I think this might be my favorite part of the draft cycle. The annual winter lull. Major showcases are out of the way, summer is but a distant memory, and we’re still a good three months away from meaningful amateur baseball. Now is the time to sit back, review some notes, and, in a word, learn. I realize this sounds super corny, but that last part, the learning, is what makes this my favorite time of year. I never know as much about this stuff as I think I do, so compiling my initial position rankings always winds up being much harder than anticipated. Not knowing as much as I think I do = the fun part. For example, today I learned that the 2011 draft is incredibly deep at a position that I hadn’t realized: college third basemen. In absolutely no order, check out a list of potential early round college 3B prospects:

• Steven Proscia (Virginia)
• Levi Michael (North Carolina)
• Matt Skole (Georgia Tech)
• Harold Martinez (Miami)
• John Hinson (Clemson)
• Jason Stolz (Clemson)
• Phil Wunderlich (Louisville)
• Jason Esposito (Vanderbilt)
• Cody Asche (Nebraska)
• Mark Ginther (Oklahoma State)
• Andy Burns (Arizona)
• Riccio Torrez (Arizona State)
• Ricky Oropesa (Southern California)
• Anthony Rendon (Rice)
• BA Vollmuth (Southern Mississippi)
• Johnny Coy (Wichita State)
• Travis Shaw (Kent State)
• Tyler Bream (Liberty)

I stopped at 18 because it’s the 18th of November. If I was the type to ignore cheap gimmicks with my rankings, I might include Kyle Kubitza (Texas State) and Troy Channing (St. Mary’s) to round out the top 20. Kubitza, Channing, Wunderlich, Torrez, Oropesa, Coy, and Shaw are far from locks to stay at the hot corner in pro ball, but I’m confident enough in each player showing enough at the glove to stick, at least initially. There are also a few middle infielders that I consider likely to shift to third professionally sprinkled in with the natural third basemen. Those two considerations may have made the above list a bit of a best case scenario deal, but that’s the nature of these super early guesses.