Exciting week ahead for the site. Always knew that entering a profession with a spring break would pay off down the line…
Here’s my new plan of attack for the next few weeks:
Every year I forget how labor intensive poring over a weekend’s worth of college baseball box scores can be. That sounds kind of whiny — since when is reading about baseball “labor intensive?” — but please don’t consider it as a complaint. Instead, take it as the reason why other rankings and features will be on the back burner for a couple of days. I’ll almost definitely scale back on the college baseball reviews in the future, for my own sanity if nothing else, but still figured that opening weekend deserved the crazy obsessive treatment for old time’s sake. Here’s my current plan for the week ahead…
Monday: Weekly Plan of Attack (i.e. what you are currently reading…)
Tuesday: Friday “Night” College Baseball Review
Wednesday: Saturday College Baseball Review and Sunday College Baseball Review
Thursday: General Weekend Conclusions and Quick Statistical Look at 2011 MLB Draft Pitching Prospects
Friday: Interesting GO/AO Ratios (Week One)
All the while I’ll be working on finishing up the rankings for college outfielders and college pitchers, both of which are much bigger tasks than I had originally believed/hoped. My current college pitching follow list is at 425, while my current outfielder list clocks in at a slightly more manageable 163. Fun times ahead…
I’m going to do my best to stick to the original schedule laid forth earlier in the week, but the weather up here in the northeast has my already tenuous internet connection unreliable at best. On the plus side, the thundersnow — seriously, how cool is thundersnow? — has me off from work today, so that means time to catch up on a few of my lapsed draft-related duties. Stay tuned…
As always, schedules are tentative, subject to change on a whim, and completely open to suggestions…
Monday: Top 30 College 2B Follow List
Tuesday: College 1B Commentary
Wednesday: College 2B Commentary AND Top 30 College 3B Follow List (Honorable Mentions)
Thursday: Top 30 College 3B Follow List
Friday: College 3B Commentary
Sorry for the misleading title. As you can see this post, for now, is not actually any kind of top 30 follow list. The lack of recent content was beginning to agitate me and I wanted to keep this as a placeholder until the real list is ready. Expect that to be ready by Thursday night. I really want to get all this preseason college stuff out before the college season starts — novel idea, right? — so I’ve spent more time fine tuning the college rankings at the expense of writing about high school prospects and churning out smaller daily tidbits.
So, college 2B rankings will be done later tonight, followed by more college rankings, lists, and quick scouting profiles over the next few weeks. Then we’ll transition back to more general draft talk, e.g. big boards, player updates, high school rankings, and, maybe, a mock draft. Thanks for sticking with it.
UPDATE: Almost ready, but there are a few stumbling blocks. Figured I’d get them out there and see if anybody had any thoughts…
1. I moved LSU JR Tyler Hanover and UCLA JR Tyler Rahmatulla from the original second base list to the forthcoming shortstop list. Feeling pretty good there, but could be convinced otherwise.
2. I currently have Clemson JR Brad Miller with the shortstops, but am now second guessing myself and considering moving him to the second base list. Really not sure about that one. Probably should have just done a middle infield ranking and called it a day…
3. Where in the world does Arizona State JR Riccio Torrez project to play professionally? I’ve seen or heard legitimate sources have him pegged as a 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, corner OF, and potential catching conversion. I’m personally debating between 2B and 3B, but, again, could be convinced I’m missing the boat entirely on his future position. Leaning towards 3B, for what it’s worth.
4. I had my list almost done before I checked last year’s list one last time. Big mistake. As far as I can tell, Adams, Luciano, Hopkins, Valenzuela, LePage, Riley, Brown, and Wilson are all players from last year’s list who are back in school in 2011. Now my list is 45 prospects deep…time to start making some cuts.
UPDATE 2.0: A few players who didn’t make the Top 30 cut…
Oklahoma State SR 2B Tom Belza (EDIT: signed in 2010, my mistake)
Georgia JR 2B Levi Hyams
Arkansas JR 2B Bo Bigham
Texas JR 2B Jordan Etier
Southern California SR 2B Joe De Pinto
Tennessee JR 2B Khayyan Norfork
Purdue JR 2B Eric Charles
Southeastern Louisiana SR 2B Cass Hargis
Cincinnati JR 2B TJ Jones
Illinois SR 2B Pete Cappetta
Richmond JR 2B/SS Adam McConnell
Arizona SR 2B Rafael Valenzuela
Sam Houston State SR 2B Braeden Riley
Florida SR 2B Josh Adams
One of the few things I’ve learned from a quick review of some of last year’s draft lists is that fewer mid-round middle infield college prospects sign than expected. At this point, I’d be pretty surprised if any of the juniors listed above are in professional organizations next year at this time. Of the juniors, I like Charles and Jones, largely due to their above-average skills with the leather. In addition to having one of the best names in amateur baseball, Khayyan Norfork might just be the player primed to make the biggest rise up draft boards of the players listed. Barring crazy productive final seasons, I’d say the seniors on the list are all in the same “hoping to catch on as a late round fill out the organizational depth chart senior sign” boat. Belza had the best 2010 of the group (EDIT: probably why he was drafted in 2010…again, my mistake), De Pinto played pretty well despite coming back from an ACL injury, and Adams was pretty highly thought of heading into last season.
Blame the lack of recent activity on that pesky old real life work commitment and far, far too much time spent hitting the F5 key on my laptop to keep up with all things Cliff Lee. I know, my priorities are screwed up…
I really want to finish doing College Team Profiles for the ACC, but there are too many out of date rosters (North Carolina and Boston College, get with the program!) for me to wait it out much longer. In the meantime, I’ve started working on the Big East, beginning with Louisville (95% done) and Rutgers. I’m mindful of things getting stale — as much as I enjoy doing the College Team Profiles, I realize too much of anyone thing can get old after a while — so I’m open to suggestions if anybody has any ideas on how to mix it up. I figure I’ll do position rankings over the holidays when I have more time and energy to think deeply on the subject, but I don’t have much of a clue what to do after that.
Alright, that’s the update. Now back to Cliff Lee…
Baseball Draft Report exclusive! Your humble author’s to-do list from the holiday weekend: 1) Gain 5 pounds (check!), 2) continue to grow hobo beard well past the point accepted in typical workplace (check!), and 3) write some junk about baseball players born in the ’90′s (check!). New plan: 1) Lose the 5 points before Christmas so that I can gain it back guilt-free over the longer holiday break, 2) shave beard so the nice old lady on the subway won’t move to a different train after I get on, and 3) actually publish the junk about baseball players that I worked so diligently on during my time off from work. Exercise regimen begins today, beard is already dead and buried, and the posting schedule for the upcoming week is actually planned in advanced for the first time in months. Here’s where I’m at right now…
Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech are already on display for your viewing pleasure/scornful wrath. Some 2011 draft thoughts on Duke, Virginia, North Carolina State, Miami, Florida State, Maryland, and Cincinnati are 99% done and in the editing stages, so expect to see all of those schools profiled in the next two weeks. I also have 90% of my college position rankings complete, so expect to see a Top (Whatever Number I Decide to Stop At) for college catchers (I know I wrote about them already, but I want to make some revisions already), college first basemen, college second basemen, college third basemen, college shortstops, college outfielders, college lefthanded pitchers, and college righthanded pitchers. I’m also sitting on some pretty weird prep rankings (for these I might start with a pitcher list and a position player list and leave more specific position breakdowns for the spring) that I’d like to roll out soon, so stay tuned for that.
The tentative schedule for the week ahead looks like this, but I’ll throw out this offer to any of my whopping 300 daily readers right now: pick any team from the above list and you’ll see it instantly OR pick any team in all of college baseball (assuming I have an updated 2011 roster…North Carolina, Boston College, and Clemson are killing me!) and you’ll see it either by the end of this week or early next week.
Typically, this would be a sad time. A time to go stare out the window, perhaps. Baseball is once again in hiding and it’ll be months before it returns. 2010 was a fun season, but, as the game’s best pitcher once memorably prophesied, “it’s only gonna get funner.” That original “prediction,” if we can really call it that, may not have worked out exactly the way it was intended, but it’s right on the money in this context. Any sadness that such a fun season has come to an end can hopefully be mitigated by the thought that the offseason, specifically all of crazy 2011 Draft coverage you’ll find here, can be even funner.
For what it’s worth, and I’m sure it’s not much, there may have been a grand total of five days between the 2010 Draft and right this very moment that some work didn’t go into the site in some capacity. Obviously, 99% of that work hasn’t manifested itself into any kind of tangible content to read and/or tear apart here on the site, but things have never stopped churning behind the scenes. I hate that it played out that way, but it was necessary for the long-term survival of the site. Back to work starting Monday morning. It’s gonna be funner.
It’s not a good idea to put your laptop under a poorly constructed do-it-yourself IKEA dresser that’s been wobbly since day one. All it took was one pair of socks to alter the balance just enough and…boom! As a relentlessly positive thinker, I can at least consider myself lucky that it was only the screen that suffered damage. Silver lining!
Continuing my theme of positivity, this is now officially the first post coming live from my shiny new computer. Said computer is now the biggest single financial commitment I’ve made as a young adult. The incredibly fascinating complete list: 1) Fancy New Laptop, 2) Played Out Smashed Laptop, 3) Already Too Small TV, 4) Gaudy Bright Red Couch, and, easily my least favorite “big” purchase ever, 5) Sucky Vacuum Cleaner. I wonder what that list says about me? Enemy of dirt, completely electronic dependent, and a big fan of sitting? Sounds about right. Anyway, getting back to the point at hand, the new computer is up and fully operational. As far as a return to regular posting, well, that’s not going to be quite as smooth a transition. As mentioned, only the screen on the old laptop suffered damage. That means the important data, three years or so worth of notes on 2011-2013 draft prospects, is all locked away in the hard drive safe and sound. Once I figure out how to get all my old files from the old laptop to the new laptop, things will be up and running once again. Could be a few days, could be a week, could be a little be longer than that. Here’s hoping it’s sooner rather than later…
GO/AO College Data Update
2010 MLB Draft: Top 30 College Third Base Prospects
2010 MLB Draft: Top 100 College Outfield Prospects
2010 MLB Draft: College Position Player Big Board
Reader Suggestion?…
I’m really excited about the college third baseman list, so that’ll probably be the first thing published. I’d like to start rolling out the college pitching lists, but that may be something that won’t be ready to see the light of day until next week. Also coming next week will be a whole slew of high school position lists. As they get wrapped up in the next two weeks, so will updated big boards and expanded mock drafts. Two weeks and counting until draft day…
There are no words left to appropriately describe what Bryce Harper has done so far in 2010, but, with the help of a good thesaurus, I’ve managed to come up with a handful of words that at least begin to approach his insanely high level of play: Astonishing, Inconceivable, Outlandish, Staggering, Unimaginable, Prodigious, Stunning. This past weekend Harper was positively phantasmagorical in leading his Coyotes to the Junior College World Series. In admittedly ideal hitting conditions, Harper managed to overshadow a 6-7 performance (highlighted by everybody’s favorite statistical oddity, the cycle) on Friday with a 6-6, 4 homer day on Saturday. With Harper more of a lock than ever to go number one overall to Washington, we’re left with precious little top of the draft drama to chat about between now and the big day. Thankfully, there are plenty of other Harper related topics to consider between now and August 17th. These include, but are certainly not limited to, the following: 1) Harper’s potential signing bonus, 2) Harper’s minor league timeline, 3) Harper’s ultimate big league upside with the bat, 4) Harper’s long-term big league defensive position. Looking forward to delving into each and every one of these topics in depth in the weeks to come.
A quick look at the weekend in college baseball prospect pitching. The groupings for each set of pitchers was done really quickly, so don’t read too much into the particular designations if you disagree with them. If you agree, however, then it was most definitely by design; feel free to praise my genius if this is the case.
Seth Blair: 7 IP 8 H 4 ER 2 BB 9 K (W-L is overrated, no doubt, but I can’t not point out that the guy is now 10-0 after getting the win against Oregon State)
Sam Dyson: 6.2 IP 5 H 4 ER 1 BB 7 K
Barret Loux: 5.2 IP 6 H 6 ER 5 BB 8 K
Kyle Blair: 7 IP 6 H 5 ER 0 BB 8 K
Colin Bates: 6 IP 3 H 0 ER 0 BB 7 K
Austin Ross: 7 IP 4 H 3 ER 0 BB 8 K
Robert Morey: 7 IP 3 H 1 ER 4 BB 5 K
Chris Hernandez: 5.2 IP 5 H 1 ER 5 BB 9 K
Chance Ruffin: 2 IP 1 H 0 ER 0 BB 6 K
Kevin Arico: 1 IP 1 H 0 ER 0 BB 1 K
Dan Klein: 1.2 IP 3 H 2 ER 0 BB 0 K (W-L is overrated, no doubt, as Klein’s iffy outing resulted in what is categorized as a “win”)
Brett Eibner: 1 IP 2 H 2 ER 0 BB 2 K (Saves are overrated, no doubt, as Eibner’s iffy outing resulted in what is categorized as a “save”)
Chris Manno: 3 IP 1 H 0 ER 1 BB 6 K
Taylor Jungmann: 7 IP 9 H 2 ER 1 BB 9 K
Gerrit Cole: 7.1 IP 9 H 5 ER 2 BB 7 K
Brett Mooneyham: 7.2 IP 8 H 1 ER 2 BB 4 K
Kurt Heyer: 7 IP 8 H 3 ER 1 BB 7 K
John Stilson: 3.1 IP 5 H 0 ER 1 BB 5 K
Jesse Hahn: 4.1 IP 9 H 5 ER 1 BB 4 K
Anthony Ranaudo: 1 IP 0 H 0 ER 0 BB 1 K
Sammy Solis: 6 IP 4 H 2 ER 1 BB 4 K
Alex Wimmers: 6 IP 5 H 1 ER 3 BB 8 K
Cole Green: 5.2 IP 8 H 4 ER 1 BB 3 K
John Gast: 2.2 IP 4 H 6 ER 3 BB 3 K
Dixon Anderson: 7.1 IP 6 H 5 ER 5 BB 4 K
Cole Cook: 9 IP 8 H 3 ER 3 BB 4 K
Bryan Morgado: 0.2 IP 3 H 5 ER 3 BB 1 K
Logan Darnell: 3 IP 9 H 2 ER 0 BB 2 K
Chance Ruffin: 1.2 IP 0 H 0 ER 0 BB 2 K
Kevin Arico: 1.1 IP 3 H 0 ER 0 BB 1 K
Danny Hultzen: 5 IP 4 H 2 ER 5 BB 7 K
Trevor Bauer: 7 IP 8 H 2 ER 1 BB 7 K
Jack Armstong: 2.1 IP 5 H 4 ER 2 BB 3 K
Taylor Rogers: 4 IP 6 H 4 ER 3 BB 1 K
Ryan Carpenter: 6 IP 6 H 2 ER 2 BB 2 K
Brandon Workman: 6 IP 5 H 4 ER 2 BB 5 K
Rob Rasmussen: 6.2 IP 2 H 1 ER 2 BB 6 K
John Stilson: 1 IP 0 H 0 ER 0 BB 2 K
Dylan Floro: 6 IP 12 H 5 ER 1 BB 8 K
