| Our first year attempting in-season college draft prospect rankings | ||||||||||||||||
| No. | Player | Pos | Notes | Age | YR | TM | CON | Pre. | ||||||||
| 1 | Pedro Alvarez | 3B | His play has earned him the benefit of the doubt to stay #1 while hurt | 21.0 | Jr. | VAN | SEC | 1 ↔ | ||||||||
| 2 | Brian Matusz | LHP | Turned down 7 figures in '05 draft, control of three plus pitches | 21.0 | Jr. | SD | WCC | 2 ↔ | ||||||||
| 3 | Justin Smoak | 1B | Good athlete for 1B had 46.3% of his hits go for extra bases in '07 | 21.2 | Jr. | SC | SEC | 3 ↔ | ||||||||
| 4 | Yonder Alonso | 1B | Polished hitter with great zone judgment, could post .400 OBP in MLB | 20.9 | Jr. | MIA | ACC | 4 ↔ | ||||||||
| 5 | Aaron Crow | RHP | Best FB/SL combo in college, FB touched 98 over summer, low BB% | 21.5 | Jr. | MIZ | Big-12 | 5 ↔ | ||||||||
| 6 | Lance Lynn | RHP | Could be best player on best team, 146K/44BB 123IP ('07), great curve | 20.8 | Jr. | UMS | SEC | 7 ↑ | ||||||||
| 7 | Brett Wallace | 3B | Massive slugger (6'1'' 245lbs) with 40+ power, will move to 1B or DH | 21.5 | Jr. | ASU | Pac-10 | 6 ↓ | ||||||||
| 8 | Jordan Danks | CF | 1st round talent in HS; 70 speed; 47% XBH and .259 IsoP in '08 | 21.5 | Jr. | UT | Big-12 | 10 ↑ | ||||||||
| 9 | Jemile Weeks | 2B | Much better fielder than Rickie, with lots of offensive potential | 21.1 | Jr. | MIA | ACC | 8 ↓ | ||||||||
| 10 | Scott Green | RHP | Durablilty has been problem but healthy now; mid 90s FB, good slider | 22.5 | Jr. | UK | SEC | 16 ↑ | ||||||||
| 11 | Buster Posey | C | Former SS; great athlete with good arm hitting .395/.500/.721 ('08) | 20.9 | Jr. | FSU | ACC | 12 ↑ | ||||||||
| 12 | Tyson Ross | RHP | Strained lat knocks him down a few pegs; works 92-95, plus slurve | 21.8 | Jr. | Cal | Pac-10 | 9 ↓ | ||||||||
| 13 | Petey Paramore | C | Rare high OBP catcher, .537 OBP ('08) Great defender and game caller | 21.3 | Jr. | ASU | Pac-10 | 13 ↔ | ||||||||
| 14 | Gordon Beckham | SS | Strong arm, good speed, power; needs some work but could stay SS | 21.4 | Jr. | UGA | SEC | 14 ↔ | ||||||||
| 15 | Allan Dykstra | 1B | Huge slugger (6'5'' 240lbs) has great eye at plate and big time power | 20.8 | Jr. | WFU | ACC | 15 ↔ | ||||||||
| 16 | Tanner Scheppers | RHP | No summer ball, no pub, 29K 4BB in 19IP ('08); mid 90s FB, good slider | 21.1 | Jr. | FSU | WAC | NR ↑ | ||||||||
| 17 | Shooter Hunt | RHP | Potenial for 3 plus pitches; high upside, control problems; 19IP 27K 8BB | 21.5 | Jr. | TUL | USA | NR ↑ | ||||||||
| 18 | Christian Friedrich | LHP | Racks up lots of Ks with lights out curve; has a control problem | 20.7 | Jr. | EKU | OVC | 18 ↔ | ||||||||
| 19 | Aaron Luna | LF/2B | Played all over the field, has good speed, power, and plate discipline | 20.9 | Jr. | Rice | CUSA | 19 ↔ | ||||||||
| 20 | Reese Havens | SS | Good hands with iffy range, power developing, .429/.517/.735 ('08) | 21.3 | Jr. | SC | SEC | NR ↑ | ||||||||
| Honorable Mentions: Jacob Thompson (P, Virginia), Tim Murphy (P, UCLA) and Danny Espinosa (SS, Long Beach State). | ||||||||||||||||
| * Ages are as of 3/12/08 (only draft-eligible players are considered) | ||||||||||||||||
| ** TM is the player's school | ||||||||||||||||
| *** CON is the player's conference | ||||||||||||||||
| **** Our rankings combine a player's ceiling with the odds that he'll reach it and favor recent production | ||||||||||||||||
| <<< Our February 26th College Prospect Rankings | ||||||||||||||||
| <<< Discuss these rankings in our forums | ||||||||||||||||
You never want to make too much out of early season success or failure but with so many talented players in this year’s class, draft boards can make small changes on a daily basis. With most hitters topping the 50 at-bat plateau and pitchers reaching their third starts, let’s take a look at some of the top performers as well as those who have some ground to make up. Small sample size warnings abound.
The Hot List
Jordan Danks, Jr. CF Texas
The younger brother of White Sox starter John, Jordan has always been a scouts dream. Built like former Brave great Dale Murphy the tall, athletic Danks is blessed with both outstanding physical abilities and baseball skills. Danks has well above average range in center and is a constant threat on the base-paths. He draws walks in droves and projects as a top of the order catalyst that is, unless his power ever develops. Thru 14 games Danks is hitting .352/.485/.611 with 9 of his 19 hits going for extra bases and he currently has more home runs (2) than teammate and 2007 NCAA leader, Kyle Russell (1).
Jemile Weeks, Jr. 2B Miami
Don’t let the slight drop in the overall rankings make you think that Jemile is off to a bad start, unless you think hitting .409/.458/.750 is a bad start. The only somewhat disconcerting part of Weeks’ stat line is the fact that he has struck out twice as often (8) as he has walked (4). Weeks has posted solid K/BB ratios in the past and one would think his numbers will revert back to form before the season is out. Weeks’ power/speed combo will be very tempting for any team picking in the middle of round one.
Scott Green, RS Jr. RHP Kentucky
I made a little bit of an educated risk putting Green at 16 on the board before the season and Green made the biggest jump of any player on the board this week. That’s because of his unreal start to the season. From 2005-2007 Green threw just 60.1 innings.Green has built on all the positive momentum he created for himself over the summer. In 18 innings for the undefeated Wildcats Green has struck out 28 opposing hitters and is yet to issue a free pass. He needed just 77 pitches to get 9 strike outs thru 6 full innings in his last start against Purdue. That efficiency is impressive.
Tanner Scheppers, Jr. RHP Fresno State
Scheppers had a nice 2007 season for the Bulldogs but appears to have taken his game to the next level. Having elected not to play summer ball Scheppers lacked the same buzz that has followed guys like Aaron Crow, Scott Green, Arizona’s Ryan Perry. A really quick way to get your name out there is to strike out 29 guys in 19 innings while walking 4 like Scheppers has done this season -- doing it against good competition, in a good hitter’s park, while showcasing his 93-95 mph fastball and sharp two-plane breaking slider and you can get noticed pretty quickly.
Shooter Hunt, Jr. RHP Tulane
Hunt, owner of one of the coolest names in college ball, has been the Green Waves’ starter in two of the biggest games of the season. Hunt was matched up against Pepperdine and fire-baller Brett Hunter where he went pitch for pitch versus the more ballyhooed starter and again toed the rubber against UC Irvine and pitched a nearly flawless game to give the Anteaters their first loss of the season. Hunt is a power pitcher with a repertoire that has potentially three plus pitches: fastball, curve, change. Control remains a problem for the talented hurler as he has walked 8 in 19 innings this year. His stuff and strikeout ability (27) give him the upside of a 1/2 starter in the bigs, if he can harness it in a little more.
Cold Spell Victims
Kyle Russell, Jr. RF Texas
Russell has a lot riding on this spring as far as draft position goes. During his All-American 2007 season, Russell was a Three-True-Outcomes king (TTO, standing for the only three outcomes in which the defense does not participate; walk, strikeout, or home run) who had a frightening habit of coming up empty. If Russell can prove that he can make consistent contact, his power and zone judgment make him an elite amateur prospect. So far this season Russell has kept swinging for the fences but his results have been fairly pedestrian. Russell has only gone yard once, while hitting a respectable .273/.484/.409. The bad news is he keeps striking out (31%) but -- very unexpectedly -- his power has yet to come back from winter break.
James Darnell, Jr. 3B South Carolina
I admit that I wondered if I had Darnell too high in my initial rankings – he was ranked 11th before the season. But those worries were about Darnell’s defensive abilities and ultimate power ceiling; I sure didn’t think he would get off to this kind of a start. After 12 games Darnell is hitting .216/.317/.255 with more strikeouts than walks and a fielding percentage of just .906. He’s too good of a hitter to continue this pace, especially hitting in front of Justin Smoak -- it really shows the strength of the lineup around him that Darnell has 12 RBI on the season despite is poor batting performance. Dropping Darnell completely off the list may be a little rash, but he’ll have plenty of time to earn his way back on the board and towards late-first to supplemental round draft status.
Lincoln Hamilton can be reached at lhamilton@dentonoutlaws.com.