Using older scouting reports and numbers that don’t include 2013 performances isn’t exactly a recipe for great prospect lists. However, with a few notable exceptions (Elvin Soto!), the lists have held up pretty well so far, something that should come as no surprise to anybody who buys my “once you show a tool, you own it” philosophy of prospect evaluation.
After the catcher and first base lists, I was feeling pretty good. Then…second base happened. I don’t move guys around too much for this exercise — big shifts are coming soon, what with the draft in less than a month — but this second base group was so hard to look at, I had to make some little tweaks. The top name on my pre-season list is/was…Lonnie Kauppila. I still like Kauppila just fine — he’s such a good glove that he may wind up with the shortstop group after more thought — but, man, he hasn’t hit a lick this year. Same goes for original number two (Riddle) and five (Williams). For the sake of both time and my sanity, I bumped up a few names and kept the struggling guys in the same order but down a few pegs from their preseason perches. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’ll have to do for now.
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: The list only includes players from the conferences I’ve profiled so far. That would be the Big 10, SEC, ACC, Big East, Ivy, Mountain West, WCC, Sun Belt, Pac 12, WAC, Conference USA, Missouri Valley, and Big 12. As referenced above, players from the rest of college ball will be added in the very near future.
- Connecticut SR 2B LJ Mazzilli
- Clemson JR 2B Shane Kennedy
- Kansas State JR 2B Ross Kivett
- Houston JR 2B Frankie Ratcliff
- Virginia SR 2B Reed Gragnani
- Princeton JR 2B Alec Keller
- Louisville JR 2B Ty Young
- Stanford JR 2B/SS Lonnie Kauppila
- Kentucky JR 2B JT Riddle
- UCLA JR 2B Kevin Williams
- Wichita State JR 2B Dayne Parker
- Rice SR 2B Christian Stringer
- Tulane SR 2B Brennan Middleton
- Georgia Tech SR 2B Sam Dove
- Georgia SR 2B Kyle Farmer
- Georgia Tech JR 2B Mott Hyde
- Arizona State JR 2B Mike Benjamin
- Texas Christian SR 2B Josh Gonzales
- Baylor rJR 2B Lawton Langford
- Stanford JR 2B Brett Michael Doran
- Indiana State rSR 2B Koby Kraemer
- New Mexico State SR 2B Parker Hipp
- Oregon JR 2B Aaron Payne
- Sacramento State SR 2B Andrew Ayers
- Southern California SR 2B Adam Landecker
- Gonzaga SR 2B Clayton Eslick
- Loyola Marymount SR 2B Cullen Mahoney
- Miami SR 2B Michael Broad
- North Carolina State SR 2B Matt Bergquist
- Middle Tennessee State SR 2B Johnny Thomas
- Kentucky JR 2B Paul McConkey
- San Diego State JR 2B Tim Zier
- Louisville SR 2B Nick Ratajczak
- Cornell SR 2B Brenton Peters
- Wake Forest SR 2B Mark Rhine
- South Alabama rSO 2B Logan Kirkland
- Texas A&M JR 2B Charlie Curl
The Baseball Draft Report 
What happened to Tyler Sciacca, Villanova. He has been playing with a pulled quad. most of the yr.
Big fan of Sciacca, a guy I’ve seen a lot of this year and most recently last weekend against Louisville. He’ll be higher up on the list on the final pre-draft revision. Obviously not a player anybody is currently projecting for big league superstardom, but he’s a rock solid college player and a very likely mid-round pick.
Thank you for your opinion. I hope you are correct. He has a deep desire to play at the next level.
How do you see 2nd baseman of southern miss, stands out of others in conference usa.
Which 2B is that? I’m guessing Isaac Rodriguez, who is a good one. Haven’t seen him myself — not that I can recollect, anyway — but have heard/read pretty great things about his defense. He’s a little light on both power (senior year power spike notwithstanding) and speed to project him as anything more than a late-round utility infielder, but I think the defense and on-base skills are enough to get drafted.
And I just now realized I had Rodriguez listed with the shortstops on my preseason lists. He’s a 2B long-term, so he’ll be with them on the updated rankings.
Will Brett Michael Doran get drafted even without getting playing time stuck behind higher ranked players. Did he do enough at Cape and NECBL.
Honestly, I think he’s probably a long shot at this point. I personally like what I’ve seen, a lot of the published reports and info I’ve received on him has been positive (personal favorite: “conducts his business in a professional manner, carries himself like a pro”), and, as you said, he’s shown well in multiple summer leagues. I’m far from a plugged-in insider on stuff like this, but, if I had to guess, I’d say his best shot is having really impressed an area guy over the years. It doesn’t even have to necessarily be a Northern California based scout either; it could be an old relationship made during his high school days. If there’s a scout willing to pound the table for him late in the draft (e.g. “was a solid HS prospect, has hit when actually given ABs, not his fault he’s been stuck behind flashier names, etc.”), I could see him being a late round pick. Just a guess, though. We’ll be pulling for him.
Thanks
No problem. Best of luck to him…not to mention you and the family!
Derek Hagy. D-1 UTPan American. Sr. Line drive hitter. 6.5, 60 yd. 2012- .332 ba, 37 rbi. 70 hits. PG Wood Bat League, 2012, Watertown Wizards, .303 ba, 1 homerun, 22 rbi, 16-22 stolen !ases in 42 games. 2013- UTPA, .291 ba, 30 rbi. Also plays OF. Great eye.
Do you think he will get drafted?