BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- Who were the best players of Roger Cador’s 33-year run at Southern?
The icon provided 15 of his top players to The Advocate.
The list should start with Trent Hubbard, a player Cador inherited when he began as a coach in 1987, convincing the 5-foot-9 junior to switch into the infield, a move that got Hubbard drafted and eventually launched a 10-year major league career.
And the run should finish with two of his latest gems: first baseman Frazier Hall, a two-time SWAC player of the year in 2010 and 2011, and a little-known pitcher from Puerto Rico, Jose De Leon, who blossomed from a late-round MLB draft pick in 2013 into one of the top prospects in the game.
The headliner is clearly second baseman Rickie Weeks, who in 2003 was named college baseball’s top player and drafted No. 2 overall by the Milwaukee Brewers, eventually becoming an All-Star.
Weeks — along with shortstop Fernando Puebla, third baseman Antoin Gray and pitcher Dewon Day — powered Cador’s best team, the 2003 squad that went 47-7 and won an NCAA tournament game.
Weeks caps a trio of three of the best players Cador coached, after second baseman Michael Woods (the 32nd pick in the 2001 draft) and outfielder Fred Lewis (the 66th pick in the 2002 draft).
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