late round chance on him just by pure athletic build and potential. However, he could get there some day with his ability if he had more time to put in to baseball. He really hasn't put in the amount of time to hone his skills at baseball as many top prospects do and he is still a very good player. I could see him really developing on the diamond if he got to the college level and put the extra time in.
 
Two different seasons though, Basketball tends to run into baseball season more than football does as far as competition.
I would be surprised if Connor was drafted at this point. Could be wrong, but would just be surprised. A team could possibly take a late round chance on him just by pure athletic build and potential. However, he could get there some day with his ability if he had more time to put in to baseball. He really hasn't put in the amount of time to hone his skills at baseball as many top prospects do and he is still a very good player. I could see him really developing on the diamond if he got to the college level and put the extra time in.
Yeah I was just bringing it up in the context of NCAA eligibility. Not so much the timing/logistics of playing both sports goes. He'd miss quite a bit of the baseball season I would think as far as college ball goes. Which makes me think why not just go the pro route if he does get drafted. Don't they have like 25 rounds or something crazy like that. I'd bet ya he will get drafted just because of that and how good he might end up being if he were to focus on it. We'll see.
 
Yeah I was just bringing it up in the context of NCAA eligibility. Not so much the timing/logistics of playing both sports goes. He'd miss quite a bit of the baseball season I would think as far as college ball goes. Which makes me think why not just go the pro route if he does get drafted. Don't they have like 25 rounds or something crazy like that. I'd bet ya he will get drafted just because of that and how good he might end up being if he were to focus on it. We'll see.

Yeah I think eligibility wise he'd be fine.
Perfect Game does have him graded at a 9 on their website out of this ranking scale. So you could be right, he could be drafted. If a team gets the feeling he would hang up the basketball shoes they definitely could jump just on raw ability and projections. All about repetition for him, he looks natural in a baseball uniform. Built like a young Jason Heyward. He also has a 4.0 GPA and a 27 on his ACT so college could be more important than minor league ball too.

Perfect Game USA's Player Rating System
10
Potential very high draft pick and/or Elite level college prospect
9
Potential top 10 round pick and/or highest level college prospect
8
Potential draft pick and/or excellent college prospect
7
College prospect, possible future draft pick with development
6
Potential college prospect
5
Possible College prospect and/or possible HS varsity
4
HS JV
3
Possible HS JV
2
No prospect at this time
1
The game is too dangerous
 
Yeah I think eligibility wise he'd be fine.
Perfect Game does have him graded at a 9 on their website out of this ranking scale. So you could be right, he could be drafted. If a team gets the feeling he would hang up the basketball shoes they definitely could jump just on raw ability and projections. All about repetition for him, he looks natural in a baseball uniform. Built like a young Jason Heyward. He also has a 4.0 GPA and a 27 on his ACT so college could be more important than minor league ball too.

Perfect Game USA's Player Rating System
10
Potential very high draft pick and/or Elite level college prospect
9
Potential top 10 round pick and/or highest level college prospect
8
Potential draft pick and/or excellent college prospect
7
College prospect, possible future draft pick with development
6
Potential college prospect
5
Possible College prospect and/or possible HS varsity
4
HS JV
3
Possible HS JV
2
No prospect at this time
1
The game is too dangerous

That's right. I'd forgotten I'd heard awhile ago about him being a great student too. There was even talk he could be up for an academic scholarship and not even have to worry about an athletic one. He must be one heck of a good kid to be as accomplished as he is. Kudos to the McCafferys. I bet your absolutely right with his folks being who they are and that I'm sure college is very important to him also.
 
Are there more native Iowans playing in MLB or NBA over the last 15 years...give or take? Just curious...

But the answer doesn't really matter. It's highly unlikely CM will play professionally in either of these leagues. So I think it comes down to 2 things.

1 - Which sport does he enjoy the most?

2 - If he does like baseball more does that outweigh his desire to spend countless hours with his dad over the next 4 years?

Only CM can answer these questions. And he's not likely to share the answer to either of these questions. But both of his parents were D-1 basketball players. So my guess is he goes the basketball route.
 
Are there more native Iowans playing in MLB or NBA over the last 15 years...give or take? Just curious...

But the answer doesn't really matter. It's highly unlikely CM will play professionally in either of these leagues. So I think it comes down to 2 things.

1 - Which sport does he enjoy the most?

2 - If he does like baseball more does that outweigh his desire to spend countless hours with his dad over the next 4 years?

Only CM can answer these questions. And he's not likely to share the answer to either of these questions. But both of his parents were D-1 basketball players. So my guess is he goes the basketball route.
Hmm I know of a couple young pitchers both from Cherokee Iowa that might make their teams. They were September call ups last yr that both did well. Is that DSM kid Henrickson or whatever his name is still pitching? He's been around awhile now.

As far as CM goes I'd bet he knows what he'd like to do by now. But maybe depending how his baseball season goes and how highly thought of of a prospect he ends up being he might push him to baseball if he isn't already leaning that way. Look if he were to get drafted fairly high and there's a multi million dollar signing bonus sitting on the table how do you turn that down? Can always go to college still. But how far down the road would it be if he were to even get good enough to cash a check playing basketball? 4 plus years and most likely over seas. Baseball has some really stupid money being thrown around and if he's a 6'6 slugging right fielder or 1st baseman those guys get paid... That Phillies 1b Howard is getting paid huge bucks and he's stunk for years now. If setting yourself up for life financially as fast as possible is his goal it's a no brainer... Once you have that then you can go do what you want if that don't pan out the way you'd hope...
 
I just look at Connor and I think if that was me, I'd drop BB and put everything I had into baseball. He obviously is not a NBA basketball player, but at 6'6 he could be a 230lbs first basement or OF.

Pure speculation and a wee bit insanity. First you don't know which sport Connor feels more passionately about. Second you think the kid is going to pass up playing for his Dad and brother on what I expect will be a B1G championship contention level team. 3rd the pro talk is way out in left field (pun intended). The odds of making it premier league pro in either sport are infinitesimally small. I strongly question that you would advise your 17 year old kid to make major life decisions based on a speculative pro sports careers.

P.S I have spoken with Connor before and he has stated he has serious interest in a potential coaching career. I don't know the numbers but I would bet a sandwich that a 40 year coaching career is more lucrative than 95% of all pro athlete careers.
 
Pure speculation and a wee bit insanity. First you don't know which sport Connor feels more passionately about. Second you think the kid is going to pass up playing for his Dad and brother on what I expect will be a B1G championship contention level team. 3rd the pro talk is way out in left field (pun intended). The odds of making it premier league pro in either sport are infinitesimally small. I strongly question that you would advise your 17 year old kid to make major life decisions based on a speculative pro sports careers.

P.S I have spoken with Connor before and he has stated he has serious interest in a potential coaching career. I don't know the numbers but I would bet a sandwich that a 40 year coaching career is more lucrative than 95% of all pro athlete careers.

I said what I WOULD DO IF IT WERE ME. That is it, nothing more, nothing less, so I'm not sure at all where you are coming up with any of this shit. I didn't say he was going to pass on playing with his dad (made up by you). I never never said he was going to be a pro baseball player (made up by you). I never said I would advise my 17 year old to make any life decisions (made up by you).
 
I said what I WOULD DO IF IT WERE ME. That is it, nothing more, nothing less, so I'm not sure at all where you are coming up with any of this shit. I didn't say he was going to pass on playing with his dad (made up by you). I never never said he was going to be a pro baseball player (made up by you). I never said I would advise my 17 year old to make any life decisions (made up by you).

One could only infer from your comment that it is your opinion that he should pursue baseball and not basketball. Throwing in the caveat "if it were me" doesn't change that.
 

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