By: Dan

On one hand, hard-core Gator baseball fans have to be giddy about the headlines being made by Patrick Schuster.

Schuster, a senior left-handed pitcher with Mitchell High School in New Port Richey, just threw his fourth consecutive no-hitter Monday. Schuster’s latest victim was Pasco High School. In addition to holding Pasco without a hit, he struck out 17 batters. During his streak, Schuster has struck out 60 batters. The record for consecutive no-hitters on the high school ranks is six.

Right now, Schuster has signed a letter of intent to play baseball at UF next year. But if Schuster continues his unbelievable streak, Gator fans would be naÔve to think they’ll see the lefty in Gainesville next year.

The Associated Press wrote a story about Schuster’s most recent no-no, and it stands to reason that many more media outlets will continue to jump on the bandwagon as he continues his success. All that media attention has to be getting somewhere with major league scouts.

Unlike football and basketball, which has an age limit on players who can enter the draft, high school players often get taken in the annual MLB draft. Baseball scouts make a living off predicting how 16- and 17-year-olds will pan out on the next level.

It would not be the first time Florida lost a highly-touted recruit to the MLB Draft. In 2006, P.K. Yonge’s Derrick Robinson, a speedy center fielder, was all set to stay in Gainesville and join the Gator baseball team. But he, like Schuster, said that he would consider going pro if he was drafted high enough.

Sure enough, he was picked by the Kansas City Royals in the fourth round and received about $850,000 as a signing bonus. He has bounced around in Class A ball since being drafted.

Hopefully the hype around Schuster will subside and he will elect to come to Gainesville. But I wouldn’t count on it.