Anybody who has paid even the slightest bit of interest in this year’s draft class (i.e. literally nobody I actually talk to in real life) knows who is number one among the following group of catchers. The real question here is who’s number two after Alex San Juan Mike Zunino? I actually think there are three fairly similar guys (good power/arm, questionable defense) right behind him in spots two through four, followed by three additional personal favorites (Jacob Stallings alert!) that help round out the AQ conference super seven group of catching prospects. I’ll share the names later on, but I’m curious to see if anybody out there has an opinion on which players should fall in after Zunino. For extra credit: is your number two catcher from this group of AQ conference catchers the same as your number two catcher in all of college baseball? I don’t think mine will be, but I won’t know for sure until another week or so after I finish reviewing the rest of the conferences here on the site. With no further ado, here’s a list of all of my personal AQ conference follow list for catchers eligible for the 2012 MLB Draft…
- Arizona State JR C Max Rossiter
- Baylor JR C Nathan Orf
- Baylor SR C Josh Ludy
- California SR C Chadd Krist
- Cincinnati SR C Braden Kline
- Clemson JR C Spencer Kieboom
- Clemson SR C Phil Pohl
- Connecticut rSR C Joe Pavone
- Duke JR C Jeff Kremer
- Florida JR C Mike Zunino
- Florida State rSO C Stephen McGee
- Georgia JR C Brett DeLoach
- Iowa JR C Dan Sheppard
- Kansas SR C Alex DeLeon
- Kansas SR C James Stanfield
- Kentucky JR C Luke Maile
- Kentucky SR C Michael Williams
- Miami JR C Alex San Juan
- Miami SR C Peter O’Brien
- Michigan SR C Coley Crank
- Mississippi SR C Taylor Hightower
- Mississippi State JR C Mitch Slauter
- Missouri JR C Scott Sommerfeld
- Missouri SR C Ben Turner
- Nebraska JR C Richard Stock
- North Carolina SR C Jacob Stallings
- Notre Dame JR C Joe Hudson
- Oklahoma State JR C Rick Stover
- Oklahoma State JR C Victor Romero
- Oklahoma State SR C Jared Womack
- Oregon rSR C Brett Hambright
- Oregon SO C Aaron Jones
- Purdue JR C Kevin Plawecki
- South Carolina JR C Dante Rosenberg
- Southern California SR C Kevin Roundtree
- Stanford JR C Christian Griffiths
- Texas Tech JR C/INF Bo Altobelli
- Texas Tech SR C Kevin Whitehead
- UCLA JR C Tyler Heineman
- UCLA JR C Trevor Brown
- UCLA rSO C Richie Brehaut
- Utah JR C Parker Morin
- Vanderbilt rSR C Drew Fann
- Virginia JR C Chace Mitchell
- Virginia Tech rSO C Chad Morgan
- Wake Forest JR C Brett Armour
- Washington JR C Chase Anselment
- Washington SR C BK Santy
The Baseball Draft Report 
[…] Rob Ozga, at The Baseball Draft Report, listed the draft eligible catchers to follow from AQ conferences. -LINK […]
Toby DeMello of Saint Mary’s of California should not be overlooked and should be included on this list. Had 13 pick-offs in 2011 and has a “pop-time” average that rivals most major league professionals today. High profile school or not (and they beat ASU and OSU this year), he deserves acknowledgement!
What about Rice’s senior catcher Craig Manuel? I believe you’ll be surprised at his draft stock.
avg gp-gs ab r h 2b 3b hr rbi tb slg% bb hbp so gdp ob% sf sh sb-att po a e fld%
.275 48-40 149 15 41 6 0 2 23 53 .356 15 7 9!! 3 .364 2 5 0-0 321 71 0!!!! 1.000
Good call, Cory. Manuel is a really strong college player who has played well enough during his time at Rice to warrant late round consideration next month. I recently added him to the catcher’s list. Here is what I have:
Rice SR C Craig Manuel: plus defender; strong hit tool; really good athlete; absence of power is a problem, especially as he begins to rise professionally and face better pitchers more likely to challenge him with strikes, but strong enough in areas that pro teams like (approach, situational hitting, defense) that he has an outside chance at becoming a backup catcher if he is willing to wait around in the minors; 6-1, 200 pounds
2011: .320/.432/.371 – 30 BB/8 K – 175 AB
2012: .274/.368/.356 – 16 BB/9 K – 146 AB – 0/0 SB