There are plenty of quality arms to be found in the Pac-12 this year, from the obvious at the top (Stanford’s Friday/Saturday duo, the pair of pitchability starters from The Grand Canyon State) to the slightly more obfuscated due to injury (Jenkins, Starr, Jones, Hershiser) or questions of readiness (Jaffe, Spivack). The Pac-12 also has some good head-to-head prospect ranking battles found on the same roster, most notably the close race for first drafted pitcher from Oregon State. I prefer Boyd (three average or better pitches, loads of deception, really tough on lefties), but could definitely hear arguments for any of the players listed below. Last but not least, the Pac-12 highlights the age old debate centered around starters and relievers. Appel and Mooneyham, one and two on my personal ranking, will both enter pro ball as well-established starting pitching prospects. After that you’re left with an interesting mishmash of potential back of the bullpen relievers (Griggs, Barrett) and potential back of the rotation starters (Heyer, Rodgers). It’ll be enlightening to see where pro teams have them come June. I currently like the relievers over the starters (in the order listed above), but that’s at least in part because I think Griggs might be able to start while both Heyer and Rodgers could be moved to the bullpen in time. Emphasis on could.

Players are listed in a rough order by team. This isn’t an overall ranking. As great as this year’s Stanford team is, I do not think they have the eight best pitching prospects in all the Pac-12 on their roster. I do think they have eight pitchers that could potentially be drafted in June. That’s the difference, and that’s why we call this list “2012 MLB Draft: Pac-12 Pitchers to Know.”

• Stanford JR RHP Mark Appel
• Stanford rJR LHP Brett Mooneyham
• Stanford rSO RHP Chris Jenkins
• Stanford JR RHP Dean McArdle
• Stanford rSO LHP Garrett Hughes
• Stanford SR RHP Brian Busick
• Stanford JR RHP Sahil Bloom
• Stanford SR RHP Elliot Byers
• UCLA JR RHP Scott Griggs
• UCLA rFR RHP Eric Jaffe
• UCLA rSO RHP Ryan Deeter
• UCLA JR RHP Mike Kerman
• Arizona State JR RHP Jake Barrett
• Arizona State JR RHP Brady Rodgers
• Arizona State JR RHP Alex Blackford
• Arizona State SR RHP Joseph Lopez
• Arizona JR RHP Kurt Heyer
• Arizona JR RHP Tyler Hale
• Arizona JR RHP Nick Cunningham
• Arizona JR LHP Vince Littleman
• Oregon State JR LHP Matt Boyd
• Oregon State JR RHP Tony Bryant
• Oregon State SO LHP Ben Wetzler
• Oregon State rSR RHP Taylor Starr
• Oregon State SR RHP Ryan Gorton
• Oregon rSO RHP Jeff Gold
• Oregon JR LHP Christian Jones
• Oregon rJR RHP Joey Housey
• Oregon SR RHP Alex Keudell
• Washington rJR RHP Aaron West
• Washington rSO RHP Nick Palewicz
• Washington JR RHP George Asmus
• Washington JR RHP Adam Cimber
• California JR LHP Justin Jones
• California SR RHP Matt Flemer
• California rSO RHP Seth Spivack
• California JR RHP Logan Scott
• Southern California SR RHP Martin Viramontes
• Southern California rSR RHP Andrew Triggs
• Southern California SR RHP Ben Mount
• Southern California SR RHP Brandon Garcia
• Southern California rSR RHP Jordan Hershiser
• Utah JR RHP Tyler Wagner
• Utah JR RHP Zach Adams
• Utah JR RHP Tony Vocca
• Utah JR RHP Brock Duke
• Utah JR RHP Joe Pond
• Utah SR RHP Kesley Kondo
• Washington State JR LHP Bret DeRooy