I’ve been sitting on this list for over a month, forgetting to hit the Publish button and change things up from rough draft to public piece each day. With this past weekend being so crazy for so many Friday night starters around the nation, I figured it’s better to get this first iteration out ASAP before changes are made in June. A few quick notes on what you see below…
I didn’t include pitchers from outside D-1 ball. Not yet. There would certainly be a few additions to this list if I were to add them in. In due time. A few injuries (Troupe, Stephens) and a few risers (like everybody’s new favorite senior Jake Stinnett, ranked 199th on my college pitching list last year for what it’s worth) were not really taken into account, as this list was originally drafted right before the start of the current college season. This has annoyed some people in the past, but it’s how I like it. Barring extreme circumstances, I don’t actually move college guys (HS is a different story) around my personal rankings all that much in the months leading up to the draft. The sites that update big boards every week don’t reflect what actually goes on this time of year in front offices, but, hey, different strokes and all that. Gotta move those draft books somehow, I guess.
As for the list itself…damn, that top ten is a thing of beauty. Not my rankings (though if you want to say that, I won’t stop you), but the quality of the talent available. Even if you quibble with my list — feel free to do so in the comments or via email, by the way — I think there’s enough depth at the top of this year’s pitching class to come up with an outstanding top ten any way you want to break it down. There’s definitely some separation after the top three, but a team drafting late in first round can realistically get their fourth-rated college arm if things line up their way on draft day. Team preference will go a long way in sorting out these pitchers from four on. I’m not sure which pitcher will take that fourth spot come June, but, if pressed today to give a name, I’d say I’m currently leaning Finnegan. I also have to say that I won’t sleep as well tonight knowing I didn’t mention how unhappy I am with Freeland’s low placement. Not sure what I was thinking last month other than the fact I just liked the names above him more (i.e. his ranking is not a knock on him, but a testament to this year’s crazy pitching depth), but I’m 99.99% sure he’ll be significantly higher than this on the next version of a similar list.
The June list will go way deeper than 72 names (did 500 last year, might do it again this year), but I capped it for now in an attempt to maintain what’s left of my sanity. So many fascinating names didn’t make the cut here, but I’m more than happy to talk about anybody here or not in the comments/via email. Putting this together was a fun little exercise…hope it’s a worthwhile list.
- East Carolina JR RHP Jeff Hoffman
- North Carolina State JR LHP Carlos Rodon
- Vanderbilt JR RHP Tyler Beede
- Mississippi JR RHP Chris Ellis
- Florida State JR RHP Luke Weaver
- UNLV JR RHP Erick Fedde
- TCU JR LHP Brandon Finnegan
- LSU JR RHP Aaron Nola
- Hartford JR LHP Sean Newcomb
- San Diego State JR RHP Michael Cederoth
- Louisville JR RHP Nick Burdi
- Arizona JR RHP Matthew Troupe
- Rice JR RHP Zech Lemond
- Notre Dame JR RHP Patrick Connaughton
- Cal Poly JR LHP Matt Imhof
- Oregon State JR LHP Jace Fry
- Louisiana-Lafayette JR RHP Austin Robichaux
- Fresno State JR RHP Derick Velazquez
- Florida rJR RHP Karsten Whitson
- Stanford SR RHP AJ Vanegas
- Oregon rSO LHP Porter Clayton
- Southern Mississippi JR RHP Brad Roney
- Evansville JR LHP Kyle Freeland
- Hawaii JR LHP Scott Squier
- USC JR RHP Wyatt Strahan
- Arizona JR RHP Tyler Parmenter
- Portland JR LHP Travis Radke
- Texas A&M JR RHP Daniel Mengden
- North Carolina JR RHP Benton Moss
- Miami JR LHP Andrew Suarez
- Fresno State JR RHP/OF Jordan Brink
- Virginia JR RHP Nick Howard
- Mississippi JR RHP Hawtin Buchanan
- Southern Illinois JR RHP Sam Coonrod
- Texas JR RHP Parker French
- Wichita State JR RHP AJ Ladwig
- Central Florida JR LHP Eric Skoglund
- Rice JR RHP Jordan Stephens
- Texas A&M JR RHP Corey Ray
- Auburn JR RHP Rocky McCord
- Mississippi State JR RHP Jonathan Holder
- Kentucky JR RHP Chandler Shepherd
- Florida JR RHP Ryan Harris
- Arkansas JR RHP Chris Oliver
- Texas JR LHP Dillon Peters
- North Carolina State JR RHP Logan Jernigan
- Clemson SO LHP Matthew Crownover
- Mississippi State JR LHP Jacob Lindgren
- South Carolina Upstate JR RHP Chad Sobotka
- Central Michigan JR RHP Jordan Foley
- UNC Wilmington JR RHP Jordan Ramsey
- Tulane rJR RHP Randy LeBlanc
- Portland JR RHP Kody Watts
- North Carolina Greensboro JR RHP Max Povse
- Western Illinois JR RHP Tyler Willman
- USC JR RHP Nigel Nootbaar
- Clemson JR RHP Daniel Gossett
- Pepperdine JR LHP Aaron Brown
- Illinois State JR RHP Jeremy Rhoades
- Mississippi State JR RHP Brandon Woodruff
- Charlotte rJR RHP Ryan Butler
- Texas rSO RHP John Curtiss
- Ohio State rJR RHP/1B Josh Dezse
- Oregon JR RHP Jake Reed
- Texas JR RHP Lukas Schiraldi
- Washington State rJR RHP Scott Simon
- Loyola Marymount JR RHP Trevor Megill
- Lipscomb rJR RHP Hunter Brothers
- Arizona State JR RHP Darin Gillies
- Alabama JR RHP Spencer Turnbull
- Texas A&M JR RHP Gandy Stubblefield
- Louisville JR LHP Joey Filomeno
The Baseball Draft Report 
Some other arms to consider going forward:
Chris Sadberry, LHP, Texas Tech, JR (impressive start against TCU this weekend. Big time sleeper)
Austin Gomber, LHP, Florida Atlantic, JR
James Norwood, RHP, Saint Louis, JR (numbers aren’t great but he is young for this draft class, could see him returning for senior year)
Garrett Mundell, RHP, Fresno State, JR
Cy Sneed, RHP, Dallas Baptist, JR
Koby Gauna, RHP, Cal State Fullerton, JR
James Lomangino, RHP, St. John’s, SR (probably a top 10 rounds, senior sign)
Aaron Garza, RHP, Houston, JR
Zach Thompson, RHP, Louisiana-Lafayette, JR
Jeremy Null, RHP, Western Carolina, JR (building steam)
David Hess, RHP, Tennessee Tech, JR
Love it. All really good names to keep in mind. Since you’re bringing them up I’m sure you have a pretty good feel for each, but just in case anybody else is curious I’ve included a few notes (and relevant stats from College Splits) on each pitcher below. Gomber, Norwood, Mundell, and Null all stand out to me as truly excellent college pitching prospects. As much as I stand by my original list, it’s hard to believe I didn’t include those four names somewhere. Really good year for pitching across the board. I want to put Sneed and Garza in that same class, but their results prior to 2014 have me a little apprehensive. I admittedly haven’t being able to keep up with what every guy is doing so far this year, so maybe they are putting things together finally. Alright, now I have to check…yeah, both Sneed and Garza (more so Sneed) look a lot better but are still not hitting all my preferred statistical benchmarks. Still, both are better. Funny that guys pitching as objectively well as those two can get dinged for performance (ERAs around 2.00 in each case), but here we are.
Anyway, again, really impressive collection of names. Notes for the curious…
rJR LHP Chris Sadberry (2014): 90-92 FB with sink, 93 peak; good 79-81 CU; 6-1, 200 pounds
JR LHP Austin Gomber (2014): 86-92 FB, 93-94 peak; above-average 77-82 CB; good 79-81 CU; SL; 6-5, 220 pounds (2012: 9.39 K/9 | 4.84 BB/9 | 3.47 FIP | 61.1 IP) (2013: 8.94 K/9 | 2.32 BB/9 | 4.01 FIP | 104.2 IP)
JR RHP James Norwood (2014): 87-93 FB, 95-97 peak; commands FB well; 78-81 CB with average upside; 83-86 CU with average upside; mid-80s cut-SL; good athlete; 6-2, 200 pounds (2012: 7.59 K/9 | 2.90 BB/9 | 3.20 FIP | 40.1 IP) (2013: 9.43 K/9 | 5.57 BB/9 | 3.26 FIP | 21 IP)
JR RHP Garrett Mundell (2014): 86-92 FB, 93 peak; average 81-84 split-CU; 73-76 breaking ball; good control; almost as if he hands ball to catcher, great extension; popular Doug Fister comp; FAVORITE; 6-6, 230 pounds (2012: 7.12 K/9 | 3.93 BB/9 | 3.01 FIP | 36.2 IP) (2013: 9.89 K/9 | 4.33 BB/9 | 3.47 FIP | 43.2 IP)
JR RHP Cy Sneed (2014): 88-93 FB with good sink, 94-95 peak; good CB; good CU; plus splitter; 6-4, 200 pounds (2012: 7.73 K/9 | 2.75 BB/9 | 4.31 FIP | 85 IP) (2013: 5.81 K/9 | 3.44 BB/9 | 4.63 FIP | 83.2 IP)
JR RHP Koby Gauna (2014): 90-94 FB; good 77-78 SL; CU; 6-2, 220 pounds (2012: 4.48 K/9 | 1.09 BB/9 | 4.92 FIP | 66.1 IP) (2013: 5.53 K/9 | 1.14 BB/9 | 3.81 FIP | 55.1 IP)
rSR RHP James Lomangino (2014): 88-92 FB, 94 peak; good 80-81 SL; average upside with 80-83 CU; low-70s CB; 6-0, 200 pounds (2012: 12.10 K/9 | 3.41 BB/9 | 3.76 FIP | 29 IP) (2013: 8.67 K/9 | 3.49 BB/9 | 3.39 FIP | 90.1 IP)
JR RHP Aaron Garza (2014): 84-91 FB, 88-90 in 2014; plus CB; good SL; good CU; good command; 6-4, 180 pounds (2012: 6.69 K/9 | 3.00 BB/9 | 3.26 FIP | 39 IP) (2013: 5.88 K/9 | 2.41 BB/9 | 3.51 FIP | 67.1 IP)
JR RHP Zach Thompson (2014): 90-94 FB, 95 peak; good 78 CB; good CU; 6-6, 210 pounds (2012: 3.47 K/9 | 2.55 BB/9 | 4.65 FIP | 49.1 IP) (2013: 3.67 K/9 | 2.89 BB/9 | 4.74 FIP | 81 IP)
JR RHP Jeremy Null (2014): 88-92 FB, 93 peak; good 81-83 SL with plus upside; 6-8, 230 pounds (2012: 7.77 K/9 | 3.45 BB/9 | 4.64 FIP | 73 IP) (2013: 10.78 K/9 | 2.67 BB/9 | 3.64 FIP | 91 IP)
JR RHP David Hess (2014): 90-93 FB, 95 peak; above-average SL, flashes plus; raw CU; 6-2, 200 pounds (2012: 7.44 K/9 | 3.65 BB/9 | 5.74 FIP | 61.2 IP) (2013: 10.14 K/9 | 3.02 BB/9 | 3.25 FIP | 65.2 IP)
check out Kevin Archbold stats ,senior 6’6 lefty. Albany
Jake Stinnett is left off your list. I would appreciate your thoughts on his overall future potential.
Like everybody else, I’ve been pretty damn impressed with Stinnett’s growth as a pitcher. I tend to be slow to appreciate breakout senior year performers, believing that the extra year they have on their draft-eligible peers is huge in the grand scheme of development, but the fact that Stinnett is a converted position player (3B, I believe) helps me get over that somewhat. I’m still not quite as excited about him as others — have seen some late first round buzz, which I think is nuts — but he’s now a lock for the first ten rounds as athletic, relatively fresh-armed potential impact relief prospect (FB/SL) at the next level.