Apologies for the unplanned disappearance over the past few weeks, but the allure of hitting the road to go watch some baseball and spend time at the beach was too strong to ignore. Counting on a reliable internet connection while traveling was probably a mistake, but I trust nobody missed me too terribly. On the plus side, being off the grid gave me plenty of time to mess around with the list you see below. I suppose seeing a good chunk of the high school prospects up close and personal would also qualify as a plus. Maybe I should unplug the ole computer more often…
The plan for the week is to get more in-depth with the list below — lists are great, but commentary is better — while also talking about some of the guys who just missed the cut as well as going back to last year’s original big board to see the hits and misses of yesteryear. In the meantime, rip away! I’ll leave with the disclaimer from last year’s summer big board:
Lastly, this list is just one man’s opinion. Based on firsthand observations, statistical research, crosschecking with old allies in the business, and reading publicly available scouting reports, I’d like to think it is a pretty well-informed opinion. Like all of my rankings, the emphasis is on where I’d draft each player and not where I necessarily think each player will be drafted. Here we go…
- OF Austin Meadows (Grayson HS, Georgia)
- Arkansas JR RHP Ryne Stanek
- San Diego JR OF/3B Kris Bryant
- OF Clint Frazier (Loganville HS, Georgia)
- SS Oscar Mercado (Gaither HS, Florida)
- Stanford SR RHP Mark Appel
- Stanford JR OF Austin Wilson
- Florida JR RHP Karsten Whitson
- Fresno State JR OF Aaron Judge
- OF Ryan Boldt (Red Wing HS, Minnesota)
- C Reese McGuire (Kentwood HS, Washington)
- OF/LHP Trey Ball (New Castle HS, Indiana)
- North Carolina JR 3B Colin Moran
- Indiana State JR LHP Sean Manaea
- Florida JR RHP Jonathan Crawford
- Mississippi JR RHP Bobby Wahl
- RHP Kohl Stewart (St. Pius HS, Texas)
- LHP Robert Kaminsky (St. Joseph Regional HS, New Jersey)
- LHP Stephen Gonsalves (Cathedral Catholic HS, California)
- OF Justin Williams (Terrebonne HS, Louisiana)
- LHP Ian Clarkin (James Madison HS, California)
- RHP Clinton Hollon (Woodford County HS, Kentucky)
- Gonzaga JR LHP Marco Gonzales
- Texas JR RHP Corey Knebel
- Vanderbilt JR LHP Kevin Ziomek
- LSU JR RHP Ryan Eades
- 3B Ryan McMahon (Mater Dei HS, California)
- SS/3B Andy McGuire (James Madison HS, Virginia)
- RHP Brett Morales (King HS, Florida)
- LSU JR SS/OF JaCoby Jones
- C Jeremy Martinez (Mater Dei HS, California)
- Kansas State JR OF Jared King
- RHP Dustin Driver (Wenatchee HS, Washington)
- College of the Canyons FR 3B Trey Williams
- LHP AJ Puk (Washington HS, Iowa)
- Texas JR OF Mark Payton
- Samford JR OF Phillip Ervin
- San Diego JR RHP Dylan Covey
- Rice JR RHP Austin Kubitza
- 3B Joseph Martarano (Fruitland HS, Idaho)
- Arkansas JR RHP Barrett Astin
- Oklahoma JR RHP Jonathan Gray
- Stephen F. Austin State JR 3B Hunter Dozier
- Arizona State JR RHP Trevor Williams
- 1B/C Zach Collins (American Heritage HS, Florida)
- Minnesota JR LHP Tom Windle
- C Chris Okey (Eustis HS, Florida)
- C Jonathan Denney (Yukon HS, Oklahoma)
- C Nick Ciuffo (Lexington HS, South Carolina)
- Mississippi State JR SS Adam Frazier
- RHP Cory Thompson (Mauldin HS, South Carolina)
- RHP Dominic Taccolini (Kempner HS, Texas)
- RHP Robert Tyler (Crisp County HS, Georgia)
- RHP Kevin Davis (Miller HS, Alabama)
- Central Florida JR RHP Ben Lively
- RHP Keegan Thompson (Cullman HS, Alabama)
- RHP Chris Oakley (St. Augustine Prep HS, New Jersey)
- Rice JR RHP John Simms
- 3B Cavan Biggio (St. Thomas HS, Texas)
- Marshall JR RHP Aaron Blair
- RHP Hunter Harvey (Bandys HS, North Carolina)
- TCU JR RHP Andrew Mitchell
- Virginia Tech JR 3B Chad Pinder
- Michigan JR OF Michael O’Neill
- New Mexico JR 1B/3B DJ Peterson
- Ohio State JR RHP/1B Josh Dezse
- Pepperdine JR RHP Scott Frazier
- Kent State rSO RHP Tyler Skulina
- LHP Garrett Williams (Calvary Baptist HS, Louisiana)
- RHP Andrew Church (Palo Verde HS, Nevada)
- Texas State JR RHP Kyle Finnegan
- RHP Casey Meisner (Cypress Woods HS, Texas)
- Georgia Tech JR 1B/OF Daniel Palka
- 1B/OF Nick Longhi (Venice HS, Florida)
- Cal State Fullerton JR OF/RHP Michael Lorenzen
- OF/1B Dominic Smith (Junipero Serra HS, California)
- 1B Rowdy Tellez (Elk Grove HS, California)
- Texas JR 3B/OF Erich Weiss
- 3B Travis Demeritte (Winder Barrow HS, Georgia)
- OF Matthew McPhearson (Riverdale Baptist HS, Maryland)
- SS/RHP Chris Rivera (El Dorado HS, California)
- Rhode Island JR OF Jeff Roy
- Arkansas JR RHP Colby Suggs
- UCLA JR RHP Adam Plutko
- Pepperdine JR LHP/OF Aaron Brown
- TCU JR RHP Stefan Crichton
- RHP Derik Beauprez (Cherry Creek HS, Colorado)
- RHP Chris Viall (Soquel HS, California)
- Arkansas JR 3B/1B Dominic Ficociello
- 2B/OF Anfernee Grier (Russell County HS, Alabama)
- SS Connor Heady (North Oldham HS, Kentucky)
- OF Josh Hart (Parkview HS, Georgia)
- OF Jordan Paroubeck (Serra HS, California)
- 1B/C Corey Simpson (Sweeny HS, Texas)
- OF Thomas Milone (Masuk HS, Connecticut)
- 3B Blake Tiberi (Holy Cross HS, Kentucky)
- OF Corder Sandberg (Manatee HS, Florida)
- 3B/OF Jason Martin (Orange Lutheran HS, California)
- SS Riley Unroe (Desert Ridge HS, Arizona)
- 3B John Sternagel (Rockledge HS, Florida)
The Baseball Draft Report 
[…] fancy introduction today. The list is here. The guys who didn’t make the cut […]
San diego state second baseman Tim Zier should be on that list
Take a look at JUCO Centerfielder Mike Bradshaw from Florence-Darlington Tech in South Carolina. 6.6 runner plus arm/power/bat speed. Shows flashes of plus D in Center. 6’5. Unreal potential. Saw him play in ACBL this summer coming off injury at St. Johns in NY. http://t.co/0xosZCE
I’ll definitely ask around about him. Thanks for the heads up.
Here is a heads up also.. Tyler Adams .. Seen him pitch this summer at NBC World Series in Wichita this passed summer.. Check out the news archives Aug 4th on Web site .. 12k’s .. Also he’s a starter at Cumberland University Tenn.
Scott
Where is JP Crawford from Lakewood, CA? He’s projected first round everywhere else I look.
Good question. The short answer is that this big board is outdated and badly in need of an update. I’m working on college positional rankings now, but as soon as I’m done there I’ll get a new top 50 or 100 up on the site. Off the top of my head, I think I’d probably put Crawford somewhere in the late-teens, early-twenties, with as much of a chance of anybody to move up with a big spring.
Since you mentioned Crawford specifically, I do have some interesting information to share. The first is something I’ve mentioned before…and something I’ll likely mention a few times more between now and June. I have on really good authority that the Astros love Crawford. Like, sleeper to go first overall kind of love. It’s obviously too early to actually speculate on such things, but, well, I did it anyway just now and nobody seemed to get hurt. Just a team/player fit to file away.
I’ve also heard from a friend with a team that his organization thinks Crawford is a clear first round talent, but is already being talked about as a really slow mover in pro ball. We’re talking a level a year kind of pace. That’s not a bad thing per se, but it does speak to how teams — well, at least this one team — view him: big talent, but super raw.