Finally, we’ve come to a position breakdown with some real deal competition for the top spot. A legitimate case for that very spot could pretty easily be made for at least a half dozen different players. Case in point: the guy I had fourth overall a few weeks ago when I originally sketched this out (Diekroeger) will likely be the first player of this group off the board in June. Travis, Mazzilli, and Coyle could all be in the mix as well, though I realize these types of players (productive as anybody, but no carrying tool) don’t typically get as much love as I tend to expect on draft day. Diekroeger might also have to watch his back to be sure fellow Pac-12ers DeMichele and Renda keep their distance. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention the hot pick of the early spring, Jamodrick McGruder. If internet gossip is to be believed — and it always should — then McGruder’s hot start and standout athleticism has helped him rise up draft boards. Maybe I’m just a sucker for getting as deep as possible with these lists (mostly beyond the point of even finding viable prospects, as one notoriously snarky “friend” in the industry informed me recently), but this is a fun group of players, especially at the top. How fun is it? Let’s compare it to 2011.

Using the number six (though I’m now realizing I mentioned seven guys above…let’s just pretend it was only six, alright?) as my fun with arbitrary number comparison starting point of the day, a quick look back at last year’s top college second basemen rankings reveals that the top six AQ college second basemen (Levi Michael – Joe Panik – Ryan Wright – Khayyan Norfork – Dan Gamache – Josh Adams) were all drafted. That’s the good news. The less good news is that outside of the top three, no 2011 college second basemen ranked in the top thirty of their pro team’s farm system per Baseball America. I don’t want to say the takeaway here is that my “friend” was right, but this quick and imperfect sample does help put things in a different perspective. As much as I personally like LJ Mazzilli today, I should probably slow down a bit with my plans of writing a 4,000 word essay on why I think he’ll be a big league player someday. Or I could just continue to ignore the odds and do whatever the hell I feel like doing on whatever given day it happens to be. Either way. Here’s the whole list of interesting draft follows from the AQ Conferences for, you know, completeness’ sake.

1. Arizona State JR 2B Joey DeMichele
2. California JR 2B Tony Renda
3. Clemson SR 2B Jason Stolz
4. Connecticut JR 2B LJ Mazzilli
5. Florida State JR 2B Devon Travis
6. Georgia SR 2B Levi Hyams
7. Georgia Tech JR 2B Sam Dove
8. Georgia Tech SR 2B Conner Winn
9. Indiana JR 2B Micah Johnson
10. Louisiana State SR 2B Tyler Hanover
11. Michigan State rJR 2B Ryan Jones
12. Mississippi JR 2B Alex Yarbrough
13. Missouri JR 2B Eric Garcia
14. North Carolina JR 2B Tommy Coyle
15. Purdue rSR 2B Eric Charles
16. St. John’s SR 2B Matt Wessinger
17. Stanford JR 2B Kenny Diekroeger
18. Texas SR 2B Jordan Etier
19. Texas Tech JR 2B Jamodrick McGruder
20. Virginia SR 2B Keith Werman
21. Wake Forest JR 2B Mark Rhine