Southeast Missouri State players feeling hopeful as MLB draft begins

Southeast Missouri State baseball coach Steve Bieser doesn't know what to expect when the MLB Draft takes place over the next three days.

Seniors Matt Tellor, Cole Bieser and Derek Gibson and junior pitcher Ryan Lenaburg are players he mentioned who could potentially be drafted, but there's no guarantee for any of them.

"It's really such an inexact science that you just can't put your finger on what's going to happen in the draft," Bieser said. "It's such a difficult thing to predict that when you think guys are definitely going to get drafted and then all of a sudden you get through the draft and they didn't get drafted. I mean, I've been looking at this for so long and following it -- it's very strange how some guys just get taken."

Tellor, the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and second-team Louisville Slugger All-American, has the best chance of any of the OVC regular-season champion Redhawks to hear his name called during the draft.

"When the season got over the focus definitely went to the draft, and I'm definitely excited," Tellor said. "The wait is killing me. I can't wait for it to get started and see what's happening and see what the future holds for me."

Tellor, who will be in Florida with his family during the draft, will likely have to wait until Friday or Saturday to hear his name called.

The first and second rounds of the draft are tonight, while the third through 10th rounds are Friday and 11th through 40th rounds are Saturday.

He said while he's going to watch the draft, he's "not going to overanalyze anything."

"I've heard from a few scouts this week, and they've all given me positive feedback, saying that they're definitely interested and that they definitely want to grab me in the draft if they can," Tellor said. "I'm just looking forward and hoping that one of the teams can pull the trigger."

Tellor cut down on his strikeouts as a senior, which is one area he received positive feedback from scouts. He struck out 49 times his junior season and just 26 times this season.

He played first base for Southeast the past two seasons, hitting .386 as a senior while driving in a school-record 71 runs with 15 home runs.

"I've heard for Matt, people talking about as high as trying to get him in the 10th round, and that's probably -- there's one or two clubs that value him at that, and then most of them are probably at the 15th to 25th round, and that's probably somewhere where he'll get taken," Bieser said. "When they look at him he grades out on the power scale. He's got good power, he runs well for a big guy and just does a lot of things that pro scouts are really interested in."

Representatives from 20 to 25 teams have seen Tellor, and nearly every club that has seen him play has been intrigued, according to Bieser.

"I think the biggest thing is that Matt's got enough clubs that have turned him in that makes me pretty confident," Bieser said. "The other guys just have a handful of opportunities there, which is still something to be said. To have five pro scouts interested in you, that's an accomplishment already. But to get the cross-checkers and everybody to cross off on those guys and the teams' needs is what it's really going to come down to. ... For our situation we've got two outfielders who have an opportunity, and outfield's probably the toughest position to get drafted because there's just so many outfielders in the system, and whether or not those clubs need an outfielder when they get to those later rounds would be the difference."

Those two outfielders would be Gibson and Cole Bieser. Gibson was a first-team all-OVC selection after batting .403 with 70 RBIs, four triples and six home runs.

"I think Derek's got a chance just because when it gets late in the draft, if a club is still looking for an outfielder, they might do something as simple as going to the NCAA page and seeing the top hitters in college baseball at the Division I level, and they'll see his name and maybe just give him an opportunity looking solely upon his numbers," Bieser said.

Cole Bieser hit .271, scored 49 runs and had 14 stolen bases. His speed is what interests scouts as well as his knowledge of professional baseball because he grew up around the game when his dad, Steve Bieser, played.

"One of them put it as simple as he's got the bloodlines in his family and they know that he understands what he's getting into," Steve Bieser said, "because you take guys and get them away from home for the first time and really don't know what they're getting into and whether those guys will persevere and stick with it is something that is of concern, especially when they're drafting guys in the later rounds. Those guys, they want them to be there and fill out rosters and not lose them. His biggest thing, his biggest asset is going to be his speed. They know they can't teach speed and there's something that kind of excites them about guys that run extremely well, and his defense as far as running down balls are probably the two biggest attributes he has. He had a down year offensively from what we were expecting, what he was expecting, and I think that's something that could hold him back."

Lenaburg was 3-3 on the mound in 18 appearances and 13 starts with a 6.37 ERA. He transferred from Redlands Community College in El Reno, Oklahoma, where he earned second-team All-American honors in 2013, and some of the scouts who followed him during that season continued to follow him during his junior season at Southeast.

"The thing that could hold Ryan back is his numbers at our level was not very impressive, but the thing about it is all his stuff grades out very well with his fastball velocity and his breaking ball is very good at times. He's just, he's a guy that has the size that they want, a guy that they feel can hold up during a long minor league season, and there's just a lot of things about Ryan that pro scouts like and that's kind of what sets him apart from some of our other pitchers that may have had better years for us, but they just don't grade out as well on the pro side."

Steve Bieser has talked to Tellor, Gibson and his son Cole almost daily since the conclusion of their final season at Southeast.

"It's just the anticipation and having to wait around and see what happens is really what is driving them crazy because they all want to continue playing baseball and doing what they love," Bieser said. "It's been really difficult for them to sit around and wait and see what's going to happen. But I think the one thing about all of them is no matter what happens in the draft they still want to continue to play, and they're going to try and play professional baseball somehow -- even if it means they've got to go independent baseball and play independent ball for a while. They just want to continue to play."