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.