Gameday Magazine June

Q&A with Sam Hentges and Jodd Carter MLB Draft experiences

Q: So was your advisor pretty spot on? A: Yeah, he did a really good job. He helped us through it. We had never gone through it and I don’t have any older brothers or older siblings that had been through it, nor do I know anybody that has gone through the process. So it was pretty new to us and he was awesome and incredible. He called us on draft day and were communicating through him with the teams. Q: How do you get hooked up with guys like that? A: They reach out to you. I’m sure every prospect in the draft has a few guys reach out to them as far as advisors that they would like to sign with, and then once you sign they become your agent. For me, I had a few in-home visits and they talked about their company and what they can do for you. Q: Without going too much into the money details, is there any negotiation or wiggle room there? Is there a number you have in mind that you go back-and-forth with the team about? A: Definitely. And that’s where the advisor/agent comes into play. They’re the ones negotiating. At the end of the day, they want what’s best for me and what’s best for them. I wasn’t really in on those discussions, because he kind of knew what I wanted personally and what my family wanted for me. I’m happy that I signed and happy with what I got.

With the MLB Draft taking place this month, we decided to check in with a few Hillcats to recap their draft day experiences: Sam Hentges (Drafted by Cleveland in the 4th Round in 2014): Q: What was your reaction to being picked in the draft? A: Obviously, it was awesome. It was a dream come true to want to get drafted in the MLB Draft. It was kind of funny because I was still playing high school baseball at the time, so I couldn’t really commit to officially sign until our season ended a few weeks later. Q: What led to the decision of signing with the Indians instead of honoring your commitment to Arkansas? A: Well with myself, my family and I took the college signing and commitment pretty seriously, and it took awhile for us to decide on a school. We met with a few different schools, and so because we put so much time into that, we had to put the same amount of time into this (signing with Cleveland). There were a lot of factors that weighed in. As far as education, that was probably the biggest thing was foregoing that. But there’s multiple things that we weighed out and decided that pro ball would be good. Q: Are there advisors that are guiding you where you might be selected and what the best course of action would be? A: Yeah, for sure. They kind of give you a rough estimate of when they think, or from what they heard, that tells you where roughly you’re going to be picked with the amount of money that you tell teams you would like.