Breaking news! College second basemen selected in the first 20 rounds of the MLB Draft need to show exceptional ability in one of three offensive categories –  power, plate discipline, or speed. I know, I was shocked to find out that big league clubs value those things as well. A quick study of early round college second basemen shows that 78% of college 2B taken in the top 20 rounds over the past three years showed standout skills in one of the three aforementioned areas.

Caveats for this quick and dirty study include a) small sample (only three years worth of data), b) unscientific standards (power = minimum .550 SLG; plate discipline = more walks than strikeouts; speed = 20+ stolen bases), and c) 2010 statistics were park and scheduled adjusted (thanks, College Splits!), but 2007-2009 statistics were left as is.

Tomorrow we’ll look at players in the 2010 draft class that fit the criteria, as well as a top 20…or 25…or 30…list of top college 2B prospects. To just give an idea of what information can potentially be teased out with these quick studies, three “big” name players that don’t currently (as of 4/26/10) surpass any of the three statistical benchmarks include Alabama JR 2B Ross Wilson, California JR 2B Brian Guinn and Central Florida JR 2B Derek Luciano. That’s not to say that the positive scouting reports on each will be ignored, but it’s something to at least consider going forward. On the flip side, there are three or four 2010 draft-eligible college second basemen with the chance to hit the over on all three statistical benchmarks. Identities revealed tomorrow.

Until then, check out the complete list of college second basemen taken in the top twenty rounds over the past three drafts. Slash stats are obvious (AVG/OBP/SLG), but the other two sets of numbers are BB/K and SB/SBA. Players that did not hit any of the three benchmarks are in bold. Players that hit on all three benchmarks denoted with the triple star (***) badge of honor.

2009

California JR 2B Jeff Kobernus: .341/.385/.544 (17/25; 20/24)

North Carolina JR 2B Kyle Seager: .393/.487/.592 (45/38; 13/14)

Minnesota JR 2B Derek McCallum: .409/.485/.741 (30/34; 6/6)

Cal Poly JR 2B Adam Buschini: .422/.484/.730 (21/26; 13/15)

LSU JR 2B Ryan Schimpf: .336/.449/.668 (44/50; 18/25)

*** Western Carolina JR 2B Nick Liles: .367/.421/.571 (21/21; 24/30)

Rice JR 2B Brock Holt: .348/.427/.560 (34/35; 11/16)

Pittsburgh JR 2B Chris Sedon: .398/.453/.796 (13/41; 19/25)

Southern Mississippi SR 2B James Ewing: .308/.384/.418 (26/19; 3/5)

*** New Mexico JR 2B Mike Brownstein: .414/.486/.611 (34/23; 20/26)

Belmont JR 2B Daniel Wagner: .323/.359/.523 (13/27; 24/28)

Coastal Carolina SR 2B Tyler Bortnick: .363/.461/.566 (38/33; 10/15)

Arkansas SR 2B Ben Tschepikow: .317/.398/.513 (31/33; 17/23)

UC Santa Barbara JR 2B Matt Valaika: .343/.413/.545 (13/16; 1/2)

2008

*** Miami JR 2B Jemile Weeks: .363/.452/.641 (35/38; 22/23)

New Orleans JR 2B Johnny Giovotella: .354/.470/.591 (53/25; 19/26)

Virginia JR 2B David Adams: .286/.384/.411 (41/39; 16/19)

Stanford JR 2B Cord Phelps: .351/.445/.587 (41/38; 6/10)

Delaware JR 2B Alex Buchholz: .319/.401/.515 (15/24; 4/6)

*** Cincinnati JR 2B Josh Harrison: .378/.437/.559 (25/20; 32/40)

California SR 2B Josh Satin: .379/.500/.723 (47/45; 6/9)

Tulane JR 2B Anthony Scelfo: .322/.453/.578 (54/46; 8/11)

Auburn JR 2B Matthew Hall: .279/.342/.411 (19/41; 7/10)

Belmont Abbey College SO 2B Alex Castellanos: .390/.452/.683 (15/22; 9/14)

Vanderbilt SR 2B Dominic De la Osa: .297/.410/.506 (36/54; 27/33)

Mississippi State JR 2B Michael Turner: .217/.217/.348 (0/1; 0/0)

Nebraska SR 2B Jake Opitz: .339/.434/.568 (37/26; 13/15)

Texas A&M SR 2B Blake Stouffer: .258/.399/.378 (47/48; 17/21)

Fresno State JR 2B Erik Wetzel: .365/.452/.495 (44/42; 12/18)

Florida Atlantic SR 2B Daniel Cook: .293/.410/.556 (21/16; 3/7)

UCLA SR 2B Alden Carrithers: .377/.484/.543 (40/32; 17/23)

Georgia Southern SR 2B Jeremy Beckham: .333/.434/.386 (26/22; 24/29)

Tennessee SR 2B Andrew Simunic: .297/.379/.370 (23/25; 20/23)

UC Irvine SR 2B Ben Orloff: .358/.414/.409 (21/16; 18/23)

Long Beach State JR 2B Jason Tweedy: .306/.370/.430 (10/26; 2/3)

Southern Mississippi SR 2B Trey Sutton: .315/.409/.457 (20/20; 3/5)

2007

Arizona State JR 2B Eric Sogard: .394/.488/.619 (39/23; 18/23)

*** Florida State JR 2B Tony Thomas: .430/.522/.733 (43/39; 31/36)

Loyola Marymount JR 2B Eric Farris: .349/.418/.466 (23/14; 33/42)

South Carolina JR 2B Travis Jones: .318/.416/.594 (28/46; 13/17)

Auburn JR 2B Russell Dixon: .313/.379/.470 (14/40; 0/2)

Wichita State JR 2B Damon Sublett: .354/.462/.496 (49/40; 14/16)

UC Irvine SR 2B Cody Cipriano: .339/.433/.605 (35/50; 10/15)

New Mexico JR 2B Jordan Pacheco: .397/.511/.580 (43/28; 7/10)

Mississippi JR 2B Justin Henry: .381/.450/.496 (30/21; 22/28)

Southern California JR 2B Matt Cusick: .324/.415/.412 (31/17; 10/15)

Tulane JR 2B Brad Emaus: .329/.439/.443 (41/23; 3/7)

Missouri State JR 2B Matt Lawson: .270/.313/.352 (13/43; 17/22)

Southern Indiana JR 2B Darin Mastroianni: .409/.484/.549 (31/22; 64/67)

Mississippi State SR 2B Jeffrey Rea: .343/.417/.412 (29/20; 13/17)

Texas SR 2B Nick Peoples: .329/.421/.488 (19/34; 18/23)

Tampa JR 2B Ryan Kennedy: .387/.485/.641 (42/18; 7/11)

Western Carolina SR 2B Kenny Smith: .390/.451/.759 (30/20; 14/16)

Louisville SR 2B Logan Johnson: .364/.488/.663 (35/29; 9/13)