Ryne Price was the 33rd round draftee of the San Fransico Giants today.  I have been covering Ryne for the last few years at the blog Rock Chalk Talk .  I thought I would cross post a story I wrote for that blog here.  Ryne Price is the career home run leader at Kansas.  He is a real grinder and has some plus skills.  Sneaky power, good baserunning and a good arm either from the catcher position or from right field.  Good luck to him and his future career in the Giants organization.

Ryne Price drafted by San Fransico Giants

This from the KU news release:

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas senior Ryne Price has been selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 33rd round of the Major League Baseball first year player draft. Price is the second Jayhawk to go in this year’s draft, as Sam Freeman was taken in the 32nd round by the St. Louis Cardinals.

 

Price, a 5-foot-11 outfielder/catcher from Lawrence, Kan., was four-year starter who played several different positions during his college career. He finished his Jayhawk career with a .275 batting average, a school record 35 home runs and 155 RBIs and 25 stolen bases. He became the first Jayhawk to hit 30 home runs in his career (later joined by Morrison), and finished ninth in KU history in RBIs (155).

 

Price enjoyed a career year in 2008, setting career bests in batting average (.305), hits (65), doubles (17), home runs (11), RBIs (60), total bases (118) and stolen bases (nine).

 

He becomes the second member of his family to be drafted after four years at KU. Ryne’s older brother Ritchie was drafted by the New York Mets following the 2006 season.

Here is bkmhoxx' take:

Ryne Price C/RF (5'11, 190 lbs)
Ryne is a senior who plays 2 positions. He will play RF and he backed up at catcher last year. Ryne will likely do the same this year, possibly backing up at catcher a bit more. Ryne lives for the game of baseball and you can see it when you watch him play. He has a few things going for him that I think could get him some looks at the professional level. He is a leftie with plus power that could easily develop into decent HR totals. He has a great arm and he runs fairly well. I can easily see a professional team taking a chance on Ryne at the catching spot if not RF. This will be a big season for him to show that his defense behind the plate will improve quite a bit and his strikeouts will drop. If he can do those 2 things and continue to show his positives, I think he will have a shot. My guess would be 30th round on the high side, 45th round on the low side.

CURRENT TAKE: Ryno had a very nice year. He hit .305 with 11 HR, 17 Doubles, 60 RBI, 22 Walks, 58 K's and 9 Steals. Ryne shows plus power and is a fairly good hitter as well. He also has decent speed for a guy with his build. Im not sure he can catch at the next level or not. If he can be converted, then he will be a steal wherever he is drafted. If he plays RF, then he will have a much tougher road to the big show. I guessed rounds 30-45 at the beginning of the season but that was before he had such a great senior campaign. I would bump that up quite a bit now to somewhere around 20-25. He too has a decent chance to be the first Jayhawk drafted.

Ryne Price has been a special player at KU.  He is the career home run record holder and has been beyond a doubt the most hard-nosed player to wear a Jayhawk uniform during the last few years.  Ryne has exhausted his college eligibility.  I would love to see Ryne beat the odds and stick with the Giants.  He is a plus baserunner, has good power, can play several positions at least passably well defensively and is a tireless worker who would rather drink flaming poison then quit in a game.  He leaves with nothing but the best wishes from the KU baseball fan base.

Link here to an earlier write up about Ryne as part of the 2008 NCAA season preview.