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2016 MLB Draft Follow Lists – Southern Conference
I’m an unabashed Kyle Lewis fan. I’m also a fan of hitters who can control the strike zone, spoil pitchers’s pitches, work favorable counts, and punish baseballs when ahead. Right now, that description only partially describes Lewis…and even that requires a more optimistic outlook than some are willing to take at this point in time. So how can those two statements be reconciled? It’s a dangerous thing for my credibility to admit, but call it an educated hunch that the 20-year-old Lewis will figure things out as a hitter. It goes back to something I mentioned in the comments section a few weeks back: guys either learn to hit or they don’t. That’s my paraphrased take from this scout’s quote talking about the likelihood of Jahlil Okafor improving his outside shot as a professional: “He needs to become a better shooter and free throw shooter. He either will or he won’t.” Scouts work very hard evaluating amateur and minor league talent across the country, so their collective insight into projecting a young hitter’s future is not to be dismissed. But…can we ever really know how a guy is going to react when thrown into the professional environment? A 95 MPH fastball with movement is a 95 MPH fastball with movement at any level. Plus speed, outstanding glove work, and the ability to miss bats are all translatable skills when honed properly. Hitting is an entirely different animal.
A big part of what makes hitting unique is that it can mean different things to different evaluators. There’s no wrong way to define “hitting,” so long as it remains consistent report to report. When I personally talk hitting, I’m including everything that I think goes into what separates a good hitter from a not so good hitter. If that means there’s overlap with other tools (power, most notably) and abilities (athleticism, hand-eye coordination, work ethic), then so be it. Hitting can be broken up into all kinds of smaller sub-components, but the three central facets are “hitting” (contact skills, bat-to-ball ability, mechanics), power (fairly self-explanatory), and approach (having a plan at the plate, both early and late in counts). The hitting and power components are relatively easy to identify with practice — there’s a reason they are two of the oft-cited five tools — but approach has always been the great mystery of amateur scouting. This is problematic for guys like me who place a great deal of importance on the approach piece of the pie; without an approach up to a certain standard, the hit and power tools will suffer greatly. I know some scouts will argue for hit over power (i.e., the Kansas City and Pittsburgh approach to scouting and development) or power over hit (where many teams are still at as they struggle to adjust to a post-PED world), but I’ll always be approach over hit/power, with no real preference on the last decision.
So what do I look for in young hitters and what does this ultimately have to do with liking Kyle Lewis and his current sub-optimal (per performance metrics) approach so much? I want to see athleticism (both traditional and baseball-specific), ease of mechanical repeatability (swing path, pre-swing movements, and upper- to lower-half coordination are all interesting to me, but ultimately I’m pragmatic: don’t really care how it looks as long as the hitter is comfortable, productive against top competition, and able to consistently do the same thing over and over), a high frequency of “hard” contact (easier judged now thanks to new technology at the pro level, but still a subjective call at the amateur level), and evidence of a planned approach (more about “self-scouting” and less about trying to guess what the hitter is seeing out of the pitcher’s hand — often labelled “pitch recognition,” but a really hard thing for an outsider to claim in my opinion) with every single plate appearance.
The relative importance of hitting the ball to all fields is something I go back and forth on; it’s obviously a good thing, but I think there’s still room in our shift-filled game for a slugger with extreme pull-side power to succeed if he’s good enough at it. For now, I consider it a bonus and not a prerequisite for being an average or better pro hitter. I’m also somewhat divided in thought when it comes to bat speed. As somebody who grew up with a front row seat — well, upper-deck (sections 420/421!) but it still counts — to watching Chase Utley play every day, I’m not about to downplay the importance of swinging a quick bat. Bat speed is undeniably important, but damn hard to judge in a nuanced way. That could be a personal failing of mine and not a universal issue among real deal scouts, but I’m not sure how the human eye can possibly determine bat speed beyond differentiating between “whoa,” “decent,” and “slow.” Maybe you could attempt to circle back to existing scouting language and separate a bit more (plus, above-average, average, below-average), but even that only teases out one extra descriptive layer. Short of measuring bat speed electronically, we’re left at doing our best to approximate what we see in an instant.
There’s also always going to be the most basic aspect of scouting: how does he look when he’s doing what he does. Think of this as an informed “gut” instinct. That’s so much of what scouting is: educated guesses. I wish I had access to some kind of special proprietary video library of every hitter of the past few decades to compare what I’m seeing right this second to what has worked for others historically, but I don’t. Thankfully, our brains are designed to cycle through all that our eyes have perceived and form patterns based on positive outcomes. That magic video library is inside each and every one of us obsessives who watches baseball on a daily basis. This will always be the most subjective aspect of scouting — everybody has a “type” and we’re all preconditioned to prefer those who fit that mold — but that doesn’t mean it’s not without value. And, yes, Kyle Lewis is my type, thank you very much.
Acknowledging that we all have our own preconceived notions about what is best lends further credence to the idea that sweeping proclamations about whether or not a young guy will hit aren’t wise. We can all make our best guesses — some of us having to do so with millions of dollars on the line — but ultimately these hitters will or won’t hit as pros. There’s already some interesting “expert” noise out there about Florida OF Buddy Reed’s swing being unsuitable to the challenges of the pro game. That’s a fair criticism (when substantiated beyond the boring blanket statement of “I just don’t like that swing”), but consider me preemptively bummed out to read (in the event of him being a great pro) how it wasn’t a scouting miss per se but rather a developmental success. No way could it be that his swing wasn’t misidentified as a bad one. Nooo, it was the impossible to predict reworking of his swing as a pro that led to his (again, entirely hypothetical) pro success. In other words, be careful what you read about a young hitter’s ability to adjust to the pro game. Nobody on the outside really knows — heck, neither do the supposed insiders! — so beware anybody who claims to have some kind of soothsaying abilities when prognosticating raw amateur bats. These guys are often the first to explain away their misses under the guise of unforeseen pro development. Here I am thinking that making that determination was part of the scouting process — silly me!
Kyle Lewis hit .367/.423/.677 last year in a decent college conference. That’s good, clearly. His 19 BB/41 K ratio is less good. So why buy the bat? As a hitter, I like what I’ve seen and heard about his righthanded swing. I like that he seemingly improved his approach (aggressively hunting for “his” pitch showed good self-scouting while getting ahead more frequently late in the year demonstrated a fuller understanding of what it will take to succeed against top-level competition) and started chasing fewer pitchers’s pitches as the season went on. I like his physical projection, public and privately shared intel about his work ethic, bat speed (I’ve seen some “whoa” cuts from him), and how his athleticism allows his upper- and lower-body to work in concern with one another with each swing. Believe me, I understand doubting him now as a potential top ten pick and dark horse to go 1-1 in this draft based on a wait-and-see approach to his plate discipline; if improvements aren’t made in his draft year BB/K ratio, all the positive scouting buzz will matter a lot less to me come June. But part of college scouting early in the season is identifying players set to make the leap as juniors. I think Lewis’s leap as a more mature, thoughtful, and explosive hitter has already begun, and it’ll be reflected on the field this upcoming season. I’ve thrown out a Yasiel Puig comp in the past for his ceiling and I’m sticking with that for now. As an added prospect to prospect bonus, his game reminds me some of Anthony Alford. Your mileage might vary on how in the draft a player like that could go, but it sure sounds like a potential premium pick to me.
Hitters
- Mercer JR OF Kyle Lewis
- Samford JR OF Heath Quinn
- East Tennessee State JR SS/RHP Chris Cook
- East Tennessee State SR 2B Trey York
- Mercer JR SS Matt Meeder
- Mercer JR C Charlie Madden
- East Tennessee State SR 1B/C Kevin Phillips
- Mercer JR 2B/SS Ryan Hagan
- East Tennessee State JR 3B Blake Rowlett
- East Tennessee State JR OF Lance Mays
- Furman SR 2B/SS Jordan Simpson
- East Tennessee State SR OF Jeremy Taylor
- Furman JR C Cameron Whitehead
- Mercer JR 3B Danny Edgeworth
- Western Carolina SR C Danny Bermudez
- Samford JR 1B/RHP Hunter Swilling
- Wofford JR 1B Brett Hash
- Samford SR 1B Alex Lee
- Samford rJR SS Danny Rodriguez
- East Tennessee State rJR 2B/SS Danny Carrier
- Furman JR OF Carter Grote
- Samford JR OF TJ Dixon
- Furman JR OF Sky Overton
- North Carolina Greensboro SR 3B Collin Woody
- Western Carolina JR OF/1B Matt Smith
- Wofford JR C Carson Waln
- Wofford JR OF Kody Ruedisilli
- Samford SR C Richard Greene
- Mercer rSR OF/1B Blaise Lezynski
- Western Carolina rSR OF Garrett Brown
- East Tennessee State JR 1B/RHP Zach Thompson
- Western Carolina SR 2B/3B Reece Strong
- Wofford SR 2B/SS Alec Paradowski
- Samford SR SS Frankie Navarette
- Wofford SR SS/2B Derek Hirsch
Pitchers
- Samford JR RHP Jared Brasher
- Wofford SR RHP Will Stillman
- Wofford JR RHP Jacob Condra-Bogan
- East Tennessee State SR RHP Griffin Krieg
- North Carolina Greensboro rJR RHP Hunter Smith
- East Tennessee State JR RHP Blake Smith
- VMI SR RHP Taylor Edens
- North Carolina Greensboro SR RHP Keaton Haack
- East Tennessee State rSO RHP Dillon Cate
- Western Carolina SR RHP Colton Davis
- VMI rSO RHP Jack Gomersall
- Western Carolina JR LHP Bryan Sammons
- Western Carolina SR LHP Taylor Durand
- East Tennessee State JR RHP Victor Gonzalez
- Mercer JR RHP Ryan Askew
- Wofford JR RHP John Caskey
- Mercer JR LHP Austin Lord
- Western Carolina JR RHP BJ Nobles
- Wofford SR RHP Matthew Milburn
- Samford SR RHP Parker Curry
The Citadel
rSO RHP Zach McKay (2016)
rJR RHP Zach Lavery (2016)
rJR LHP Nate Brecklin (2016)
SR 2B/3B Bret Hines (2016)
rJR OF Steven Hansen (2016)
rJR OF Jason Smith (2016)
JR OF Austin Mapes (2016)
SR C Stephen Windham (2016)
SR OF Mike Deese (2016)
SO LHP JP Sears (2017)
SO RHP Thomas Byelick (2017)
SO RHP/2B Jacob Watcher (2017)
SO 3B/SS William Kinney (2017)
SO 2B Philip Watcher (2017)
SO 1B Drew Ellis (2017)
FR 1B Ben Peden (2018)
High Priority Follows: Steven Hansen, Austin Mapes, Stephen Windham
East Tennessee State
SR RHP Griffin Krieg (2016)
rSO RHP Dillon Cate (2016)
SR LHP Josh Jacques (2016)
JR LHP Jamin McCann (2016)
JR RHP Blake Smith (2016)
JR RHP Victor Gonzalez (2016)
SR RHP Lee Haeberle (2016)
JR RHP Connor Bartow (2016)
JR RHP/1B Zach Thompson (2016)
JR SS/RHP Chris Cook (2016)
SR 1B/C Kevin Phillips (2016)
SR 2B Trey York (2016)
SR OF Jeremy Taylor (2016)
JR 3B Blake Rowlett (2016)
JR OF Lance Mays (2016)
JR 1B/OF Caleb Longley (2016)
rJR 2B/SS Danny Carrier (2016)
SO RHP Ryan Simpler (2017)
SO RHP Logan Gentry (2017)
FR RHP Dalton Long (2017)
SO OF Aaron Maher (2017)
SO C/INF Hagan Owenby (2017)
SO INF Christian Bailey (2017)
Highest Priority Follows: Griffin Krieg, Dillon Cate, Blake Smith, Victor Gonzalez, Zach Thompson, Chris Cook, Kevin Phillips, Trey York, Jeremy Taylor, Blake Rowlett, Lance Mays, Danny Carrier
Furman
SR RHP Steven Fondu (2016)
JR RHP Will Dvorak (2016)
SR RHP Ryan Griffith (2016)
JR RHP Matthew Quarles (2016)
JR LHP Billy Greenfield (2016)
JR C Cameron Whitehead (2016)
SR 2B/SS Jordan Simpson (2016)
JR OF Carter Grote (2016)
JR OF Sky Overton (2016)
SR OF Griffin Davis (2016)
SR INF Matt Towarnicky (2016)
SR C Andrew MacLatchie (2016)
SO RHP Will Gaddis (2017)
SO LHP Grant Schuermann (2017)
SO 1B/RHP Brandon Elmy (2017)
SO SS Sims Griffith (2017)
SO OF Landon Kay (2017)
FR RHP Rollin Layton (2018)
High Priority Follows: Matthew Quarles, Cameron Whitehead, Jordan Simpson, Carter Grote, Sky Overton, Griffin Davis
Mercer
JR RHP Ryan Askew (2016)
JR RHP CJ Martin (2016)
JR LHP Austin Lord (2016)
JR OF Kyle Lewis (2016)
JR SS Matt Meeder (2016)
JR C Charlie Madden (2016)
JR 2B/SS Ryan Hagan (2016)
rSR OF/1B Blaise Lezynski (2016)
JR 1B Ben Upton (2016)
JR 1B Hunter Bening (2016)
JR INF Drew Lingo (2016)
JR 3B Danny Edgeworth (2016)
rJR 1B Howard Joe (2016)
SR C Jose Hernandez (2016)
SO LHP Conner Herd (2017)
SO RHP Carter Varga (2017)
SO OF Jackson Ware (2017)
SO OF Trey Truitt (2017)
FR RHP Kevin Coulter (2018)
FR RHP Andrew Kane (2018)
FR RHP Conrad Broom (2018)
High Priority Follows: Ryan Askew, Austin Lord, Kyle Lewis, Matt Meeder, Charlie Madden, Ryan Hagan, Blaise Lezynski, Danny Edgeworth
North Carolina Greensboro
rJR RHP Hunter Smith (2016)
SR RHP Keaton Haack (2016)
SR 3B Collin Woody (2016)
JR C Jake Kusz (2016)
JR OF Dillon Stewart (2016)
JR 1B Michael Goss (2016)
JR C/INF JoJo Underwood (2016)
JR 2B/OF Ben Spitznagel (2016)
rSR OF LJ Kalawaia (2016)
JR OF Ryne Sigmon (2016)
SO LHP Bryce Hensley (2017)
SO RHP Andrew Wantz (2017)
SO RHP Chad Sykes (2017)
SO OF Devin Ruiz (2017)
SO SS Tripp Shelton (2017)
FR RHP Matt Frisbee (2018)
FR OF Andrew Moritz (2018)
FR SS Cesar Trejo (2018)
High Priority Follows: Hunter Smith, Keaton Haack, Collin Woody, Jake Kusz, Dillon Stewart
Samford
SR RHP Parker Curry (2016)
JR RHP Jared Brasher (2016)
JR 1B/RHP Hunter Swilling (2016)
JR OF TJ Dixon (2016)
JR OF Heath Quinn (2016)
SR 1B Alex Lee (2016)
SR C Richard Greene (2016)
SR SS Frankie Navarette (2016)
rJR SS Danny Rodriguez (2016)
rSR OF Jared Watson (2016)
rSR OF Damon Waller (2016)
JR 3B/SS Anthony Gonzalez (2016)
SO RHP Jacob Greer (2017)
SO RHP Tristan Widra (2017)
SO RHP Wyatt Burns (2017)
SO 1B Austin Edens (2017)
FR RHP Connor Radcliff (2018)
High Priority Follows: Parker Curry, Jared Brasher, Hunter Swilling, TJ Dixon, Heath Quinn, Alex Lee, Frankie Navarette, Danny Rodriguez,
Virginia Military Institute
SR RHP Taylor Edens (2016)
JR LHP Austin Heenan (2016)
SR RHP Micah Gorman (2016)
rSO RHP Jack Gomersall (2016)
rJR RHP Ryan Bennett (2016)
JR OF Will Malbon (2016)
SR 3B David Geary (2016)
JR 1B Tyler Tharp (2016)
JR OF BJ Dudeck (2016)
SR OF Ray Lopez (2016)
SO LHP Brandon Barbery (2017)
SO RHP Jared Silva (2017)
SO RHP Matthew Eagle (2017)
SO SS Jacob Jye (2017)
SO C Peyton Maddox (2017)
SO OF/1B Collin Fleischer (2017)
SO OF Matt Dunlevy (2017)
FR RHP Josh Winder (2018)
High Priority Follows: Taylor Edens, Jack Gomersall
Western Carolina
JR LHP Bryan Sammons (2016)
JR RHP Korey Anderson (2016)
SR LHP Taylor Durand (2016)
SR RHP Colton Davis (2016)
SR RHP Jonathan Waszak (2016)
JR RHP BJ Nobles (2016)
rJR LHP Dillon Bray (2016)
SR C Danny Bermudez (2016)
JR OF/1B Matt Smith (2016)
SR OF Kramer Ferrell (2016)
SR 2B/3B Reece Strong (2016)
rJR 3B/SS JD Long (2016)
rSR OF Garrett Brown (2016)
rJR OF Bryson Bowman (2016
rSO C Pierce Suttles (2016)
rJR 1B Jason Smith (2016)
SO LHP Brandan Nail (2017)
SO LHP Corey Sikes (2017)
SO SS/3B Brett Pope (2017)
SO OF Matthew Koehler (2017)
SO C Spencer Holcomb (2017)
FR LHP Tristan Baker (2018)
High Priority Follows: Bryan Sammons, Taylor Durand, Colton Davis, BJ Nobles, Danny Bermudez, Matt Smith, Kramer Ferrell, Reece Strong, Garrett Brown, Pierce Suttles
Wofford
SR RHP Will Stillman (2016)
SR RHP Matthew Milburn (2016)
JR RHP Jacob Condra-Bogan (2016)
JR RHP Elliot Lance (2016)
JR RHP Spencer Kulman (2016)
SR LHP Connor Foltyn (2016)
JR RHP Jordan Accetta (2016)
JR RHP John Caskey (2016)
SR SS/2B Derek Hirsch (2016)
SR 2B/SS Alec Paradowski (2016)
SR OF/2B Demetrius Jennings (2016)
JR 1B Brett Hash (2016)
JR C Carson Waln (2016)
JR OF Kody Ruedisilli (2016)
JR INF Dylan May (2016)
SO LHP Adam Scott (2017)
SO 3B Max McDougal (2017)
SO OF McClain Bradley (2017)
SO C Mack Nathanson (2017)
SO C Cody Miller (2017)
FR RHP Reed Massey (2018)
FR LHP Austin Higginbotham (2018)
FR RHP Thomas Tatham (2018)
FR OF Chandler Engel (2018)
High Priority Follows: Will Stillman, Matthew Milburn, Jacob Condra-Bogan, John Caskey, Derek Hirsch, Alec Paradowski, Brett Hash, Carson Waln, Kody Ruedisilli
Mailbag!
Photo Credit: Quiz Law
One of the most appealing aspects of doing the blog thing is the ability to actually interact with people who care about college/high school ball and the draft. I like the diverging opinions people seem to have about the placement of players on some of the lists posted thus far. The comments have been of excellent quality and they always give me a chance to reevaluate how I’ve assessed a particular player’s value as a prospect – sometimes it takes nothing more than a kick in the butt from a different perspective than mine to remind me that, hey, Player X should/shouldn’t be ranked where he is…so long as there is some kind of reasoning to back it up, I’m always willing to listen and potentially change my mind.
To those that have comments featured in the mailbag, please let me know if you want attribution and I’ll add your name and a link or whatever so that you get proper credit. I wanted to do it right off the bat, but I figured I’d play it safe and ask just in case. I’m not sure if there will be any interest in this, but it’s something I feel like trying – my apologies to anybody who actually reads my responses in the comments and catches on that these are essentially re-runs…I’m not tryinig to pull a fast one, just wanted to give good comments (and hopefully well reasoned responses) the proper amount of recognition they deserve.
Reader comments/questions along with my answers after the jump… (more…)
2009 MLB Draft: College Big Board 1.0
1. Steven Strasburg (RHSP – San Diego State)
Alright, so far this is pretty easy…
2. Alex White (RHSP – North Carolina)
3. Grant Green (SS – Southern California)
4. Dustin Ackley (OF – North Carolina)
5. Kyle Gibson (RHSP – Missouri)
White is a confusing prospect. On one hand, he’s second on the board and, while Green may be very close behind him at number three, is a worthy candidate to go number two overall. On the other hand, if we pretended Strasburg wasn’t draft-eligible this year, would White as the number one pick in the country feel right? That may be a silly way of looking at it, but I can’t help it. Maybe it’s more about my personal hangup about what a number one overall pick should be. I like White a lot and genuinely believe he can front a big league rotation, but it would feel like a weak draft if he went number one overall. Ugh, that makes no sense. I’m just thinking out loud, disregard this paragraph…
6. Mike Minor (LHSP – Vanderbilt)
7. Tanner Scheppers (RHSP – Fresno State/St. Paul Saints)
8. Aaron Crow (RHSP – Missouri/Forth Worth Cats)
9. Andrew Oliver (LHSP – Oklahoma State)
Minor is a personal favorite and higher on this list than he’ll sure be on others – watching Cole Hamels every fifth day the last few years has turned me into a huge backer of lefties with plus changeups. Scheppers is also higher here than he’ll be on most rankings, but, remember, this ranking is based on the assumption of good health into the summer.
10. Josh Phegley (C – Indiana)
11. Mike Leake (RHSP – Arizona State)
12. James Jones (LHSP – Long Island)
13. Kendal Volz (RHSP – Baylor)
14. Mike Nesseth (RHSP – Nebraska)
Phegley as the third ranked college bat may seem a little strange, but his statistical profile is hard to ignore. He heads up an underrated group of college catchers that feature a surprisingly high number of players on the list – well, maybe it isn’t all that surprising, but it was surprising to me as I put the list together, whatever that’s worth. Leake over Volz is a little strange, but it came down to present plus command and movement over potential power plus stuff across the board.
15. Sean Black (RHSP – Seton Hall)
16. Jake Locker (OF – Washington)
Sometimes I have a hard time letting go. I know I previously admitted having Locker = poor man’s Grady Sizemore burned into my brain, but Sean Black this high could be just as egregious a selection. Black was a big prep prospect not too long ago who has failed to live up to the hype at Seton Hall. Loads of raw talent + more difficult playing conditions (subpar team, so-so conference, and colder weather) = potential sleeper prospect. Locker will fall down the list (and eventually off altogether) as other players emerge this spring, but I had to put him way up here as a nod to his prodigious talent.
17. Kentrail Davis (OF – Tennessee)
18. Robbie Shields (SS – Florida Southern)
19. Jared Mitchell (OF – Louisiana State)
20. Kyle Seager (2B – North Carolina)
21. Rich Poythress (1B – Georgia)
Counting Locker at 16th, that gives us sixth straight position players in a row. How about that? These five should all be big league starters if all goes according to plan, though only the two outfielders profile as potential all-stars.
22. Sam Dyson (RHSP – South Carolina)
23. Chris Dominguez (3B – Louisville)
All or nothing, here we come. Dyson’s arm is electric, but his injury history and control both need some cleaning up. Dominguez has his detractors, but two plus tools (arm and power) make him stand out in a weak college class for hitters. If he puts it all together this season, expect crazy power numbers out of Dominguez, especially in Big East play.
24. Ryan Ortiz (C – Oregon State)
25. DJ LeMahieu (SS – Louisiana State)
26. Trevor Coleman (C – Missouri)
27. Robert Stock (C – Southern California)
28. Ryan Jackson (SS – Miami)
Five spots, only two positions. Sorting out the college catchers and middle infielders is one of the trickier things to do in this class. Ortiz is an underrated player because his skillset is so broad. Players like this often get overlooked for not having one standout tool to suck scouts in. LeMahieu is a far better hitter than Jackson, but they are close in the overall rankings because Jackson’s defense is outstanding. Big league front offices realize the importance of quality defense now more than ever, so where Jackson falls on actual draft boards will make an interesting case study in just how focused teams are developing their own standout defenders through the draft. As I already wrote about in the mock draft, Stock = catching version of Sean Black. Of course, baseball is a weird game so there may be more to the story than that simple equation (I like equations, by the way…if you haven’t noticed. We might be able to claim that Stock = Black without the catching disclaimer if the Southern Cal product has a big season on the mound for the Trojans.
29. AJ Pollock (OF/2B – Notre Dame)
30. Jason Stoffel (RHRP – Arizona)
31. Bryan Morgado (LHSP – Tennessee)
32. Kyle Heckathorn (RHSP – Kennesaw State)
Pollock is a hard player to figure, but if the position switch to second base actually sticks, he’ll fly up draft boards this spring. He is a very good basestealer, has playable pop, and is difficult to strike out. Pollock is one of the few I haven’t seen play yet, so I’m just throwing this out there…what about Chone Figgins as a comp?
33. Ben Tootle (RHRP – Jacksonville State)
34. Shawn Tolleson (RHSP – Baylor)
35. Jake Cowan (RHSP – San Jacinto JC)
36. Blake Smith (OF/RHSP – California)
The first junior college player to make the list is a righty with a great frame, 95 MPH fastball, and three plus pitches. Cowan, the former Virginia recruit, will be in contention to be the first juco player picked in 2009.
37. Tyler Lyons (LHSP – Oklahoma State)
38. Jeff Inman (RHSP – Stanford)
39. Ryan Weber (RHSP – St. Petersburg JC)
Weber is the second junior college arm on the list, a fact worth noting because neither the aforementioned Jake Cowan or Weber is Daniel Webb. Webb, the consensus top junior college talent, failed to crack the top fifty. Blazing fastball or not, he was just too raw a prospect for our tastes.
40. Micah Gibbs (C – Louisiana State)
41. Matt Thomson (RHSP – San Diego)
42. Brad Boxberger (RHRP – Southern California)
43. Tommy Medica (C – Santa Clara)
44. Brad Stillings (RHSP – Kent State)
45. Steve Fischback (RHRP – Cal Poly)
46. Nick Hernandez (LHSP – Tennessee)
47. Gavin Brooks (LHSP – UCLA)
48. Jordan Henry (OF – Mississippi)
49. David Hale (RHSP – Princeton)
50. Ben Paulsen (1B – Clemson)
And that’s 50. Not a very inspiring last group, but, let’s be real, it’s not a very exciting year for high-end college talent. I think I picked the wrong year to start doing this…
Check back all weekend long for occasional updates on college baseball’s opening weekend.
Three Things
Delaying a “real” post for yet another day with, what else, three random things bouncing around my brain of late. I mean, what’s the point of having your own site if you can’t post your own meandering, disjointed thoughts from time to time? And tell me you aren’t intrigued with some stranger’s random draft musings after seeing THIS:
Photo Credit: IGN
After the jump, cartoons, big leaguers, and, of course, draft-eligibles…
The Baseball Draft Report 